What Semovergent Paralanguage Does

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 25):

semovergent systems construe ideational meaning, enact interpersonal meaning and compose textual meaning convergently with the discourse semantics of language (and its realisation through lexi[c]ogrammar).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the claim here is that semovergent paralanguage (Cléirigh's epilinguistic body language) and discourse semantics construe the same ideational meaning; that is to say, that semovergent paralanguage instantiates the meanings of Martin's systems of IDEATION (experiential) and CONNEXION (logical).  There are two main problems with this claim:

Firstly, as previously demonstrated, the authors have not provided any evidence in support of the claim.  Secondly, Martin's two systems, IDEATION and CONNEXION, are his rebrandings of Halliday & Hasan's (1976) LEXICAL COHESION and COHESIVE CONJUNCTION, which are grammatical, not semantic, and textual in metafunction, not ideational.

[2] To be clear, the claim here is that semovergent paralanguage and discourse semantics enact the same interpersonal meaning; that is to say, that semovergent paralanguage instantiates the meanings of Martin's systems of NEGOTIATION and APPRAISAL.  There is one main problem with this claim:

As previously demonstrated, the authors have not provided any evidence in support of the claim.  That is, there are no instances of gestures realising NEGOTIATION features, and the gestures presented as realising APPRAISAL features are protolinguistic, not epilinguistic (semovergent).

[3] To be clear, the claim here is that semovergent paralanguage and discourse semantics compose the same textual meaning; that is to say, that semovergent paralanguage instantiates the meanings of Martin's systems of IDENTIFICATION and PERIODICITY. There are two main problems with this claim:

Firstly, as previously demonstrated, the authors have not provided any evidence in support of the claim.  That is to say, there are no instances of gestures realising the introduction of entities and their tracking through the discourse, and there are no instances of gestures realising macro-Themes, hyper-Themes, hyper-News or macro-News.

Secondly, Martin's system of IDENTIFICATION is his rebranding of Halliday & Hasan's (1976) COHESIVE REFERENCE, which is a grammatical system, not a semantic system; and Martin's system of PERIODICITY is writing pedagogy misunderstood as textual semantics.

[4] To be clear, Martin (1992) provides no specifications on how his discourse semantic systems are realised in lexicogrammatical systems.

Multiple Dimensions Of Paralanguage Converging On The Same Tone Group

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 20, 16):

Although presented as a simple taxonomy, all five subtypes of paralanguage can combine with one another in support of a single tone group (Fig. 38). 

Several examples of multiple dimensions of paralanguage converging on the same tone group were in fact presented above (for example, the combination of motion towards the future and pointing deixis in Example (19) of section “representation (ideational semovergent paralanguage)”). 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, this is Cléirigh's original model misleadingly presented as if it is a claim of the authors.

[2] As previous posts have demonstrated, this is not true of epilinguistic body language ("semovergent paralanguage"), which can be instantiated with or without language.  The authors have tried to mislead the reader, in this regard, by simply presenting all the text accompanying body language with tone group boundaries (//).

[3] For the misunderstandings and misrepresentations involved in the authors' analysis of this instance, see the two previous posts:

• Gestural Motion "Supporting" Direction In Space Or Time
• Introducing And Tracking Entities Through Finger Pointing

The Semovergent Paralanguage Of PERIODICITY

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 19-20, 22-3):

As noted in sections “Sonovergent paralanguage and Information flow (textual semovergent paralanguage)” above however the vlogger does end the episode with a contrasting high then lowered pitch (Fig. 35). The higher pitch penultimate tone group begins rhythmically speaking with a handclap foot and then a foot comprising the ‘filler’ / um /.

This is followed by the low pitch tone group; the vlogger is winding down. Following this there is a suspension of both language and paralanguage as her the vlogger’s eyes shut and her head slumps forward (Fig. 36).

