A corpus-based bimodal analysis of referential behavior to inanimate objects
Xiaorong Zeng
LAEL, Lancaster University
Bio:
Zeng Xiaorong, a lecturer from Jiangxi Agricultural University, P. R. China, currently an academic visitor at the Department of Linguistics and English Language of Lancaster University. He got both his MA and Ph.D. in Linguistics from Zhejiang University, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Communication and representation involve an ensemble of modes, referential behavior is no exception. Most of previous reference studies focus on the verbal mode by disregarding other modes utilized in the practice. Based on the examples from a small-size annotated video corpus, this study firstly presents a descriptive framework of gestures in inanimate-object referring behavior, and then we investigates systematically how referring expressions and gestures interact in terms of their co-occurence patterns and their interdependent patterns. Based on the above-mentioned analysis and the corpus, we do a constrastive study of inanimate-object referential behavior between children and adults.
Key words: referential behavior; modes; interact; corpus-based; contrastive