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Nonverbal interaction between hitchhikers and drivers
Schmauks, Dagmar
This essay reconstructs the implicit knowledge of a competent hitchhikerfrom the viewpoint of semiotics. The initial phase of hitchhiking is purelynonverbal. The hitchhiker starts the interaction by signaling that s/he wants a lift. In the standard case, the sign chosen is a culture-specific gesture.The driver produces one of the following four actions: (i) in the successfulcase, s/he stops and gives the hitchhiker a lift, whereas (ii) in the oppositecase of ultimate non-success, s/he shows no perceptible reaction. In otherconstellations, s/he (iii) produces an ‘answering’ gesture or (iv) expressesa specific mood, intention, or attitude toward the hitchhiker by changing hisor her driving behavior. This article concentrates on actions (iii) and (iv) and reconstructs them as equivalents of verbal utterances, each with aspecific propositional content and illocutionary force. In the most elaborateinteractions, one can detect a real ‘gestural dialog’ with several turn-takings.
- Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.
- This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.
