Talking while Walking: Glimpses into the Moving Speech Situation

Talk by Karolin Obert, Lunds Universitet & University of Texas at Austin.

Motion and language are fundamental and intertwined facets of human perception and experience: we perceive our surroundings while moving and use language to talk about these experiences. Hence, language, and therefore the human mind, cannot be investigated to the fullest extent when isolated from moving experiences. Linguistics has until now extensively studied how humans talk about motion and has provided evidence for a great deal of diversity in how languages encode it in their lexicons and grammars (see e.g., Talmy 2000; Slobin 2004; Levinson & Wilkins 2006; Malt et al..2008; Beavers et al. 2010). However, the impact of motion on language remains underexplored. Yet, moving situations differ significantly from static ones in that they are dynamic, and, hence, play a key role in our understanding of linguistic and cognitive processes and diversity. That is, walking through an environment exposes us to everchanging affordances, complex motor activities, and to a dynamic stream of sensory information. Since linguistic conventions are, in part, contingent on such affordances and perceptions that the world presents us with (e.g., Evans & Green 2006; Barsalou 2020), in this talk I provide fresh insights into how language can be shaped by the unique perceptual and dynamic nature of mobility. Based on a study of mobile speech situations among speakers of Dâw and Nadëb (Naduhup, Amazonia), I will present specific aspects of language use during mobile conversations including strategies of spatial reference, adapted discourse patterns, and the use of gesture. Finally, I hope to show how this mobile arena opens up new pathways for theorizing how the external world — through movement, affordances, and shifting perceptual fields — may shape language use.

Bio

Karolin Obert er leder af ERC-projektet Walk and Talk og adjunkt ved Lunds Universitet og University of Texas at Austin. Hendes forskning integrerer sprogdokumentation, lingvistisk typologi, historisk lingvistik og lingvistisk antropologi, og hun fokuserer især på kodning af landskab, rum og bevægelse i truede naduhup-sprog talt af jæger-samler-samfund i det nordvestlige Amazonas (Brasilien). Et metodisk særtræk ved hendes feltlingvistiske studier er at hun undersøger sproglige træk i samtaler der udfolder sig mens samtalepartnerne bevæger sig gennem deres geografiske omgivelser.