Mode, the hub of multimodality: A case study of Oral-B^® Toothpaste advertising

Mode, o hub da multimodalidade: um estudo de caso da publicidade do creme dental Oral-B ^®

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the nature of modal constructs in advertising commercial, operational in Oral-B^® Toothpaste, to explain the mechanistic integration of modes, unified to generate holistic meaning. With the application of the mood system and kinesics concepts, the author is able to interpret the video for readers. Besides using statistical substances (tables and graphs) to explore the modes, one observes a fragmentation of structures of some linguistic items such as The answer?, Easy, still fresh and strong. Repetition is a concern, where the communicator deploys the generic You, your teeth, and your mouth for a reason of emphasis. Communicative devices such as strong and healthy, and long lasting fresh breath (feeling) are details, exemplifying the Oral-B’s 2-IN-1 qualities. Gestural modes of smiling, observed in a repetitive speeches of Smile, Smile, Smile, and intimate and personal distances augment meanings as Social Actors 1 and 2 are indexical participants. Metaphorical professional actors and the dual 2-IN-1 features characterize the communication, projecting interchangeability. The advertisement is fascinating; yet, the metaphor of interchangeability could have been simplified for a purpose of sensitizing the illiterate.

Keywords:
advertising; image; language; multimodality; semiotic resource

RESUMO

Este estudo investiga a natureza dos construtos modais em publicidade comercial, operacional no creme dental Oral-B^®, para explicar a integração mecanística de modos, unificados para gerar significado holístico. Com a aplicação do sistema de humor e dos conceitos cinésicos, o autor consegue interpretar o vídeo para os leitores. Além de utilizar substâncias estatísticas (tabelas e gráficos) para explorar os modos, observa-se a fragmentação das estruturas de alguns itens linguísticos como A resposta ?, Fácil, ainda atual e forte. A repetição é uma preocupação, onde o comunicador implanta os genéricos Você, seus dentes e sua boca em razão de ênfase. Dispositivos comunicativos, como hálito fresco e duradouro (sensação), são detalhes exemplificando as qualidades 2-EM-1 do Oral-B. Os modos gestuais de sorrir, observados em discursos repetitivos de Sorriso, Sorriso, Sorriso e distâncias íntimas e pessoais aumentam os significados, visto que os Atores Sociais 1 e 2 são participantes indexicais. Atores profissionais metafóricos e as características dual 2-IN-1 caracterizam a comunicação, projetando intercambiabilidade. O anúncio é fascinante; no entanto, a metáfora da intercambialidade poderia ter sido simplificada para sensibilizar os analfabetos.

Palavras-chave:
publicidade; imagem; linguagem; multimodalidade; recurso semiótico

1. Introduction

The question of the exact representation of Mode has generated many but remarkable impulses in the knowledge-based industry. This is because since the inception of Multimodality, elements that paint mode have attracted several scholarly descriptions, and perhaps, with no single consensus of a specific definition (Jewitt, 2009; Bateman, Wildfeuer & Hiippala, 2017; Forceville, 2020). As one understands, disciplines, including multimodality, are embodiments of concepts contextualized to fit into the knowledge that a particular field of study drives. That perception informs the subtle lamentation about the componential content and configuration of the entity labeled as mode. One ought not to be surprised about the delineation ripples for there is a need for a crystal clear idea of the module of mode (Kress, 2010). To my mind, such a clarification will empower every enthusiast of multimodality to profoundly have first class information about the focus of this broad but malleable field of enquiry.

Fundamentally, the miniaturized elements of micro-linguistics might be a window, serving as an exemplary channel to explain the notion of mode. By micro-linguistics, this present investigator refers to phonetics/phonology, morphology, grammar/syntax, and semantics. These micro-linguistic spheres propagate phone/phoneme, morph/morpheme, and lexeme, as perhaps, the likely smallest entities of examining phonetics/phonology, morphology, grammar/syntax. And one cannot but remember semes as applicable components of semiotics. Upon this backdrop, the elucidation of mode becomes germane, taking a cue from the domains of micro-linguistics, being a platform, giving social semiotics its foothold (at least for now). That relationship might be a reason for wisely importing correspondingly-insightful linguistic frameworks into the social semiotics parlances, in spite of some protests to such an academic behavior of linguistic conceptual imperialism (Bateman, Delin & Henshel, 2002; Bezemer & Jewitt, 2010).

At this juncture therefore the question of ‘what is mode?’ still arises. Considering van Leeuwen (2005) to take the lead, a mode is an interactional resource, which meaning potential resides and engulfs in historical treasures, current cultures, and future norms. Jewitt (2009) adds that a mode represents a semiotic resource of meaning-making, entwined with a cultural background. Some of these communicative resources, as Jewitt (2009) reverberates, are images, writings, gestures, and postures. Nevertheless, Kress (2010) describes a mode from the informal and formal perspectives. The informal view is social; whereas the formal viewpoint is seemingly academic. In Kress’ (2010) sense, the former, tagged as being informal, connects the social where a community determines the address given to a mode. A social group, in this regard, determines the efficacy of a mode’s subject matter, making a mode geographically-oriented.

