Beyond Neo-Colonialism? Chinese Official Documentary Representations of South–South Cooperation and the Reproduction of Developmental Hierarchies

Culture and society are produced through interactions between people, objects, and environments. Within these interactions it has become clear that the modes of spoken and written language are only some of a diverse range of modes involved in producing meaning and experience. As topics of study, the modes of spoken and written language have been joined by modes like gesture, gaze, composition, and layout. Multimodal discourse analysis names a range of approaches to studying social interaction and meaning as multimodal, that is, produced with and through multiple modes. However, multimodal discourse analysis is not about identifying and studying modes as isolated but rather about understanding the world as multimodal. This understanding is developed through theoretical and methodological developments. Three major theoretical bases are in use in multimodal discourse analysis: (a) Hallidayan systemic functional linguistics (SFL), underpinning a social semiotic and SFL approach; (b) mediated discourse analysis, underpinning a mediated action based approach; and (c) conversation analysis (CA), underpinning a turn-taking based approach. The simple idea of identifying modes beyond language belies the growing complexity of research in this area. The multimodal literature contains significantly different definitions of mode and different foci. For example, systemic functional approaches began by analyzing how meaning is embedded within images and artifacts, and these studies have been extended at times to include studies of interaction. Mediated discourse analysis focuses primarily on interaction and understands images and artifacts through how social actors interact with them, rather than seeking to decode possible meanings from the perspective of the analyst. Conversation analytic approaches also focus on interactions and only engage with images and artifacts as they appear in interaction. All three theoretical bases develop from studies of language. Researchers in CA still often argue that talk remains the most important mode, while social semiotics and mediated discourse analysis dispute this. Multimodal (inter)action analysis builds upon mediated discourse analysis but is the only approach designed specifically for the study of multimodal interaction and multimodal action. The ongoing development of frameworks within multimodal discourse analysis is indicative of intellectual diversity. For some scholars, this is a source of concern, and they attempt to unify multimodality, while for others it is desirable, especially for a research domain that offers applications to so many areas of social life. This bibliography explores central texts under the umbrella of multimodal discourse analysis in five domains: mediated discourse analysis, multimodal (inter)action analysis, social semiotics, systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis (SF-MDA), and conversation analytic style multimodality. A sixth area focusing on introductory texts begins the bibliography.

Animated films are contemporary popular cultural products recreating the ‘real’ world and engaging massive worldwide audiences of adults and children. Children as the ostensible viewers of animated films may acquire their cultural and ideological knowledge and beliefs about the world from the representations in animated films. Although during the past decade animated films have increasingly been the focus of attention of researchers across different disciplines, including education, gender, sexuality and literacy, studies tackling the discourse and language of animated films are still in their early stages. More specifically, very few studies have investigated the use of euphemism as a major micro-level linguistic device reflecting macro-level discourse and extending to sociocultural structures. To this end, this thesis examines euphemism constructed through the discourse of animated films by employing the strategies of Critical Discourse Studies (CDS). Moreover, Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) is employed to examine discursive strategies involving visual representations accompanying euphemism and what underpins those strategies, and to shed light on the multimodal relations between the representation of both. Euphemism is frequently associated with the notion of taboo. Consequently, new words or phrases are designated to refer to linguistic taboos as alternatives used by speakers to minimise the threat to the audience’s face as well as to their own. In addition, euphemistic occurrences represent a self-interested version of reality by pushing a topic into the background and highlighting instead a particular view of a topic. Therefore, euphemism is a speaker-oriented tool implying the reaction the speaker intends to prompt in the audience. This study shows that euphemism as a discursive linguistic tool has been used extensively in animated films as a manifestation of the discursive role anthropomorphised characters play to transmit certain ideological and social representations. A data set comprising 176 euphemisms found in four full-length anthropomorphised animated featured films, AAFF, extracted from film scripts and online channels was collected. The study identifies the main types of euphemism used in films, drawing on a framework of types based on Warren (1992), Allan and Burridge (1991) and Crespo (2006). After the main types of euphemism have been identified, the data set is approached from the perspective of taboo and culturally repressed topics, such as sexuality, gender and race. Moreover, discursive strategies adapted from Reisigl and Wodak (2016) are applied in order to identify important categories for the analysis of euphemistic discourse. This approach forms the basis for an in-depth, qualitative analysis of several representative scenes extracted from the films under investigation. First, the analysis focuses on racial euphemisms targeting different races. Then, I analyse sexual euphemisms related to nudity and sexual body parts, as well as conceptual metaphoric representations of sexual euphemisms. Finally, I focus on gendered euphemisms targeting the representation of four female characters in the films. The analysis shows that animated films tend to use euphemism to camouflage various taboo areas and manipulate the viewers’ perceptions, such as those relating to sexuality, gender and race. Nomination strategies are used more frequently with euphemisms referring to race, sex and gender. Metaphors and conceptual metaphors are used more frequently with sexual euphemisms. Visual empowerment strategies of female characters to highlight their sexuality are used more frequently with gendered euphemisms. I argue that while the linguistic element attenuates an ideology by virtue of euphemism’s manipulative nature, the visual element, in turn, highlights and confirms the same ideology, values or stereotypes. Hence, animated films can articulate the ideological and social legitimation or normalisation of a particular view of race, sex or gender through the use of euphemism and visual discursive strategies.

Multimodal discourse analysis is an interdisciplinary approach that studies how different modes of communication work together to create meaning in social interactions. The author analyzes verbal and visual elements in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in this study. This research used the descriptive qualitative method. The aim of this study is to determine the verbal and visual elements that represent black people and to find out the relationship between verbal and visual elements in this movie. To achieve these objectives, the researcher applied the theoretical framework from Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) on the language of metafunctions, Kress & van Leeuwen (2006) on visual grammar analysis, and the analysis of inter-mode relations from Leeuwen (2005) to obtain a detailed description of the relationship between verbal and visual elements. The results of the study show that in verbal language, the ideational metafunction is dominated by the material process. Interpersonal metafunction is dominated by statement speech acts which show that the text is mostly in the form of a declarative mood. The textual metafunction contains topical unmarked and multiple themes in this movie. In the visual image, ideational metafunction is realized mostly through the reactional process. Interactive metafunction is realized through the offer gaze and the medium shot. The medium size dominates the compositional metafunction. Visual and verbal elements have elaboration and extension relations. Through the elaboration of visual grammar analysis, some visuals are used to make the verbal elements more specific, and others are used to add information not included in the verbal elements. The verbal and visual modes clarify each other's meanings and display connected and not contradictory concepts so the audience can easily understand.

The analysis of the cover novel Laut Bercerita by Leila S. Chudori, as described in the novel, reveals specific design elements and choices that contribute to the visual disclosure of the novel. The study focuses on the cover of the novel as a form of visual disclosure and the identity of the novel. It aims to understand how the cover of a novel represents the contents of the story to attract the attention of readers using the analyzing with the multimodality discourse analysis. Multimodal discourse analysis is required to delve deeper into the meaning or message to be conveyed through the cover of novel Laut Bercerita. Acknowledging that the cover novel is the identity of the novel, the study places importance on visual as a means of conveying a message to the public through images. The research method employs a descriptive qualitative approach, emphasizing an in-depth analysis using visual communication as the primary lens by using strategy multimodal discourse analysis. For this case, that's why multimodal discourse analysis is the best approach to use in this research because, in MDA, the deep understanding of the combination of verbal elements, visual elements, and image in the cover will be analyzed, and supported by systemic functional linguistic in focusing linguistic aspect from the object. Data collection involves observation of the novel cover and a literature study. The combination of direct observation and background research provides a comprehensive understanding of both visual elements and contextual information

This study examines how meaning and moral equality are negotiated in the multimodal translation of bilingual digital storybooks used in Indonesian primary education. Based on the Multimodal Discourse Translation and Analysis Study, this study adopts a qualitative multimodal case study design that focuses on the bilingual digital storybook Putri dans Hutan. The study involved a textual analysis of bilingual translation units, a multimodal analysis of visual and auditory elements, and classroom-based data collected through observation and interviews with teachers and students. These findings reveal that moral equity in bilingual digital storybooks is not only achieved through verbal translation but emerges through the interaction of translation strategies, multimodal resources, and translanguaging practices in the classroom. Dynamic equality is identified as the dominant translation strategy, especially in the morally charged segment, as it prioritizes emotional accessibility and moral clarity for young learners. When linguistic simplification reduces moral explicitness, visual and auditory elements play a compensatory role by reinforcing emotional cues and moral orientation. Classroom translation further mediates moral understanding, allowing students to negotiate and internalize moral meaning by utilizing Indonesian and English. This study contributes to translation studies by extending the concept of equality into multimodal and pedagogical contexts. It also offers practical implications for educators, translators, and digital media designers by highlighting the importance of multimodal coherence and classroom mediation in conveying moral values through bilingual digital storybooks.

The purpose of this writing is to uncover how graffiti can multimodally represent Indonesian police and create ideology through the use of its textual and visual element. This writing is descriptive qualitative research with multimodal discourse analysis approach. The data of this research are collected through the internet, as the real graffities have been erased from the real-life locations. The data of this research consist of virtual images and sentences of the graffiti that have been documented. The data are analysed through the use of Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen’s multimodal discourse analysis theory of the representational meta-functions, and Michael Halliday’s ideational meta-functions. The analysis is divided into textual and visual analysis. The result of the analysis shows that the graffities represented ideologies that Indonesian police is easily corrupt, enemy of the people, and does not accept critique from the public by the use of specific visuals and words. The graffities that are used as the data of this research are forms of the creators’ ideologies toward Indonesian police.

The multimodal nature of web pages enables them to interweave text, images, colour and other graphical material to create discursive contexts which may be difficult to identify or challenge. Multimodal discourse analysis provides a tool for deconstructing such websites. This paper examines websites that promote the growing practice of female genital cosmetic surgery, in particular labial reduction or labiaplasty. We examine the ways in which four Australian cosmetic surgery websites normalise unnecessary surgical intervention. From our multimodal critical discourse analysis, three themes emerged – ‘pathologising the normal’, ‘normalising modification’ and ‘cosmetic surgery is easy’. All were embedded in a neoliberal discourse of individual choice, self-improvement and objectification, through text and images that medicalised normal women's bodies, normalised the use of surgery to fit a cultural ideal of beauty and stressed the rhetoric of choice, empowerment and agency, thus creating an ideological foundation and justification for cosmetic surgery.

This study analyzed Ingenius video advertisement. Ingenius is a video advertisement produced by Samsung. However, Samsung only shows its competitor’s product (Apple IPhone X) from the beginning until the end of the video. The video is divided into seven segments and was analyzed by using both Multimodal Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis three-dimension framework by Fairclough. This study is expected to find how the Apple IPhone X is represented by Samsung in their Ingenius video advertisement, to find the Ingenius messages according to Samsung’s website, to see the reaction of its consumers, and to find how the brand positioning of Samsung and Apple in the society. Multimodal Discourse Analysis is used to analyze the inner dimension of the framework by using Ingenius video advertisement as the text or discourse. The second dimension is analyzed by using the official Samsung explanation from its website about the video to see the meaning of each segment from the producer to consumers and using the YouTube comments to see how the consumers of the video (viewers) react after watching the video. The outer dimension sees the brand positioning from online newspapers, websites, and blogs to see how the society perceives Apple and Samsung as smartphone brands. Keywords: Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Advertisements, Discourse.

The growing urgency of environmental sustainability has positioned circular economy (CE) policies as a strategic priority in global governance. As a vital medium for public engagement, broadcasting has undergone substantial transformation with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), giving rise to novel discourse strategies grounded in multimodality. This review critically examines existing scholarship at the intersection of AI-driven broadcasting, multimodal discourse analysis, and the dissemination of CE policies. It traces the evolution of broadcasting practices from traditional formats to AI-augmented systems and explores how AI technologies, such as speech synthesis, intelligent scripting, and multimodal coordination, reshape policy narratives. Drawing on theories of social semiotics and multimodal communication, the paper synthesizes findings on how voice, gesture, visual elements, and digital interactivity contribute to persuasive policy communication. Despite recent advances, significant challenges remain, including the lack of integrative theoretical frameworks and limited empirical analysis of AI-mediated environmental discourse. This review identifies key research gaps and outlines future directions for interdisciplinary inquiry into the ethical, communicative, and technological dimensions of AI-empowered broadcasting. By mapping the conceptual terrain of this emerging field, the paper aims to inform more effective and engaging strategies for promoting sustainable policy agendas.

In recent years, with the continuous expansion of the field of discourse analysis, the concept of multi-modal discourse analysis came into being. According to the multi-modal discourse analysis, Kress and Van Leeuwen proposed the novel theory—visual grammar. It includes three perspectives: representational meaning, interactive meaning, and compositional meaning. Based on the the multi-modal discourse analysis, the movie poster is a typical application object, demonstrating the close connection between linguistic symbols and non-linguistic symbols. Based on the theory of visual grammar, this paper conducts a multi-modal discourse analysis of the movie poster of The Great Gatsby. By deeply analyzing the movie poster, it can reveal the profound social phenomena and atmosphere hidden behind the movie, capturing the stories behind it and helping the audience better understand the meaning that the movie intends to convey. At the same time, it can also enhance the promotional effect and influence of the movie.

This article addresses how the multimodal persuasive strategies of corporate social responsibility communication can highlight a company’s commitment to gender empowerment and environmental protection while advertising simultaneously its products. Drawing on an interdisciplinary methodological framework related to CSR communication, multimodal discourse analysis and gender theory, the article proposes a multimodal analysis model through which it is possible to map and explain the multimodal persuasive strategies employed by Coca-Cola company in their community-related films. By examining the semiotic modes’ interconnectivity and functional differentiation, this analytical endeavour expands the existing research work as the usual textual focus is extended to a multimodal one.

Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) theory is a comprehensive framework that examines communication beyond just language, considering various modes of expression such as images, sounds, gestures, and typography. This theory recognizes that communication is inherently multimodal, and meaning is conveyed through the interplay of different modes. MDA analyzes how these modes interact within texts and contexts to create meaning, emphasizing the importance of visual, auditory, and spatial elements alongside linguistic features. By examining multimodal texts, MDA provides insights into how meaning is constructed, negotiated, and understood in diverse communicative contexts, from advertising campaigns to political speeches. This paper proposes the design of a distance learning system for English reading by applying Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA) theory, augmented with Distance Vector Space Coordinate Classification (DVS-CC). The system aims to provide an immersive and interactive learning experience by integrating various modes of communication, including text, images, audio, and video. Through simulated experiments and empirical validations, the effectiveness of the DVS-CC-enhanced distance learning system is evaluated. Results demonstrate significant improvements in student engagement, comprehension, and learning outcomes compared to traditional distance learning approaches. For example, students using the DVS-CC-enhanced system achieved an average score increase of 25% in reading proficiency assessments. Additionally, the system's adaptive learning features enabled personalized instruction tailored to each student's learning style and pace. These findings underscore the potential of applying MDA theory with DVS-CC in designing effective distance learning systems for English reading, fostering enhanced learning experiences in remote educational settings.

In the 90s of the 20th century, the multi-modal discourse analysis that emerged in the West gradually became one of the hot topics in linguistics, and multi-modal discourse refers to the phenomenon of using hearing, vision, touch and other senses to communicate through language, images, sounds, actions and other means and symbolic resources. Usually people discuss film from psychology, aesthetics and other macroscopic perspectives, and less linguistic discourse analysis methods to discuss, multi-modal discourse analysis theory for film researchers to provide a set of simultaneous analysis of film images, music and text compatible methods, so this thesis aims to analyze the film discourse Tea House based on functional linguistic theory and visual grammar for multi-modal discourse analysis.

This study conducts a comprehensive lexico-semiotic analysis of the social media signage employed by selected Pentecostal churches in Livingstone, Zambia. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, utilizing a dual theoretical framework of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and Kress and van Leeuwen's Visual Social Semiotics (VSS). Data from Instagram, Facebook, and church websites were scrutinized to decode the relationship between word choice, visual elements, and communicative purpose. The findings reveal a sophisticated, multimodal strategy. Lexical choices draw from semantic fields of faith, prosperity, and divine intervention, while visual grammar through images, color, layout, and gesture works synergistically with text to construct persuasive messages. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers strategic code-mixing and platform-specific adaptations that enhance cultural resonance and digital virality. The study demonstrates how these churches strategically blend traditional religious rhetoric with digital affordances to shape identity, foster community, and engage in digital evangelism. By applying an integrated SFG-VSS lens, this research provides granular insights into the mechanics of meaning-making in digital religious advertising. It contributes significantly to understanding religious communication in the digital age, bridges theoretical gaps in multimodal discourse analysis within African contexts, and offers practical, evidence-based insights for media ministries seeking to optimize their digital engagement. Ultimately, the study argues that Pentecostal digital signage constitutes a distinct communicative genre, strategically engineered to navigate the affordances of social media platforms and effectively engage contemporary audiences.

The advancement of modern information technology is challenging the dominant role of language in mass media and communication. The study of discourse analysis goes beyond language itself by incorporating other semiotic resources such as image, sound and animation into its scope. Considering language as a social semiotic and meaning potential, SystemicFunctional Linguistics provides theoretical foundation for multimodal discourse analysis (MDA). As pioneers, Kress and van Leeuwen proposed the grammar of visual design to interpret visual composition from representational meaning, interactive meaning and compositional meaning. With an interpretative approach, this paper intends to have an insightful discussion about how semiotic tools function in realizing the representational meaning of movie posters. The present study may not only enrich the application study of MDA, but also fill in a gap in discourse analysis of movie posters. Keywords—multimodal discourse analysis; representational meaning; Systemic-Functional Linguistics; movie posters