Is language the only means through which meaning can be conveyed? Society is constantly interpreting meanings from advertisements, publications, music, films, gestures and so forth. The ways in which the meaning-makers choose to convey meaning through discourse and texts is not random – It involves choice and selection. Gunther Kress, a professor of semiotics, suggests that language is not the only channel that can be used for meaning-making. This essay discusses the claim ‘choice leads to selection’ by drawing on the insights from Gunther Kress’ article ‘Multimodal Discourse Analysis’ and Multimodal Theory. This essay explains how meaning-making is achieved in light of multimodality. Relevant terms and concepts are explained and concrete illustrated
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Multimodality is a theory which looks at the many different modes that society uses for meaning making and interpretation. According to Royce and Bowcher (2014:4) a mode is defined as a communication channel that a culture recognises such as posture, gaze, colour, images, videos, etc. Modes are resources for making meaning. Theorists who study multimodality explain that in order to completely understand how meaning is conveyed in society it is important to recognise and observe the various modes that that are used for meaning-making. A good example of multimodality can be seen within a stop sign. The sign uses various modes to attract the attention of the viewer such as colour, font type and sometimes …show more content…
The purpose of the billboards is to attract the attention of viewers and convince them to go and spend money at a McDonald’s restaurant. The use of billboards as a mode was selected because of the environment – The advertisement is situated on the street. This means that many motorists and pedestrians will come into contact with it. Hatter (2017) explains that a benefit of having a billboard on the street is that many motorists and pedestrians will be exposed to it repeatedly. This means that they are more likely to go to the McDonald’s
Multimodality is a theory which looks at the many different modes that society uses for meaning making and interpretation. According to Royce and Bowcher (2014:4) a mode is defined as a communication channel that a culture recognises such as posture, gaze, colour, images, videos, etc. Modes are resources for making meaning. Theorists who study multimodality explain that in order to completely understand how meaning is conveyed in society it is important to recognise and observe the various modes that that are used for meaning-making. A good example of multimodality can be seen within a stop sign. The sign uses various modes to attract the attention of the viewer such as colour, font type and sometimes …show more content…
The purpose of the billboards is to attract the attention of viewers and convince them to go and spend money at a McDonald’s restaurant. The use of billboards as a mode was selected because of the environment – The advertisement is situated on the street. This means that many motorists and pedestrians will come into contact with it. Hatter (2017) explains that a benefit of having a billboard on the street is that many motorists and pedestrians will be exposed to it repeatedly. This means that they are more likely to go to the McDonald’s