A Survey of Drawing in Cross-Linguistic Communication

This paper presents a small survey of the use of drawing in cross-linguistic communication. The findings indicate that drawing is an infrequent but valuable element of cross-linguistic interactions. It is used opportunistically, for a wide variety of functions, predominantly in dyadic interactions. It is used more frequently to support the drawer in contributing to an interaction conducted in their ‘second’ language, than to support an addressee in understanding a contribution in the drawer’s ‘first’ language. Also, two broad categories of drawing, ‘cross-cultural’ topics and language-use are more frequent in cross-linguistic interactions than in other contexts.