The Visual Rhetorical Function Of The Multimodality In The Knowledge Presentation Of The Dictionary Proper

This essay aims to use the systemic functional grammar to analyze the multimodality of the knowledge presentation in the dictionary proper and also the visual rhetorical influence of it on the dictionary user,and a study of the combination of the verbal and nonverbal modes and the visual rhetorical effect of it on the user in the Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary,the 7th Edition will be carried out.Nowadays,with the development of the science and technology and also the change of people's communicating way,language is no more the only way for people to communicate with one another.The image,sculpture,painting,colour and other nonverbal modes can also convey meaning or information to the audience and then influence their thinking,attitude and behavior.Consequently,in the meantime,the multimodal discourse with different kinds of modes such as the language and image in it also develops very quickly and becomes very common.In this essay,the dictionary proper is seen as a multimodal discourse in which the language,illustration,colour,typeface and so on cooperate with one another to convey and present the whole meaning and knowledge of the headword to the dictionary user.Moreover,the language and illustration often combine together to communicate the meaning,grammar,usage and pragmatical knowledge of the headword to the user in the dictionary,but how they work together to express the meaning or usage of the headword is the important researching point.The representational,interactive and compositional functions of the image are developed from the conceptual,interpersonal and discourse metafunctions of the language in the systemic functional grammar,so the image is able to integrate with the language to transmit the complete meaning of the headword to the user in the multimodal dictionary discourse.On account of this,the learner sometimes tend to learn the knowledge of the headword through the illustration for they are more visually attracting and can sometimes better explain the main meaning and usage of the headword.The other researching point of this essay is how the visual rhetorical function of arousing the user's learning interest and then improving their language ability of the illustration in the process of the visual communication of them with the user operates.This research is not only good for the development of the lexicographic theory,but can also promote the that of the lexicographic practice and improve the compilation of the dictionary.