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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Language
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1494192
This article is part of the Research Topic Stance-Taking in Embodied and Virtual Interaction View all 12 articles

Embodied sharpness: exploring the Slicing gesture in political talk shows

Provisionally accepted
Silva H. Ladewig Silva H. Ladewig *
  • University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper explores the Slicing gesture within German political talk shows, focusing on its role in recurrent gesture sequences observed in German political talk shows. Through a detailed historical overview of recurrent gestures in political communication and an extension of the repertoire of recurrent gestures in German speakers, the study emphasizes the Slicing gesture's function in stancetaking and self-presentation. Highlighting its forms and functions, the analysis demonstrates how this gesture enacts decisiveness, clarity, and commitment. The study integrates embodied and phenomenological perspectives, showing how kinesthetic experiences shape the gesture's meaning and metapragmatic dimensions. By contributing to the understanding of recurrent gestures as multimodal resources in political discourse, the paper sheds light on the interplay between embodied communication and rhetorical style.

    Keywords: Recurrent gestures, Slicing gesture, Gesture sequences, metapragmatic meaning, kinesthetic experiences of gestures, stance taking in political communication, mediated multimodal communication, gesture stabilization

    Received: 10 Sep 2024; Accepted: 10 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ladewig. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Silva H. Ladewig, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

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