Factors modulating mode of representation: Evidence from sign, pantomime and co-speech gestures in hearing adults and speakers with aphasia

It is a well-established phenomenon that all forms of manual communication (sign and gesture) adopt iconic forms that mimic the physical appearance of a referent. Despite a myriad of empirical studies investigating the role of iconicity in gestural and signed communication not much attention has been paid to the factors that modulate the form of these iconic depictions. There is general consensus of at least four main modes of representation: acting (or handling) denotes how an object is manipulated; representing (or instrument) uses the hand to recreate the form of an object; drawing (or tracing) describes the outline of a referent; and moulding depicts the three-dimensional characteristics of an object (Müller, 2013). Beyond different taxonomies describing the modes of representation that gestures and signs can adopt, it remains unclear what factors motivate certain techniques over others. The aim of this symposium is to address this question and provide a comprehensive overview of some of the factors that have shown to influence the mode of representation of iconic manual forms. The proposed symposium brings together an international group of sign linguists, psychologists, and gesture experts investigating some of the factors that modulate representational techniques in manual communication. In doing so, we break the common misconception that the form of iconic depictions is unsystematic, and put forward evidence showing that mode of representation is tightly linked to factors such as semantic category, affordances of the referent, type of task, stimuli presentation, and population. More specifically, these talks will give evidence showing that gesturers favour a default mode of representation (handling), which differs from the strategy typically exploited by signers (instrument). Further, while signers show tendencies towards certain techniques, comparisons across sign languages show that there are also typological differences. We will also discuss that signers and gesturers have the communicative need to make distinctions between semantically related concepts and thus use specific techniques of representation to discriminate verbs from nouns. We will also show that some semantic categories elicit specific techniques of representation and these are further modulated by the way in which stimuli are presented. Finally, we will discuss how specific impairments in people with aphasia affect the ability to use these representation techniques. The symposium will conclude with a discussion chaired by Prof. Cornelia Müller, keynote speaker of ISGS 7 and leading scholar on the modes of representation. Her expertise on the topic will offer an invaluable perspective of the factors that influence mode of representation in light of the new dat