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Irene Mittelberg is Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Semiotics at the Institute for English, American, and Romance Studies of RWTH Aachen University, where she directs the Centre for Sign Language and Gesture (SignGes) and founded the Cognitive Semiotics Lab, a gesture research lab equipped with motion-capture technology. She holds an M.A. in French linguistics and art history from Hamburg University and a Ph.D. in linguistics and cognitive studies from Cornell University.

Her work combines the semiotic theories of C. S. Peirce and Roman Jakobson with contemporary embodied approaches to language, cognition, and multimodal interaction, notably to examine how image schemas, iconicity, indexicality, metonymy, metaphor, viewpoint, and frames motivate coverbal gestures. Another focus is comparing processes of sign formation and the use of space in gesture, architectural design, and the visual arts.

Recent interdisciplinary work includes pattern analysis in kinetic gesture data and the adoption of Peirce’s universal categories for neuroscientific research into gesture. She published a monograph on Metaphor and Metonymy in Language and Gesture (2006), co-edited Methods in Cognitive Linguistics (2007), edited a special issue on gesture for Sprache und Literatur (2010), and has (co-)published over 50 journal articles/book chapters. Currently, she is preparing, with Todd Oakley, a special issue on Cognitive Semiotics for Zeitschrift für Semiotik.

 

Education

2006 Ph.D. in Linguistics and Cognitive Studies, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Dissertation: Metaphor and metonymy in language and gesture: Discourse Evidence for Multimodal Models of Grammar. Advisor: Linda R. Waugh.

2001 (spring) Visiting Scholar. Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley

2000 M.A. in Linguistics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

1996 M.A. in French Linguistics, Art History, and Economics; University of Hamburg

1991 French Language and Literature, Université de Paris IV, La Sorbonne

1987 bis 1990 B.A. (German equivalent) in Romance Linguistics and Economics, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Employment

since 04/2016: Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Semiotics, Institute of English, American and Romance Studies and Human Technology Centre (HumTec) RTWH Aachen University

04/2009 - 03/2016: Assistant Professor, Linguistics & Cognitive Semiotics, Human Technology Centre, RWTH Aachen University. Head of the interdisciplinary HumTec research projects Natural Media & Engineering and NeuroPeirce, funded by the German Excellence Initiative; Founder and head of the Natural Media Lab, motion-capture gesture research lab.

2007- 03/2009 Assistant Professor, English Linguistics, Department of Language & Communication, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

2006 bis 2007 Assistant Professor, Cognitive and Applied Linguistics. Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Europa-Univeristät Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder) und affiliiertes Mitglied des VW- Projekts ‚Towards a grammar of gesture: Evolution, brain, and linguistic structures'

2005 Lecturer. Academic and Creative Writing, Pre-Medical Progam. Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha, Katar

Research Projects

• Head, interdisciplinary project Natural Media & Engineering: Emotion-Cognition Interactions and their Modification (2009-2012), HumTec, RWTH-Aachen; funded by the DFG Excellence Initiative, RWTH Institutional Strategy.
• CO-PI and head, interdisciplinary project NeuroPeirce: Gesture as test ground for the social neuroscience of Peirce’s Universal Categories (2013-2016), HumTec, RWTH Aachen; funded by the DFG Excellence Initiative, RWTH Institutional Strategy.
• CO-PI, interdisciplinary project e-cosmos: Integrating electronic tools to derive cognitive, linguistic and behavioral patterns from complex multimodal databases in the humanities (2013-2016), HumTec, RWTH Aachen; funded by the DFG Excellence Initiative, RWTH Institutional Strategy.
• Host and supervisor, postdoctoral research project 'Manufacturing Communication: Development and Implementation of gesture codes for industrial settings' (2010-2012), awarded to Dr. Simon Harrison; funded by the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation.

Akademische Funktionen und Mitgliedschaften

• Managing Director, Center for Sign Language and Gesture (SignGes), RWTH Aachen.
• Member of the Board of Directors, Human Technology Centre (HumTec), RWTH Aachen.
• Senior Fellow, Excellence Cluster TOPOI, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Research Group 'Spaces in Language'.
• Board Member, German Cognitive Linguistics Association (GCLA).
• Board Member, German Society for Semiotics (DGS), head of section ‘body semiotics’.
• Former Board Member, International Association for Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM; 2010–2012).
• Member, Internationalen Gesellschaft für Gestenstudien (ISGS).
• Member, International Cognitive Linguistics Association (ICLA).
• Member, International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS).
• Member, European research infrastructure CLARIN, Bielefeld-based working group 'Speech and other modalities'

Co-Founder of Wirkshop Series

• Mapping Multimodal Dialogue (MaMuD) workshop series; started 2013 at RWTH Aachen.
• Methods of Gesture Analysis (MGA) workshops, with Cornelia Müller, in cooperation with the Berlin Gesture Center and the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder, 2007; Amsterdam 2008; Aachen 2009, ISGS Summer School 2010; Lancaster 2012.
• Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics (EMCL) workshop series, with Monica Gonzalez-Marquez (now Bielefeld U), Rick Dale (now UC Merced), Seana Coulson (UCSD) and Michael Spivey (now UC Merced), first workshop held in 2003 at Cornell University.

