Walking while Talking: A Cross-Linguistic Study of the Moving Speech Situation among Mobile Foragers

This project 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, I ask: 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? Walk and Talk breaks new ground in the language sciences by introducing mobility as an underexplored realm to linguistic research. To this end, I and my team of language specialists will conduct a cross-linguistic investigation into grammar and lexicon as they unfold in real time when traditionally mobile Indigenous foragers are walking. My 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, the 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.