About

Walk and Talk investigates human language in the very environment in which it has evolved, is acquired, and very frequently is used: while walking. Yet, moving communication contexts differ significantly from static ones, as they are dynamic: it is in this moving realm where the speech situation is fluid, where reference and topic environments unfold, and where our bodies interact in ever-changing ways with each other and with the environment. This unique fleeting character of walking and the challenges it yields for perception and experience is prone to impact grammar, lexicon, and verbal interaction profoundly. While linguistics extensively studies how humans talk about motion, the impact of motion on language remains underexplored. To bridge this gap, Walk and Talk asks: How can language be shaped by the unique perceptual nature of mobility, and how does this affect our understanding of language once we factor mobility into explanations of linguistic phenomena? To this end, our team of language specialists is conducting a cross-linguistic investigation into grammar and lexicon as they unfold in real time when traditionally mobile Indigenous foragers are walking. Our approach involves innovating methodologies for studying language in motion and a data collection from a diverse language sample to reach Walk and Talk’s overarching goal. That is, the development of an explanatory model describing how language takes shape in dynamic speech contexts. To accomplish these objectives, our research agenda is tailored to: describe, explore, and compare language use in moving speech settings, explain the relationship between mobility and language, and document language practices in moving contexts.

Moving speech situations display unique characteristics compared to static ones. First and foremost, being in motion is a dynamic activity involving the locomotion of our bodies through space and time. Talking in this dynamic context creates a unique type of speech situation; the participants and the space of the conversation are moving, and the set of possible referents is constantly changing as they leave behind some referents and approach others. Second, while language is inherently interactive, communicating while moving adds more layers to the interaction: When talking while walking, not only do we interact verbally and non-verbally with our fellow walkers, but also with the environment and the affordances that come along with it. This embodied experience in the environment might activate specific parts of the mobility-related lexicon prone to surface in real-world contexts when speakers are in motion. Third, walking means perceiving the environment in dynamic ways. That is, self-motion is a condition for visually perceiving three-dimensional objects in space. Motion is also understood to be related to the ever-changing perception of distance which informs us about the position of objects in space. This is prone to be reflected in language: the fact that walkers experience varying degrees of distance to objects while moving has the potential to impact how we verbally refer to objects in space. Finally, while walking we will encounter interactional layouts (ex. walking next to each other vs. walking in a single file), which potentially impact the ways in which we communicate. In this project we are  concerned with exploring the ways in which languages respond to these and other peculiarities of moving settings.

While many of these features apply to any moving setting (i.e., while driving, cycling etc.), Walk and Talk focuses on the most fundamental and primeval form of mobility: walking. Walking is a basic human experience: It was integral to the evolution and dispersal of the Homo sapiens, as well as for the development of social networks and cultural transmission. However, from a linguist’s perspective, we still know very little about what role the fact of being in motion might play in shaping linguistic structure and linguistic diversity. Despite its universality, mobility is highly variable following cultural needs and environmental constraints. Its universal and variable character makes mobility a fascinating ecosystem for the study of variation in linguistic structure as shaped by extra-linguistic factors, which warrants further investigation.