Cover not available
Article published In:
Child-Robot Interaction: Design, Evaluation, and Novel Solutions
Edited by Marta Couto, Shruti Chandra, Elmira Yadollahi and Vicky Charisi
[Interaction Studies 23:2] 2022
► pp. 289–321

What’s in a mime?

An exploratory analysis of predictors of communicative success of pantomime

| Nicolaus Copernicus University | Lund University
| Nicolaus Copernicus University
| Nicolaus Copernicus University
| Nicolaus Copernicus University

Several lines of research within developmental psychology, experimental semiotics and language origins studies have recently converged in their interest in pantomime as a system of bodily communication distinct from both language (spoken or signed) and nonlinguistic gesticulation. These approaches underscore the effectiveness of pantomime, which despite lack of semiotic conventions is capable of communicating complex meanings. However, very little research is available on the structural underpinnings of this effectiveness, that is, the specific properties of pantomime that determine its communicative success. To help fill in this gap, we conducted an exploratory rating study aimed at identifying those properties of pantomime that facilitate its understanding. We analysed an existing corpus of 602 recordings of whole-body re-enactments of short transitive events, coding each of them for 6 properties, and found out that the presence of salient elements (conspicuous objects in a specific semantic space), image mapping (representing the physical orientation of the object), and gender markers (distinguishing between the represented characters) increased the guessability of pantomimes.

