Relevance theory and media discourse: A verbal-visual model of communication

Ramos, Francisco Yus

doi:10.1016/s0304-422x(97)00020-x

Cited by 23 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…A number of relevance theorists have eventually also paid attention to non-verbal and multimodal communication (e.g. Ifantidou and Tzanne, 2006;Wharton, 2009;Desilla, 2013;Yus, 1998Yus, , 2011. A key starting point here has been the idea that ostensive acts of visual and multimodal communication give rise to the presumption of optimal relevance just as verbal communication does.…”

Section: Relevance Theory and Multimodal Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These characteristics make Relevance Theory a promising framework for explaining the pragmatic processes at play when producing and understanding communicative texts in any mode. A number of scholars have already explored the potential of distinctions proposed by this theory to account for non-verbal communication, but they have not focused on argumentative communication (Yus, 1998(Yus, , 2011Ifantidou and Tzanne, 2006;Wharton, 2009;Desilla, 2013;Forceville, 2014;Forceville and Clark, 2014). At the same time, Oswald (2007Oswald ( , 2016 has proposed an interface between Relevance Theory and one model of argumentation theory, Pragma-dialectics, which can help the argumentation analyst to gain insight into how utterances that play a role in verbal argument International Review of Pragmatics 10 (2018) 243-269 are produced and interpreted.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Determining the commitments of image-makers in arguments with multimodal allusions in the front covers of The Economist

Tseronis

2018

Int. Rev. Pragmat.

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The alleged vagueness of visual images and the lack of a univocal coding scheme make it difficult to be sure about the propositions to which image-makers are committed. This is particularly problematic for the analysis of multimodal discourse from an argumentation studies perspective, because it makes it hard for the analyst to establish the argumentative nature and relevance of visuals. The paper explores how insights from Relevance Theory can be applied in order to determine the commitments of image-makers. In particular, it has recourse to the inferential processes involved in the recovery of explicit and implicit content in order to analyse a series of covers from The Economist, where visuals in combination with verbal text cue allusions to films and paintings. It argues that these multimodal allusions are not simply used to attract the audience’s attention but also help the analyst to reconstruct the argument of the cover.

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Section: Relevance Theory and Multimodal Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining the commitments of image-makers in arguments with multimodal allusions in the front covers of The Economist

Tseronis

2018

Int. Rev. Pragmat.

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“…Finally, it should be mentioned that scholars working within the relevance theoretic model, in particular, have also sought to extend its applicability to instances of communication that combine verbal with non-verbal signs or make use of media other than the written and spoken channels (Yus, 1998;Wharton, 2009;Forceville and Clark, 2014).…”

Section: Pragmatics and Multimodalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction

Tseronis

Pollaroli

2018

Int. Rev. Pragmat.

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In this introductory paper to the special issue, we briefly discuss literature from argumentation studies, pragmatics, and multimodal analysis in order to show how pragmatics has benefited argumentation studies until now, and how it can also benefit multimodal analysis. In the last section we introduce the papers of this issue that focus on the question how pragmatics can benefit multimodal argumentation in particular.

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“…However, human verbal communication has been so far the main test-bed for relevance-theoretic ideas (Sperber and Wilson, 1986/95;Wilson and Sperber, 2004). With few exceptions (see Forceville 2004;Yus 1998), existing relevance-theoretic work on multimodal communication involves primarily static verbojjictoriaZ representations (see Forceville, 1996 andTanaka, 1994onadvertisements). This work shifts the emphasis towards the audience's reaction to an animated multimodal communicative stimulus -the 'Athens 2004 Olympic Games' TV commercial -featuring moving pictures, music, sound/visual effects and spoken/written language in certain scenes only (see Table 2) -and to whether the predictions relevance theory makes for the audience's reaction are confirmed or disconfirmed through empirical evidence.…”

Section: Optimal Relevancementioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodality and relevance in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games televised promotion

Ifantidou¹,

Tzanne²

2006

RAEI

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This paper is concerned with a multimodal communicative act, the televised promotion of the 'Athens 2004 Olympic Games' on National Hellenic televisión. The first aim of the paper is to show that the commercial examined constitutes a "multimodal metaphor" (Forceville, 2004 and through which the audience is essentially invited to interpret the 'Athens 2004 Olympic Games' in terms of a 'festival'. The second aim of the paper is to explain how it is that a commercial such as this one, which foregrounds entertainment and celebrations, is almost unanimously received by a multicultural audience as successñilly advertising the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. In the framework of Relevance Theory, the pragmatic and cognitive benefits of the specific multimodal metaphor are discussed in terms of positive cognitive effects and processing effort Wilson, 1986/1995;Wilson and Sperber, 2004). Experimental evidence on native and non-native audiences' reaction to this televised promo suggests that the intended interpretation is recovered in terms of a range ofstrongly implicated assumptions that viewers unanimously reckon, rather than in terms of a range of weak implicatures (Forceville, 1996). Drawing onthe Cognitive and Communicative Principies of Relevance and the key concept of Optimal relevance, the paradoxical finding of 'irrelevant scenes' contributing to a fruitful interpretation process and recovery of 'relevant meaning(s)' is explained.

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Relevance theory and media discourse: A verbal-visual model of communication

Cited by 23 publications

References 13 publications

Determining the commitments of image-makers in arguments with multimodal allusions in the front covers of The Economist

Determining the commitments of image-makers in arguments with multimodal allusions in the front covers of The Economist

Introduction

Multimodality and relevance in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games televised promotion

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