A Multimodal Analytical Approach to Chinese Interaction

Speaker

Dr Xiaoting Li, University of Alberta

Abstract

People utilize a variety of semiotic systems to produce talk and perform social actions in interaction. Sometimes, verbal and vocal behavior is the primary mode of communication such as in telephone conversation, while at other times bodily-visual conduct such as gesture, gaze, and posture may take on primacy; and perhaps even more often, verbal, vocal, and visual practices are orchestrated in nuanced ways to accomplish social action in interaction. In this talk, I present my research on the role of grammar, prosody, bodily-visual behavior, as well as their interplay in turn organization, syntactically incomplete turns, and in accomplishing directive actions, and functions of interpersonal touch in Mandarin face-to-face interaction. I will also present the research that other members of my Chinese Multimodality Lab and I have conducted.