Keywords: pantomime, bodily mimesis, non-verbal communication, communicative success
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Study
    • 2.1Dataset
    • 2.2Method
      • 2.2.1Operationalisation of communicative success
      • 2.2.2Selection of predictors
      • 2.2.3Coding procedure
      • 2.2.4Statistical methods
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Statistical analyses
    • 3.2Qualitative post-analyses
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 24 March 2023
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.22002.sib
References
Arbib, M.
(2012) How the brain got language. Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baus, C., Carreiras, M., Emmorey, K.
(2013) When does iconicity in sign language matter? Language and Cognitive Processes 28(3), 261–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brentari, D. et al.
(2015) Cognitive, cultural, and linguistic sources of a handshape distinction expressing agentivity. Topics in Cognitive Science, 71, 95–123. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, S. et al.
(2019) How pantomime works: Implications for theories of language origins. Frontiers in Communication, 41, 9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Coppola, M., So, W. C.
(2006) The seeds of spatial grammar: Spatial modulation and coreference in homesigning and hearing adults. In: D. Bamman et al. (Eds.) BUCLD 30: Proceedings of the 30th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 119–130.Google Scholar
Cormier, K., Schembri, A., Woll, B.
(2013) Pronouns and pointing in sign languages. Lingua 1371, 230–247. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fenlon, J. et al.
(2019) Comparing sign language and gesture: Insights from pointing. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 4(1), 2. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Firth, J. R.
(1957) Papers in Linguistics 1934–1951. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Foster, P., Ohta, A. S.
(2005) Negotiation for meaning and peer assistance in second language classrooms. Applied linguistics, 26(3), 402–430. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gärdenfors, P.
(2021) Demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching and communication. Language & Communication, 801, 71–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2017) Demonstration and pantomime in the evolution of teaching. Frontiers in psychology, 81, 415. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hanna, B. E.
(1996) Defining the emblem. Semiotica, 112(3/4), 289–358. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, Y. H. et al.
(2014) Who’s the best charades player? Mining iconic movement of semantic concepts. LNCS, 83251, 231–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jakobson, R.
(1959) On linguistic aspects of translation. In: R. Brower (Ed.) On translation (pp. 232–239). Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Kendon, A.
(2004) Gesture. Visible Action as Utterance. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1980) Gesticulation and speech: Two aspects of the process of utterance. The relationship of verbal and nonverbal communication 251, 207–227. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kritikos, A. et al.
(2012) Something in the way she moves: morphology and motion of observed goal-directed and pantomimed actions. Atten. Percept. Psychophys, 741, 36–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kurz, K. B., Mullaney, K., Occhino, C.
(2019) Constructed action in American Sign Language: a look at second language learners in a second modality. Languages, 4(4), 90. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Long, M. H.
(1985) Input and second language acquisition theory. Input in second language acquisition, 3771, 393.Google Scholar
Marentette, P. et al.
(2020) Pantomime (not silent gesture) in multimodal communication: Evidence from children’s narratives. Front. Psychol., 111, 575952. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D.
(2005) Gesture and thought. University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1992) Hand and mind. What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Metzger, M.
(1995) Constructed dialogue and constructed action in American Sign Language. In: C. Lucas (Ed.) Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press, 255–271.Google Scholar
Milborrow, S.
(2022) rpart.plot: Plot ‘rpart’ Models: An Enhanced Version of ‘plot.rpart’. R package version 3.1.1. [URL]
Mineiro, A. et al.
(2021) Disentangling pantomime from early sign in a new sign language: window into language evolution research. Frontiers in Psychology, 121, 640057. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Motamedi, Y. et al.
(2019) Evolving artificial sign languages in the lab: From improvised gesture to systematic sign. Cognition, 1921, 103964. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, C.
(2014) Gestural modes of representation as techniques of depiction. In: C. Müller et al. (Eds.) Body–Language Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction (pp. 1687–1701). De Gruyter Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Namboodiripad, S. et al.
(2016) Measuring conventionalization in the manual modality. Journal of Language Evolution, 1(2), 109–118. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nogueira, P.
(2011) Motion capture fundamentals: A critical and comparative analysis on real-world applications. In: E. Oliveira, G. David, and A. A. Sousa (Eds.) Proceedings of the 7th Doctoral Symposium in Informatics Engineering, Porto, January 26–27 (pp. 303–331). Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto.Google Scholar
Puupponen, A., Kanto, L., Wainio, T., Jantunen, T.
(2022) Variation in the use of constructed action according to discourse type and age in Finnish Sign Language. Language & Communciation 831, 16–35. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
RStudio Team
(2019) RStudio: Integrated Development for R. Rstudio, Inc. Boston, MA. [URL]
Sandler, W.
(2009) Symbiotic symbolization by hand and mouth in sign language. Semiotica, 1741, 241–275. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sato, A., Kirby, S., Flaherty, M.
(2022) Language emergence can take multiple paths: Using motion capture to track axis use in Nicaraguan Sign Language. Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 7(1). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schmid, H. J.
(2015) A blueprint of the Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model. GCLA, 31, 3–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Senghas, A., Coppola, M.
(2001) Children creating language: How Nicaraguan sign language acquired a spatial grammar. Psychological Science 12(4), 323–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sonesson, G.
(1997) The ecological foundations of iconicity. In: I. Rauch & G. F. Carr (Eds.) Semiotics around the World: Synthesis in Diversity (pp. 739–742). Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Therneau, T., Atkinson, B.
(2019) rpart: Recursive Partitioning and Regression Trees. R package version 41.1–15. [URL]
Tomasello, M.
(2008) Origins of Human Communication. MIT Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Nispen, K., van de Sandt-Koenderman Krahmer, E.
(2017) Production and comprehension of pantomimes used to depict objects. Front. Psychol., 81, 1095. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wacewicz, S., Żywiczyński, P.
(2021) Pantomimic conceptions of language origins. In: N. Gonthier et al. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Symbolic Evolution ( DOI logo). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wickham, H. et al.
(2021) dplyr: A Grammar of Data Manipulation. R package version 1.0.7. [URL]
Wickham, H.
(2019) stringr: Simple, Consistent Wrappers for Common String Operations. R package version 1.4.0. [URL]
(2011) The Split-Apply-Combine Strategy for Data Analysis. Journal of Statistical Software, 401, 1–29. [URL]. DOI logo
Zipf, George K.
1949 Human behavior and the principle of least effort. Addison-Wesley Press.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J., Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S.
(2020) Pantomime as the original human-specific communicative system. Journal of Language Evolution, 5(2), 156–174. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J.
(2014) Image schemas, mimetic schemas, and children’s gestures. Cognit. Semiotic, 71, 3–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zlatev, J., Adrén, M.
(2009) Stages and transitions in children’s semiotic development. In: J. Zlatev et al. (Eds.) Studies in Language and Cognition (pp. 380–401). Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Żywiczyński, P. et al.
(2021a) Evolution of conventional communication. A cross-cultural study of pantomimic re-enactments of transitive events. Language & Communication, 801, 191–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., Lister, C.
(2021b) Pantomimic fossils in modern human communication. Philosophical Transactions B, 3761, 20200204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Żywiczyński, P., Wacewicz, S., Sibierska, M.
(2018) Defining pantomime for language evolution research. Topoi, 37(2), 307–318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar