The Linguistic Coordination Of A Convergence Of Language With Language

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 207):

From the perspective of instantiation (the system to text relation in SFL), this raises the central challenge of intermodal studies, namely, the ineffable process whereby systems from different modalities end up seamlessly instantiated as coherent text. As in film (van Leeuwen, 1985, 2005), textual meaning has a critical role to play, as the ‘beat’ of feet and tone groups (TONALITY, TONICITY, SALIENCE and RHYTHM) coordinates the convergence of linguistic and paralinguistic resources (the focus of Chapter 6).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, instantiation is the relation between potential and instance at a given level of symbolic abstraction, of a given semiotic system. For example, instantiation is the relation between the system of phonology as potential, and an instance of that system in a text; or the relation between a system of paralinguistic content, and an instance of that system accompanying an instance of linguistic content.

[2] To be clear, the ineffability of grammatical categories means that they only mean themselves. Halliday (2002 [1984]: 303, 306):

The meaning of a typical grammatical category … has no counterpart in our conscious representation of things. … they do not correspond to any consciously accessible categorisation of our experience.

[3] To be clear, the expression plane systems that realise the grammatical system of the information unit are language, not paralanguage, whether vocal or gestural. So there is no coordination of a convergence of linguistic and paralinguistic resources.

[4] Trivially, SALIENCE is a lexicogrammatical distinction realised by distinctions in RHYTHM, its phonological counterpart. 

[5] To be clear, Chapter 6 presents a system of DEIXIS which classifies referents, and a system (though no network) that merely correlates speaker location with categories from writing pedagogy.

Misrepresenting Cléirigh's Model As The Authors' Innovation

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 207):

As reviewed in Section 7.1, our project involves developing paralanguage as a semiotic system alongside language. We adopted our model of the relation of paralanguage to language from earlier work on the convergence of language and image in children’s picture books (Painter et al., 2013). As outlined in Table 7.1, sonovergence was explored in terms of how linguistic and paralinguistic systems resonate with one another (interpersonal meaning) and sync with one another (textual meaning).

Blogger Comments:

This is very misleading indeed. The origin of the notions of gestures being in tune with TONE, and in sync with TONICITY and RHYTHM is Cléirigh's model (2009), which predates, by four years, the "earlier" work on the convergence of language and image in children’s picture books (Painter et al., 2013):

The plagiarism in this work is effected through myriad small steps with Martin, the author of this chapter, the driving force.

Some Problems With Paralinguistic Macro-Theme

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 191, 192):

In example (23) we move up one level in the hierarchy of periodicity from the hyper-Theme to the macro-Theme that immediately precedes it.

Sonovergently, the lecturer takes three steps in sync with three silent beats prior to the commencement of the macro-Theme in (24). This takes him from a space on the left to reach the central desk. Synchronous with the commencement of the macro-Theme, the last one is the distal convoluted tubule, he takes off from this central position, moving to the right. On completion of the macro-Theme, he rotates his body 180° to face left and continues stepping backwards in sync with the two silent feet that precede the hyper-Theme. 

This sequence of movement and body orientation is depicted in Figure 6.7. The lecturer ends up on his ‘launch pad’, the position from which he delivers his hyper-Theme before taking off in sync with a new phase of discourse.

The body movement and thematic development are well coordinated. Footfalls in Figure 6.6 synchronise with clause-level Themes and anticipatory positioning scaffolds higher levels of Theme – the lecturer’s positioning to the right of the lecturing space syncs with the hyper-Theme and centre-stage (desk) positioning syncs with the macro-Theme.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, 'macro-Theme' is Martin's rebranding of the 'Introductory Paragraph' of writing pedagogy as linguistic theory. As linguistic theory, macro-Theme, like hyper-Theme, is a function without a structure: there is no 'macro-Rheme'; that is, there is a point of departure for the message, but there is no body to the message.

