Hebrew stance-taking gasps: From bodily response to social communicative resource

Abstract

This paper describes 'gasps' – ingressive vocoids, ingressive nasal stops, and certain sharp inbreaths – expressing stance in Hebrew conversation. A sharp inbreath can be part of a startle reflex, but sequential analysis shows gasps used as carefully coordinated interactional resources. Gasps in themselves express high arousal only; valence and specific affective categories must be gathered from context. Gasps’ liminal status, blurring the lines between body and language, self and other, informs their expressive power, making them potent ways to redirect attention, display emotion, and express empathy. Despite their liminal status, gasps fit the usage patterns of established linguistic categories of affective expressions, such as response cries, prompting reconsideration of the limits of linguistic categories.