The Modeling of Social Distance on the Mat: Towards a Semiotic Study of Aikido

Abstract

The study of language through sign systems that represent “by-products” or substitutes of language as a means of communication is a direction in linguistics that adds to the knowledge about the productivity and language-generating potential of natural languages. Nonverbal language which boasts a plethora of wordless cues through which people communicate, includes postures, gestures, stances, and movements, all of which can be analyzed and explained through the use of the instruments of a semiotic methodology. For instance, the study of signs through the rituals, conventions and overall nonverbal interactions in the diaculture of modern Japanese martial arts, reveals interesting characteristics of the sign language used particularly in Kenjutsu and Aikido. The mentioned martial arts make wide use of nonverbal cues that are characterized by features of indexicality, iconicity and symbolicity, and echo concrete social norms and conventions. Those social conventions are materialized and translated into the setting of trainings through philosophical concepts and ideas.