As previously explained, 'hyper-Theme', a term coined by Daneš  for a Theme that is later repeated, is Martin's rebranding of the 'Topic Sentence' of writing pedagogy as linguistic theory. As linguistic theory, hyper-Theme is a function without a structure: there is no 'hyper-Rheme'; that is, there is a point of departure for the message, but there is no body to the message.

[2] To be clear, given the contrastive newness of last, and the fact that tone 3 alone misrepresents this statement as tentative, a more likely analysis of this tone group is

//3 ‸the / last one is the //1 distal / convoluted / tubule //

[3] To be clear, here the authors are merely describing how the lecturer moves while delivering this part of his lecture. Merely occupying a space before moving off does not highlight what is being said. And what is first said need not be a "macro-Theme". That is, no realisation relation has been established between "macro-Theme" and body location: a body location does not specify a "macro-Theme" and a "macro-Theme" does not specify a body location.

[4] As previously demonstrated, the relevant footfalls in Figure 6.6 coincide with the Focus of marked New information.

Taking Steps To Realise Marked New

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 187, 189-90):

To what extent does the regularity in this sequence synchronise with PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY? The lecturer’s movement is schematised in Figure 6.5 (adopting the perspective of the students). 

The vertical lines to left and right denote the peripheries of the space, and the black rectangle denotes a centrally located desk towards the back of the space. The arrows show direction of movement; and the orientation of the foot indicates whether the lecturer is stepping forward or backwards in a given direction (it is always forward in (19'')). The figures and movement in Figure 6.5 are correlated as follows:

The movement in Figure 6.5 involves a regular three-step rhythm synchronous with each figure. The first step always falls on the intermodally prominent entity that construes the nutrient (i.e. glucose, vitamins, amino acids or water).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, in comparing textual paralanguages, it is the textual metafunction that is relevant, not the ideational. So, the relevant textual structure for description that is building on the rhythm and tonicity of gestures, is the Given-New structure of information unit realised by tone groups. 

[2] To be clear, the first step of each movement coincides with the tonic that realises the Focus of marked New information.

So here the authors are positing a systematic relation between stepping and language. For Halliday and Cléirigh, that categorises the function of this movement as linguistic, or "sonovergent" in the authors' terms.

Misrepresenting Sonovergence As Semovergence

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 188):

In this instance, as shown in (19''), each of the lecturer’s hand beats syncs sonovergently with a tonic syllable, in just those cases where the tonic falls on one of the named nutrients in the phase / glucose, / vitamins, a- / mino / acids or / water. At the same time each of these named nutrients is given prominence as the Theme of a clause (see (19)). The lecturer’s hand beat thus reinforces informational prominence both sonovergently and semovergently. From a discourse semantic perspective, in (19'') we have a sequence of four state figures, each construed by the same (relational circumstantial) grammatical structure – most of the [X] / lots of [X] is back in the bloodstream.

 

 

Blogger Comments:

Here the authors misrepresent their own model. The hand beat functions only "sonovergently", not "semovergently", because it converges with the phonology of language, not with the content of language. The hand beat realises the information Focus, not the Theme. It is just that, in these instances, it is the Theme (and Carrier) that is the information Focus.

Importantly, the rhetorical function of this misrepresentation is to forge a misleading link between "sonovergent" paralanguage and the hyper-Theme and macro-Theme of "semovergent" PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY. This is demonstrated by the fact that the authors only cite the Theme function of these nominal groups, even though their Carrier function is also given prominence.

The Unacknowledged Information Unit

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 187):

It is important to recall here that clause and tone group may or may not map onto each other (Chapter 3), as evident in (19) and (19'). In (19) the underlining in each clause specifies Theme. However, New is specified in the tone group as the tonic syllable that composes phonological prominence through the major pitch movement of the tone group. This is shown in bold italics in (19').

Blogger Comments:

[1] This confuses content with expression. To be clear, New is a function in the structure of an information unit. A tone group realises an information unit, and its tonic realises the Focus of New information. It will be seen later that an explicit recognition of the information unit makes the problems with PARALINGUISTIC PERIODICITY more obvious.