The latter, considered as being formal, pinpoints a theoretical sphere. That is, a particular theoretical underpinning which manifests to analysts the embodiment-cum-description of a mode, projecting the semiotic resource as being professionally-based. It is deducible then that the characteristic values of a mode are tethered around history, culture, and science, as the trilogy promote meaning potential of a communicative entity. As a result, one might argue that a mode is a unit of analysis that generates to transfer meaning from one social actor to another. These features are some of the reasons for considering multimodality as an interdisciplinary adventure, explored through social semiotics.

The axiomatic quality of mode influences extant literature in multimodal discourse domains such as O’Toole’s (1994) comprehension, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2021) thought, and Scollon’s (1998, 2001) interactional sensitivity. Besides, Scollon’s impressive perception that is a bit ethnographically different, Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics operates as the strength, stronghold, and basis for the exemplification of mode, as the agent of meaning-making in communication. As Constantinou (2005) focuses on modes’ depiction in media techniques and Silvestre (2008) maps emotion in multimodal messages, Cambria, Arizzi and Coccetta (2012), van Leeuwen and Jewitt (2001), and Adami (2015a) explain practical affordances in web tools, meaning in social semiotic entities as well as expedients of interactivity in the website as a context. The discursive offerings of Ly and Jung (2015) and Holsanova (2016) rest on modal design of advertising systems and procedures of exploring integrative communication elements.

The discussions of modes interconnect subjects such as the investigation of aesthetics in digital configurations (Adami, 2014), pictorial images in online newspapers operational as language (Knox, 2016), and contextualization of filmic discourse within the concept of GeM (Bateman, 2013). There are also the placement of multi-literacy within the domain of multimodality (Eisanmann & Meyer, 2018), cognitive semiotic of gesture (Iriskhanova & Cienki, 2018), and gestural modes being the companion of political comments of persuasion (Kraśnicka, 2020). In a significant standard, Martin and Zappavigna (2018) and Unsworth (2020) highlight to explicate embodied meaning of paralanguage, regarding Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) acuity and intermodal association in school science genre. Hiippala and Bateman (2020), Bezerra (2020), and Dalamu (2021) problematize communicative issues to explain diagrammatic mode and multimodal constructs of cinematic picture of female actresses in a specific film and semiotic genre.

That being said, the present study is a contribution to modal activities in communicative environments. The goal is to exemplify the concept of mode as functional in various devices and settings in copresence of a semiotic configuration. In other words, this research elucidates the interconnection of modal components as to how the devices generate different affordances in order to produce and dissipate meaning potential to the target audience. As demonstrated latter, Halliday and Matthiessen ‘s (2014) expertise, Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2021) penetration, Baldry and Thibault (2010), and Norris’ (2019) perspectives serve as the tools of analyzing modes, tending towards the application of conceptual frameworks to a semiotic system of a New Oral-B Toothpaste advertisement (henceforth: ad).

Mode, a semiotic resource

It is obvious that linguistic as well as communication studies have some ways of realizing meaning. That logic informs multimodality to rest its meaning-making on the choice and construction of modes. As a result, Page (2010) argues that a mode is an entity of making sense of the material world, characteristically demonstrating some statuses of generating meaning potentials. These states of affairs are varied, depending sometimes strictly on the background of the audience, the kind of meaning to be made, and the subject that the modes intend to represent (Herman, 2010). Building on that position, one might acknowledge that the mode could be a fluid entity and at the same time being open-ended. As a mode is realized through a medium, it projects different meanings in different media settings. That could stimulate the researcher to consider this meaning-making object as being parasitic because it relies on another situation for meaning determination.

In multimodal discourses, the mode is a semiotic channel of both artistic and scientific expressions. The artistic feature stems from a particular background, enabling a sign-maker to construct meaning for the audience in focus. The scientific quality anchors on the influences of people on an artifact deployed as a mode. Besides, the analytical characteristic worth of an analyst on its materiality projects a mode as being scientific. There are little doubts that a mode has a material human endowment, its conceptual appearance is heuristic, using the media to prompt its embodied contextual meanings. In Constantinou’s (2005) point of view, this communicative scheme is not only a mechanism of meaning realization; the device is also an abstract resource of semiosis (Fei, 2004). That understanding appears to motivate Norris (2011) to suggest that modes are unavoidably construed as distinct entities. That uniqueness reminds readers and scholars that every meaning-maker employs a mode or a cluster of modes to communicate ideas from one territory to another. Such a measure positions a mode as an inevitable substance of communication. The mode, being a distinct subject matter, points to two perspectives. One, different modes in a semiotic system contribute prominently to meaning-making to readers. Two, each mode generates clearly noticeable meaning in different contextual domains.

