MULTIMODAL CONSTRUAL OF REFERENTS IN EXPOSITORY DISCOURSE: WORD VS. OBJECT

The article explores speech and gesture behavior in explaining the diff erences between close synonyms to identify the peculiar features in multimodal construal of two types of referents — words and objects. To proceed, we adopt the method of image schemas which are viewed within a three-level conceptual structure comprising mimetic / embodied schemas, basic-level schemas and high-level abstract schemas — here WORD and OBJECT. The three-level theory of image schemas presented by J. Grady was further elaborated to accomodate the types of mimetic schemas identifi ed by J. Zlatev and four qualia-roles described by J. Pustejovsky corresponding to basic-level schemas PARTWHOLE, TYPE, FUNCTIONING, TRANSFORMATION. The developed framework was used to explore the alignment of basic-level schemas in speech patterns and functional gesture types, deictic, representational, pragmatic and adapters. The resuls show that the distribution of basic image schemas as well as their alignment with gestures are mediated by the choice of high-level abstract schemas WORD and OBJECT. Signifi cant diff erences are found in the basic-level schema PART-WHOLE which prevails in the construal of referent as an object and the schema TRANSFORMATION which prevails in the construal of referent as a word. Additionally, we observe the diff erences in the use of deictic gestures in the construal of referent as an object. Overall, the results suffi ce to claim that the multimodal construal of referents as objects and words is modulated by the diff erences in mimetic image schemas which underlie them.