ABSTRACT

Theoretical and methodological developments in translation studies until the 1990s were driven by the conceptualization of translation as a process of written language transfer where the printed word is the only signifying means at play. The study of spoken texts as loci of interpreting activity has similarly tended to revolve around their verbal fabric, often glossing over the semiotic contribution of the orality and corporeality of interpreter-mediated speech. Multimodal texts are therefore composite products resulting from the combination of various modes or modalities that reach the senses of people through media, that is, “the material resources used in the production of semiotic products and events, including both the tools and the materials used”. Examples of media include screens, loudspeakers, paper, fabric, software and clay. The social semiotic approach is at the heart of work that seeks to understand how intermodal connections are established within multimodal ensembles, in order to dissect holistic perceptions of multimodal texts as unified semiotic entities.