When attentional and politeness demands clash : The case of mutual gaze avoidance and chin pointing in Quiahije Chatino
Mesh, Kate LU
; Cruz, Emiliana
and Gullberg, Marianne
LU
(2023)
In Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
47(2).
p.211-243
- Abstract
- Pointing with the chin is a practice attested worldwide: it is an effective and highly recognizable device for re-orienting the attention of the addressee. For the chin point to be observed, the addressee must attend carefully to the movements of the sender’s head. This demand comes into conflict with the politeness norms of many cultures, since these often require conversationalists to avoid meeting the gaze of their interlocutor, and can require them to look away from their interlocutor’s face and head. In this paper we explore how the chin point is successfully used in just such a culture, among the Chatino indigenous group of Oaxaca, Mexico. We analyze interactions between multiple dyads of Chatino speakers, examining how senders... (More)
- Pointing with the chin is a practice attested worldwide: it is an effective and highly recognizable device for re-orienting the attention of the addressee. For the chin point to be observed, the addressee must attend carefully to the movements of the sender’s head. This demand comes into conflict with the politeness norms of many cultures, since these often require conversationalists to avoid meeting the gaze of their interlocutor, and can require them to look away from their interlocutor’s face and head. In this paper we explore how the chin point is successfully used in just such a culture, among the Chatino indigenous group of Oaxaca, Mexico. We analyze interactions between multiple dyads of Chatino speakers, examining how senders invite visual attention to the pointing gesture, and how addressees signal that attention, while both participants avoid stretches of mutual gaze. We find that in the Chatino context, the senior (or higher-status) party to the conversation is highly consistent in training their gaze away from their interlocutor. This allows their interlocutor to give visual attention to their face without the risk of meeting the gaze of a higher-status sender, and facilitates close attention to head movements including the chin point. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7fb5cd02-95aa-4ebc-be3d-a4c228506c8b
- author
- Mesh, Kate
LU
; Cruz, Emiliana
and Gullberg, Marianne
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-02-20
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- gesture, pointing, chin pointing, head gestures, gaze, visual attention, politeness, Mesoamerica, Chatino
- in
- Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
- volume
- 47
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 211 - 243
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85148421154
- ISSN
- 1573-3653
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10919-022-00423-4
- project
- References to Environs are Coordinated to be Heard and Seen (REaCHeS): an investigation of multimodal spatial referencing in Eastern Chatino
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7fb5cd02-95aa-4ebc-be3d-a4c228506c8b
- date added to LUP
- 2022-12-16 21:17:23
- date last changed
- 2023-11-22 16:34:41
@article{7fb5cd02-95aa-4ebc-be3d-a4c228506c8b,
abstract = {{Pointing with the chin is a practice attested worldwide: it is an effective and highly recognizable device for re-orienting the attention of the addressee. For the chin point to be observed, the addressee must attend carefully to the movements of the sender’s head. This demand comes into conflict with the politeness norms of many cultures, since these often require conversationalists to avoid meeting the gaze of their interlocutor, and can require them to look away from their interlocutor’s face and head. In this paper we explore how the chin point is successfully used in just such a culture, among the Chatino indigenous group of Oaxaca, Mexico. We analyze interactions between multiple dyads of Chatino speakers, examining how senders invite visual attention to the pointing gesture, and how addressees signal that attention, while both participants avoid stretches of mutual gaze. We find that in the Chatino context, the senior (or higher-status) party to the conversation is highly consistent in training their gaze away from their interlocutor. This allows their interlocutor to give visual attention to their face without the risk of meeting the gaze of a higher-status sender, and facilitates close attention to head movements including the chin point.}},
author = {{Mesh, Kate and Cruz, Emiliana and Gullberg, Marianne}},
issn = {{1573-3653}},
keywords = {{gesture; pointing; chin pointing; head gestures; gaze; visual attention; politeness; Mesoamerica; Chatino}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{211--243}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Journal of Nonverbal Behavior}},
title = {{When attentional and politeness demands clash : The case of mutual gaze avoidance and chin pointing in Quiahije Chatino}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/138434600/Mesh_Cruz_Gullberg_2023.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10919-022-00423-4}},
volume = {{47}},
year = {{2023}},
}