 

Edited books

Mittelberg, I. (2010). Gastherausgeberin des Sonderhefts zum Thema 'Sprache und Gestik', Sprache und Literatur, 41/1, mit Beiträgen von G. Fehrmann, E. Fricke, L. Jäger, S. Ladewig, I. Mittelberg, and C. Müller. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 145 pages.

Gonzalez-Marquez, M., Mittelberg, I., S. Coulson, Spivey, M. J. (Eds.) (2007). Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 452 pages.

Monograph

Mittelberg, I. (2006). Metaphor and Metonymy in Language and Gesture: Discourse Evidence for Multimodal Models of Grammar. Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University. Published online, Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest/UMI (ISBN: 9780542533464). Link

Publications

2022

Mittelberg, I., Hinnell, J. (2022 / in print). Gesture studies and semiotics. In: J. Pelkey, P. Cobley (Eds), Semiotic Movements (Bloomsbury Semiotics 4). London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Thiering, M., Mittelberg, I. (2022). Image and Force Schemas Interacting in Digital Environments: The Computer Game Antichamber. Proceedings of the 6th Image Schema Workshop, Eds. M. M. Hedblom & O. Kutz, Jönköping, Sweden, March 24-25, 2022. CEUR-WS.org/Vol-3140.

2021

Mittelberg, I., Rekittke, L.-M. (2021). Frames und Diagramme im Dialog: Indexikalische und ikonische Zeichenmodi im verbal-gestischen Ko-Konstruieren von Reiserouten. Special Issue ‚Mental Spaces’, Zeitschrift für Semiotik, 43 (1-2). 81-116.

Van den Bossche, C., Wolf, D., Rekittke, L.-M., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K. (2021). Judgmental perception of co-speech gestures in MDD. Journal of Affective Disorders 291. 46-56.

2020

Ehret, J., Stienen, J., Brozdowski, C., Bönsch, A., Mittelberg, I., Vorländer, M., Kuhlen, T.W. (2020). Evaluating the Influence of Phoneme-Dependent Dynamic Speaker Directivity of Embodied Conversational Agents’ Speech. In IVA ’20: Proceedings of the 20th ACM International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA ’20), October 19–23, 2020, Virtual Event, Scotland Uk. ACM, New York, NY, USA.

Joue, G., Boven, L., Willmes, K., Evola, V., Demenescu; L.R., Hassemer, J., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K., Schneider, F., Habel, U. (2020). Metaphor processing is supramodal semantic processing: the role of the bilateral lateral temporal regions in multimodal communication. Brain and Language 205, 104772.

2019

Groninger, H., Mittelberg, I. (2019). Von Erinnerungen zu Objekten: Motion-Capture-Skulpturen gestischer Raumbeschreibungen. In: Gesten – Gestern, Heute, Übermorgen: Vom Forschungsprojekt Zur Ausstellung, edited by Ellen Fricke and Jana Bressem. Chemnitz: Universitätsverlag Chemnitz.

Mittelberg, I. (2019). Enacted schematicity: Image schemas and force dynamics operating in gestural (inter-)action. Proceedings of the CEUR-Workshop ‘Creativity - Cognition - Computation’, Vol-2347; urn:nbn:de:0074-2347-1, Univ. of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, December 13-15 2018.

Mittelberg, I. (2019). Peirce's Universal Categories: On their potential for gesture theory and multimodal analysis. Special Issue 'The extended Peirce', Semiotica 228. 193-222.

Mittelberg, I. (2019). Visuo-kinetic signs are inherently metonymic: How embodied metonymy motivates form, function and schematic patterns in gesture. Research Tpoic 'Visual Language', Frontiers of Psychology (Language Sciences).

2018

Mittelberg, I. (2018) Gestures as image schemas and force gestalts: A dynamic systems approach augmented with motion-capture data analyses. Cognitive Semiotics 11(1).

Fricke, E., Mittelberg, I. (2018). Gesten. In F. Liedke & A. Tuchen (Hg.). Handbuch Pragmatik, Metzler, 312 - 324.

Wolf D., Mittelberg I., Rekittke L.-M., Bhavsar S., Zvyagintsev M., Haeck A., Cong F., Klasen M., Mathiak K. (2018) Interpretation of social interactions: Functional imaging of cognitive-semiotic categories during naturalistic viewing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 12.

Joue, G., Boven, L. Willmes, K., Evola, V., Demenescuz, L., Hassemer, J., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K., Schneider, F., Habel, U. (2018): Handling or representing the concept: An fMRI-study on metonymy representations in coverbal gestures. Neuropsychologia 109. 232-244.

Schüller, D., Mittelberg. I. (2017, erschienen 2018). Motion-Capture-gestützte Gestenforschung. Zur Relevanz der Notationstheorie in den Digitalen Geisteswissenschaften. Zeitschrift für Semiotik 39 (1-2). 109-146.

2017

Groniger, H., Grote, K., Schmitz, T.H., Mittelberg, I. (2017) Raumvorstellungen verkörpert in Gesten und Gebärden: Zum Begreifen und Herstellen von Räumlichkeit in sprachlichen und gestalterischen Prozessen. In: Hubert Sowa et al. (Ed.): Bildung der Imagination: Verkörperte Raumvorstellung - Grundlagen. Oberhausen: Athena-Verlag, 117-137.

Kaufmann, E., Mittelberg, I., Koch, I., Philipp, A. (2017 and 2018) Modality effects in language switching: Evidence for a bimodal advantage. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 21(2). 243-250. doi:10.1017/S136672891600122X

Mittelberg, I. (2017) Experiencing and construing spatial artifacts from within: Simulated artifact immersion as a multimodal viewpoint strategy. Cognitive Linguistics 28(3). 381-415. Special issue on 'Viewpoint phenomena in multimodal communication', ed. B. Dancygier & L. Vandelanotte.

Mittelberg, I. (2017). Embodied frames and scenes: Body-based metonymy and pragmatic inferencing in gesture. Gesture 16.2. 203-244. (Special issue of the journal Gesture on ‘Gesture Pragmatics’, ed. by E. Sweetser & E. Wehling.)

Mittelberg, I. (2017). Multimodal existential constructions in German: Manual actions of giving as experiential substrate for grammatical and gestural patterns. In: A. Bergs & E. Zima (guest Eds.) Towards a multimodal construction grammar,’ special issue‚ Linguistics Vanguard 3.1.

Mittelberg, I., Joue, G. (2017). Source actions ground metaphor via metonymy: Toward a frame-based account of gestural action in multimodal discourse. In: B. Hampe (Ed.): Metaphor: Embodied Cognition and Discourse. Cambridge University Press. 119-137.

Mittelberg, I., Schmitz, T.H., Groninger, H. (2017) Operative Manufakte: Gesten als unmittelbare Skizzen in frühen Stadien des Entwurfsprozesses. In Hinterwaldner, I., Ammon, S. (Eds.) Bildlichkeit im Zeitalter der Modellierung. Operative Artefakte in Entwurfsprozessen der Architektur und des Ingenieurwesens (eikones Series). München/Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink. 55-89.

Mittelberg, I., Schmitz, T.H., Groninger, H. (2017) Operative manufacts: Gestures as embodied sketches in early stages of the design process. Sabine Ammon & Remei Capdevila Werning (Eds.): The Active Image. Architecture and Engineering in the Age of Modeling. Berlin: Springer. 99-131.

Schüller, D., Beecks, C., Hassani, M., Hinnell, J., Brenger, B., Seidl, T., Mittelberg, I. (2017) Automated Pattern Analysis in Gesture Research: Similarity Measuring in 3D Motion Capture Models of Communicative Action. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 11, 2.

Wolf, D., Rekittke, L.-M., Mittelberg, I., Klasen, M., Mathiak, K. (2017) Perceived conventionality in co-speech gestures activates the language networks. Frontiers of Human Neuroscience.

2016

Beecks, C., Hassani, M., Hinnell, J., Schüller, D., Brenger, B., Mittelberg, I., Seidl, T. (2016). Efficient Query Processing in 3D Motion Capture Databases via Lower Bound Approximation of the Gesture Matching Distance. International Journal of Semantic Computing, 10(1), 5-25.

Grote, K., Sieprath, H., Groninger, H., Mittelberg, I., Schmitz, T.H., Willmes-von Hickeldey, K. (2016). Space, Body & DeSign. Ein DeafGain-Projekt zur Verbesserung der visuellen Wahrnehmung und der räumlichen Beschreibungskompetenzen taubloser Menschen, Das Zeichen 102: 2-7.

Mittelberg, I., Schüller, D. (2016). Kulturwissenschaftliche Orientierung in der Gestenforschung. In: L. Jäger, W. Holly, P. Krapp, S. Weber (Eds.). Language – Culture – Communication. An International Handbook of Linguistics as Cultural Study. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 871–884.

Schüller, D., Mittelberg, I. (2016). Diagramme von Gesten. Eine zeichentheoretische Analyse digitaler Bewegungsspuren. Zeitschrift für Semiotik 34 (3-4). 3-32.

2015

Beecks, C., Hassani, M., Hinnell, J., Schüller, D., Brenger, B., Mittelberg, I., Seidl, T. (2015). Spatiotemporal Similarity Search in 3D Motion Capture Gesture Streams. Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Spatial and Temporal Databases (SSTD), Seoul, South Korea, August 26-28, 2015. 355–372.

Brenger, B., Mittelberg, I. (2015). Shakes, nods and tilts. Motion-capture data profiles of speakers’ and listeners’ head gestures. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Gesture and Speech in Interaction (GESPIN) Conference, Sept. 2015, Nantes. 43–48.

Mittelberg, I., Schmitz, T.H., Groninger, H. (2015). Operative manufacts: Gestures as immediate sketches in early stages of the architectural design process. In: Ammon, S. & R. Capdevila Werning (Eds.), Images as Operative Artefacts. Designing in the Age of Modelling in Architecture and Engineering. Springer, SAPERE Series (Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics).

Rekittke, L-M., Mittelberg, I., Wolf, D. (2015). How sound moves the body. Felt qualities of experience in gestural enactsments of film sound. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Gesture and Speech in Interaction (GESPIN) Conference, Sept. 2015, Nantes.

