A multimodal perspective on MCA: Cues of (possible) metacommunicative awareness

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Abstract

Metacommunicative awareness (MCA) is proposed as a scalar phenomenon of being aware, to different possible degrees, that the form and/or content of how you are acting could communicate something to someone else. Observable signals of possible MCA that are based on greater use of effort are discussed on the verbal, prosodic, gestural, and other levels. Dynamicity in intensity is proposed as an important property of its nature, even if the quality of potential MCA differs between different registers and genres. The degree to which an expression, metaphoric or otherwise, is highlighted in a given instance by signals of possible MCA thus falls along a scale of saliency. This can be researched without delving into claims about supposed “deliberateness” of expression.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDrawing Attention to Metaphor
Subtitle of host publicationCase studies across time periods, cultures and modalities
EditorsCamilla Di Biase-Dyson, Markus Egg
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Pages63-91
Number of pages30
ISBN (Electronic)9789027261496
ISBN (Print)9789027205018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Publication series

NameFigurative Language and Thought
Volume5

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