Hongyin Tao | University of California, Los Angeles
Linguistic units as traditionally conceived by linguists favor structural features and referential
meanings. In this paper, we propose a new way of understanding the nature of linguistic units by analyzing the
interaction of multiple semiotic resources (gestures, bodily movement, eye gaze and speech)
in social interaction. We focus on the discursive activity of “categorizing” in different situations and in
two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese. Categorizing is broadly defined as any activity that involves explicitly
or implicitly classifying people or objects into types. We show that the meanings of linguistic units
(including the referential) may be distorted or incomplete when forms are extracted from their contexts and
analyzed in isolation. Instead, we argue that an interactional, activity-based view, focusing on the
deployment of linguistic elements as part of a coordinated system of semiotic resources, will enable us to
understand the nature of linguistic units in a more productive way.
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