2014

Grote, K., Kramer, F., Mittelberg, I., Willmes, K. (2014). Gebärdensprache und Gestik – Diversity und Inklusion. In: DAS ZEICHEN 98, Zeitschrift für Sprache und Kultur Gehörloser. 466-469.

Mittelberg, I. (2014). Gestures and iconicity. In: C. Müller, J. Bressem, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S.H. Ladewig, D. McNeill & J. Bressem (Eds.). Body – Language – Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (38.2). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. 1712–1732. PDF

Mittelberg, I., Evola, V. (2014). Iconic and representational gestures. In: C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S. H. Ladewig, D. McNeill and J. Bressem (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communcation Science 38.2.). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. 1732–1746. PDF

Mittelberg, I., Waugh, L.R. (2014). Gestures and metonymy. In: C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S.H. Ladewig, D. McNeill & J. Bressem (Eds.), Body – Language – Communication. An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction (Handbooks of Linguistics and Communcation Science 38.2.). Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. 1747–1766. PDF

Vaegs, T., Niemietz, Tummel, C., Richert, A., Beeks, C., Haberstroh, M., Hassani, M., Meisen, P., Priesters, M., Vieritz, H., Seidl, T., Mittelberg, I., Neumann, S., Jeschke, S. (2014). Fostering interdisciplinary integration in the e-humanities, EDULEARN14 Proceedings, 2244-2251.

2013

Cienki, A., Mittelberg, I. (2013). Creativity in the forms and functions of gestures with speech. In: T. Veale, K. Feyaerts, C. Forceville (Eds.). Creativity and the Agile Mind: A Multi-Disciplinary Study of a Multi-Faceted Phenomenon (Applications of Cognitive Linguistics). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 231-252. PDF

Grandhi, S.A., Wacharamanotham, C., Joue, G., Borchers, J., Mittelberg, I. (2013). How We Gesture Towards Machines: An Exploratory Study of User Perceptions of Gestural Interaction. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI 2013 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems , CHI EA '13, New York, NY, USA, ACM. 1209-1214.

Mittelberg, I. (2013). The Exbodied Mind: Cognitive-Semiotic Principles as Motivating Forces in Gesture. In: C. Müller, A. Cienki, E. Fricke, S.H. Ladewig, D. McNeill & S. Tessendorf (Eds.) (2013). Body – Language – Communication: An International Handbook on Multimodality in Human Interaction. Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science (38.1). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 750-779. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2013). Überlegungen zur indexikalischen Bedingtheit von Metaphern im Sprachgebrauch. In: Wieser, D. & Lessing, M. (Eds.). Zugänge zu Metaphern - Übergänge durch Metaphern. München: Wilhelm Fink. 139-144.

Mittelberg, I. (2013): Balancing acts: Image schemas and force dynamics as experiential essence in pictures by Paul Klee and their gestural enactments. Language and the Creative Mind, eds. B. Dancygier, M. Bokrent, J. Hinnell. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Information. 325–346. PDF

Priesters, M. A., Mittelberg, I. (2013). Individual differences in speakers' gesture spaces: Multi-angle views from a motion-capture study. Proceedings of the Tilburg Gesture Research Meeting (TiGeR), June 19-21, 2013. PDF

2012

Grandhi, S. A., Joue, G. , Mittelberg, I. (2012). To Move or to Remove? A Human-Centric Approach to Understanding of Gesture Interpretation. Proceedings of the 10th ACM conference on Designing Interactive Systems, Newcastle.

Grandhi, S. A., Joue, G., Mittelberg, I. (2012). Whatʼs in a Gesture: Exploring the potential of gesture-based interaction for low literacy user groups. Position paper, Workshop 'NUIs for the world: New Interaction Forms and Interfaces for Mobile Applications in Developing Countries.' The ACM's 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Austin, Texas.

Mittelberg, I. (2012). Ars memorativa, Architektur und Grammatik. Denkfiguren und Raumstrukturen in Merkbildern und spontanen Gesten. In: Schmitz, T., Groninger, H. (Eds.): Werkzeug / Denkzeug. Manuelle Intelligenz und Transmedialität kreativer Prozesse. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag. 191-221. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2012). Natural media and the 'exbodied' mind: A cognitive-semiotic approach to multimodal communication. Position Paper (with G. Joue & S. Grandhi), International Workshop "Alignment in Communication: Towards a New Theory of Communication", organized by SFB 637: 'Alignment in Communication'. Bielefeld: Center for Interdisziplinary Research (ZiF), 39-40.

2011

Busse, S., Mittelberg, I. (2011). Die Vermessung der kommunikativen Welt. Die Motion Capture Technologie eröffnet neue Möglichkeiten in der Gestenforschung. RWTH-Themen, 2011/2, 32-37.

Grandhi, S.A., Joue, G., Mittelberg, I. (2011). Understanding Naturalness and Intuitiveness in Gesture Production: Insights for Touchless Gestural Interfaces. Proceedings of The ACM's 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), May 2011, Vancouver, BC.

Hassemer, J., Joue, G., Willmes, K., Mittelberg, I. (2011). Dimensions and mechanisms of form constitution: Towards a formal description of gestures. Proceedings of the GESPIN 2011 Gesture Conference, September 2011, Bielefeld.

