A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of Editorials In Western Press

Resources such as images, colors, sounds and actions have already been regarded as different types of modes which fulfill the meaning-making. Multimodal discourse refers to two or more modes working together for the meaning-making of the whole discourse. Multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) developed in the1990s, which overcomes the limitations of the previous discourse analyses and attracts linguistic scholars’attention.With Kress&van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (VG) as the theoretical framework and based on Royce’s inter-semiotic complementarity theory, the thesis conducts a multimodal discourse analysis of English editorials from ideational, interpersonal and compositional aspects. The study of ideational aspect focuses on factors such as participants, processes (action, reactional, etc.), circumstance, etc. Interpersonal aspect is analyzed in terms of eye contact, perspective, modality, etc. Compositional aspect is reflected by information value, salience and framing. The analysis reveals the pictures’functions in meaning interpretation and explains the relations between the pictures and the verbal texts.English editorial discourses have not restricted to express editors’opinions by only verbal language. They usually possess multimodal characteristics displayed by two semiotic modes (visual mode and verbal mode). English editorials usually include three main types of visual modes:photographs, caricatures and graphs. With a detailed multimodal analysis, the thesis found that, due to lack of details and plots, photographs in English editorials can explain and prove certain aspect of the verbal mode but can not amply reflect the editors’ ideas. Thus, photographs usually show one aspect of verbal mode. Caricatures in English editorials usually present metaphorical plots, which can vividly describe the major conflicts implied or exposed in the verbal mode. Thus, caricatures supplement verbal mode by providing enough detailed plots as well as editors’attitudes. Graphs in English editorials offer readers specific data and facts to explain and support the verbal mode.Based on our analysis, English editorials give almost equal weight to both their pictures and verbal texts. Since English editorials are mainly to explain, to judge and to comment on hot issues, both their pictures and verbal texts coexist and integrate with each other to accomplish these tasks. Therefore, pictures, as an important component of English editorials, also can encourage and help readers to actively and effectively understand editorials’main ideas and attitudes.