Linguistics Encyclopedia.pdf

single bar junctures [see PHONEMICS] in the speech stream enhanced
the research upon kinemorphology and freed kinesics from the atomistic
amorphy of earlier studies dominated by ‘gestures’ and ‘sign’ language.
Birdwhistell provides the tentative table of kinemes of juncture shown below (ibid., p.
394).
Symbol Term Gross behavioral description
K# Double
cross
K// Double
bar
K## Triple
cross
Inferior movement of body part followed by ‘pause’. Terminates structural
string….
Superior movement of body part followed by ‘pause’. Terminates structural
strings….
Major shift in body activity (relative to customary performance). Normally
terminates strings marked by two or more K#s or K//s. However, in certain
instances K## may mark termination of a single item kinetic construction,
e.g., in auditor response, may exclude further discussion or initiate subject or
activity change.
K= Hold A portion of the body actively involved in construction performance projects
an arrested position while other junctural activity continues in other body
areas.
K/ Single
bar
The linguistics encyclopedia 320
Projected held position, followed by ‘pause’. Considerable idiosyncratic
variation in performance; ‘pause’ may be momentary lag in shift from body
part to body part in kinemorphic presentation or may involve full stop and
hold of entire body projection activity.
K. Tie A continuation of movement, thus far isolated only in displacement of
primary stress.
In addition to the junctural kinemes, Birdwhistell isolates several stress kinemes which
combine to form a set of suprasegmental kinemorphemes (ibid., p. 399). However, he
points out that it is not possible to establish an absolute relationship between kinetic
stresses and junctures and linguistic stress and intonation patterns.
Birdwhistell’s study referred to above is based on a two-party conversation, and it is
interesting that his observation of the links between intonation and kinetics, and between
linguistic and kinetic junctures is confirmed in Gosling’s (198la, 1981b) analysis of a
number of videotaped seminar discussions, that is, multiparty communicative events.
Gosling (1981b, p. 161) focuses on those ‘recurrent features of non-vocal behaviour
which …to be realisations of discourse function’ Kinetics is particularly important in the
study of multiparty discourse, because in many discourse situations of this type, a speaker
may address himself or herself to any one or more of the other participants at any one
time, so it is impossible from a sound recording alone to establish addressor-addressee
relations (1981b, p. 162), and one loses important clues, such as the establishment of eye
contact (ibid., p. 166), to how one speaker may select the next speaker, or to how an
interactant may bid for a turn at speaking.
Gosling therefore argues that it would be useful to establish kinesics as a formal
linguistics level which would include ‘all those meaningful gestures or sequences of