Synergy Of Different Modes In Dynamiic Multimodal Discourses

With the development of scientific technology and the advent of “the age of new media”, the way of people’s communication has changed dramatically. These new media, such as the internet, TV, broadcast,mobile devices and etc., not only provide us with a rich load of information, but also alter the form and properties of discourses. Besides language, people can also draw on nonverbal modes at the same time, such as pictures, voice, gesture, motion, diagrams, three dimensional objects and etc., to make meaning. A multimodal discourse involves two or more modes to stimulate people’s sensations simultaneously to make meaning visual and vivid. Multimodal discourse analysis(MDA) discusses how a discourse draws on different modes of communication to make meaningResearchers at home and abroad have made many attempts to explore how to analyze multimodal discourses in recent years. Most of the researches study visual and verbal modes in static multimodal discourses, though others study non-verbal social semiotics besides visual and verbal modes in dynamic multimodal discourses. Therefore more comprehensive and intensive researches on dynamic multimodal discourse analysis are desperately needed at a time when the technology of multimedia is advancing swiftly and vigorously. This research on the synergy of different modes in the TV public service advertisement discourse is a completely new exploration of significance.On the basis of the Synthetic Theoretical Framework for MDA by Zhang Delu, this research is to explore the synergy of different modes in narrative TV public service advertisement discourses by analyzing the well-known TV public service advertisement-FAMILY. Firstly, for the purpose of analysis, FMILY is transcribed into five phases and altogether fourteen images(events at the discourse level) in chronological order according to the three criteria and Vsual Grammar and Discourse introduced by Zhang Delu. Here the “event” is defined as the smallest analytical unit of meaning for the sake of the convenient analysis of the modes involved and the relationship between them. Then by qualitative analysis, FAMILY is analyzed from four aspects, culture level(context of culture), context level(context of situation), content level(communication form of multimodal discourse and their relation) and the synergy of different modes of multimodal discourse. Focusing on the content level, the images of each phase is respectively analyzed to investigate how different modes interact and cooperate with each other to construct the discourse meaning of each phase so that the synergy of different modes in FAMILY is ultimately investigated.The above-mentioned analysis has brought about the following findings. First, in the narrative TV public service advertisement, linguistic mode and visual mode are the main modes while auditory mode is the minor mode. Second, the three modes complement each other to make discourse meaning perfect. The synergy between linguistic mode and visual mode belongs to coordinating relationship of non-reinforcement. The auditory mode plays the role of highlighting the major modes. Therefore the synergy between the auditory mode and the two major modes belongs to the highlighting relationship of reinforcement.This research implies that the choice of modes or media of each mode is not arbitrary but selective for different communication purposes of each phase. When a discourse is composed, the combination of modes or media follows the principle that they can complement each other to strengthen the discourse meaning and expressive effects. Modes or media can not contradict with each other or be irrelevant to each other to weaken the meaning of the discourse.This research is of great importance both theoretically and practically. Theoretically it is a beneficial exploration of the theory to research dynamic MDA and necessary complement to the earlier theories of MDA. In addition, it is a new attempt to transcribe narrative TV public service advertisement. Practically this study is referential to producing videos, such as films, TV programs and so forth.