[2] This confuses TONICITY with TONE. To be clear, the tonic syllable doesn't "compose" phonological prominence through the major pitch movement. The tonic is distinguished in terms of relative loudness ± duration. It is the pitch movement at the tonic that identifies the tone of the tone group.

Misunderstanding Textual Prominence

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183, 184):

A paralinguistic beat can also give prominence to interpersonal meaning. The hand beat in image 5 of (17'') not only syncs with the final tonic segment form, but its low-falling trajectory is interpersonally ‘in tune with’ the major pitch contour of a falling tone 1 (see Chapters 3 and 5) – prominence is thus added to the meaning of this tone (here, providing information). 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, because the hand beat serves the same linguistic tonicity, it gives prominence to whatever metafunctional meaning it highlights as the New element of an information unit.

[2] To be clear, form is the tonic syllable, not the tonic segment. The tonic segment begins with the tonic foot and includes all subsequent feet in the tone group.

[3] To be clear, the direction of a beating gesture does not distinguish tones. For example, there is no rising beat for tone 2, no level beat for tone 3, no fall-rise beat for tone 4, and no rise-fall beat for tone 5. A downward movement is the default direction, regardless of the tone.

[4] This confuses the textual function of TONICITY with the interpersonal function of TONE. The choice of tonic prominence realises the choice of New information, whereas the choice of tone realises the choice of KEY for a given choice of MOOD. The choice of tonic gives prominence to an element of structure, not to the choice of tone.

[5] This confuses SPEECH FUNCTION (semantics) with KEY (lexicogrammar). 'Giving information' (statement) is SPEECH FUNCTION, and it is realised in the grammar by MOOD. The system of TONE, on the other hand, realises the system of KEY for a given MOOD.

Problems With The Authors' Analysis Of Hand Shape

 Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183-4):

In (17'') we present a sequence of images and descriptions of the lecturer’s paralanguage. …

In terms of size, the beat synchronous with the first tonic on (Foucault) and the last (form of power) extends the furthest, with the stroke of the latter extending maximally downwards from shoulder height. The final beat is also extended in duration as it is held beyond the completion of the tone group.

Variation in the shape of the beating hand is noted in image 4 and magnified in (17''') to reveal the co-instantiation of a depicted paralinguistic entity. In this instance the gestural beat synchronises with self; the pronoun refers anaphorically to the semiotic entity form of knowledge. The paralinguistic beat thus assigns textual prominence to an ideational meaning.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this display does not present the text as spoken:

[2] To be clear, this distinction in the amplitude of the beat serves the same function as the distinction between tonic salient syllables and non-tonic salient syllables.

[3] To be clear, the location of the holding of the gesture suggests the function of the holding is demarcative.

[4] Clearly, the hand shape is not recognisable as meaning '(it)self' or 'form of knowledge', so it cannot be said to be realising this ideational meaning. 

[5] To be clear, it is the beat of linguistic gesture, not the hand shape, that gives rhythmic salience, highlighting what could have been chosen as realising the focus of New information, but was not. However, the fact that an emphatic pronoun was not given tonic prominence in this analysis, gives reason to doubt the accuracy of the analysis.

Exemplifying Cléirigh's Model Without Acknowledgement

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 183-4):

In (17'') we present a sequence of images and descriptions of the lecturer’s paralanguage. …

The sonovergent beats highlighted with arrows in (17'') are noteworthy in two respects. 

First, the hand beats are synchronous with each tonic syllable in (17'') and with some of its salient syllables – thereby amplifying the prominence of synchronous wording and the meaning they construe. 

Second, there are notable variations in the way they are expressed. They vary in relative size and duration of time held and in the orientation and shape of the beating hand.

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously explained, the beating of gestures is not sonovergent paralanguage but language, which is why it is termed 'linguistic' in Cléirigh's model. It is language, not paralanguage, because it has the same function as prosodic phonology. Halliday (1989: 30):

[2] To be clear, this just exemplifies Cléirigh's model of linguistic body language, but the authors present their observation without acknowledgement of the fact. The plagiarism in this work is effected in myriad small steps.

