SEMI-SPEECH ACTS IN MULTIMODAL COMMUNICATION: PRAGMATIC AND CULTURAL FUNCTIONS OF GESTURE–ELLIPSIS COMBINATIONS
Keywords:
semi-speech acts, multimodal communication, gesture, ellipsis, pragmatics, illocutionary force, cultural normsAbstract
This article examines semi-speech acts as a specific type of multimodal communicative action formed through the interaction of gesture and ellipsis (unfinished or deliberately incomplete verbal utterances). Semi-speech acts are analyzed as pragmatic units possessing illocutionary force that emerges not from verbal expression alone, but from the coordinated use of verbal and non-verbal resources. Drawing on pragmatic theory, multimodal discourse analysis, and cross-cultural data, the study demonstrates that gesture–ellipsis combinations function as culturally regulated strategies for indirectness, politeness, taboo avoidance, and social alignment. The findings contribute to the development of speech act theory by extending it to multimodal and implicit forms of meaning-making.
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