Multimodal Discourse Analysis in China

丛景妤

【Abstract】： On the basis of the origin， the development and the research approaches of the MDA， this article reviews the CSSCI-based papers from 2003 to 2016 and tries to present an overview.

【Key words】： Multimodal Discourse Analysis

1.Previous Studies on MDA

Barthes （1977） began to study the rhetoric of images in the 1970s and summarized the graphic relationships in the Multimodal Discourse： anchorage， illustration and relay. But in his works， “language information” and “visual information” （Kress； van Leeuven， 2011） were still separate， and before they were associated with each other， they could only be understood in isolation. Therefore， the academic circles believe that the theory of MDA flourished in the 1990s， and its landmark achievement was published in 1996 by Kress and van Leeuven， that is Reading Image： the Grammar of Visual Design. （Zhang Delu， 2015）.

The above-mentioned views of research approaches do not include all genres or analytical methods. Based on the present situation of multimodal research and the latest development and classification of the above schools， this paper holds that the following seven research approaches have been found in MDA in recent ten years：

（1） Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis （SF-MDA）

Halliday （1985/1994） regarded language as a semiotic resource， believing that language was only a kind of semiotic resource. The Systemic Function Grammar that he establishes and develops is intended to explain the meaning and spread of all semiotics.

（2） Social Semiotics

Although both Saussure and Halliday argue that the sociality of semiotics is a necessary condition for interpreting the meaning of semiotics， they are mainly studying linguistic system.

（3） Multimodal Metaphor Analysis

Inspired by social semiotics， scholars of cognitive linguistics， represented by Forceville （1996） ， combine social semiotics， metaphor theory， metonymy theory and relevance theory.

（4） Multimodal Interaction Analysis

The main theoretical basis of multimodal interaction analysis is interactive sociolinguistics and mediated discourse. It also absorbs some views of social semiotics.

（5） Convensation Analysis

The study of Convensation Analysis began in the 1960s. It is an analytical method of sociology， that is， by observing， examining and describing specific examples of social interaction to study social interaction and applies sociological theory to the empirical observation of specific situation.

（6）Geo-semiotics

From the persperctive of social semiotics， Geo-semiotics combines language anthropology and space semiotics to study the spatiality of language and other modalities in the material world.

（7）Multimodal Ethnography

The multimodal ethnography combines social semiotics and ethnography to study the meaning making of social and cultural context from the perspective of participant.

2.Domestic Studies on MDA

The domestic MDA begins with “Social Semiotics Analysis of the Multidodal Discourse” （Li Zhanzi， 2003）， which introduces Kress & van Leeuwens “Visual Grammar” in detail. It raises the concern and discussion towards MDA in domestic academics. Hu Zhuanglin （2007） discussed the differences between multimodal semiotics and multimedia semiotics， and points out that human beings enter the new century of social semiotics. Zhu Yongsheng （2007） discussed four problems that are closely related to MDA： （1） the generation of Multimodal Discourse； （2） the definition of Multimodal Discourse； （3） the nature and theoretical basis of MDA； （4） the content， method and significance of MDA. Based on the theory of SFL， Zhang Delu （2009） tried to establish a comprehensive framework of MDA， and points out that MD can be studied from the aspects of culture， situation， discourse meaning， grammar， form and medium.

Through the search on CNKI， 70 CSSCI-based papers are collected. After studying and sorting the 70 papers， this paper finds that MDA in China follows the pace of international research， which is mainly reflected in the following four research approaches：

（1） MDA based on SFL and Social Semiotics

Because the MDA in China does not make a strict distinction between systemic functional linguistics multimodal discourse analysis and social semiotics analysis.

（2） Multimodal Metaphor Analysis

Compared with the MDA of SFL and Social Semiotics， the Multi-modal metaphor analysis started late. The main results reflected in the theoretical review and case analysis.

（3） Multimodal Corpus Analysis

The domestic corpus-based MDA is still rare， mainly due to the fact that domestic research in this field is still in the stage of theory and exploration， and has not yet developed to the theoretical verification stage.

（4） Multimodal Interaction Analysis

Multimodal Interaction Analysis is still rare in China. Among 70 CSSCI-based papers， only Zhang Delu and Wang Zheng （2016） introduced the basic theory and method of this analysis approach. They discussed the characteristics and shortcomings of this approach， putting forward the comprehensive framework of their own Multimodal Interaction Analysis， and carried out the teaching activities of an English class.

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