Chief Pointing-Eye: Multiarticulatory Metaphorical Gestures Expressing High

Abstract

This paper rests upon the simple assumption that people move in various ways when speaking and that some of these movements are intended and meaningful - they are gestures. As the hands’ possibility to perform gesture is widely accepted and comparably well represented in the literature, other articulators will be focused upon in this study. In a conversation, several articulators can be in motion at the same time. In these synchronous movements, articulators group according to the meaning they convey. In these articulator units there can be articulators which are hardly noticed while one or more parts of the unit are salient. In a gesture with a strong directionality, for example, the eye can be the most salient part in a group of articulators - you may then call it “Chief Pointing-Eye”. The work’s main substance lies in the manner how the articulators create meaning together. This paper focuses on their capability to produce three different conceptual metaphors in 1.2 seconds. Further, the message they convey not only includes personal expression, appeals to the interlocutor and describes things in the world, but also shows the relations between these three parties. Finally, the question whether the bodily re-enactment of these relations is a miniature of attitude or even emotion will be raised.