The preceding episode to the one we are using to explore sonovergence here ends in a similar way (lowered pitch, with eyes shut, head down) (Fig. 37). So shutting down language and paralanguage and handing over to somasis is clearly a strategy for punctuating longer waves of discourse. It is at these points that the vlogger cuts from one filmic segment to the next (as she thinks of something more to say).

Blogger Comments:

[1] As previously explained here, in this instance, the authors mistook a (misanalysed) sequence of tones (language) as voice quality (paralanguage).  On Cléirigh's original model, any gestures consistent with the tone choices are instances of linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage), not epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage), the concern of the present discussion.

[2] Here again, as above, the authors mistake a tone choice for paralanguage, and mistake the "sonovergent" gestures that are "in tune" with the pitch movement as "semovergent".

[3] The unarguable claim here is that ending discourse ('shutting down language and paralanguage and handing over to somasis') is one way ('strategy') of ending discourse ('punctuating longer waves of discourse').

∞

More to the point, the authors are here claiming to present paralinguistic examples of "longer waves of discourse".  In Martin & Rose (2007: 187-218), these are modelled in terms of:

• macro-Theme (introductory paragraph),
• hyper-Theme (topic sentence),
• hyper-New (paragraph summary), and
• macro-New (text summary).

To be clear, the authors have not identified any of the above in the text, and have not identified any semovergent paralanguage "in sync" with them.  Instead, the authors have merely mistaken intonation as paralanguage, and interpreted the unmarked tone for declaratives, tone 1 (and accompanying gestures) as "punctuating" a longer (unnamed) wave of discourse, while ignoring all the other instances of tone 1 (and accompanying gestures) at "non-punctuating" points in the discourse.

Again, the authors have tried to fit the data to their theory, instead of using theory to account for data.

The Claim That Units Of Speech Rhythm Realise Elements Of Writing Pedagogy

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 19-20, 22-3):

As far as longer wave lengths of information flow are concerned,²³ our vlogger is seated and so whole body movement from one location to another is not a factor (as it would be for example for a lecturer roaming to and fro across a stage; cf. Hood 2011).

²³ van Leeuwen (1985, 1992) and Martinec (2002) argue that SFL’s phonological hierarchy can be pushed up several wave lengths beyond the tone group and their work suggests that higher level rhythm would converge with higher level periodicity in Martin's framework.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, the claim here is that proposed higher level phonological units "converge" with Martin's discourse semantic functions of macro-Theme, hyper-Theme, hyper-New and macro-New.  There are several obvious theoretical inconsistencies here.

The over-arching inconsistency is that the authors are proposing that patterns of speech rhythm correspond to pedagogical suggestions on how to write.  This is because Martin's four discourse semantic functions are actually rebrandings of introductory paragraph, topic sentence, paragraph summary and text summary, as previously explained.

A second inconsistency is that speech rhythm can only identify potential New information, and bears no systematic relation to thematicity.

A third inconsistency is that the use of gesture to realise New information is linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage), not epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage).

A fourth inconsistency is the matching of structural units (wavelengths beyond the tone group) with elements of structure (Themes and News).

A fifth inconsistency, in the authors' own terms, is the use of their term for a relation between the same stratum of different semiotic systems, converge, for an interstratal relation within language.

Introducing And Tracking Entities Through Finger Pointing

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 19, 21-2):

As far as pointing deixis is concerned we can return to the examples contrasting past and future in sections “Sonovergent paralanguage" and "Representation (ideational semovergent paralanguage)” above. Alongside motioning to the past the vlogger’s hand points there. And alongside motioning to the future both the vlogger’s index fingers point there (Figs. 33 and 34).

 

Blogger Comments:

[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 not analysed for tone or for foot boundaries, and wrongly analysed for tonicity (the tonic falls on next, not time).

The Need For A Metalanguage For Facial Expression

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 18, 29):

Further work on this interpersonal aural dimension of paralanguage, drawing on van Leeuwen 1999, is beyond the scope of our current research.²¹ 

²¹ We also need to acknowledge that a metalanguage for facial expression, in some sense comparable in specificity to SFL work on attitude in the APPRAISAL framework, remains to be developed.

