1、 Multimodal Discourse Analysis Foreign Linguistics and Applied LinguisticsZheng Lu What is multimodality?A mode, according to Kress and Van Leeuwen, is a semiotic system with rules and regularities attached to it.Multiple modes, namely semiotic modes ,can include gestures, posture, proxemics(空間關(guān)系學),

2、 visual images, document layout(設計布局), music and architectural design, etc. Meanings are created in texts and interactions in a complex interplay of semiosis across multiple modes but are not limited to written or spoken language.Multimodal discourse analysis is a fairly new and rapidly developing p

3、erspective on discourse.Another interesting perspective on multimodal discourse analysis is that it not merely attempts to integrate all the possible semiotic modes of expressions but also can integrate various other approaches to discourse analysis.Before 1990s, researchers all took textual data, n

4、amely, static texts to be the primary resource for social interactions, such as Kress and van Leeuwens grammar of images視覺設計的語法 and OTooles investigation of paintings, sculpture and architecture .There is a widespread belief now that textual data is not necessarily the most important mode used for t

5、he interpretations of social meaning.In order to study the complexity of human interaction, we have to work on the analysis of more dynamic interactions, and analyze all modes that the participants are utilizing. Every interaction is multimodal. Although its relatively short history, multimodal disc

6、ourse analysis has also had an important influence on other approaches and fields, most notably in the area of literacy and the growing interest in digital literacies and the field of human-computer interaction . Digital literacy is the ability to locate, organize, understand and analyze information

7、 using digital technology . Schools are continually updating their curriculum for digital literacy. This often includes computers in the classroom, the use of educational software to teach curriculum, and course materials being available to students online. The self is not something that exists firs

8、t and then enters into relationship with others, but it is, so to speak, an eddy(漩渦 ) in the social current and so still a part of that current.American women anthropologistMead 1974:182 Some thoughts on personal identity constructionA multimodal perspective Sigrid NorrisAssociate Professor Auckland

9、 University of TechnologyDirector: Multimodal Research Centre sigrid.norrisaut.ac.nzDegrees:Ph.D. LinguisticsGeorgetown University, 2002M.S. LinguisticsGeorgetown University, 1997B.A. Russian Language and LiteratureGeorge Washington University,1989Sigrid NorrisOUTLINEIntroductionSome backgroundTheor

10、etic argumentStructureConclusion. the social actor, speaking on the phone with her employee (multimodal analysis). new thoughts about consciousness (the point of “I” and “me” identity elements) IntroductionIdentity is who and what you are. Identity construction is a widely covered topic in studies o

11、f discourse. In this chapter, the authors focus is a methodological one that allows the investigation of identity construction from a slightly new perspective, a multimodal approach.Some BackgroundThere follows a brief eclectic overview on personal identity construction: Schiffrin or Hamilton micro

12、discursive constructions ,such as pronoun use and show how individuals establish themselves as belonging to one group or another. Wodak combining text analysis with narrative and interview analysis on national identity construction and placing it into a historical perspective.Hall and Bucholztrying

13、to encompass social psychological and socialcultural forces on analyzing a persons use of language.What all of these approaches to identity have in common is their concentration on language (spoken or written). It is this point that creates the opportunity for this chapter on multimodal personal ide

14、ntity construction. Further, I investigate disembodied modes such as layout(布局設計) and objects. Identity is not formed in cohesive wholes but as situationally grounded and co-constructed identity elements. When speaking of identity elements I am thinking of an analogy(類比) with chemical elements such

15、as oxygen, hydrogen, or gold. (Please turn to page 134.)goldGender identityoxygenhydrogenOccupational identityName: Tanya & LucyOccupation: two co-owners of a web-design businessRelationship : colleagues & friendsAn exampleImage 1 illustrates that the modes of object handling and spoken language tak

16、e on much weight for Tanya. However, object handling and spoken language are not the only modes that she employs.Her body pointing away from LucyNot to be fixed on any one particular point and may be termed a middle distance gaze.With legs crossed Beat gesturesMoving her hands up and down 8 timesThe

17、se beat gestures are rhythmically organized with her spoken language, emphasizing particular words (this in line 2; all in line 3; whatever in line 4; email, and, fax, everything in line 5; always in line 6), and we may interpret these gestures as a way for Tanya to force herself to give clear instr

18、uctions,HIGHMODAL DENSITY Object handling Spoken language Posture Gaze Gesture Head movement EMPLOYER IDENTITYWhen we revisit this picture, we see that Lucy is listening to Tanyas call and chimes(插話) in at the appropriate time, giving Tanya the sentence and then follow up with a phone call, which Ta

19、nya repeats without losing her rhythm by saying and then Always follow up with a phone call. Because the sheep and the fence appear closer to us, we say theyre in the foreground of the image.The foothills appear far away, so theyre in the background. Midground, as you probably guessed, is how we des

20、cribe parts of the image that appear to be deeper than the foreground but not so deep as the background.“M” is for the million things she gave me,“O” means only that shes growing old,“T” if for the tears she shed to save me,“H” is for her heart of purest gold,“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shi

21、nning,“R” means right, and right shell always be.Put them all together .They spell “Mother”, a word that means the world to me.M-O-T-H-E-R By Howard JohnsonM 代表她給予我百萬樣東西，O 意味著她漸漸老去，T 是她為育我成人而灑落的顆顆淚滴，H 寓意她那金子般至純至真的心靈，E 是她那雙閃耀著慈愛之光的眼睛，R 使我堅信她永遠正確無誤的言行。把這些字母拼在一起就是“母親”，一個于我猶如整個世界一樣的詞語。An exampleThe foll

22、owing excerpts that I will look at in detail come from an extensive ethnographic study of two co-owners of a web-design business that I conducted over a period of four months. During this time, I spent most of the days with the two women (whom I will call Tanya and Lucy) during work hours and also s

23、pent time with them at their homes. I have met many of their friends, caretakers of their children, husband and ex-husband, and their parents.Here, I focus on Tanya and her everyday identity construction, reviewing data pieces that are mundane (普通的，平凡的)and not special in any way. In this chapter I show how identity