Search results for "multimodal discourse"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Semiotics of pride and profit: interrogating commodification in indigenous handicraft production
2014
This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While “pride” associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, “profit” views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, “pride” seems to be increasingly giving way to “profit”. Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in h…
“Nature needs you”: discursive constructions of legitimacy and identification in environmental charity appeals
2022
Abstract This study traces how discursive constructions of legitimacy and identification are enacted textually and visually with respect to environment-oriented causes, such as landscape or species restoration. Such conservation projects actually clash with human economic priorities typical of the Anthropocene. Drawing on models of social trust and assuming the discursive nature of legitimacy and identification, we explore how environmental charity organizations represent their conservation efforts, reproduce sustainability discourses and advocate self-regulatory practices. We use a sample of mission statements and donation appeals by six prominent environmental charities from the UK. Throu…
The Marginalisation of Finely Tuned Semiotic Practices and Misunderstandings in Relation to (Signed) Languages and Deafness
2014
AbstractWhen people draw on the available modal resources (e.g. gestures) in specific contexts over time, those resources come to display regularities. The more a community uses and regulates those resources, the more fully and finely articulated their regularities and patterns become. Modes, organised by regular means of representation, are constantly transformed by users, depending on what the community needs. This paper discusses the way semiotic resources and practices, i.e. social actions with a history, used by sign language signers in visually oriented communities, as well as the research in such domains, have been marginalised. The paper reflects some of the main reasons for such ma…
On the conversation between female videobloggers and commentators
2021
El desarrollo de YouTube como una plataforma social surge a partir de dos ideas. En primer lugar, los amateurs pueden producir contenido de cualquier índole. Y, en segundo lugar, su audiencia puede expresar su opinión sin restricciones. Este intercambio de información impulsa la formación de comunidades en torno a un interés común: contenido y/o videobloguero. La dimensión social en YouTube tiene lugar de manera bidireccional. La interacción regular entre las dos partes ha significado un cambio crucial en la percepción de la producción y consumo audiovisual, así como también en los productores de vídeo, amateurs y audiencia. Las investigaciones iniciales se han dirigido a examinar los comen…
Multimodal discourse strategies of factuality and subjectivity in educational digital storytelling
2012
As new technologies continue to emerge, students and lecturers are provided with new educational tools. One such tool, which is increasingly used in higher education, is digital storytelling, i.e. multi-media digital narratives. Despite the increasing attention that education and media scholars have paid to digital storytelling, there is scant research examining digital narratives from a discourseanalytic perspective. This paper addresses this gap in the literature and, in line with the belief that individuals make meaning through a range of semiotic devices, including, among others, language, sound, graphics and text, it aims to examine discourse strategies of factuality and subjectivity i…
Men will be Men? : Masculinities on display in the Facebook communication practices of Pakistani men
2021
In the past decade, the popularization of social media in Pakistan has greatly influenced the way in which people communicate and interact with each other. The rapidly evolving nature of online social media communication in the country when viewed against the backdrop of the country’s socio-cultural characteristics and religion is particularly significant. Facebook, being the prime social media platform in Pakistan has been revolutionary and liberating because while acting as a medium of communication, which transgresses the traditional manner of gendered social interactions, it has at the same time enabled the users to perpetuate and reinforce the existing gender ideology. As a result, Fac…
The portrayal of female characters in Grand Theft Auto V
2017
Videopelit ovat yksi nykypäivän suosituimmista ajanviettotavoista. Pelaajien melko tasaisesta sukupuolijakaumasta huolimatta videopelien ajatellaan kuitenkin yleisesti olevan vain miesten kiinnostuksenkohde. Yksi suurimmista syistä tähän lienee miesten ja naisten esittämisen erot videopeleissä: suurin osa videopelihahmoista on miespuolisia, kun taas naispuolisia hahmoja on vähän ja he ovat usein seksualisoituja. Myös medialla on tähän vaikutusta, sillä naispuolisista videopelihahmoista nostetaan yleensä esille ainoastaan seksualisoidut naishahmot. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää, kuinka naispuolisia hahmoja esitetään Grand Theft Auto V -videopelissä. Kyseinen peli on uusin osa G…
Compliance and resistance : An investigation into the construction of gender identities by Pakistani women on Facebook
2020
Facebook has recently gained popularity among young, digitally literate and predominantly urban Pakistanis. Such social networking sites allow users the freedom to express themselves using usernames, visuals and topics of their own choice. In this article, I examine how Pakistani Facebook users mobilize such resources in their identity work. Using Multimodal Discourse Analysis, I investigate how Pakistani women construct their gender identities on Facebook using visual and linguistic resources. The results revealed the significant impact of Facebook on the socio-cultural and linguistic norms of discourse in Pakistan that enables women to challenge established communication models while they…
“Nice to get to know you” : Social presence in virtual exchange discourse
2020
Virtual exchange comprises online collaborative activities in facilitated, educational contexts across borders. This paper offers a multimodal approach to the study of social presence in students’ asynchronous online discourse in the context of virtual exchange. It draws on the Community of Inquiry model of online learning (Garrison 2017) and interprets social presence as the dynamic discursive process of social interaction and self-presentation. The data consists of screenshots collected in a closed Facebook group during the first assignment of a Czech-Finnish virtual exchange project in 2017. The study aims to explore how the method of multimodal discourse analysis can be used to describe…
The Use of Multimodal Resources by Technical Managers and Their Peers in Meetings Using English as the Business Lingua Franca
2020
Background: Engineers increasingly work and advance their careers in international business settings. As technical managers, they need management and technical skills when working with different stakeholders with whom they may not share a common first language. Studies have revealed that informal oral communication skills are of prime importance for global engineers who face challenges in building shared meaning and formulating clear messages in meetings with non-native speakers of English. This article proposes that studying the use of multimodal resources (spoken language, gaze, gestures, and objects) in meetings can unpack how work tasks are accomplished in business through different com…