ABSTRACT
After exploring the compositional meaning of visual space for the analysis of newspaper layout, Kress and van Leeuwen (1998: 218) admit that ‘the major challenge to our approach is the epistemological status of our claim. For instance, how can we know that in western semiosis, left and right, top and bottom have the values we attribute to them, or more fundamentally, have any value at all?’ They regard this as a legitimate challenge but don’t provide an answer because, as they concede, ‘we regard our efforts here as a beginning’ (ibid).
