Modalpartikeln und Gesten: Ansätze einer kontrastiven Betrachtung

Abstract

While different aspects of modal particles have been studied more or less intensively in the last decades, relatively little attention has been paid to the non-verbal side of their realization. This paper gives an overview of the most important results from gesture research on modal particles in German thus far and presents some observations on similar patterns in Dutch, French, and DGS (German Sign Language). It is shown that gestures do indeed contribute to the expression of modal particle meanings in all four languages and that furthermore, these four languages do have a number of downtoning gesture patterns in common, including head nodding, the headshake, and the shoulder shrug.