Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Ecological Thoughts In Silent Spring

Multimodal critical discourse analysis which was born in 2012 is a new development of discourse analysis.At present,the research on multimodal critical discourse analysis is in the stage of exploring the research methods,building research theories and frameworks,and the research objects are mainly focused on the multimodal discourse such as film,news,textbook and so on.The literature shows that there are few multimodal discourse analyses relating to ecological texts,and this paper selects Silent Spring,a reprint published by Houghton Mifflin in 2002,as the research object.Rachel Carson describes the serious pollution and the disaster to the earth ecology caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides and various chemicals in the environment of the United States.The book is a static multimodal text,which integrates the modes of text,pictures and formulas.The comprehensive utilization of different language and social resources in the process of creation and publication makes the book a pioneering work of the American environmental movement.This paper intends to study the construction and communication of Carson’s ecological thoughts in Silent Spring from the perspective of multimodal critical discourse analysis.We hope this study would enrich the research objects of multimodal critical discourse analysis,and the research results could help readers to improve their ability to interpret ecological texts,to communicate ecological thoughts and stimulate the development of ecological protection.Inspired by system functional grammar,visual grammar and the framework of multimodal relationship,this paper takes Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework of text analysis as paradigm,analyze the book qualitatively and quantitatively to make clear how Carson constructing the textual meaning through the interaction among different modes,such as language and image,how the text-contained power relationship being reflected and her ecological thoughts being spreaded.The results show that neutral reporting verbs are widely used for the objectivity of ecological texts in the language mode.Meanwhile,with the help of various rhetoric techniques,including irony,parallelism,simile,alliteration,allusion,etc.,both chemical and ecological professional knowledge in the book is narrated in popular ways,which promotes readers’ acceptance of the text contents and thoughts.From the aspect of image mode,illustrations play key role in presenting relevant knowledge and information to readers.Moreover,long shot,frontal angle and face-to-face angle are used to locate readers and the participants in the image in equal position and convince any potential reader.Given the text,all the black and white illustrations in the book are fictional,which qualify them as low modality illustrations.Different from other ecological discourses,the application of formulas and references in Silent Spring provides strong support for the objectivity of the contents in the book.Language,picture and formula are complementary in the construction of overall meaning,the former is in the main part of the whole meaning construction,and the latter two play an auxiliary role.The author quotes the words of authority and experts to construct the authority of the text content,which is the obvious embodiment of the relationship of power.The reference to the discourse of the general public and other social institutions reflects the author’s respect for the general public and the readers.Rachel Carson communicates the ecological thoughts of "ecological centralism","ecological holism","awe for life" and "biological evolution" in the application of various modes,and explains to the readers the irreparable harm caused by indiscriminate use of pesticide to human beings and ecosystems.This study has applied the theory of multimodal critical discourse in the analysis of ecological texts,which is believed to be useful to broaden the research scope of multimodal criticism discourse analysis,and the research results is expected to be helpful to cultivate readers’ awareness of multimodal discourse criticism and improve their comprehension of ecological texts.