Kröger, B.J., Birkholz, P., Kannampuzha, J., Kaufmann, E., Mittelberg, I. (2011). Movements and holds in fluent sentence production of American Sign Language: The action-based approach. Cognitive Computation 3, 3, 449-465. PDF Link

Mittelberg, I. (2011). Focus on form: Reflections on the (neuro)aesthetics of abstraction in painting and gesture. In: K. Herrmann (Ed.). Neuroästhetik. Perspektiven auf ein interdisziplinäres Forschungsgebiet (Studien des Aachener Kompentenzzentrums für Wissenschaftsgeschichte 10), Kassel: Kassel Univ. Press. PDF Link

Mittelberg, I. (2011). Multimodale Sprachverarbeitungsmodelle in der Gestenforschung. Stimme, Sprache, Gehör: Zeitschrift für Kommunikationsstörungen (Special issue on linguistic processing models).

2010

Grandhi, S. A., Joue, G. , Mittelberg, I. (2010). Human Body as an Input Device: Exploiting metonymic principles for gesture-based interaction design. In the Proceedings of the 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS), July 2010, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt an der Oder.

Grandhi, S. A., Joue, G., Mittelberg, I. There's more than what meets the hand: Using semiotic principles to understand the use of communicative hand gestures in interaction design. Proceedings of the Whole Body Interaction, a SIGCHI 2010 Workshop, Atlanta, GA, USA, July 2010

Mittelberg, I. (2010). Geometric and image-schematic patterns in gesture space. In: V. Evans, P. Chilton (Eds.), Language, Cognition and Space: The State of the Art and New Directions. London: Equinox. 351-385. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2010). Interne und externe Metonymie: Jakobsonsche Kontiguitätsbeziehungen in redebegleitenden Gesten. Sprache und Literatur 41/1, S. 112-143. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2010): Guest editor of special issue of the journal Sprache und Literatur (Language and Literature), 41, 1, on ‘Language and Gesture', with contributions by G. Fehrmann, E. Fricke, L. Jäger, S. Ladewig, I. Mittelberg, and C. Müller (145 pages).

2009

Mittelberg, I., Waugh, L. R. (2009). Metonymy first, metaphor second: A cognitive-semiotic approach to multimodal figures of speech in co-speech gesture. In: C. Forceville and E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.). Multimodal Metaphor. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 329-356 PDF

2008

Fricke, E., Mittelberg, I., Teßendorf , S. (2008). Inwieweit sind Gesten konkret? Positionspapier zum Begriff des Konkreten in der Gestenforschung. Konferenzprogramm des 12. Internationalen Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Semiotik (DGS), Das Konkrete als Zeichen, Stuttgart. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2008). Peircean semiotics meets conceptual metaphor: Iconic modes in gestural representations of grammar. In: A. Cienki & C. Müller (Eds.), Metaphor and Gesture. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 115-154. PDF

2007

Gonzalez-Marquez, M., Mittelberg, I., S. Coulson, Spivey, M. J. (Eds.) (2007). Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Mittelberg, I. (2007). Methodology for multimodality: One way of working with speech and gesture data. In M. Gonzalez-Marquez, I. Mittelberg, S. Coulson & M. J. Spivey (Eds.), Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 225-248. PDF

Mittelberg, I. (2007). “Gesture and Thought” by D. McNeill, Chicago University Press, 2005. Metaphor and Symbol, 22/, 281-290.

Mittelberg, I., Farmer, T.A., L.R. Waugh (2007). 'They actually said that?' An introduction to working with usage data through discourse and corpus analysis. In: M. Gonzalez-Marquez, I. Mittelberg, S. Coulson, M.J. Spivey (Eds.), Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 19-52.

2006

Mittelberg, I. (2006). Metaphor and Metonymy in Language and Gesture: Discourse Evidence for Multimodal Models of Grammar. Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University. Published online, Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest/UMI (ISBN: 9780542533464).

2003

Mittelberg, I. (2003). Making grammar visible: The use of metaphoric gestures to represent grammatical categories and structures. In: J. Streeck (Ed.) Proceedings of the First Congress of the International Society for Gesture Studies: ‘Gesture - The Living Medium, University of Texas at Austin.

Mittelberg, I. (2003). On exploring the role of gesture in the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise: A report on the Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics (EMCL) Workshop. Gesture, 3/2, 239-243.

2002

Mittelberg, I. (2002). The visual memory of grammar: Iconographical and metaphorical insights. Metaphorik.de, 02/2002, 69-89. PDF Link

vor 2002

Mittelberg, I. (1999). Grammatical imaginations. A Media-Historical Approach to Linguistic and Pictorial Metaphor. Proceedings of the AISB '99 Symposium on Metaphor, Artificial Intelligence, and Cognition. AISB, 79-86.

Mittelberg, I. (1999). The blackbird (Excerpt from Richard de Fournival's ‘Bestiaire d'amours'). Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics (Papers in Romance Philology) 17, 84-87.

Mittelberg, I. (1999). An Excerpt from ‘El libro de los caballos'. 13th century translation of the ‘Practica equorum'. Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics (Papers in Romance Philology) 17, 152-156.