[3] As is made clear in Cléirigh's model, it is only the actual beating of the gesture that serves this highlighting textual function. Features of the body part potentially serve different functions, protolinguistic or epilinguistic.

Problems With The Authors' Intonational Analysis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 182):

In the unmarked case, salient syllables highlight content words (not grammatical ones) and assign a secondary degree of prominence to that information in the discourse. However, in (17) there are two marked instances where grammatical words are made salient: not in the second tone group and is in the third.

These marked choices give prominence to contrastive positions in the discourse (in this case, that which is and is not knowledge). In the first two tone groups the tonic syllables (in bold) carry tone 4 pitch contours. This falling-rising tone movement indicates pending meaning. The tone 1 of the third tone group signals completion.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, with regard to TONE, it is tone 3 that serves this textual function (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 440), and it is likely that the speaker selected tone 3, not tone 4. Tone 4 would be unlikely here because it would realise 'reservation' in terms of KEY, which is inconsistent the proposition being enacted. The fall-rise of tone 4 signals 'seems certain (fall) but isn't (rise)'.

In terms of TONALITY and TONICITY, it is likely that the second tone group actually consists of two tone groups, with the first tonic on not, to mark the contrast as New information for the student audience.

Misrepresenting Halliday On Theme

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 181-2):

As outlined by Halliday (1967, 1970a), English grammar and phonology structure textual meaning as waves of information. One peak of prominence is realised grammatically through Theme at the beginning of an English clause. It functions as the point of departure for the message by encoding an angle on the field. A complementary peak of prominence, termed New, is realised phonologically in the unmarked case through the major pitch movement on the final salient syllable of a tone group – its Tonic segment (Halliday, 1970a; Martin and Rose, [2003] 2007: 189–92). A secondary peak of informational prominence is realised through a salient syllable, which in SFL notation begins each foot. As noted in Chapter 3, Section 3.6, a salient syllable can be made super-salient where there is a significant jump in pitch, usually upwards, which does not involve a choice of tone. Super-salience is indicated via a vertical arrow, ‘↑’, before the syllable.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the notion of the textual meaning of a clause as a wave of prominence is first set out in Halliday (1985: 169).

[2] To be clear, the Theme functions as the point of departure for the clause as message. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 89):

The Theme is the element that serves as the point of departure of the message; it is that which locates and orients the clause within its context. The speaker chooses the Theme as his or her point of departure to guide the addressee in developing an interpretation of the message; by making part of the message prominent as Theme, the speaker enables the addressee to process the message.

Field, on the other hand, is the ideational dimension of context — two strata above lexicogrammar — which Martin (1992) misunderstands as register.

[3] To be clear, the New is peak of prominence of the information unit, which may or may not be co-extensive with the clause.

[4] This is misleading, because it credits Martin and Rose with theorising that is entirely Halliday's.

[5] To be clear, a salient syllable is a peak of phonological (rhythmic), not informational prominence. Here the authors confuse expression with content. Each salient syllable that is non-tonic realises what was not selected as the Focus of New information.

Confusing Endophoric Reference With Information Focus

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 172):

Opposing features of [home] and [away] are illustrated in the two images in (8).

In the first image, synchronous with today, the lecturer’s pinched left thumb and index finger configures a vector pointing down in front of the lecturer’s body, in an expression of [home]. 

In the second image, synchronous with future, the right hand and forearm extend from the body pointing to a location to the right, expressing [away]. 

The second image additionally shows the left index finger pointing outwards from the body and slightly to the speaker’s left. The completion of this point synchronises with the completion of that to the right. The simultaneity of the two points delineates a space between present and future – a critical issue with respect to questions of fact or opinion.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the timing of the gesture is linguistic and textual, because, like the tonic, it realises the focus of New information, in this case: today and future.

