Keevallik and Ogden have edited a special issue on Sounds on the margins of language – non-lexical vocalizations, response cries, whistles, breathing, and other ‘liminal signs’ (as Dingemanse writes in his discussant review of the special issue).
Abstract:
What do people do with sniffs, lip-smacks, grunts, moans, sighs, whistles, and clicks, where these are not part of their language’s phonetic inventory? They use them, we shall show, as irreplaceable elements in performing all kinds of actions—from managing the structural flow of interaction to indexing states of mind and much more besides. In this introductory essay we outline the phonetic and embodied interactional underpinnings of language and argue that greater attention should be paid to its nonlexical elements. Data are in English and Estonian.
Special Issue Table of Contents:
Keevallik, L. & Ogden, R. Sounds on the margins of language at the heart of interaction.
Pehkonen, S. Response Cries Inviting an Alignment: Finnish huh huh
Hofstetter, E. Nonlexical “Moans”: Response Cries in Board Game Interactions
Ogden, R. Audibly Not Saying Something with Clicks
Li, X. Click-Initiated Self-Repair in Changing the Sequential Trajectory of Actions-in-Progress
Hoey, E. Waiting to Inhale: On Sniffing in Conversation
Mondada, L. Audible Sniffs: Smelling-in-Interaction
Reber, E. & Couper-Kuhlen, E. On “Whistle” Sound Objects in English Everyday Conversation
Dingemanse, M. Between Sound and Speech: Liminal Signs in Interaction
Non-lexical vocalizations 