2.3. Variables y datos
2.4.1. Descomposici´ on de desigualdad de oportunidades educativas m´ as all´ a
In the descriptions above I have briefly referred to the use of gaze. It appears in all the core examples of gesture hold that the gesturing speaker gazes at the recipient, who normally gazes back. Indeed, there are no instances in my data where an incoming candidate to a word search, understanding request, clarification request, or a
confirmation of an understanding check, occurs without mutual gaze being established first. This in itself indicates that mutual gaze is a key factor in framing talk for co- participation. With two examples below I will further demonstrate that during word searches, gesture holds are only projective of co-participation when accompanied by mutual gaze.
The turn production in the first example precedes the first turn in example 6.7 above, where Lars is talking about Norwegian school-bands. The co-presence of speech, gesture and gaze is illustrated in transcript 6.10 below. Notice that Lars’ gaze-shift is timed with his mid-TCU pause following men eh d:nh/“but uh”; a pause that along with the prior hesitations clearly signals a lack of access to a word or a formulation. Notice then that Lars’ gesture is held soon after (approximately 0.2 seconds). Tor does not
184 indicate in any way that he is going to initiate collaboration, and Lars eventually gazes back at Tor as his turn is in full progress again.
(6.10) KTH-NO, TL, 11:29 ”ikke like gøy”
a b
01 Gz(L) ______________________________________________, ,DR
01 MG(L) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^---
01 L: ikke at det alltid er like ´GØY men eh d:nh° ---(1.0)-- NOT THAT IT ALWAYS IS EQUAL FUN BUT
not that it’s always as fun as other times but uh (1.0) 01 Gz(L) DR x____
01 MG(L) ---
02 d: det ´FINs ingen ((...)) THERE EXISTS NO
th: there are no ((...))
This example shows that gesture hold does not necessarily project or orient to co- participation, and that mutual gaze appears to be a crucial part in contextualising a gesture hold as projecting co-participation.
Example 6.11 further strengthens this claim. It provides an interesting contrast to example 6.10, in that (i) there is mutual gaze during a word search, but (ii) there appears to be no response from co-participant. As we will see, the co-participant does indeed display willingness to respond but is unsuccessful in providing a candidate to the word search. What is most striking about this example however, is that the co-
participant initiates a display of willingness to respond immediately following the speaker’s gesture hold, showing that this is the crucial moment to collaborate.
185 Sigurd has displayed his interest (but lack of knowledge) about the presence of the turntable in the recording studio. Lars is familiar with this studio and describes how the turntable is used to calibrate the motion detector cameras present in the room (see also appendix C). Lars has just described how small reflectors are put on the turntable as part of the calibration, and from line 01 Lars describes how the cameras detect these as the turntable goes around. Particularly in lines 02-03, Lars displays trouble in finding a way to proceed with his descriptions, and the descriptions below will focus on how the interactants manage this.
(6.11) KTH-NO, SL, 02:26 ”synkronisere”
01 L: °h og når den `HER går rundt, (-) AND WHEN THIS HERE GOES AROUND °h and when this one goes around (-) 02 L: *-> så:: tar de ˇINn— h° (---)
THEN TAKE THEY IN
then:: they take in h° (---)
03 L: °th[h s]å kan de s[ynk ]roni`SEre med; h° (-) THEN CAN THEY SYNCHRONISE WITH °thh then they can synchronise with h° (-) 04 S: [°tkh] [(eh)]
°tkh (uh) 05 L: MEd [den etter]somˀ
WITH THAT SINCE with that one since 06 SL [m:ˀ ]
(WITH) (w:)
At 02, Lars provides the second part of the “when-then” compound construction initiated in 01: når den her går rundt.../“when this one goes around...”, referring to the circular movement of the turntable. Here it appears that Lars tries to express how the cameras ‘capture’ information from the reflectors on the turntable. Lars displays some trouble in putting this idea into words though (notice the prolonged så::, and the pause following inn/“in”). Lars is clearly involved in a word search and it appears that by gazing at Sigurd, Lars provides a framework for co-participation. Lars gazes at Sigurd during the whole of 02-04, as shown in transcript 6.11a below.
186 However, Sigurd does not provide a candidate to the word search however (he is after all not the expert, Lars is). But he tries, following Lars’ gesture hold, as shown in 6.11a below.
(6.11a) KTH-NO, SL, 02:26 ”synkronisere” GESTURE AND GAZE ANNOTATION
a b
02-04 Gz(L) ___________________________________________________________
02-04 MG(L) ...^^^^^^^---^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
02-03 L: tar de ˇINn— h° (---)°th[h s]å kan de s[ynk ]roni`SEre they take in h° (---)°thh then they can synchronise 02-04 Gz(S) ____________________,{camera},,{at turntable}
04 S: [°tkh] [(eh) ]
°tkh (uh)
Lars introduces his gesture as a co-expression of ta inn/“take in”. This gesture looks rather like the ‘precision grip’ as described by Kendon (2004), but seems iconic of ‘capturing’ (“take in”) in this case, rather than of a more abstract ‘essence’ as in Kendon’s data. Lars moves this hand shape vertically, during the pause following inn (figure a). Then, as Lars freezes this gesture in a hold (figure b), Sigurd produces an alveolar click and an inbreath 0.1 seconds later, followed by a short creaky voiced vocalic segment (eh) in 04. These are clear indications that Sigurd attempts to initiate a collaborative response (a further relevant observation in this regard is Sigurd’s short bilabial nasal [m] in 06: It is possible that this is aimed to co-project Lars’
187 The timing of Sigurd’s speech sounds shows that Sigurd treats this as a relevant moment to at least display willingness to respond. Notice that this does not happen for example during Lars’ 0.8 second pause in which he still produced a moving gesture: It happens exactly when Lars holds his gesture while gazing at Sigurd. In other words, Lars’ gesture hold and gaze seem to trigger a response from Sigurd.
Now, as is also revealed in transcript 6.11a, Sigurd is not currently gazing at Lars as Lars holds his gesture. Sigurd has moved his gaze towards one of the cameras (I take it) during Lars’ pause. However, I assume that Sigurd is equally capable of seeing Lars’ gesture without looking directly at him. Furthermore, Sigurd does not just gaze away but at the instruments of which an understanding is currently made, i.e. first at one of the cameras and then at the turntable; and thereby displays that he makes a connection between the two objects in his efforts to participate.
The timing of Sigurd’s speech initiation further demonstrates that there is a fine orientation to the presence of gesture hold in projection of meaning. Furthermore, examples 6.10 and 6.11 show that one semiotic resource (in this case gesture) does not work independently from other resources (in this case gaze), or from the interactional process of which it is a part.
6.4.4 Summary
The examples presented in this section enrich the understanding of how gesture holds are relevant in seeking assistance from a co-participant. First, it shows that a claim to knowledge is not associated with gesture hold (example 6.8). Second, it shows how the use of gesture displays sensitivity to how long a projected understanding is relevant, i.e. its use and extension depends on the moment-by-moment development of context (example 6.9). Third, it shows how gesture holds are contextualised as assistance- seeking by the accompanying cue of mutual gaze (examples 6.10-11). This study adds to the current literature on gesture, particularly by showing how gestures are used and timed according to what is relevant in the interaction. Also, it adds to the notion of co-
188 expressiveness the simultaneous use of gaze (see e.g. Goodwin & Goodwin, 1986; Streeck, 2009).