[2] To be clear, this is another example of using body language to make endophoric reference.  In this instance, the left-right dimension represents the past-future dimension of interpersonal time (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 332), and the pointing gesture signals that the meanings 'present' and 'future' are recoverable from those construals by body language. Again, the vector is "resolved" and so the "deixis" is not virtual.

[3] To be clear, the timing of gestures does not have a referential function, because the timing does not point to a referent that can recover the identity of the timing. The timing may have demarcative function ('completion'), but demarcation is not reference.

Moreover, 'same time' does not delineate the time interval between 'present' and 'future', if only because 'same time' can be located in the present, in the future, and at every location in between.

Problems With The Authors' Analysis Of 'Actual' Paralinguistic Deixis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 166, 167): 

Example (2) illustrates contrasting instances accompanying the verbal text you’re wearing a stripy shirt – explain this image to me. In each of the three frames a resolved vector is expressed with a hand or index finger point. …  In the first two frames the point is directed outwards selecting [other], first to a student and then to a projected image. In the third it is directed back to the lecturer, selecting [self].

Each of the entities identified through deictic paralanguage in (2) is also tracked exophorically in the spoken text – to a student (you), to a thing (this image) and to the lecturer herself (me). However, as revealed in the first two images in (2), the resolution of the paralinguistic vector does not sync sonovergently with the verbal expressions of identification (i.e. you and this) but rather with the underlined lexis realising relevant entities – specifically the stripy quality of a student’s clothing and the thing entity image. 

In the third image the PARALINGUISTIC DEIXIS is synchronous with the presuming pronoun me which identifies the entity (lecturer). In this instance me is not salient as might be expected. 

This is accounted for in that the synchronous deictic gesture in image 3 is part of a gestural flow that begins on ‘explain’ and culminates with the completion of the tone group – in this case a tail that follows the tonic. The gestural movement maps the flow of information from ‘about what’ to ‘to whom’.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the selection of the features 'other' and 'self' is instantiation. The relation between a pointing gesture and these features is realisation.

[2] To be clear, these three pointing gestures are exophoric to the environment of paralanguage. The features 'other' and 'self', on the other hand, distinguish the referents in the environment of paralanguage (in terms of deixis), not the paralinguistic means of referring to them.

[3] To be clear, this confuses two distinct textual functions of body language: reference and salience. The function of the pointing gesture is reference, and this is a feature of epilinguistic body language, as demonstrated by the fact that members of other species, such as rainbow lorikeets, do not respond to them as meaningful. The function of the timing of the beat of a gesture with speech is salience, and it is a feature of linguistic body language because it serves the same function as the beats of speech rhythm.

The direction of the pointing gestures identifies the referents (you, image), whereas the timing of the beat of the gestures highlights elements as salient (stripy, image), both of which, despite the authors' phonological analysis, are likely to be tonic, with each realising a focus of New information.

[4] To be clear, if the pointing gesture is timed to beat with me, it highlights me as salient. This suggests that the phonological analysis mistakes a salient syllable for a non-salient one. A more congruent rhythm would be:

// 1 ‸ex/plain this / image to / me // 

[5] To be clear, this gallant attempt does not account for the supposed lack of salience, since a lack of salience has to be explained in terms the function of salience — to highlight a potential focus of information — which the authors' account does not do. 

Problems With A Phonological Analysis

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 117):

The example in (1) shows paralinguistic expressions sonovergent with each major tone choice (other than the level-rise tone 3 which offers minimal phonological scope for convergent body-part movement). A phonological transcription records the tone (as, e.g. //1), and the intonation contour describes and interprets it (as, e.g. falling – ‘certain’). The paralanguage which is sonovergent with each intonation contour – which visualises it – is then described. The resonance of the visual and phonological contours adds further salience to the tonic and hence the given tone choice.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, tone 3 is a level or low rise in pitch, so it can be realised facially by a maintained level or low rise in the eyebrows.

[2] To be clear, adding salience to the tonic is adding salience to what the tonic realises: the focus of New information, not to the tone choice that realises the system of KEY.

