Embodied spatial coordination in child-pet interaction
Résumé
This paper explores how human children and pet dogs and cats coordinate shared space through verbal, vocal, and bodily cues. The language of space, as all linguistic meaning (Johnson 2018), is deeply embodied, in that it stems from cognitive models shaped by sensory-motor experiences. Three frames of reference (FoR), anchored to different coordinate systems, underlie spatial language forms (Levinson 2003). Intrinsic FoR stems from entities’ inherent properties (e.g. frontal dimension). Absolute FoR rests on fixed environmental coordinates. Relative FoR depends on the position of the observer. Human languages also rely on demonstrative systems which are mapped on the distinction between peripersonal and extrapersonal perceptual space, as well as interpersonal proxemics. These are closely linked to visual and action systems (Caldano & Coventry 2019).
Dogs encode simultaneously and flexibly egocentric and allocentric spatial information according to the environment (Fiset et al. 2000). In comparative studies on social cognition, dogs outperform other non-human species in their ability to use other animals’ behaviour (human gaze and pointing) as a cue in regulating their own actions (Udell et al. 2008). There is even some preliminary evidence that dogs can track human perceptual experience (Lea & Osthaus 2018), although perspective-taking based on joint attention is considered as specific to humans (Tomasello 2019). Cats also display socio-spatial sensitivity to the location of a familiar human, based on vocal input (Takagi et al. 2021).
In the rich field of cognitive linguistic studies on embodied spatial coordination in language, the present paper is, to our knowledge, the first to focus on interacting human and animal bodies. Recent conversation analytic research shows that Human-Animal communication is treated by adult humans as sequentially organized social interaction (Harjunpää 2022; Mondémé 2022). In middle childhood, typically developing children have the cognitive-linguistic skills for perspective-taking and cooperative thinking. However, they are still in the process of acquiring cultural knowledge and social roles (Tomasello 2019), which may have consequences on their pet-directed behaviour.
Combining methods in cognitive semantics, phonetics, and ethology, the paper addresses the following questions: 1) Which FoRs children rely on when they convey linguistic and bodily spatial information in interspecies interaction? Do they use language forms or gestures displaying that they identify the pet’s peripersonal space and anatomical specificities? Are they dealing with an assumed asymmetry in perspective-taking? 2) How dogs and cats signal spatial information when interacting with children? How do they treat human bodily dimensions, e.g. the vertical position, the use of hands? 3) What is the role of variation in interpersonal distance? The dataset includes videos with dogs and cats and French- and Finnish-speaking children (612 yo) interacting indoors and outdoors.
The paper shows how participants across species switch between spatial coordination strategies in accordance with the interspecies activity type and partner’s response to previous cues. Human spatial language forms co-occur with indexical gestures and sounds, such as pointing and tongue clicking. These testify to children’s assumptions of the semiotic and perspectival differences between participants. Dogs and cats identify human hands as an important locus of interspecies interaction.
Dogs encode simultaneously and flexibly egocentric and allocentric spatial information according to the environment (Fiset et al. 2000). In comparative studies on social cognition, dogs outperform other non-human species in their ability to use other animals’ behaviour (human gaze and pointing) as a cue in regulating their own actions (Udell et al. 2008). There is even some preliminary evidence that dogs can track human perceptual experience (Lea & Osthaus 2018), although perspective-taking based on joint attention is considered as specific to humans (Tomasello 2019). Cats also display socio-spatial sensitivity to the location of a familiar human, based on vocal input (Takagi et al. 2021).
In the rich field of cognitive linguistic studies on embodied spatial coordination in language, the present paper is, to our knowledge, the first to focus on interacting human and animal bodies. Recent conversation analytic research shows that Human-Animal communication is treated by adult humans as sequentially organized social interaction (Harjunpää 2022; Mondémé 2022). In middle childhood, typically developing children have the cognitive-linguistic skills for perspective-taking and cooperative thinking. However, they are still in the process of acquiring cultural knowledge and social roles (Tomasello 2019), which may have consequences on their pet-directed behaviour.
Combining methods in cognitive semantics, phonetics, and ethology, the paper addresses the following questions: 1) Which FoRs children rely on when they convey linguistic and bodily spatial information in interspecies interaction? Do they use language forms or gestures displaying that they identify the pet’s peripersonal space and anatomical specificities? Are they dealing with an assumed asymmetry in perspective-taking? 2) How dogs and cats signal spatial information when interacting with children? How do they treat human bodily dimensions, e.g. the vertical position, the use of hands? 3) What is the role of variation in interpersonal distance? The dataset includes videos with dogs and cats and French- and Finnish-speaking children (612 yo) interacting indoors and outdoors.
The paper shows how participants across species switch between spatial coordination strategies in accordance with the interspecies activity type and partner’s response to previous cues. Human spatial language forms co-occur with indexical gestures and sounds, such as pointing and tongue clicking. These testify to children’s assumptions of the semiotic and perspectival differences between participants. Dogs and cats identify human hands as an important locus of interspecies interaction.