Pointing in Science: An Analysis of Body and Linguistic Deixis in Nobel Lectures with PowerPoint Slides

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2021.i17.1010

Keywords:

English linguistics, PowerPoint, Nobel lectures, spatial deixis, pointing

Abstract

Within the last decades, PowerPoint has become a technology and a medium of communication that has contributed to a profound transformation of lecturing and presenting information in academia. However, until recently PowerPoint slideshows have received only limited attention in the fields of discourse analysis and social semiotic research (Djonov and Van Leeuwen 2011; 2012; 2013; Zhao, Djonov and Van Leeuwen 2014). Only a few studies have focused on the design of slideshows (e.g., Campagna 2009; Finn 2010; Rowley-Jolivet 2004) in relation to conference presentations (Degano 2012; Diani 2015; Costa 2017). Moreover, the interplay of speech, pointing, and body formations seems to have been neglected by the discourse analytical literature and has only been considered in the field of sociology (Knoblauch 2008). Pointing, nevertheless, seems to be a peculiar feature of conference presentations supported by PPT slides, allowing knowledge to be located in space. As a consequence, this paper aims to address aspects of linguistic pointing deixis in relation to the PowerPoint slides as well as to the body and gesture deixis of the presenter. To reach this aim, the study adopts a twofold methodology, fusing together Levinson’s theory of spatial deixis (1983) with the sociological approach of Knoblauch (2008) for body formation of pointing. The analysis is carried out on a corpus of nine Nobel lectures (i.e., three in economics; three in medicine; three in chemistry) collected from 2010 to 2015, considering their PowerPoints, their videos, and their transcriptions. Results show that knowledge transfer is defined in Nobel lecture PowerPoint presentations by the combination of speaking and showing, thus becoming presented knowledge rather than representing knowledge itself (Knoblauch 2008, 75).

Author Biography

Silvia Cavalieri, University of Verona

Dep. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, senior research fellow (RTD-b)

References

Bertin, Jacques. Sémiologiegraphique. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1973.

Campagna, Sandra. “Projecting visual reasoning in research conference presentations.” Commonality and individuality in academic discourse. Edited by Maurizio Gotti. Bern: Peter Lang, 2009. 371-392.

Carter-Thomas, Shirley and Elizabeth Rowley-Jolivet. “Analysing the scientific conference presentation (CP): A methodological overview of a multimodal genre.” ASp. la revue du GERAS 39-40 (2003): 59-72.

---. "The rhetoric of conference presentation introductions: Context, argument and interaction." International Journal of Applied Linguistics 15.1 (2005): 45-70.

Costa, Francesca. "The use of powerpoint presentations in academic English in the soft sciences." Iperstoria 10 (2017): 55-62.

Degano, Chiara. “Texture Beyond the Text: Slides and Talk in Conference Presentations.” Effects of Genre Variation in Academic Communication. Disciplinary Emerging Trends. Edited by Stefania Maci and Michele Sala. Bergamo: CELSB, 2012. 135-152

Diani, Giuliana. “Visual Communication in Applied Linguistics Conference Presentations”. Multimodal Analysis in Academic Settings. Edited by Belinda Crawford-Camiciottoli and Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez. New York: Routledge, 2015. 83-107.

Dubois, Betty Lou. "The use of slides in biomedical speeches." The ESP Journal 1.1 (1980): 45-50.

Djonov, Emilia and Theo van Leeuwen. The semiotics of texture: From tactile to visual. Visual Communication 10(4) (2011): 541–564.

---. “Normativity and software: A multimodal social semiotic approach.” Multimodality and practice: Investigating theory-inpractice- through-method. Edited by Sigrid Norris. New York: Routledge, 2012. 119–137

---. "Between the grid and composition: Layout in PowerPoint's design and use." Semiotica 2013.197 (2013): 1-34.

Finn, Jonathan. "Powell’s point:‘denial and deception’at the UN." Visual Communication 9.1 (2010): 25-49.

Fernández-Polo, Francisco Javier. "The role of I mean in conference presentations by ELF speakers." English for Specific Purposes 34 (2014): 58-67.

Frobert-Adamo, Monique. "Humour in oral presentations: What’s the joke." The language of conferencing 211 (2002): 225.

Goffman, Erving. Forms of talk. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981.

Hood, Susan, and Gail Forey. "Introducing a conference paper: Getting interpersonal with your audience." Journal of English for Academic Purposes 4.4 (2005): 291-306.

Knoblauch, Hubert. "The performance of knowledge: Pointing and knowledge in Powerpoint presentations." Cultural sociology 2.1 (2008): 75-97.

Kress, Gunther R. Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Taylor & Francis, 2010.

Levinson, Stephen C. Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press, 1963.

Morrell, Teresa. “International Conference Paper Presentations: A Multimodal Analysis to Determine Effectiveness.” English for Specific Purposes 37 (2015): 137-150.

Querol-Julián, Mercedes, and Inmaculada Fortanet-Gómez. "Multimodal evaluation in academic discussion sessions: How do presenters act and react?" English for Specific Purposes 31.4 (2012): 271-283.

Räisänen, Christine. The conference Forum as System of Genres. A Sociocultural Study of Academic Conference Practices in Automotive Crash-Safety Engineering. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 1999.

---. "The conference forum: A system of interrelated genres and discursive practices." The language of conferencing 69 (2002): 93.

Rowley-Jolivet, Elizabeth. "Visual discourse in scientific conference papers A genre-based study." English for specific purposes 21.1 (2002): 19-40.

---. "Different visions, different visuals: A social semiotic analysis of field-specific visual composition in scientific conference presentations." Visual communication 3.2 (2004): 145-175.

---. "Oralising text slides in scientific conference presentations: A multimodal corpus analysis.” Corpus-Informed research and learning in ESP. Edited by Boulton, Alex, Shirley Carter-Thomas, and Elizabeth Rowley-Jolivet. John Benjamins, 2012. 135-166.

Swales, John. Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Tardy, Christine M. "“It's like a story”: Rhetorical knowledge development in advanced academic literacy." Journal of English for Academic purposes 4.4 (2005): 325-338.

Thompson, Susan. “As the story unfolds”: The uses of narrative in research presentations. The language of conferencing. Edited by Ventola, Eija, Celia Shalom, and Susan Thompson. Lang, 2002. 147-168.

Tufte, Edward. The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint. Graphics Press, 2003.

Ventola, Eija, Celia Shalom, and Susan Thompson. The language of conferencing. Lang, 2002.

Webber, Pauline. "Interactive features in medical conference monologue." English for Specific Purposes 24.2 (2005): 157-181.

Wecker, Christof. "Slide presentations as speech suppressors: When and why learners miss oral information." Computers & Education 59.2 (2012): 260-273.

Zhao, Sumin, Emilia Djonov, and Theo van Leeuwen. "Semiotic technology and practice: A multimodal social semiotic approach to PowerPoint." Text & Talk 34.3 2014: 349-375.

Downloads

Published

2021-06-18

Issue

Section

Articles (general section) - English language and linguistics