MultimodalityinDiscourseAnalysis：FromtheStylisticPerspective

【Abstract】The new trend of multimodality as a way of influencing stylistics and discourse analysis is viewed as a significant phenomenon in the highly developed digital and informational world. This paper aims to explore the factors influencing multimodality in discourse analysis from the perspective of stylistics. The project is based on a corpus study of some news reports on the same hot issue to discuss the information underlying lexical choice and variation in multimodality.

【Key words】multimodality； discourse analysis； stylistics； corpus study； ideology； semiotics

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】姚海燕，貴州工程應(yīng)用技術(shù)學(xué)院。

1. Introduction

Multimodality has recently developed as a hot topic in language study. It enables a vast possibility in the field of linguistics to look into the interconnection and interaction of multimodality towards the style of context and discourse analysis from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics. Semiotic aspects address in the fields of phonetic， morphology， semantics … which form the overall structure of a textthough most semiotic contexts are institutionalized. As far as context situation is concerned， multimodal discourse accounts for most of its variations andchanges regarding to the language comprehension， cognition and acquisition，which tributes to： （1）The changes in the mode of discourse， i.e. the transformation of the material contextual factors of linguistic figure into physical and biological contextual factors which functioning as way of meaning expression. （2）Different conclusion drawn from the different perspective on judging the same communicative description. （3）Contextual dependency is inversely proportional to the complexity of modality description. （4）The materiality of modes often has counter influence for the choice of textual meaning. Those supplementary modes of material context may change the territory of understanding and mode of expression， make meaning expression more appropriate for the affordances of the modes， so as to enhance the speed， systematicity and synthesis of meaning expression.

2. Literature review

2.1 Multimodality Language as W.V. Quine said， is a fabric of sentencesassociated with one anotherand with stimuli by the mechanism ofconditioned response， is supposed to holdfor behavior altogether， therefore an arbitrary collection of objects. Along with the emergency of social semiotic taking language as one of social semiotic system by Michael Hallidy in the 1970s， the theory for multimodal discourse analysis became urgently in need. O’Toole （1994） and especially Kress and van Leeuwen published their influential work The Language of Displayed Art and Reading Images： The Grammar of Visual Design， which marks the beginning of multimodal discourse analysis. The present article is intended to extend the theory of context in systemic functional linguistics to social semiotics and develop a theory of context for multimodal discourse analysis.

2.2 Stylistics

Style： variation in the language use of an individual， such as formal/informal style Literary style： ways of writing employed in literature and by individual writers； the way the mind of the author expresses itself in words， Stylistics “studies the features of situationally distinctive uses （varieties） of language， and tries to establish principles capable of accounting for the particular choices made by individual and social groups in their use of language.” （Crystal 1980）. Stylistics is the study of varieties of language whose properties position that language in context. In other words， they all have “place”. The word“style”， itself， has several connotations that make it difficult for the term to be defined accurately.

2.3 Context of Situation

Ervin-Tripp quite rightly commented that in research on the relationship between context and language， （she referred to it as“context in language”）， “context gets into language mainly by reference. We talk about the context” （1996： 21）.To understand what to be included in the paradigmatic description of context， semiotic and its material nature of language have played a major role in shaping our ideas， and as for the concept of context， it’s recently considered conceptualized within Systemic Functional Linguistics （SFL） theory. And although there are certain categories of meaning highlighted， such as“l(fā)iteral meaning”and“contextual meaning”， and an appeal to Grice’s“maxims”for determining how one may interpret communicative behavior in general， there is no principled model for understanding why and how language， meaning and context are connected. It is as though the features of context should just be obvious to anyone undertaking an analysis of communication.

3. Multimodality and Stylistics

3.1 Stylistic Analysis in Film Multimodal Texts

Until recently， the stylistic approach to text analysis has been predominantly logocentric in nature. However， as film analysis has caught the interest of a number of stylisticians （e.g. McIntyre 2008； Montoro 2010） and as technological developments in book production have caused a surge in literature that experiments with images， typography， color， layout and so on， stylisticians have seen a need to expand the stylistic tool kit with tools geared towards handling the stylistic analysis of multimodal texts.

3.2 Visual Communication and Interpersonal Meaning

In visual communication， interpersonal meaning （cf. Kress van Leeuwen 1996： 119–180） concerns the way the viewer is positioned in relation to the represented participants. The systems involved in analyzing this are gaze， angle of interaction， distance and modality.

4.Case Studies on Multimodality in News Reports

The above is a shot taken from The Wall Street Journal’s report about the news of China’s Lianghui hold in March of 2016. At the first glance of the picture， it’s easy to get the meaning which implied a sense of criticizing and negative view of the reporter on the issue of seemly objective truth report， i.e. the economic growth brings world nothing but pollution or disaster， which， to certain extent， displays the attitude of disapproval and malignity. The two values composed in a way one cannot easily derive from the obvious meaning of words to get informed what the true purpose of the reporter want to transfer.

4.1 The Stylistic Effect

The visual part， actually plays an important role both for the reporter and the reader to derive the meaning implied even though no direct semiotic expression. The multimodality as a way to help meaning expressing in this case functions in three ways： （1） avoiding overt confrontation and face to face provocation； （2） evil intention technologically euphemized； （3） this informal way of meaning implication cline to reach people more silently other than saliently. As for stylistics， the visual multimodality serves as a subtle connotation which， or otherwise， may fall into a snare of convention.

4.2 Compositional Meaning

Enlightened by Compositional meaning （cf. Kress van Leeuwen 1996： 181–229） is Kress and van Leeuwen’s visual counterpart to Halliday’s textual meaning in language and refers to the spatial organization of elements on the page.

4.2.1 Compositional Principles

The key compositional principles are information value， framing and salience. Information value refers to the organization of the page in terms of three different patterns which are seen as meaning-making in themselves： i.e. the placement of visual material on the page in terms of respectively a left/right， top/bottom or centre/margin principle of organisation. cf. Machin 2007： 141–142）. Framing refers to the ways in which elements in a spatial design may be connected and/or disconnected by means of frames and a couple of other features such as visual rhyme and contrast. The third compositional principle， salience， concerns elements that stand out in a visual composition and that which makes these elements stand out.

5. Conclusion

The attempt to develop a multimodal stylistics entails a number of challenges. First of all， to do a multimodal stylistic analysis of news report text is potentially a very extensive project. In addition to the detailed analysis of the verbal text which is characteristic of the stylistic approach to literature， modes such as layout， typography， images and color must be dealt with in an equally meticulous and stringent manner. Furthermore， elements like page design and the whole page background also invite analysis. Nevertheless， it is quite necessary to map out larger and more innovative frameworks as stylistics steps boldly into the fields of creative writing，

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