ABSTRACT

This study explores tension between different modes from a social semiotic perspective. Tension and cohesion are viewed as two poles on a continuum of meaning relations ranging from oppositeness to similarity, and image-text interplay is analysed as a balance between tension and cohesion. Focusing on the device of evaluative dissonance, the multimodal analysis of two verbal-visual combinations from different genres (a procedure and a visual irony) demonstrates how attitudinal tension is created between language and images to make a deeper meaning such as foreshadowing the appraiser’s opposing feelings in the ensuing text and facilitating the construction of specific ideologies. The analysis also illustrates the multiplicative nature of meaning in the verbal-visual orchestration and uncovers that attitudinal meanings can be implicitly conveyed through image-text interaction and contextualising information. This study concludes that tension does not contradict, but closely cooperates with cohesion to produce a coherent message despite their semantic differences.

摘要

本研究从社会符号学的角度探讨不同模式之间的张力。张力和衔接被视为从对立到相似的意义关系连续体上的两个极点，图像-文本相互作用被分析为张力和衔接之间的平衡。着眼于评价失调的手段，对来自不同类型（程序和视觉反讽）的两种语言-视觉组合的多模态分析展示了如何在语言和图像之间产生态度张力以产生更深层次的含义，例如预示评估者的对立情绪在随后的文本中，并促进特定意识形态的构建。该分析还说明了语言-视觉编排中意义的乘法性质，并揭示了态度意义可以通过图像-文本交互和语境化信息隐式传达。这项研究的结论是，张力并不矛盾，而是与凝聚力密切合作，以产生连贯的信息，尽管它们在语义上存在差异。