Chapter 23. “Voices” and bodies

According to interactional and dialogic linguistics, utterances may be seen as complex constructions in which alternate “voices”, more or less identifiable in reported speech, or less transparent as in polyphony may be heard. As vocal changes had been established in reported speech, it was hypothesized that shifts in facial expressions, gesture or posture paralleling shifts of footing might also be found. The analysis of videotaped data showed that two distinct formats: reported speech and polyphony in perspective shifts co-occurred with relevant nonverbal cues. Based on the degree of variation of accompanying vocal and visual parameters, three relevant types (‘underplayed’, ‘animated’ and ‘lively’) were found in reported speech. Perspective shifts were found to start with a pause, a shift in the speaker’s posture (head tilt) and pitch range variation. Two distinct cases of perspective shifts were found, whether the speaker became (–gaze) or remained (+gaze), possibly indicating quite different mental forms of perspective shifts.