Cover not available

Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 12:1 (2022) ► pp.23–45

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Gestural metaphorical scenarios and coming out narratives

 | Adam Mickiewicz University
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

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

Published online: 11 February 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.20023.dyr
Abstract
This article extends the framework of metaphorical scenarios proposed by Musolff (Musolff, A. (2006). Metaphor scenarios in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 21(1), 23–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, (2016). Political metaphor analysis: Discourse and scenarios. Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) by adding a gestural component. Coming out videos, serving as the source of data for the present analysis, help to uncover the conceptual mechanisms that shape the understanding and conceptualisation of this phenomenon. The extended framework of gestural metaphorical scenarios reveals that conceptual metaphors create cognitively and communicatively coherent wholes that are expressed multimodally, via speech and gesture. The article proposes that coming out, a highly individualised process, is conceptualised at various levels by both generic and specific metaphors. The analysis shows that metaphorical variation is present not only at the level of lexical scenarios, but also at the level of gesture, giving rise to multimodal discourse fragments. The extended framework, therefore, might be useful in analysing multimodal discourse.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Selection procedure
    • 1.2Ethics of the study
  • 2.Metaphoricity and gesture
    • 2.1Conceptual metaphor theory and multimodality
    • 2.2Metaphorical scenarios
  • 3.Gesture: Definitions and functions
    • 3.1Features of gestural metaphorical scenarios
      • 3.1.1Mode of expression
      • 3.1.2Level of control
      • 3.1.3Role in discourse structure
      • 3.1.4Role in conceptualisation
        • Metaphorical variation
        • Variation within gestural metaphorical scenarios
        • Variation in gesture form
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
References (63)
References
Beattie, G., & Sale, L. (2012). Do metaphoric gestures influence how a message is perceived? The effects of metaphoric gesture-speech matches and mismatches on semantic communication and social judgment. Semiotica, 2012(192), 77–98. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brookes, H. (2005). What gestures do: Some communicative functions of quotable gestures in conversations among Black urban South Africans. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(12), 2044–2085. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Calbris, G. (2008). From left to right…: Coverbal gestures and their symbolic use of space. In A. Cienki & C. Müller (Eds.), Gesture Studies, 31, 27–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Calero, C. I., Shalom, D. E., Spelke, E. S., & Sigman, M. (2019). Language, gesture, and judgment: Children’s paths to abstract geometry. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1771, 70–85. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casasanto, D., & Jasmin, K. (2012). The hands of time: Temporal gestures in English speakers. Cognitive Linguistics, 23(4), 643–674. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chui, K. (2011). Conceptual metaphors in gesture. Cognitive Linguistics, 22(3), 437–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cienki, A. (2008). Why study metaphor and gesture? In A. Cienki & C. Müller (Eds.), Gesture Studies 31 (pp.5–25). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Cognitive Linguistics, gesture studies, and multimodal communication. Cognitive Linguistics, 27(4), 603–618. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabiszak, M., & Olszewska, E. (2018). Axiological ambivalence of conceptual imagery in visual communication: Commemoration architecture and 3D art. Language, Mind, Culture and Society, 21, 104–131.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, C. J. (1975). An alternative to checklist theories of Meaning. Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 123–131Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C. J. (2009). Chapter 2. Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research. In C. J. Forceville, E. Urios-Aparisi, (Eds.), Applications of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 19–44). Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs, R. W. (2019). Metaphor as dynamical–ecological performance. Metaphor and Symbol, 34(1), 33–44. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halwani, R. (2002). Outing and virtue ethics. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 19(2), 141–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hostetter, A. B. (2011). When do gestures communicate? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137(2), 297–315. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jelec, A. (2019). Chapter 4. Are abstract concepts grounded in bodily mimesis? In M. Bolognesi & G. J. Steen (Eds.), Human Cognitive Processing (pp.75–99). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, M. (2018). The aesthetics of meaning and thought: The bodily roots of philosophy, science, morality, and art. The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kendon, A. (1992). Some recent work from Italy on ‘Quotable gestures (Emblems)’. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2(1), 92–108. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Kinesic components of multimodal utterances. Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 35(2), 36–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kimbara, I. (2008). Gesture form convergence in joint description. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 32(2), 123–131. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ladewig, S. H., & Bressem, J. (2013). New insights into the medium hand: Discovering recurrent structures in gestures. Semiotica, 2013(197), 203–231. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ladewig, Silva H. (2014). The cyclic gesture. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill & J. Bressem (Eds.), Body-Language-Communication: An International Hand- book on Multimodality in Human Interaction. Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (pp.1605–1618). Mouton De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to Western thought. Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lederer, J. (2015). Exploring the metaphorical models of transgenderism. Metaphor and Symbol, 30(2), 95–117. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Littlemore, J. (2003). The effect of cultural background on metaphor interpretation. Metaphor and Symbol, 18(4), 273–288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Metaphors in the mind: Sources of variation in embodied metaphor. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McNeill, D. (2005). Gesture and thought. University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Gesture and communication. In J. L. Mey (Ed.), Concise encyclopedia of pragmatics, Elsevier, 299–307.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Gesture as a window onto mind and brain, and the relationship to linguistic relativity and ontogenesis. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. Ladewig, D. McNeill & S. Tessendorf (Ed.), Boldy-Language-Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science. Mouton De Gruyter, 28–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mittelberg, I. (2019). Visuo-kinetic signs are inherently metonymic: How embodied metonymy motivates forms, functions, and schematic patterns in gesture. Frontiers in Psychology, 101, 2541, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Multimodal existential constructions in German: Manual actions of giving as experiential substrate for grammatical and gestural patterns. Linguistics Vanguard, 3(s1) Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Molnar, I. (2018). A case study on coming out: Theoretical and practical implications for psychological counselling. Journal of Experimental Psychotherapy, 21(3), 51–59.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2004). Forms and uses of the Palm Up Open Hand: A case of a gesture family? In C. Müller & R. Posner (Eds.), The Semantics and Pragmatics of Everyday Gestures (pp.233–256). Weidler.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2008). Metaphors dead and alive, sleeping and waking: A dynamic view. The University of Chicago Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). Waking metaphors: Embodied cognition in multimodal discourse. In: B. Hampe (Ed.), Metaphor (pp. 297–316). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Gesture and sign: Cataclysmic break or dynamic relations? Frontiers in Psychology, 91, 1651. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C., & Tag, S. (2010). The dynamics of metaphor: Foregrounding and activating metaphoricity in conversational interaction. Cognitive Semiotics, 61, 85–120. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Müller, C. (2013). Gestures as a medium of expression: The linguistic potential of gestures. In C. Müller, A. Cienki, & E. Fricke (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction (pp.201–217). Mouton De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Musolff, A. (2006). Metaphor scenarios in public discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 21(1), 23–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2016). Political metaphor analysis: Discourse and scenarios. Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pouw, W. T. J. L., de Nooijer, J. A., van Gog, T., Zwaan, R. A., & Paas, F. (2014). Toward a more embedded/extended perspective on the cognitive function of gestures. Frontiers in Psychology, 51, 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Putnam, H. (1975). Mind, language and reality: Philosophical papers, Vol. II. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reddy, M. J. ([1979] 1993). The conduit metaphor: A case of frame conflict in our language about language. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (pp.164–201). Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scott, D. T. (2018). ‘Coming out of the closet’ – examining a metaphor. Annals of the International Communication Association, 42(3), 145–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Son, J. Y., Ramos, P., DeWolf, M., Loftus, W., & Stigler, J. W. (2018). Exploring the practicing-connections hypothesis: Using gesture to support coordination of ideas in understanding a complex statistical concept. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 3(1), 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Spitzer, M. (2004). Metaphor and musical thought. Chicago: The University of Chicago. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Steen, G. (2017). Deliberate Metaphor Theory: Basic assumptions, main tenets, urgent issues. Intercultural Pragmatics, 14(1), 1–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J., Sternberg, K., & Mio, J. S. (2012). Cognitive psychology (6th ed). Wadsworth.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szwedek, A. (2011). The ultimate source domain. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 9(2), 341–366. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thiering, M. (2011). Figure-ground reversal in language. Gestalt Theory, 33(3–4), 245–276.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veale, T. (2008). Figure-ground duality in humour: A multi-modal perspective. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 4(1), 63–81. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zlatev, J. (2018). Mimesis theory, learning, and polysemiotic communication. In M. A. Peters (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (10)

