Multimodal meaning-maki ng
‘Mmmm’ may not be considered by many people to be a wor d in the English language. But the vocal production of a sound as sim ple as the four Ms (‘mmmm’) incorporated in the title of this lec ture can certainly be used communicatively. If accompanied by differe nt intonation contours, it can even express different ideas. In certa in contexts, it may be accompanied by eyebrow raising or, on the cont rary, squinting, or manual gestures for elaboration. Saying ‘mmmm� � is an act that cannot only potentially be heard and seen by others, but also felt proprioceptively by the producer. It is this embodied experience of human expression that is the focal point of the valedic tory speech of professor of Language Use & Cognition and English Linguistics Alan Cienki.
Cienki will give special consideration to some of the research he has conducted since the 1990s on spoken l anguage and gesture. The starting point was the cognitive question of how gestures may reflect aspects of the ideas speakers are trying to express. This has led to broader theoretical considerations of what constitutes semantics and pragmatics, and the expansion of his academ ic interests from the field of linguistics to what can be called poly semiotic communication. Supervision of PhD candidates has broadened h is horizons to include exploration of the aesthetic value of potentia lly communicative movements as well as research on communication with non-human animals. Ultimately, the lecture will lead to deconstructi ng the terms in the title, as each of the parts (multi-, modal, meani ng, and making) will be shown to be complex in its own way.
DESCRIPTION: ‘Mmmm’ may not be considered by many people to be a w ord in the English language. But the vocal production of a sound as s imple as the four Ms (‘mmmm’) incorporated in the title of this l ecture can certainly be used communicatively. If accompanied by diffe rent intonation contours, it can even express different ideas. In cer tain contexts, it may be accompanied by eyebrow raising or, on the co ntrary, squinting, or manual gestures for elaboration. Saying ‘mmmm ’ is an act that cannot only potentially be heard and seen by other s, but also felt proprioceptively by the producer. It is this embodie d experience of human expression that is the focal point of the valed ictory speech of professor of Language Use & Cognition and Englis h Linguistics Alan Cienki. Cienki will give special consideration to some of the research he has conducted since the 1990s on spoken langu age and gesture. The starting point was the cognitive question of how gestures may reflect aspects of the ideas speakers are trying to exp ress. This has led to broader theoretical considerations of what cons titutes semantics and pragmatics, and the expansion of his academic i nterests from the field of linguistics to what can be called polysemi otic communication. Supervision of PhD candidates has broadened his h orizons to include exploration of the aesthetic value of potentially communicative movements as well as research on communication with non -human animals. Ultimately, the lecture will lead to deconstructing t he terms in the title, as each of the parts (multi-, modal, meaning, and making) will be shown to be complex in its own way. Multimodal me aning-making END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR