Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of Western Magazine Covers

Over the past20years, multimodal discourse analysis has become a hot topic inthe field of linguistics. Compared with traditional discourse analysis, which is restrictedto the analysis of the language and words in discourse, this new multimodal discourseanalysis contains varieties of semiotics, including language, image, sound etc. and itstheory makes it possible to conduct research on a discourse integrated with thesedifferent semiotics. This thesis is based on the Visual Grammar (VG) theory derivedfrom the Systemic-Functional Grammar (SFG) and collects50high-quality magazinecovers as the corpus for our analysis. According to the framework of VG and SFG, thisthesis intends to discuss how the meaning of the images is coded and expressed throughthe perspectives of representational meaning, interactive meaning, compositionalmeaning, ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function. The aim of theresearch is to testify whether the VG and SFG can be used to explain the meaningconveyed by magazine covers and to propose an image-reading modal for the readerswhich can help them elevate their ability of appreciating pictures. Moreover, thisresearch will be helpful to enlighten image designers as to how to transmit messagesencoded in images accurately and effectively.