Blogger Comments:

To be clear, in Cléirigh's original model of body language, facial expressions can function:

1. protolinguistically (e.g. realising emotions), 
2. linguistically (e.g. realising features of KEY), or 
3. epilinguistically (e.g. realising 'uncertain' MODALITY). 

The authors (p29), however, have dismissed the notion of protolinguistic body language, on a misunderstanding, as previously demonstrated here, and reinterpreted it as either non-semiotic behaviour ("somasis") — which they nevertheless interpret as if semiotic — or as interpersonal epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage).

The Semovergent Paralanguage Of ENGAGEMENT

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 18, 20, 21):

Turning to ENGAGEMENT, Hood notes the significance of hand position as far as supporting the expansion and contraction of heteroglossia is concerned – with supine hands opening up dialogism and prone hands closing it down. In the following example the vlogger’s supine hands converge with the modalisation probably, reinforcing acknowledgement of the viewers voice (Fig. 31).

 

Two moves later the hands flip over to prone position in support of the negative move shutting down the expectation that the vlogger was in control of the new colour of her hair (Fig. 32).

Blogger Comments:

[1] This is misleading; the speaker's handshape does not "converge" with modalisation probably. To be clear, the speaker's handshape is timed with the tonic hair.  The timing of the gesture thus instantiates textual linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage), highlighting hair as the focus of New information.  On this basis, the handshape instantiates ideational epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage), realising hair.

In this first instance, the authors have again tried to make the data fit their theory, instead of using the data as a resource for theorising.

[2] This is misleading; the speaker's hands are not in a prone position — lying flat, palm downwards — in this instance.  Instead, each hand has the tips of the thumb and curved forefinger touching to form a horizontal circle, with the other fingers below them and similarly curved.  This handshape is consistent with holding an object, such as a bottle of hair dye, which would be an instance of ideational epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage).

In this second instance, the authors have again tried to make the data fit their theory, instead of using the data as a resource for theorising.

As in the first instance above, the gestures also realise the meanings of linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage).  In terms of the textual metafunction, both hands beat down on the salient syllables not and find, highlighting both Finite and Predicator, and then on the tonic hair, marking  the Complement hair dye as the focus of New information.  In terms of the interpersonal metafunction, both hands stay level for the tonic segment (hair dye that I), in line with the level/low-rising tone choice (tone 3).  (Note that this tone group is incorrectly analysed as tone 4 by Smith, which, with declarative MOOD, would realise the KEY meaning 'reservation'.)

Lastly, the reader may also want to consider why the speaker would need to shut down the possibility of other points of view on the proposition I could not find the hair dye that I bought previously when I dyed my hair.

De-Centring Postures To Soften Focus (Hao and Hood)

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 17-8, 20):

Hao and Hood (in press). draw attention to the use of what they call de-centering postures to soften focus, using the example of a shoulder shrug converging with fairly non-contractile in a biology lecture. The paralinguistic generalisation here would appear to be loss of equilibrium – e.g. asymmetrical facial expression, out of kilter posture or a rotating prone hand (interpretable as between prone and supine). Clear examples in our data are the faces the vlogger pulls as she struggles to name her skin condition in the second tone group below, the second of which is accompanied by two shakes of her head (Fig. 30).

// anyway
//^ ‘it was / some / granuloma /: / /^ / something
// I don’t know- it’s / called- it’s
// some sort of / skin thing //

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, FOCUS is a system of GRADUATION in the system of APPRAISAL.  However, fairly non-contractile is not an appraisal (of muscles), since no assessment is made of them in terms of AFFECT, APPRECIATION or JUDGEMENT.  Since there is no appraisal, there is no graduation of appraisal, and since there is no graduation of appraisal, there is no focusing of appraisal, and since there is no focusing of appraisal, there is no softening of the focus of appraisal.

Here Hao and Hood have made the same fundamental error as Martin, confusing intensification, in general, with intensification in the APPRAISAL system.  This is hardly surprising, given that Hao is Martin's former student and Hood is Martin's current de facto.

Further, the characterisation of a shoulder shrug as 'de-centring' misrepresents the bodily movement in order to align it with the meaning 'soften focus'; in other words, the data is being made to fit the theory, instead of the reverse.

Moreover, the characterisation of a shoulder shrug as meaning 'soften focus' is at odds with its interpretation by the general community.  For example, the (epilinguistic) pictorial representation of a shoulder shrug has been decoded as follows:

The person shrugging emoji can designate ignorance, indifference, self-acceptance, passive-aggression, annoyance, giving up, or not knowing what to make of something. It could also be a visual form of the one-word response of indifference, “whatever.”

[2] To be clear, here the authors have generalised 'loss of equilibrium realises softening of focus' from a gesture (shrug) which doesn't constitute a loss of equilibrium and which doesn't realise a softening of the focus of an appraisal.

[3] To be clear, here the authors propose, without supporting argument, that a rotating hand, balanced between prone and supine in orientation, constitutes a loss of equilibrium.

[4] To be clear, naming a skin condition does not constitute an appraisal, and so there is no graduation of appraisal in this instance to be softened.

In Cléirigh's original model of epilinguistic body language, any postures and gestures that signify uncertainty — the speaker's next words were "I don't know what it's called — are realisations of MODALITY: MODALISATION: probability.  

Moreover, in this example, the speaker's face instantiates linguistic body language ("sonovergent" paralanguage), with her eyebrows rising with the pitch (tone 2) on the tonic something, signifying the general meaning of tone 2: 'polarity unknown'.

Mistaking Ideational Intensification For Interpersonal Intensification (Graduation)

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 17, 18):

Turning to GRADUATION, as noted by Hood (2011) the size of hand shapes and the range of hand/arm motion can be used to support graded language. In the following example the sweeping extent of the hand/arm motion resonates with the large quantity of hair dye in stock (whole stack) (Fig. 27).

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, here the authors confuse the general notion of intensification with a specific type of intensification: the graduation of attitude.  In this instance of language, there is no graduation of attitude because there is no attitude being expressed.  This is because attitude is a system of interpersonal assessment  and here no interpersonal assessment is being made.  That is, the extending post-Deictic whole does not assess the Thing stack by reference to positive or negative values of emotion, ethics or æsthetics, for example.

On the other hand, the speaker's positive evaluation of the re-stocking of her favourite hair dye is instantiated protolinguistically, with the emotion expressed through facial expressions.

[2] Here again the word 'support' demonstrates that the authors are concerned with matching body language expressions with language content, instead of body language content — a confusion which leads them to falsely conclude (p28) that paralanguage is a system of the expression plane only, which realises the content of language, alongside phonology and graphology.

[3] To be clear, this iconic gesture is epilinguistic ("semovergent"), but it realises ideational meaning, a Quality of the stack, not an interpersonal assessment.  So, in the authors' terms, it "concurs" with the "verbiage", rather than "resonating" with it.

[4] Trivially, the authors mislead by gradually increasing the size of screenshots to misrepresent the degree of intensification.

An Epilinguistic Projection Of Protolinguistic Body Language

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 16, 18):

A good example of a combined face and body commitment of affect in the vlog we are drawing our examples from comes as the vlogger is complaining about being hassled for her parking spot before she is ready to leave. The relevant tone groups are presented below, and we will return to this example in our discussion of mime in section “Emblems” below. At this point we are simply interested in the way the vlogger’s facial expression and arm position are used to express the hassler’s exasperation (Fig. 26).

// some guy was sitting there
// and there was cars behind him
// and he was like
// [mimics man’s expression]
// [mimics man’s gesture] like
// waving me out //

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, in SFL theory, the relation between expression ('face and body') and content ('affect') is realisation, not commitment.  'Commitment' is Martin's misunderstanding of instantiation, as previously explained here.

