L2 Finnish learners´ multimodal constructions with pointing gestures and verbal identifications
Keywords:
interactional linguistics, L2 Finnish, multimodal construction, pointing gestureAbstract
This article examines the pointing gestures and verbalizations used by l2 finnish learners to identify
an object in a classroom role-play shopping exercise. In the data, a pointing gesture is typically used
in conjunction with a demonstrative pronoun or a noun. Identifications containing a demonstrative
pronoun always include a pointing gesture in the data, and the gesture can be seen as an obligatory part
of the construction. However, combination of a gesture and a noun are more frequent, and in such cases
a gesture is not obligatory on a lexical semantic level. My data shows that it serves certain pragmatic
functions that can be especially salient in a language learning situation: beat-like pointing gestures
strengthen the impression of the cognitive reality of the combination as a unit, and pointing gestures are
also used as a primary resource to do repair. The usage of a pointing gesture in all kinds of verbal identifications
as well as its recurrency indicate a conventionalization of the combination. A pointing gesture
can be seen as a part of the identification construction; it can be obligatory or voluntary depending on
the interactional situation as well as the linguistic elements of speech used.
