Embodied Meaning: A Multimodal Analysis of Language, Song and Dance Expressions in South Asian Performance Traditions

This paper examines the process of creating embodied meaning in South Asian performance arts, by using the interplay of language, song and dance.It claims that meaning is not communicated purely verbally, but rather arises from the combination of various semiotic resources and means such as gesture, facial expression, rhythm, movement, costume, and music. The qualitative, interpretative approach examines selected and folk performance traditions of Nepal and India: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Maruni, Tamang Selo, and Lakhey. The theoretical approach combines Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, semiotics and Bharata Muni's Nāṭyaśāstra to explore the interaction of linguistic, musical and bodily modes to create emotional, narrative, and cultural meaning. The results show that dance is a kind of embodied interpretive system that can interpret and extend the meanings contained in song lyrics by codified gestures and also culturally significant movements. Moreover, the study shows that these traditions act as a repository of cultural memory, a catalyst for creating a sense of community identity, and convey social and spiritual values across multiple modalities. The present study brings together indigenous aesthetic principles and the more recent theories on multimodality and semiotics to benefit the fields of linguistics, performance studies, stylistics, cultural studies and South Asian studies. It emphasizes the importance of embodied communication in the construction of meaning from the various semiotic modes used in traditional performance practices.