Keevallik, Hofstetter & Lindström have edited a special issue on how vocal and linguistic resources are used to instruct the body, published in Interactional Linguistics. Thank you to our wonderful collaborators for their excellent papers. Summaries of the texts can be found below:
Editorial abstract by Keevallik, Hofstetter, & Jan Lindström:
This special issue targets the relationship between language and the body, in cases where the local emergence of grammar and lexicon is embedded in trajectories of instruction. The contributions document how the body comes into use in sequences of verbal interaction, as well as how the language system systematically embraces the body. The natural habitat for grammar lies within a multimodal ecology of speakers engaging not only with each others’ mental spheres but also with each others’ bodies.
Summary of the special issue:
The studies collectively emphasize how vocal resources, including tokens and non-lexical vocalizations, are coordinated with the body as part of instructing and learning different kinds of movement and action. The issue covers a wide range of activities where instructions are relevant, with the papers studying a variety of languages (English, Finnish, Japanese, Spanish & Turkish, also with short analysis of extracts in Estonian and Swedish).
Oliver Ehmer https://doi.org/10.1075/il.25001.ehm presents an analysis of how instructors of Argentine tango use an embodied arrangement in tandem with a non-lexical vocalization to describe and then demonstrate the precise moment of achieving an instructed action. This two-part structure foregrounds what the instructed action is, and then marks it clearly with the body and voice in synchrony.
Eiko Yasui https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24010.yas analyzes the Japanese interjection yoisho, as used in dance instruction. Instructors use this word to highlight the use of force in their movements, and coordinate when the students should employ a forceful motion. It also allows the instructors to express an intercorporeal connection between student and instructor.
Antti Kannisto, Samu Pehkonen, Maria Frick https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24009.kan demonstrate how an idiomatic phrase in Finnish, ole hyvä (roughly, ‘please’) functions in directives by police officers. In particular, the ole hyvä phrase can mark collaboration, upgrade a directive in the face of resistance, and highlight when previous directives were ignored.
Misao Okada https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24011.oka examines how the Japanese particle ‘hai’ (‘yes’) is used in boxing sparring sessions. The particle allows coaches to mark achievement of a necessary action with the correct timing, but also note when actions (in this case, shifts to a different form of attack) should be initiated. The study explores the difference between timings and the role of acknowledging student action as compared to instructing.
Ann Weatherall & Ann Doehring https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24014.wea present an analysis of how students in self-defence classes build shouted phrases into multimodal gestalts of defensive moves. The phrases help to structure the timing of the physical actions, both in demonstrating and for students then practicing. The choral production of the phrase and defensive motions subsequently help to tie the gestalt together into a habituated technique.
Burak Tekin https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24018.tek examines how studio photographers instruct their subjects into certain poses. The organization of multiple bodies into specific postures requires the photographer to both verbally and physically instruct their subjects (and clients), producing ‘tactile instructions’. The nature of agency as an embodied concern is explored.
Non-lexical vocalizations 