Confusing Demarcation With Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 168-70):

Paralinguistically, a [virtual:semiosis] entity may be identified either retrospectively or prospectively through an unresolved embodied vector. In a number of instances in the data the selection [virtual:semiosis:retrospective] is realised through a gestural flick – a small, fleeting vertically directed vector expressed with an index finger or hand (body parts that facilitate speed of movement). The flick gesture synchronises with a silent beat (^) which marks a juncture (e.g. a phase or stage boundary) in the flow of meaning in a text. The deictic gesture identifies a preceding segment of text (a semiotic entity), one that bears a logical connection to the coming phase or stage of discourse. The subsequent text is frequently initiated with an internal connector such as so.

Example (5) shows one such instance from the data. … Following presentation of a phase of argument from the airline’s legal counsel, the plaintiff’s argument is introduced in (5). As the phonological transcription reveals, the vertical flick syncs with a silent beat (^) preceding the commencement of the last tone group, which begins with the internal connector so.

In (6) the first image captures the conclusion of Edmonds’s argument everything’s mucked up. Image 2 shows the vertical flick (circled), realised in sync with the culminative silent beat (^). It retrospectively identifies the preceding semiotic entity – in this case a stage of the storytelling in which both parties (British Airways and Edmonds) put their arguments to the court. The conclusion of that stage converges with the lecturer closing his eyes and dropping his head. In image 3 the lecturer reorients his body to his left in sync with the internal connector so as he commences a new stage of the lecture in which he discusses the logic of the preceding arguments.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the timing of the gesture with a pause between a quote and a non-quote might be taken as evidence that the function of the gesture is demarcation (punctuating text) rather than deixis (pointing with respect to the speaker).

[2] To be clear, the authors provide no evidence in support of this claim. It would seem that the authors have given priority to the view 'from below' rather than the view 'from above': that is, since the gesture resembles pointing, it must have a deictic function, therefore it must refer back to the previous text.