[3] To be clear, based on the system of KEY, the most likely tone for // I didn't / break it // is tone 2 ('protest'), not tone 4 ('reservation'), and this analysis is supported by the raised eyebrows on the clay puppet.

Identification

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 38-9):

As far as pointing deixis is concerned we can return to the examples contrasting past and future in Sections 1.5.1 and 1.5.2.1. The vlogger’s hand points to the past in (58'), and alongside motioning to the future both the vlogger’s index fingers point there (14'''').

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled almost verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019): Introducing And Tracking Entities Through Finger Pointing.

[1] To be clear, the authors' claim (ibid.) is that:

From a textual perspective we need to take into account how spoken language introduces entities and keeps track of them once there (IDENTIFICATION) …

Clearly, because 'past' and 'future' are temporal locations, they are not entities, and pointing gestures do not introduce them as entities, nor keep track of them through the discourse.  This is another instance of the authors misrepresenting the data to fit their theory.

Note also that the unit of IDENTIFICATION in Martin (1992) and Martin & Rose (2007) is participant, not entity.

[2] Once again the authors present a tone group that is … wrongly analysed for tonicity (the tonic falls on next, not time).

Graduation: Force

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 35-6):

The most striking example of intensification in the hair colour phase occurs when the vlogger uses whole body language to enact her reaction to how dark her hair is. She throws her head back and leans back as her arms rise up – literally overwhelmed with emotion (82).

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled almost verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019): Paralanguage "Converging With" GRADUATION: FORCE.

[1] To be clear, it is not that the whole body expresses the same meaning in this instance, but that the authors have not analysed the different meanings being made by the various gestures and postures, including the shift of gaze.

[2] To be clear, the intensification in this instance is of the Quality dark, which is ideational in function, and quite distinct from the speaker's hatred of the Quality, which is construed by the following clause.  That is, the intensification is a feature of the assessed, not of the assessing (e.g. I really hate it).   This is demonstrated by the fact that the arm gesture beats on the tonic so, the intensifier of dark.

In terms of Cléirigh's original model, the beating of the gesture on the tonic is linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage), highlighting so as the focus of contrastively New information, whereas any aspects of the body language expressing conscious states are instantiations of paralinguistic body language.  That is, contrary to the authors' claim, no aspects of this instance of body language can be identified as epilinguistic ("semovergent").

[3] The claim that this gestural configuration expresses 'being overwhelmed by the emotion of hate' — literally or figuratively — requires considerable justification, none of which is given.

[4] To be clear, [82] displays an (incomplete and) incorrect phonological analysis — the tonic  actually falls on so, not dark, the initial foot is omitted, and the pronoun I begins the following tone group (after a silent Ictus):

//1+ and it's / so dark //

Appreciation

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 34, 233):

Paralanguage deploys facial expression and bodily stance to share attitude. In (75) our vlogger nuances her appreciation (exciting) of a neighbourhood get-together she has dressed up for with raised eyebrows and a lopsided-mouth expression³¹ (which we might read as indicating that some followers might not find it all that exciting).

³¹ The ‘out-of-kilter’ mouth here can be interpreted as soft focus, converging with kind of.

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019): Nuancing Appreciation By (Not) Looking Surprised.

[1] Rewording this in terms of SFL theory:

In (semovergent) paralanguage, the meanings of ATTITUDE can be realised by facial expression and bodily stance.

That is, it isn't paralanguage that deploys, and the speaker enacts her attitude.

[2] The authors, after having just declared that, in terms of ATTITUDE, 'paralanguage can only enact emotion' (i.e. AFFECT and not APPRECIATION or JUDGEMENT), here present an example that, by their own terms, "resonates" with APPRECIATION.  They use term 'nuance' here to disguise the invalid claim that body language 'surprise' resonates with 'exciting'.  Moreover, as the reader can see, the facial expression does not realise the emotion 'surprise'.  Here the authors are misrepresenting the data to fit their own model.