 

Presentations

2014

Rekittke, L.-M. & Mittelberg, I.: Crossmodal figurative discourse strategies: Metonymic modes and image schemas in verbo-gestural taboo descriptions. 10. Konferenz der Researching and Applying Metaphor (RaAM) Association, Cagliari (20.-23. June).

Rekittke, L.-M. & Mittelberg, I.: Metonymic taboo description: Multimodal behaviors moving along an indexicality-iconicity continuum. Erste Konferenz der International Association for Cognitive Semiotics (IACS), Lund University (25.-27. Sept.).

Rekittke, L.-M., Wolf, D., Mathiak, K., & Mittelberg, I.: Gestures as test ground for the social neuroscience of Peirce’s Universal Categories: First theoretical and experimental insights. 6. Konferenz der International Society for Gesture Studies, University of California, San Diego (8.-12. July).

Rekittke, L.-M., Wolf, D., Mathiak, K., & Mittelberg, I.: Modulated gesture perception in naïve participants: Insights from a behavioral study operationalizing Peirce’s universal categories. Mapping Multimodal Dialogue (MaMuD 2) Workshop, K.U. Leuven (21.-22. Nov.).

Wolf, D., Klasen, M., Bhavsar, S., Rekittke, L.-M., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K.: Content coding disentangles individual components of complex social stimuli for fMRI data analysis. Internes Treffen der International Research Training Group (IRTG) 1328, Uniklinik RWTH Aachen (4.Nov.).

Wolf, D., Klasen, M., Haeck, A., Bhavsar, S., Rekittke, L.-M., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K.: Analysis of film stimuli for fMRI benefits from coding of individual content components. Jahreskongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Biologische Psychiatrie (DGBP), Uniklinik RWTH Aachen (26.-27. Sept.). (1. Poster award)

Wolf, D., Klasen, M., Haeck, A., Bhavsar, S., Rekittke, L.-M., Mittelberg, I., Mathiak, K.: Content coding disentangles individual components of complex social stimuli for fMRI data analysis. Annual Meeting (Jahreskonferenz) der Organization of Human Brain Mapping (OHBM), CCH-Kongresszentrum, Hamburg (8.-12. June).

2013

Rekittke L.-M. & Mittelberg I. "Metonymy in iconic and modal gestures performed during narrations on a taboo topic". Poster at the LingUnite conference, RWTH Aachen University, October 11 2013.

Wolf D.*, Rekittke L.-M.*, Habel U, Jäger L, Jarke M, Koch I, Prin W, Schneider F, Willmes-von-Hinckeldey K, Mathiak K, Mittelberg I. "NeuroPeirce: Gesture as test ground for the social neuroscience of Peirce's universal categories." Poster at the LingUnite conference, RWTH Aachen University, 11 October 2013.

Wolf D.*, Rekittke L.-M.*, Habel U, Jäger L, Jarke M, Koch I, Prin W, Schneider F, Willmes-von-Hinckeldey K, Mathiak K, Mittelberg I. "NeuroPeirce: Gesture as test ground for the social neuroscience of Peirce's universal categories." Poster at the NeuroVisionen 8 conference, University of Cologne, 29 November 2013.

2011

Hassemer, J., & Mittelberg, I. (June 14 - 16th). Spatial dimensions as a distinguishing parameter of gestural form. The Third Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC III), Copenhagen.

Hassemer, J., & Mittelberg, I. (May 6 - 8th). How hand shape and motion construct form in iconic and indexical gestures. Seventh Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, Lund, Sweden.

Hassemer, J., Joue, G., Willmes, K. and Mittelberg, I. (Sept. 5-7). Dimensions and mechanisms of form constitution: Towards a formal description of gestures. GESPIN 2011: Gesture Speech in Interaction, Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF) Bielefeld.

Mittelberg, I & Evola, V. (May 6-8, 2011). On the semiotic reality of cognitive principles and processes in gesture: Insights from video and 3D motion capture analyses. 7th Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), Lund University, Sweden.

Mittelberg, I. & S. Grandhi (Apr. 26, 2011). Gestures for Human Computer Interaction. Computer Science Dept., Informatics-10, RWTH Aachen University.

Mittelberg, I. & S. Harrison (June 14 – 16, 2011). Within and across spaces. Towards multidimensional models of gesture space. Theme session organized at 3rd Conference of the Scandinavian Association for Language and Cognition (SALC III), Copenhagen, Denmark. Link

Mittelberg, I. (11. Feb. 2011). Ars memorativa: Manuelle Gesten als Werkzeuge für das Herstellen und Medialisieren von Erinnerungen und Entwürfen. Interdisziplinärer Workshop WERKZEUG – DENKZEUG... zur Transmedialität kreativer Prozesse. RWTH Aachen.

Mittelberg, I. (Nov. 22, 2011). Jakobsonian perspectives on gesture. Invited Video-Conference with the Departamento de Letras Modernas, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.

Mittelberg, I. (26. Jan. 2011). Kognitive & kommunikative Funktionen von redebegleitenden Gesten. Psychiatrischen, psychotherapeutischen u. psychosomatischen Kolloquium des UK Aachen.

Mittelberg, I. (Dec. 1st). On the 'exbodiment' of image and motor schemas in coverbal gestures. SMCLC Universität Düsseldorf.

