Whose language

When Jacob revised his introduction to pragmatics (Mey [1990] 2001), he included an extra section on the role of body moves in communication. Here he argues that body movements and posture can fulfil complex pragmatic functions and may constitute an integral part of the action in the total context of the pragmatic act (2001: 223 227). Thus, “[p]ragmatic acts engage the whole individual in communication, not just the speech portion of his or her contribution” (2001: 223). In this short paper, I want to discuss another role the whole, embodied, individual may play in communication.