Patterns of Discourse Organization in Multimodal Discourse of Crowdfunding Project Presentations

Abstract

Rapid development of multimodal communication stimulates scholarly interest in elaborating methods and tools capable of investigating this phenomenon in its structural and functional complexity. One such approach is multimodal discourse analysis (MDA). Of relevance to the origins of MDA are social semiotics and systemic-functional linguistics, providing rationale to approach different modes as meaning-making systems on the one hand, and to investigate multimodal texts as communicative acts in context on the other. Having said that, there still seem to be unchartered areas in the vast universe of multimodal communication, all the more so as research can hardly keep pace with the constantly emerging and promptly popularized Web 2.0 technologies of communication. One important aspect that is still to receive a thorough scientific account is logico-semantic progression in multimodal texts, in particular the extent to which patterns of discourse organization, originally identified in written texts, are realized in non-textual modes. The study discusses how patterns of discourse organization are realized in simultaneously received modes in the multimodal genre of promotional video in crowdfunding project presentations. Three types of interaction between the patterns, their moves and the modes of expression are identified: (1) transfer of moves across modes; (2) move-and-pattern overlap; and (3) rupture of intermodal cohesion. The insights presented in this paper may be relevant not only to related studies of multimodal discourse but also for more effective content management in crowdfunding project presentations.