Mittelberg, I. (May 21). Metonymic moments: Cognitive-semiotic prerequisites for the interpretation of metaphoric gestures. Invited talk at Workshop Taking Stock of figurative language and thought: On the past, present and future of applied research on metaphor, Mühlheim an der Ruhr.

Mittelberg, I. (Nov. 11, 2011). Der Sprache oft ein Stück voraus: Kognitive und kommunikative Funktionen von Gesten. RWTH Aachen Night of Science (Wissenschafts-nacht), RWTH Aachen University.

Mittelberg, I. (Oct. 14). Semiotische Relativität: Konzeptuelle Bildschemata als motivierende Prinzipien in Bild und Geste. Sektion ‚Systemgrenzen und Kodintegration’, org. by R. Posner, E. Fricke & F. K. Krönig, 13th Internationaler Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Semiotik (DGS), Potsdam.

Mittelberg, I. (Oct. 26, 2011). Die Vermessung der Gesten: Einblicke in die Forschungsarbeiten im Natural Media Lab. Colloquium, Dept. of Neurology, University Clinic Aachen.

2010

Evola, V., Mittelberg, I. & Koch, I. (Mar. 5-6, 2010). Body posture and manual gestures as indicators of speakers’ attitudes and stance. ERS Impulse Workshop “Communication, Technology and Brains. RWTH Aachen University, Germany.

Hassemer, J., Müller, C., Jäger, L. and Mittelberg, I. (Mar. 5-6). Marker analysis: Geometrical dimensions at the basis of gestural form. Poster presented at the ERS Impulse Workshop ”Communication, Technology and Brains“, RWTH Aachen University.

Hassemer, J.; C. Müller & I. Mittelberg (July 25–30, 2010). Marker analysis. Geometrical dimensions of gestural form. 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS), European University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder.

Kaufmann, E., Mittelberg, I., Jäger, L., Philipp, A., Koch, I. (July 25-30, 2010). The costs of switching between languages and modalities. 4th Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS), European University Viadrina at Frankfurt/Oder.

Kaufmann, E., Mittelberg, I., Philipp, A. and Koch, I. (Mar. 5-6). Bimodal bilingualism and the cognitive costs of signed-spoken language switching. Poster presented at the ERS Impulse Workshop ”Communication, Technology and Brains“, RWTH Aachen University.

Mittelberg, I. & C. Müller (July 19-24, 2010). From form to meaning: Cognitive and semiotic approaches to gesture analysis. Invited course taught at the First Summer School of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS): ‘Handling Gesture: Theory and Method in Gesture Studies’, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).

Mittelberg, I. & Evola, V. (September 23, 2010). The use of motion capture technology in gesture research. By invitation of Eve Sweetser. UC Berkeley Gesture Group.

Mittelberg, I. & V. Evola (September 16-19, 2010). Images schemas in captured motion: First insights from a 3-D analysis. CSDL (Cognitive Structures, Discourse, and Language) Conference, University of California, San Diego.

Mittelberg, I. (December 18, 2010). Plenary: On the semiotic reality of conceptual structures in coverbal gestures, ‘CogLing Dagen 2010,’ conference of the Belgium and Netherlands Cognitive Linguistics Association.

Mittelberg, I. (Januar 2010). Focus on form: The aesthetics of abstraction in painting and gesture. Interdisciplinary Workshop: Neuroaesthetics, RWTH Aachen.

Mittelberg, I. (July 25-30, 2010). Diagrammatic iconicity as a cognitive-semiotic principle in grammar and gesture. 4th conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS), European University Viadrina at Frankfurt/Oder.

Mittelberg, I. (June 30-July 3, 2010). Plenary: Metaphor and Metonymy in Painting, 8th RaAM Conference (Researching and Applying Metaphor) Metaphor and Domains of Discourse, VU University Amsterdam.

Mittelberg, I. (Dec. 10). Metonymic modes in static and dynamic visuo-spatial signs. Space in language, writing systems and images, TOPOI Excellence Cluster, Freie Universität Berlin.

Mittelberg, I. (Sept. 23). From cognitive semiotics to motion capture technology: Work in progress in the Natural Media Lab. By invitation of Eve Sweetser, UC Berkeley Gesture Group, CA.

Mittelberg, I., Joue, G. Gestures and the embodied Mind. ERS impulse workshop: Communication, Technology and Brains at RWTH Aachen University. March 6, 2010.

2009

Mittelberg, I. (Juni 2009). Plenary: On the metonymic nature of (metaphoric) gestures. RaAM (Researching and Applying Metaphor) Workshop, Metaphor, Metonymy, & Multimodality, Universiteit van Amsterdam.

Mittelberg, I. (Mai 2009). Metonymic Moments: Abstraction and Contiguity Relations in Gesture, COST-Workshop Classification by visual means. Iconography, iconicity, and visual sequencing, Münster.

Mittelberg, I. (Mai 2009). Visual syntax: On the WHAT and WHERE in meta-grammatical gestures, Multimodality and Grammatical Integration, Theme session at AFLiCo 3 Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Paris.

