A multi-modal ethnopoetic analysis (Part 1): Text, gesture, and environment in Japanese spatial narrative

In this paper, I examine the interplay of language-specific factors and socio-cognitive motivations for the poetic construction of language and gesture in Japanese spatial narrative. By employing an ethnopoetic approach and analyzing the text, the body, and the environment in conjunction with the thematic cohesion via “catchment” [McNeill, D., 2004. Gesture and Thought. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago], I argue that speakers coordinately cue subtle shifts of the narrative phases in terms of forms, referents, and shifts of hand gestures. Based on this argument, I claim that not only linguistic but also multi-modal semiotic resources can substantially contribute to the achievement of holistic poetic configuration and an inter-subjective schema for narrative comprehension.