Abstract
From a linguistic anthropological perspective, this paper analyses "nature interpretation", as a communicative event mediating "humans" and "nature". Firstly, the paper reveals that the nature interpretation constructs highly stylized "interactional text" with the distinct multi-layered "poetic structures" through the three aspects: the linguistic description of animals using onomatopoeia by the interpreter (IP), the "mimicry" of animals using bodily movements, and the entire discourse structure formed by a series of segments throughout the nature interpretation program. In this endeavor, the paper attempts to integrate the two dichotomized disciplinary areas of "environmental studies" and "communication studies" and contributes to the understanding of the environmental discourse as a sociocultural interaction to further enhance interdisciplinary approaches in communication studies. Secondly, through these examinations, the paper investigates the process in which the nature interpretation "poetically" (iconically) mediates "here and now" and "there and then", that is, "humans" and "nature". This process allows the nature interpretation to achieve three tasks: metaphorically evoking the notion of "mother nature", vividly enacting the "direct experience" with nature by the IP as a "shaman", and "ritualizing" the entire interaction.