Mittelberg, I. (März 2009). Diagrammatic iconicity in language and gesture. Diagrammatology and Diagrammatic Praxis. Centro de Filosofia das Ciencias da Universitdade de Lisboa.

Mittelberg, I. (Sept. 2009). Diagrammatic iconicity as a cognitive-semiotic principle in grammar and gesture. GESPIN Conference, Poznán, Polen.

Mittelberg, I., Evola, V. (Sept. 16-19). Image schemas in captured motion: First insights from a 3-D gesture analysis. Cognitive Structures, Discourse, and Language Conference, University of California, San Diego, CA.

Mittelberg, I. Semiotische Prinzipien in redebegleitenden Gesten. Linguistischer Arbeitskreis, Institut für Sprach-, und Kommunikationswissenschaft, RWTH Aachen. PDF

2008

Mittelberg, I. (Aug. 2008). Geometric and image-schematic patterns in gesture space: On the ‘ex-bodiment’ of embodied structures. Language, Communication, and Cognition, Brighton, UK.

Mittelberg, I. (Feb. 2008). Contiguity relationships within and across semiotic modes: A Jakobsonian perspective on metonymy in co-verbal gestures, Konferenz der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, Bamberg.

Mittelberg, I. (Mai 2008). Zur Rhetorik der Geste: Semiotische und Kognitive Perspektiven. Seminar der Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung und des SFB Medien und kulturelle Kommunikation, Universität zu Köln.

Mittelberg, I. (Sept. 2008). Ad-hoc creativity: Spontaneous gestures with speech, mit Alan Cienki, Kontaktforum, Royal Flemish Academy, Brüssel, The Agile Mind: Creativity in Discourse and Art.

Mittelberg, I. (Sept. 2008). Icon and index in symbol: Peircean and cognitivist perspectives on the semiotic reality of image schemas in gesture. Konferenz der Dt. Gesellschaft für Kognitive Linguistik (DGKL), Leipzig.

2007

Mittelberg, I. (Dez. 2007). Metaphern und Metonymien in redebegleitenden Gesten. Metaphernworkshop, Universität Hamburg.

Mittelberg, I. (Juli 2007). Metonymy in co-speech gesture, as part of theme session What do we want do call a metonymy? 10th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (ICLC), Krakau.

Mittelberg, I. (Juni 2007). Metonymy in gesture and Cubism: A comparative study of abstraction, essence, and relativity in semiotic structure, 3rd Conference of the International Society for the Study of Gesture (ISGS), Northwestern University, Chicago/Evanston.

Mittelberg, I. (Mai 2007). Crossmodal metonymy: physical and conceptual salience in metaphorical gestures, theme session “Metonymy in Gesture and sign languages” (I. Mittelberg & C. Müller); l’Association Française de la Linguistique Cognitive), Université de Lille.

Mittelberg, I. (Nov. 2007). Parts and wholes in language and gesture: A Jakobsonian perspective, Swedish Association for Language and Cognition (SALC), Lund.

2006

Mittelberg, I. (Juni 2006). Metonymic tendencies in gesture and Cubism. www.BerlinGestureCenter.de

2005

Mittelberg, I. (Dez. 2005). Talking with hands and feet? A look at the interplay between language and gesture in teaching, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Doha, Katar.

Mittelberg, I. (Juli 2005). Iconicity and indexicality, metaphor and metonymy in multimodal communication, mit Linda Waugh. International Pragmatics Conference, Riva del Garda, Italien. Panel: The pragmatics of multimodal representations, Leitung: C. Forceville und E. Urios-Aparisi.

Mittelberg, I. (Juni 2005). Metonymic modes in co-speech gesture, Paper präsentiert beim Second Congress of the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS), Lyon.

2004

Mittelberg, I. (Apr. 2004). Gestures: Tanglible Bridges between Minds and Languages. Konferenz zum Thema Visual Literacy and Language Teaching, Cornell University.

Mittelberg, I. (Nov. 2004). Gesture as Mediational Practice: Embodied Cognition and Semiotic Acts in Language Teaching. University of California at Berkeley.

2003

Mittelberg, I. (Feb. 2003). Multimodality in the Second Language Classroom: A look at Gestures and their Affordances. Second Interdisciplinary SLAT (Second Language Acquisition and Teaching) Roundtable Conference, University of Arizona.

Mittelberg, I. (Juli 2003). Conceptualizations of Linguistic Form: Evidence from Metaphor and Iconicity in Gesture. Thematische Sektion, Metaphor & Gesture, organisiert von Cornelia Müller und Alan Cienki. 8th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, University of La Rioja.

Mittelberg, I. (Mai 2003). Gesture Studies in Cognitive Linguistics: Multimodality and Methodological Challenges. EMCL (Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics) Workshop, Cornell University.

2002

Mittelberg, I. (Juni 2002). Making Grammar Visible: The Use of Gestural Metaphors to Represent Grammatical Categories and Structures. First Congress of the International Society for Gesture Studies: Gesture-The Living Medium, University of Texas at Austin.

Mittelberg, I. (März 2002). Grammar as a Social System: A Semiotic Analysis of Early Modern Mnemonic Illustrations, 29th International LAUD Symposium: The Language of Politico-Social Ideologies, Universität Koblenz-Landau.