[2] To be clear, the presentation of the data of tone groups is misleading.  These tone groups are not analysed for tone or tonicity, and there are no foot boundaries indicating the speech rhythm.  That is, the term 'tone group' is entirely redundant here, since the same point can be made by a simple transcript:

some guy was sitting there and there was cars behind him and he was like [mimics man’s expression] [mimics man’s gesture] like waving me out

The reason the term 'tone group' is used here is to give false support to the proposal (p3):

We will in fact suggest that SFL’s tone group, analysed for rhythm and tone, provides an essential unit of analysis for work on paralanguage as far as questions of synchronicity across modalities are concerned.

[3] To be clear, this expression of exasperation realises ATTITUDE, not because it expresses an emotion, but because the exasperation enacts an assessment (of the speaker by a motorist).

In terms of Cléirigh's original model, contrary to the authors' interpretation, the motorist's ATTITUDE is realised in protolinguistic body language, not epilinguistic body language ("semovergent" paralanguage).  The gesture is a manifestation of a conscious state that functions socio-semiotically.

The vlogger's mime of the motorist's body language, on the other hand, is an instance of epilinguistic body language in which she projects the motorist's protolinguistic body language that assesses her.

The Meaning Of A Smile

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 16, 17):

As outlined by Martin and White (2005) attitude may not be explicitly inscribed in language, but invoked by ideational choices a speaker expects a reaction to. We introduced an example of this in section “Sonovergent paralanguage” above, as the vlogger introduces the good news that her hair dye is back in stock at Target. Her smiling face makes explicit the affect that her language does not (Fig. 25).

Blogger Comments:

[1] This misrepresents the metafunctions as separate modules, instead of complementary perspectives on meaning.  Choices that invoke attitude are interpersonal choices.  Moreover, a speaker can "expect a reaction" to ideational meaning in the absence of attitude.

[2] Here again the authors deploy the logical fallacy of 'begging the question' (petitio principi), since they assume the point their argument needs to establish, namely that the speaker's smile realises an assessment: the goodness of the 'news that her hair dye is back in stock at Target' (the authors' interpretation, not the speaker's words).

To be clear, the speaker's smile coincides only with the word Target, on which the tonic falls, marking it as the focus of New information.  So the timing of the smile is an instance of linguistic body language (Martin's sonovergent body language), and functions textually.

This also means that, if an assessment is being realised by the smile, it is solely an assessment of Target.  However, no assessment is being made here, the smile simply realises the speaker's positive emotion, as will be argued below.

To be clear, a smile is a physiological process that manifests a state of consciousness: a token of a senser's sensing, to adapt Halliday & Matthiessen's (1999: 210) phrase.  On Cléirigh's model, such behaviours are the raw material from which protolanguage develops. For example, in rainbow lorikeets, semiotic expressions of anger function socio-semiotically as expressions of the regulatory microfunction ('I want you-&-me'), in Halliday's model of protolanguage.

On Cléirigh's model, the speaker's smile is thus interpreted as an instance of the personal microfunction of protolinguistic body language, realising a positive emotion.  By the same token, the speaker's eye gaze is interpreted as an instance of the interactional microfunction of protolinguistic body language, signifying engagement with the viewer.

		meaning	kinetic expression
action	regulatory	I want, refuse, threaten	ø eg raised fist, glower
	instrumental	give me, I invite you	ø eg extended hand
reflection	interactional	togetherness, bonding	ø eg mutual eye gaze
	personal	emotions	ø eg smiling face

(adapted from Matthiessen 2007: 5)

(Note that emoticons (emojis) are thus epilinguistic (pictorial) reconstruals of protolinguistic body language.)

So, contrary to the author's claims, the smile does not realise an attitudinal assessment (AFFECT), and constitutes an instance of protolinguistic body language, not epilinguistic body language ('semovergent paralanguage').

[3] As argued above, this is not true.  Moreover, if it were true, it would be an instance of 'semovergent paralanguage' "resonating" with what is not actually said.