[3] On Cléirigh's original model, the eyebrow raising here is an instance of linguistic body language (sonovergent paralanguage), not epilinguistic body language (semovergent body language).  This would be obvious if the authors had included the tone choice of the accompanying tone group, which they wrongly analyse for tonicity.  The speaker places the tonic on that's, marking it as the focus of New information, and uses tone 3 (level pitch):

//3 ^ so / that's / kind of ex/citing //

The tone group, which immediately follows an edit, begins at a high pitch and stays at that level throughout.  The eyebrows do the same, and so function the same interpersonally as the tone choice; see [4].

[4] To be clear, the "lopsided mouth" is, in this instance, merely a feature of the speaker's anatomy.

The meaning that the authors attribute to the speaker's anatomy is actually the meaning realised by her eyebrow position and tone choice.  As Halliday (1994: 305) points out, tone 3 with declarative mood can realise the KEY feature 'unimportant'.  So here the speaker's interpersonal paralanguage does not "resonate" with the positive APPRECIATION realised in wording; in fact, it contradicts it — what psychologists call 'involuntary self-disclosure'.

[5] Leaving aside the fact that the authors have attributed the meaning realised by the speaker's eyebrow position to a permanent feature of the speaker's anatomy, the authors here provide no basis whatsoever for interpreting an 'out of kilter' mouth as realising the GRADUATION feature 'soft focus'.  It is merely a bare assertion, unsupported by reasoned argument or evidence of any kind.  Readers familiar with the field of multimodality will not be surprised by this, of course.

Hand Shapes

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 32):

As noted earlier, for this paralinguistic sequence hand shape and motion are combined. In other cases hand shapes occur on their own. In the following sequence our vlogger concentrates on the size of the snack she has given her children, without setting the bowl in motion:

(70) //3 then they had a / snack I

(71) //4 gave them / each a / bowl - like a heaping / bowl

(72) //3 full of / Chex Mix and an

(73) //4 applesauce / squeeze and they //

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled almost verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019): Gestures Realising Elements Rather Than Figures.

[1] To be clear, epilinguistic body language (rebranded here as 'semovergent paralanguage') is potentially expressed through the whole body, not just through handshapes and their movements.

[2] To be clear, the timing of these gestures functions as linguistic body language (rebranded here as sonovergent paralanguage'), since they beat with the rhythm of the speech, the first on the salient syllable hea-, the second on the tonic bowl, the focus of New information.

[3] To be clear, this demonstrates that these gestures realise elements rather than figures, the latter being what the authors claim to be analysing. These two very rapid gestures are made while the speaker utters the two words heaping and bowl, suggesting that they realise the semantic elements Quality (sense-measurement) and Thing (non-conscious material object) in parallel with the meaning realised in the wording.

[4] To be clear, this is not a sequence.  The two figures

• then they had a snack
• I gave them each a bowl like a heaping bowl full of Chex Mix and applesauce squeeze

are not structurally (logically) related into a sequence.  Any implicit relation between them is a cohesive (textual) relation between messages.

Moreover, the [four] tone groups presented as a sequence are further misanalysed for tonality [and tonicity].  [(71) actually comprises [two] tone groups, with tonic prominence [in (72)] on Mix, highlighting [it] as a Focus of New information.

Super-Salience

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 25-6):

Salient syllables other than the tonic syllable can be given additional prominence (super-salience) through various means. In (14') the vlogger’s pitch on the first tone group is unusually high, and contrasts with the descending lower pitch of the following tone group (a sing/song effect). We use upward and downward arrows, ‘↑’ and ‘↓’, to signal pronounced salience of this kind.

(14''') 

//3 ↑ hopefully next / time I will

//1 get my / ↓hair colour / back //

And the vlogger’s eyebrows move up in tune and in sync with the higher pitch on / hopefully /, before lowering again by the end of the following tone group.

The same sing/song effect follows on and culminates this section of the vlog, with a high pitch on the tonic syllable / now // contrasting with the low pitch on / do //. The vlogger’s eyebrows once again move up and down in tune and in sync with the contrasting pitch salience (this time on contrasting tonic syllables).