Cited by ten other publications

Dyrmo, Tomasz, Katarzyna Jankowiak & Patrycja Kakuba
2025. On the role of space–valence congruency in bilingual orientational metaphor processing. Language and Cognition 17 DOI logo
O’Dowd, Niamh A
2024. The potential of creative uses of metonymy for climate protest. Discourse & Society 35:3 ► pp. 360 ff. DOI logo
Inya, Onwu
2023. ‘This app is evil forest true true’: metaphor-based metadiscursive evaluations of Twitter by Nigerians. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 38:4 ► pp. 1582 ff. DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2022. A multilevel cognitive model of coming out. Prace Językoznawcze 24:4 ► pp. 27 ff. DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2023. Levels of metaphor in gesture. Pragmatics & Cognition 30:2 ► pp. 330 ff. DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2023. Metaphors of coming out in Polish: A cognitive linguistic approach. Topics in Linguistics 24:1 ► pp. 94 ff. DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2024. Figurativeness of the Japanese flag. Review of Cognitive Linguistics DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2024. Image schemas in gestural metaphorical scenarios of swearing. Multimodal Communication 13:2 ► pp. 117 ff. DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2025. Secrets in motion. Narrative Inquiry DOI logo
Dyrmo, Tomasz
2025. Extending extended conceptual metaphor theory: rethinking levels, modalities, and meaning-making. Cognitive Semiotics 18:1 ► pp. 23 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue