REDESIGNING ENGLISH NEW TEXTS NEW IDENTITIES CHAPTER 2

REDESIGNING ENGLISH: NEW TEXTS, NEW IDENTITIES CHAPTER 2: VISUAL ENGLISH Presentation Dr. Faisal Al-Qahtani Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 1

FOCUS n Forms of visuals used to communicate in English. n Visual forms of communication: q culturally specific and highly conventionalized. n Ways in which graphics and pictures can communicate. n Differences between Visual English and Verbal English. n Visual and verbal English interaction q reinforce each other, or q create conflicting meanings. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 2

VISUAL AND VERBAL LITERACIES: The Impact Of Technology Visual literacy: n Traditional definition of literacy: q inadequate to define visual English. n English texts: q multimodal and increasingly visual with the help of the new technology: n q different semiotic mode of communication. Culture, language and ‘seeing’ n q Context: crucial for meaningful decoding of visual English. q Visual English: culturally based. q Different languages and cultures: different symbols. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 3

VISUAL OR VERBAL ENGLISH n Graphosemantics: q meaning which derives from the text writtenness: n n what is written and how it’s written and the relationship between the two. Spelling: q Orthography can affect the way in which sounds are perceived: n n q q Grey vs. gray. The semiotics of typography The effect of the typeface of a text: see page 46 -7. Typography has paralinguistic function: n intonation, change of pace, and accents Visual alliteration q n visual alliterative: visual repetition : Own it now on video Visual puns: q n T-shirt, U-turn: links between letters and look-alike objects. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 4

ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH VISUAL GRAMMAR Visuals contain grammatical structures. n Functional approach: q n Analysis of images based on the functional theory of language (Michael Halliday). n The functional approach is useful: it adds a semantic dimension to the analysis of the text: allows differences in meanings: q § Between different ways of addressing people: Mr. Smith or John. § Between different ways of describing events. Some analysts of visual representation take a similar view: q § Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani Visual representation of events is linked to our point of view about those events, and what we want to communicate about them. 5

ELEMENTS OF ENGLISH VISUAL GRAMMAR n Halliday’s communicative (meta-)functions: Semiotic mode (words, pictures, sounds) can q fulfill three communicative functions: n Ideational – representing ideas n Interpersonal – representing relationships n Textual – combining and integrating the ideational and interpersonal meanings into a text Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 6

Direct and Indirect Address: n Both language and pictures: direct and indirect address : q Verbal: n Does the verbal language address the listener or reader directly, q i. e. through the use of second person you? § Visual: n Does the image address the viewer directly, q § Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani i. e. the person in the poster looking at the viewer? (fig. 2. 13, p. 54) 7

Given-New Structures: n Given information: already known to the participants q n New information not already known, e. g. q n Tense, nervous, headache? Take Anadin (medicin ad. ) (see p. 55). n In images (visual): q given and new are represented spatially through left and right positioning or before and after images. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 8

Victors: Visual Transitivity n Transitivity (Hallidayan approach): q a set of choices for representing what is going on in the world: representational elements: n q q n n Processes: action, transaction, or event. Participants: the entities involved with what is going on: actor and goal. Different representations depend on the writer and on the context: e. g. , q event: innocent villagers died. q (instead of) transaction: soldiers killed innocent villagers. Visual Transitivity: q Above examples can be represented in images (p. 57). Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 9

Modality: Visualizing the “real” (degree of representing reality) n Modality (Halliday): expressions of comment or attitude by the speaker: q high modality expression: high truth value: n I know he is coming. q n n Low modality expression: he might come. Modality can be expressed visually: q q A sharply detailed, fine grained photograph = high modality: more true/real No detail = low modality Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 10

VISUAL NARRATIVES: n Multimodal narratives employ multimodal features: Paralinguistic features q n e. g. facial expressions, gestures and postures. Proxemic indicators: q n i. e. how characters are positioned (closeness, distances). Pictorial representation: cartoons: q n e. g. stars after a bump, or light bulb to show that one has a great idea. Intonation: q n e. g. characters’ accent, pitch, stress… Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 11

VISUAL NARRATIVES: n Visual Deixis: references to time and place q Visual shapes n q q show deictic expressions like then and now. q Color: present events q black and white: past events. Different languages and cultures express visual narrative structures in different ways. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 12

CONCLUSION: Texts are becoming increasingly multimodal: q n employing visual and verbal semiotic modes. Meanings ascribed to visual information: q n socially constructed and culturally dependent. Dr. Faisal AL-Qahtani 13