Aesthetic experience, gestures and language creativity
Résumé
Works of art, as objects of sharing (Arendt, 1961) with others in a foreign language learning context, conspicuously trigger not only verbal reactions but also and above all other types of language expressions. Indeed, the social context in which they are likely to be expressed can lead the foreign language learner to resort to gestures rather than words to convey his sensorial, emotional and affective relationship to a photograph or a painting. Besides, for Ludwig Wittgenstein (1966) and for Daniel Arasse (2004), verbal communication is unable to describe the aesthetic reactions that one can feel in front of pieces of art. According to them, aesthetic experience remains intimate, individual and unspeakable. Therefore, the use of gesture can constitute a very efficient means of expression, which is all the more relevant in the case of second language learning as learners often do not master appropriate lexical units to express their aesthetic relationship with accuracy and fluency nor do they feel qualified enough to speak of art in an institutional and academic environment. We will see, on the one hand, how gestures manage to indicate what the verbal language, on account of its limits, cannot translate in front of artistic objects in a social context which can be perceived as intimidating. On the other hand, we will study how they enable the language learner to make up for his linguistic deficit and his lack of confidence. In addition to evoking the compensatory function of gestures, we will also highlight how they can foster intersubjectivity and empathy (Berthoz, 2004) in a multicultural context, thereby improving the processes of language learning and of intercultural awareness.