A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of The Interactive Meaning In Print Commercial Advertisements

Under the circumstance of technology development and diversification of mass communication, our daily life is penetrated with various kinds of discourse nowadays. Apart from the traditional language form, various semiotic modes, such as sound, images, and videos frequently occur in diversified forms of discourse. Based on that, studies of discourse analysis are prevailing both at home and abroad. Among them, studies of print commercial advertisements are prevailing due to their frequent appearance in people’s life. However, most of those previous studies focus on the linguistic features in print commercial advertisements, while neglecting the exploration of image. This thesis makes a multimodal discourse analysis of print commercial advertisements and explores how interactive meaning is constructed in the verbiage and image.In the present study five print commercial advertisements are selected from the well-known advertisement websites and journals as data. The author proposes a tentative multimodal discourse analysis framework, by combining Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar, Martin’s Attitude theory, and Chen Yumin’s proposed theory on the intersemiotic relations between the image and the verbiage. Corresponding with the framework, the analysis is composed of three aspects. First, Visual Grammar is adopted to analyze how the interactive meaning is constructed through the four elements of image: contact, social distance, perspective, and modality. Second, Attitude theory is adopted to study how positive interactive meaning is realized in the verbiage. Third, how the image and the verbiage interrelate with each other in constructing interactive meaning is explored in Chen Yumin’s framework.Four major findings emerge from the detailed analysis. First, contact, social distance, perspective, and modality work effectively with each other to generate the interactive meaning in the image. Offer image is employed more to give objective information. Harmonious relationship is created through adequate social distances. Involvement and equality are created through the frontal angle and the eye-level angle of perspective. Second, positive attitude is created through the verbiage. Most of the words belong to appreciation dimension and imply positive features of the products. Third, the image and the verbiage co-instantiate with each other in constructing the interactive meaning. The positive attitude indicated both in the image and the verbiage arouses the viewers’ interest and stimulates their desire to buy. Fourth, Visual Grammar could be effectively applied in interpreting Chinese print commercial advertisements.The present study enriches the multimodal discourse analysis studies, theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it testifies the applicability and effectiveness of adopting Visual Grammar in the interpretation of Chinese print commercial advertisements. Practically, it explores how interactive meaning is constructed in print commercial advertisements and some findings are derived, which may help advertisement producers produce better advertisements and advertisement readers better understand them.