Mime As Paralanguage

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 22-6):

In terms of the TONALITY of this sequence, there are two miming segments where tone groups might have been. For each, the vlogger mimes the paralanguage of her parking spot assailant. In the first slot she mimes his interpersonal attitude paralanguage, as discussed in section “Evaluation (interpersonal semovergent paralanguage)” above (Fig. 39).

 

In the second she mimes his ideational motion paralanguage as she twice gestures  leaving (the second time including a textual pointing gesture) (Figs. 40 and 41). 

The third time his motion gesture is mimed in fact concurs with language (Fig. 42). 

As we can see, the two miming segments are heavily co-textualised by language that makes explicit what is going on. The orientation to the narrative introduces the recurrent problem of someone following the vlogger in a parking lot and waiting for her to leave. The miming segments are themselves introduced with the incomplete tone group // he was like... //, with a missing tonic segment. The vlogger then mimes the expected information, before making it linguistically explicit in a tone group converging with the third iteration of the gesture.

Setting aside pantomime (the ‘art of silence’ Marcel Marceau referred to it), we can predict that co-textualisation of this kind is a generalisable pattern as far as semovergent paralanguage in the absence of language is concerned. What the moment of mime does not provide as far as language is concerned, the immediately preceding and following co-text does provide. So the convergent nature of semovergent paralanguage is clear.

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading, and motivated by the authors' desire to match data to theory — their claim that the tone group provides an essential unit of analysis for work on paralanguage — rather than to use data to encode theory, and theory to decode data.  To be clear, there are two miming segments where language might have been.  That is, the authors could just as easily have said there are two miming segments where clauses might have been, but this would not have matched their hypothesis.

[2] To be clear, the authors have previously (p21) defined mime as semiosis that does not accompany language:

In terms of our model mime is semovergent paralanguage that does not accompany language, an apparent contradiction in terms.

Nevertheless, here they present mime as semiosis that does accompany language.

[3] To be clear, the vlogger mimes the body language of her non-speaking "parking spot assailant".  In doing so, on Cléirigh's original model, she deploys epilinguistic body language ("semovergent paralanguage") to mime the protolinguistic body language of the frustrated motorist.  This is analogous to deploying pictorial epilanguage to represent protolanguage.  That is, contrary to the authors' claim, the body language of the motorist is neither paralanguage nor semovergent.

[4] To be clear, on Cléirigh's original model, the vlogger, through her arm gestures, deploys epilinguistic body language ("semovergent paralanguage") in miming the epilinguistic body language of the frustrated motorist. And simultaneously, through her facial expressions, she again deploys epilinguistic body language ("semovergent paralanguage") in miming the protolinguistic body language of the frustrated motorist.

[5] To be clear, unknown to the authors, this instance of language presents the meaning of the body language that immediately follows as the focus of New information.

[6] "Oh no it isn't!"  It was mime that Marcel Marceau referred to as the "art of silence", not pantomime. (Ordinarily, contrary to Kendon's use of the term, 'pantomime' refers to a type of musical comedy staged for family entertainment, especially around Christmas / New Year.)

[7] To be clear, here the authors claim that the "co-textualisation" of mime by language is what happens in the absence of language.

[8] Here the authors argue that the meanings not provided by mime "converge" with the meanings provided by language.  That is, the absence of meaning "converges" with meaning.