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Article published In: Instructing Bodies
Edited by Leelo Keevallik, Emily Hofstetter and Jan Lindström
[Interactional Linguistics 5:1/2] 2025
► pp. 22–68

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Marking action accomplishment with non‑lexical vocalizations

ORCiD logo with link | Osnabrück University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 5 June 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/il.25001.ehm
Abstract
This paper analyzes how non-lexical vocalizations, understood as sounds and syllables without a coded lexical meaning, may be used to mark the accomplishment of an ongoing bodily action under scrutiny. In particular, a bipartite instructional format used in dance instruction in Argentine Spanish is considered. The first part of the format presents a verbal description of an embodied action (e.g. the leg goes first). The second part consists of a non-lexical vocalization (e.g. TAC) targeted to be produced in synchrony with an actual performance of the previously described action. Thus, the action description projects a bodily performance that is (expected to be) temporally coordinated with the vocalization. Depending on the instructional context, the bodily action is carried out by different participants. Whereas in ‘demonstrations’ the instructors perform the bodily action themselves, when used as a ‘local action directive’ the students are expected to perform it. The analysis will address differences in the multimodal realization of the format as well as specific functions in these two contexts. The general function of the vocalization — to signal the accomplishment of a currently focused action — will be argued to present a case of marking ‘aspectuality’ under the conditions of embodied interaction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Local and non-local action directives
    • 2.2Demonstrations and depictions
    • 2.3Non-lexical vocalizations
  • 3.Data
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2Collection
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Use in demonstrations
    • 4.2Use as a local action directive
  • 5.Summary and discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • 7.Annotation conventions
    • 7.1Verbal annotation
    • 7.2Multimodal annotation
    • 7.3Glossing conventions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (76)
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Extract 1. Entro con izquierda

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Extract 3. Simultáneo

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Extract 5. Boleá

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Extract 7. Barrera

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