This thesis focuses on multimodality in modern English-language mass-media written communication. It was possible to identify patterns of interaction between verbal, nonverbal and paraverbal components through the prism of structural and functional, communicative and pragmatic socio-stylistic and cultural parameters.
In this research paper, the evolution of written communication is considered in detail, and the distinctive features of oral and written communication are illustrated, with particular attention devoted to the mass media. It is shown that a key component of the English-language mass-media communicative space consists of multimodal advertisements, which incorporate non-verbal and paraverbal resources along with verbal units. The analysis of these resources suggests a subdivision into groups on the basis of common criteria: text segmentation and graphic effects; non-typographic and non-photographic resources; iconic elements (images); and infographics.
The usage of both classical and innovative methods and techniques has led to the emergence of totally new branches of linguistics, such as visual linguistics, multimodal linguistics, and multimodal stylistics. Within these branches, combined symbiotic enclaves (formed as a result of the combination of verbal, nonverbal and paraverbal resources) are the object of study. Each of these branches has its own clearly-defined subject of research in terms of certain paradigms underlying these scientific fields. Multimodal linguistics, an innovative branch of present-day linguistics, involves the multi-branch analysis of verbal and nonverbal combinations and paraverbal resources. In addition to classical approaches and methods including the descriptive, comparative, distributive, as well as those based on the content and the component validity of the results obtained, it is possible to develop innovative methods and techniques that are well adapted for the study of multimodal form-based communication and which satisfy the purpose of our research. Among these are ones involving method of graphic composition, method of visual syntactics, socio-semiotic and systemic functional, geosemiotic, multimodal (inter)actional analysis, multimodal ethnography, multimodal corpus analysis, and multimodal reception analysis.
Multimodal syntactic constructions may be divided into several groups. Seven types of multimodal syntactic constructions based on verbal modes have been identified. They comprise the following sub-types: verbal structures plus images; verbal signs plus mathematical symbols; verbal means plus punctuation marks; verbal structures plus images and decorative elements; verbal structures plus punctuation marks, with possible font variations; verbal structures plus numbers, with possible font variations; verbal structures plus both numbers and punctuation marks, with possible font variations. Multimodal syntactic constructions based on non-verbal modes include combinations of the following four types: images, verbal structures and mathematical symbols; images, verbal structures, icons, sometimes subject to diverse modifications; images, verbal structures, photographs and mathematical symbols; images, verbal structures along with mathematical symbols, sometimes affected by other non-verbal strategies.
Multimodal syntactic constructions based on verbal modus using special effects capable of transforming semantics may be broken down into the following types: verbal means and strikeout characters; verbal means and underscores; verbal means plus dashes or hyphens); verbal structures with font variations; verbal devices plus arrows; and verbal devices with framing. Multimodal syntactic constructions based on several nonverbal moduses (without any verbal constituent) include four types: images, mathematical signs and punctuation marks; images and punctuation marks; images and mathematical signs; and various (multi-type) images.
Mention should also be made of linguistic play as a device within multimodal stylistics. Reviewing the various areas discussed with respect to multimodality in English-language media, we can make further reference to the non-traditional use of existing typographical components such as dashes, hyphens, parentheses and quotation marks; the introduction of graphic structures used for indicating corrections and insertions; and the use of processes such as font play and fusion.
In addition, a number of innovative processes can be identified which colour the text emotively, such as multimodal metaphor, metonymy, and metaphtonymy. The exploration of the patterns used in combining these tools and techniques made it necessary to establish and then to clarify the boundaries of the relatively new scientific area of multimodal stylistics. This has major significance for the development of studies related to this field, and will also contribute to the process of developing techniques for facilitating multimodal literacy.
