Why call bodily sense making “languaging”?

Frontiers in Psychology

Giovanna Colombetti¹ 

关键词: primary intersubjectivity;    sense making;    languaging;    affectivity;    language;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01286

学科分类：心理学（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

I am sympathetic to Jensen's aim to “bring language and emotion back together.” To speak is among other things to communicate one's affective state to others, and this communication is typically effectuated by embodied agents whose affective state also manifests in their face, posture, gestures, facial expressions, and tone of voice. When I talk to someone I usually look at them in a more or less engaged way; I may also smile or frown, nod sympathetically or shake my head in disapproval, giggle, laugh, gesticulate, alter the volume and pace of my voice, and so on. These actions are partly responses to what to the other says and how he says it, and often have the function of affecting how the interaction continues (a nod may communicate approval at what is being said as well as encouragement to carry on). The interactions analyzed by Jensen nicely illustrate clear instances in which language is continuous and integrated with other types of bodily engagement with other people. In addition to being responses to others, my actions, when I speak, are also often related to the meaning of my words. As I am telling my friend about the climb I did on the weekend, I move my head down and close my eyes when I tell her how scared I was of the height and that I did not want to look down; I reproduce climbing movements with my hands or even the rest of the body when I tell her about a difficult passage; I spread my arms when I tell her about the 360-degree view from the top of the mountain, etc. Here as well we can see a continuity between language in the sense of well-formed word-based speech, and a variety of communicative bodily gestures.

【 授权许可】

CC BY