Modality. Commitment, Truth Value and Reality Claims Across Modes in Multimodal Novels

Abstract

This article presents exploratory work in the newly emerging field of multimodal stylistics. By bringing together literary studies, linguistics and multimodal semiotics, multimodal stylisticians aim to extend the stylistic tool box by developing methodological frameworks applicable to the description and analysis of literary texts which – in addition to wording – make use of other semiotic modes such as typography, visual images, colour and layout for their meaning-making. The approach to multimodality deployed and examined is that proposed, for instance, by Kress and van Leeuwen (e. g. Reading Images. The Grammar of Visual Design, 1996; Multimodal Discourse. The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication, 2001) and Baldry and Thibault (Multimodal Transcription and Text Analysis, 2006). According to Kress and van Leeuwen (Multimodal Discourse. The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication, 2001, 2) »common semiotic principles operate in and across different modes«. Following this line of thought, the article sets out to examine modality as a cross-modal semiotic principle.