Introduction

This chapter addresses the circumstance that although the power of words has been recognized and exploited by man since the beginning of civilization, the phenomenon has not yet been subject to an integrated analysis that might embrace its major facets under a common heading. To substantiate the claim, a concise overview is given of existing fundamental and applied research paradigms which highlight essential, yet different, subaspects of the overall subject. On that background, the notion of naming & framing is suggested as a possible springboard for crystallizing a more coherent analysis. Moreover, it is argued that such an analysis requires a multimodal approach to the lexicon seeing it as merely one element of the larger mix of semiotic resources that determines our world view. The chapter introduces the basic argument pursued throughout the book, namely that the power of words, in essence, comes down to four different but connected enterprises: giving things names, deciding on what name to give them, further shaping people’s understanding of these names through multimodal context, and selecting larger sets of names for presenting a given subject matter in a particular light.