ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the field of multimodality and specifically multimodal social semiotics (as opposed to multimodal interaction analysis). Multimodality does not represent an approach to discourse analysis but, rather, a commitment to studying the range of modes, besides language, that are drawn upon to convey meaning in any act of communication. The chapter focuses on visual modes and their interplay with language. The chapter introduces two social semiotic approaches to multimodality; one based in systemic functional linguistics and the other based in conceptual metaphor theory. The chapter shows how these frameworks, originally developed to account for meaning in language, can also be applied to account for meaning in visual modes of communication, as well as the meanings arising from the intersemiotic relations present in multimodal texts. The chapter adopts a critical perspective in analysing and interpreting data. It takes as a particular case study online press coverage of political protests.