//3 [handclap] / um /but for / ↑now 

//3 This will / ↓do //

These rhythmic in-tune gestures reinforce the attitudinal import of the RHYTHM and TONICITY.

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019): Misunderstanding Rhythm And Tonicity.

[1] It will be seen below that not one of syllables discussed here is a non-tonic salient syllable.

[2] Here the authors confuse the textual function of phonological prominence with the interpersonal function of pitch movement.

[3] This misunderstands the data.  The "sing/song" effect is a result of the tone sequence 3^13; see [4].

[4] This analysis misrepresents the data.  What the speaker actually intones can be phonologically represented as:

//3 hopefully / next time I  will
//13 get my / hair colour / back //

Regarding the first of these, contrary to the authors' claims, even on their own analysis, time is not a salient syllable, and listening to the data reveals that the "unusually high pitch" extends throughout the tone group, rather than just for the word time.

With regard to the second tone group, contrary to the authors' claims, hair is a tonic syllable, not a non-tonic salient syllable.  This is because hair is the first tonic in a compound tone group.

[5] This claim is manifestly untrue, since if the eyebrows stay raised for two tone groups, it is neither "in sync" with one tone group (TONALITY) nor "in tune" with the major pitch movements (TONE) of the two tone groups: level/low rise – fall – level/low rise.

This is a case of the authors misrepresenting the data in order to make them fit their misunderstandings of Cléirigh's model.

[6] This "same sing/song" effect is this time simply a result of the tone sequence 3^1-.  What the speaker actually intones can be phonologically represented as:

//3 um /but for / now //1- this will / do //

That is, the handclap co-occurs with the tonic of the previous tone group, back, and the tone of the second tone group here is a narrow fall (1-), not a level/low-rise (3).

[7] Here the authors make a brave stab at guessing what these "rhythmic in-tune" gestures might mean.  But the truth lies elsewhere.

Firstly, this is potentially misleading.  On Cléirigh's original model, it is only the rhythmic dimension or aspect of a gesture that functions textually like the rhythm of speech, and it is only the rise/fall dimension or aspect of a gesture that functions interpersonally like the pitch movement of speech.  Other dimensions or aspects of a gesture may serve additional functions.

Secondly, the notion of 'import' here derives from the work of Martinec (and possibly van Leeuwen), but the authors present it as their own.

Thirdly, the notion of attitudinal import is inappropriate here for two reasons:

• attitude is concerned with interpersonal meaning whereas rhythm and tonicity are concerned with textual meaning, and
• there are no instances of attitude in the instances of text under discussion.

Fourthly, as previously explained, the tonic marks the focus of New information, and the non-tonic salient syllables identify the potential foci of New information that the speaker chose not to instantiate.

The Phonological System Of Tonicity

Ngo, Hood, Martin, Painter, Smith & Zappavigna (2022: 24-5):

The phonological system of TONICITY highlights a peak of informational prominence by positioning the major pitch movement of a tone group (its tone) on one or another of its salient syllables (its culminative salient syllable in the unmarked case). In example (59) the vlogger claps on the syllable realising the tone group’s major pitch movement – hair.

Blogger Comments:

This is recycled verbatim from Martin & Zappavigna (2019). Here are the comments from the review of Martin & Zappavigna (2019):  Misrepresenting Tonicity.

[1] To be clear, TONICITY is concerned with tonic prominence, not with the major pitch movement (TONE) of the tone group.

[2] To be clear, tonic prominence (phonology) realises the focus of New information (grammar).

[3] To be clear, in the unmarked case, tonic prominence falls on the salient syllable (the tonic syllable) of the last foot (the tonic foot) of a tone group; but there are many unmarked cases.  The 'culminative' syllable is the tonic syllable, wherever it occurs in a tone group.

[4] To be clear, in Cléirigh's model of linguistic body language, the clap on the tonic prominence is the expression plane realisation of the focus of New information in the grammar.