ViCom investigates the special features and linguistic significance of visual communication. This comprises sign languages as fully developed natural languages which exclusively rely on the visual channel for communication, but also visual means that enhance spoken language such as gestures. It aims at disclosing the specific characteristics of the visual modality as a communication channel and its interaction with other channels (especially the auditory channel) to develop a comprehensive theoretical linguistic model of human communication and its cognitive foundations.
ViCom focuses on the investigation of sign languages and gestures as prime examples of visual human communication. Additionally, the research agenda will comprise the investigation of gestures in didactic and therapeutic contexts, gestural aspects of vocal communication and in the written modality, pictorial narratives as well as visual communication strategies of non-linguistic species and in multimodal human-computer interaction systems. In theoretical linguistic research, both sign language and gestures, which have been recognised as fruitful research topic only very recently, are currently analysed by application of the linguistic vocabulary established for spoken languages. Only little attention has been paid to the modelling of the specific properties of the visual transmission channels. And it is now becoming evident that the formal linguistic repertoire needs to be extended to meet the specific requirements of visual communicative means.
However, although gesture research is a new and emerging topic in theoretical linguistics, it has been a central topic for a long time in other disciplines, such as cognitive linguistics, semiotics, psychology, neurosciences, animal communication, cultural studies, or conversation analysis. Likewise, cognitive oriented analyses of sign languages have highlighted the modality-specific (visual) properties of sign languages for a long time. From an applied perspective, the need for natural multimodal human-computer interfaces has been recognised for some time already. And finally, gestures are important for didactic and therapeutic uses due to their well-established role in language acquisition and learning.
So, while there already exists a substantial body of empirical data and a considerable amount of insights on the form and functions of visual communication, this knowledge is distributed across disciplines and has not been collected and unified in a comprehensive way yet. ViCom as a highly interdisciplinary priority programme brings together the above-mentioned different disciplines and research traditions under a theoretical, empirical, and applied perspective and will use these new insights to develop a new comprehensive theoretical model of language and communication that is able to account for all modalities. It will also help to advance linguistic methodology and technological, therapeutic, and didactic environments.
The Priority Program supports several short-term collaborations organized by ViCom projects each year.
This program will support
- research activities between ViCom projects, and
- activities between ViCom members and external partners.
These collaborations are primarily intended to provide additional experience and training for early career researchers, complement ongoing work, establish new internal and external collaborations, and foster interactions with researchers not directly affiliated with ViCom as well as facilitate the development of research networks and the establishment of new research activities.
Workshops are an important part of the cooperation within ViCom. Individual projects within the program often investigate the same phenomenon using different methods or apply the same method to different phenomena. To foster a lively exchange within the program, ViCom includes a workshop program for members and associated projects. Some workshops will be small, focused meetings of only 5 to 10 ViCom researchers. Others will be large workshops attracting many outside researchers. Large workshops should generally be held as part of existing conferences to make attendance easier. In addition, large workshops may be associated with the ViCom annual meeting itself. Workshops should be organized by at least two researchers from different institutions within ViCom. These will include highly interdisciplinary methodological workshops aimed at bringing together researchers from different fields working within the same dimension of ViCom (theoretical, empirical, and applied), as well as cluster workshops aimed at fostering exchange among researchers working within the same cluster.
During the first funding phase, ViCom established dedicated mentoring programmes to support early career researchers and promote networking across the Priority Programme. These initiatives connected doctoral researchers and early postdocs with experienced mentors from within and beyond ViCom, while also placing a particular emphasis on supporting female researchers through role models, career guidance, and networking opportunities.
In the second funding phase, ViCom has shifted its focus towards more practical and collaborative forms of support for early career researchers. Based on feedback from participants in the first phase, the programme now places greater emphasis on professional development and hands-on exchange through methods workshops, theory workshops, and dedicated early career retreats. Rather than creating a separate mentoring structure alongside existing university programmes, ViCom aims to strengthen the growing PhD and postdoc network by providing resources, training opportunities, and spaces for collaboration across projects and institutions.
During its first funding phase, ViCom offered a start-up funding programme to support an outstanding postdoctoral researcher for a period of six months. The grantee, Vinicius Macuch-Silva, held the title of ViCom Junior Fellow and joined an individual ViCom project to prepare his own research proposal for ViCom’s second funding period, with the aim of applying for independent funding.
The Principal Investigator of the ViCom project acted as the Fellow’s supervisor. In addition to regular mentoring, the fellowship provided support through research training opportunities in areas such as methodology and data evaluation, resources for pilot experiments, workspace, and structured career development. The Fellow was also encouraged to collaborate with ViCom experts and internationally invited specialists in visual communication.
Fellows
To strengthen international exchange and collaboration, ViCom invites internationally renowned researchers as Mercator Fellows. Mercator Fellows have extensive expertise in research areas closely connected to ViCom’s project clusters and core dimensions. During their stay in Germany, they interact with individual ViCom projects, contribute to workshops, and, where possible, participate in the ViCom Annual Meeting. They also provide valuable input for early career researchers and advise the ViCom Steering Committee.
During the first funding phase, ViCom welcomed three Mercator Fellows: Philippe Schlenker (CNRS, Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris, and New York University), Susan Goldin-Meadow (University of Chicago), and Sotaro Kita (University of Warwick). Their visits contributed substantially to the programme’s international profile and supported exchange across projects and disciplines.
In the second funding phase, ViCom continues this format with a renewed focus on sustained intellectual exchange across the programme. The first Mercator Fellow of the second phase is Karen Emmorey (San Diego State University), whose research has made major contributions to the study of sign language, gesture, and the cognitive foundations of visual communication. Her involvement will provide important impulses for ViCom’s interdisciplinary work and further strengthen the programme’s international network.
Network
The ViCom Data Network aims to foster (interdisciplinary) collaboration within ViCom, promote (reuse of) ViCom research outside of ViCom, as well as increase, sustain, and archive scientific returns of invested ViCom resources.
Also check out our GitHub repository for additional resources like anonymization tools and data processing scripts!