#glossa

Blue old wooden door, Glossa,Skopelos

This is a Greek myth I made up. Have fun reading!

She took the letters rummaging in the world and spun them into words, weaved them into sentences. Out of thin air into the fabric of reality. Everything that was ever said, she said it first. It was difficult manual labour; hard work that rarely paid off. The other gods and goddesses looked down on her, and even the humans didn’t worship her like she deserved.

Why? They would be silent without her. It was her power after all, and she had been kind enough to share it with the world. What have they given her in return? They used her gift to mock her, berate her, hurt her with the very words she put into their mouths. There was only one word left for them: undeserving.

She stopped weaving and engulfed the world in silence. Quiet, merely the sounds of animals and some unarticulated cries were to be heard. The only word she left them to speak was her name: Glossa.

Over the last couple of years I've had a bit of a running thing with emblem gestures - those gestures that have a fixed meaning and a fixed form for a particular group. I've done posts about air quote gestures, worked on emoji proposals for head nods and shakes, and written a journal article about the emblem gestures from The Hunger Games and Star Trek.

All of this work is been happening because I've been working with Kensy Cooperrider on a major review of the emblem literature, which is now published in Glossa. I started working on this article in the first year after returning to work when my first child was born, so it's fitting that it's finishing up pretty much four years later when my second child is a similar age. Kensy also became a parent while we were writing this paper. It's been a slow and steady approach with this project!

This paper aims to summarise what make emblems, especially what makes them so interesting, and how they relate to spoken language, signed language, other gesture categories and other phenomena. We also surveyed the known literature of emblems across the world's languages, noting that we need to do a lot better at documenting the world's diversity of emblems. We also lay out the kinds of questions we should be asking about emblems, and the exciting cross-disciplinary potential for work in this area.

I really enjoyed starting a new topic deep dive. I especially appreciated that Kensy agreed to join me on this adventure. I've long admired his writing, both academic publications and his excellent work for general audiences across a variety of publications. His podcast Many Minds is also great.

Definitely more from me on the topic of emblems in the future.

Abstract

Emblems—the thumbs up, the head shake, the peace sign, the shhh—are communicative gestures that have a conventional form and conventional meaning within a particular community. This makes them more “word-like” than other gestures and gives them a distinctive position at the interface between language and gesture. Here we provide an overview of emblems as a recurring feature of the human communicative toolkit. We first discuss the major defining features of these gestures, and their points of commonality and difference with neighbouring communicative phenomena. Next, we review efforts to document emblems around the world. Our survey highlights the patchiness of global coverage, as well as strengths and limitations of approaches used to date. Finally, we consider a handful of open questions about emblems, including how they mean, how they are learned, and why they exist in the first place. Addressing these questions will require collaboration among linguists, lexicographers, anthropologists, cognitive scientists, and others. It will also deepen our understanding of human semiotic systems and how they interface with each other.

Reference:

Gawne, Lauren & Cooperrider, Kensy. 2024. Emblems: Meaning at the interface of language and gesture. Glossa, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.9705 [Open Access]

See also:

New gesture Emoji in Unicode 15.1: Head Shaking Horizontally and Head Shaking Vertically (aka shake and nod!), and (finally) right facing emoji

Gesture emoji: contributing to the Unicode Standard

New Research Article: From Star Trek to The Hunger Games: Emblem gestures in science fiction and their uptake in popular culture

Notes and observations about air quote gestures

Orchestra of the Renaissance - Requiem

Glossa

In  the region of  Thessaly, Skopelos is a member of the Sporades island group. Skopelos’ charm is that it offers an ideal alternative to people who don’t like the wild arid landscape that is a trademark of other famous Greek islands. In fact, Skopelos is often called the “Greenest Greek island” which isn’t necessarily true or false but it certainly provides an accurate short yet sensational description for this beautiful verdant island. Here are a few of its top attractions:

1. The Chora

Chora is how the major town of a Greek island is called, although the term is used only for certain groups of islands and not all of them. The Chora of Skopelos  is built amphitheatrically above the port with traditional white houses, narrow winded alleys and colourful flowers in every turn.

2. Fortress of Skopelos

From the port, you can take the white stairs to the fortress of the island on the top of a rock that overlooks the sea and the settlement below. There you will also see the “Mary of the Tower” Church which is built on the edge of the rock above the water.

3. The Folk Museum

The Folk Museum of Skopelos is housed in one of the oldest mansions of the island, built in 1765. Be sure to check the hours the museum is open.

4. Milia beach

According to the locals, Milia is the prettiest beach of the island. It has turquoise waters, thick and tall pine trees and fine white pebbles.

5. Pánormos beach

The most popular beach however is Panormos with its heart shape and the quality of the waters.

6. Stáfylos beach

Also known as “My Nemesis”, this beach is close to the Chora and you will cross dense pine forests to access it. Beware of your diving mask because this beach likes to steal things when you don’t look. And if your mask was just brand new and the waves took it, you might have mixed feelings about this place. This is an entirely hypothetical scenario.

7. Ai-Yannis Chapel in Kastri

The Hollywood movie Mamma Mia was filmed in Skopelos. The Chapel of Ai Yannis in Kastri was the set for one of the most memorable scenes. So if you want to feel closer to Meryl Streep, go...to a Greek chapel I guess

8. Monastery of the Annunciation of Mary

This monastery is a Byzantine monument, renovated in 1712 to get its current form. It is surrounded by a fortress and it is built on the top of a mountain, having panoramic view to the island and its port.

9. Gourouni cape

There is a beautiful hike that starts from Glossa village and leads to the northernmost edge of Skopelos, to this cape with the questionable name “Gourouni” (meaning pig). There you can enjoy the imposing lighthouse that is surrounded by an even more impressive landscape.

10. Glossa

Glossa is as popular as the Chora. It is the second largest town of the island and is built on a hill. It has its own port, narrow alleys and traditional buildings. When there, you should try the local delicacies and especially the prune spoon sweet.

11. Skopelitiki cheese pie

You must not leave Skopelos without trying its traditional round goat cheese pie. In fact, you must not leave Greece in general without trying it first. Thankfully, it can be found in taverns in many other regions as well. 

Should they urge or should they call;

Wave-like things like waves shall pass,

Have no hope and have no fear;

You must think and ask of you

What is right and what is wry;

All is old and all is new,

Time will come and time will fly.”

-‘Glossa’,

A vocalic pattern (melody) being applied to a consonant-vowel prosodic template.