Given that explication, one might submit that there are viable norms that encircle the mode. Mode is a text. Mode is a process. Mode is a product. Mode is a choice. Mode is either animate or inanimate. Mode is a system. Mode is coherent. Mode is meaningful. The classification of mode as text refers to the meaning-making object, which appears as words, pictures, gazes, and gestures. These features stimulate a social actor to decide the choice of mode fit for a semiotic system. Choice in this environment links readers to the Paradigmatic standpoint of text. The course of selection indicates a manner of processing modes for a setting. Leaning of Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2014) theorization, Paradigmatic designates a communicative vertical axis of what goes instead of what, leaving behind unselected items . The result of paradigmatic activity is syntagmatic.

Thus, syntagmatic specifies a cluster of items in a horizontal axis that generates a semantic syntagm derivable from lexico-grammar. The coherence in the paradigmatic modal entities, forming a unified whole of the semiotic copresence, produces meaning. Upon that backdrop, Kress and van Leeuwen (2001) comment that modes are lexically-arranged and grammatically-organized elements of simple and complex system of meaning, perhaps, comparable to the annotation of ranks in language structures (Thompson, 2014; Dalamu, 2018c). Resting on this equivalence mark, it could be proportionally deducible that: if elements in language are systemic, modes also are systemic - a quality that could attract a system network. It is in this sense that one considers modes as a system of meaning-making, as shown further below.

2. Theoretical fact

Having displayed the focus of this study as being modes, the nub of meaning production in multimodality, the analyst has moreover explicated mode as the conceptual lens. This means that mode is a framework for exploring modes in their various forms. This locus is congruent to Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2009) revelation where grammar becomes an item of illuminating grammar. Consequently, SFL labels a situation where grammar turns to interpret itself, as being grammatics; and also to Hall’s (1966) deduction of proxemics from proximity. Could one then construct the theory of modes, explaining itself as being Modics? Drawing on the insight, as highlighted earlier that mode is systemic, attracting system network. Figure 1 demonstrates the systematicity of mode below.

Figure 1
A system network of modes

The terminologies of system and system network are salient here. In Butler’s (1985) conceptualization, a system is an enumerated set of choices in a specific environment, composing of items which have possible alternatives in the sphere of its utility. In other words, a system provides the possibility of freedom of choosing a specific mode to execute a particular task (Kress, 1981; Dalamu & Ogunlusi, 2020). A system network is a map that shows the elements of choice in communication activities, considerable as one of the innovative concepts of the Hallidayan linguistics. On that ground, Halliday and Matthiessen (2014) describe a system network as the optional potential available to a communicator. The system network allows an analyst to map out the overall organization of semiotic resources. The system network is a chart that exemplifies optional variables available in textual resources.

A system network contains delicacy which is the main principle of ordering the system indices relating one to another. In other words, delicacy represents a degree of detail and specificity in a semiotic resource, signposting a scale of order from general to specific. Delicacy, as a kind of a kind, connotes the ordering of systems from left to right by means of entry conditions (Dalamu, 2019b). Therefore, one might argue that the system network is indicative of choice in any communicative interactions because of its optional benchmark. Figure 1 validates communicative modes as the term with entry condition of a network system, that is, language, image, color, and music.

It is important to remark that Figure 1 does not replicate all the modes in the world. One mode might have some units of modes (sub-modes) functional within its territory. Some examples are human beings and dresses, an entirety of architectural fabrications, and a car (O’Halloran & Baldry, 2011). Nevertheless, one could say that the entry conditions of language, image, color, and music are seemingly suffice for exposing the nature of modes operational in many communication enterprises. Language, as reflected in Figure 1, accommodates the spoken and written modes, with various theoretical views, appraising their entities in linguistic domains (Kress, 2011; Yule, 2020; Jaworski & Coupland, 2016). The image, as divide into animate and inanimate segments, has subdivisions of elucidation. Proxemics, gesture, and gaze, as Hall (1974), Hostetter (2012), Kendon (2015), and Antas and Gembalczyk (2018) manifest, are explored elements of distance and gestural activities. As Martin and Zappavigna (2019) argue that gestures are indicators of paralanguage, the deployment of lower animals to act as human beings is what Kress (2010) contextualizes as transduction.

The writer might submit that the consideration of inanimate objects as modal devices covers complex and multiple grounds because of their natural and scientific connotation and connectivity. Each mode in this category has relevantly correlated theories of exploration (Heitzmann, 1998; Howells, 2003; O’Toole, 2011; Ravelli & McMurtrie, 2016, Bateman, Wildfeuer & Hiippala, 2017; Forceville, 2020). It thus infers that the modes to be analyzed determine the class of conceptual schedules to be applied. No data strata can attract all the conceptual agenda of Modics (theory of modes). There is a conceptual division of labor in debating multimodality. Color and music are the last modal entry conditions, in which van Leeuwen’s (2010; 2014; 2016) parametric principle and van Leeuwen’s (2011) rhythmic insight, among others, are explorers of such modes. All items mentioned in Figure 1 are modes owing to the fact that these elements have fulfilled the characteristic values of scientific analyses that generate substantial meaning potentials. The various aspects of human society reflecting modes appear to project multimodality as an ambitious field. Anyway, that is the current coagulated academic model of meaning production in terms of dialogue, interaction, conversation, and communication in general.

Research questions

The nature of this study demands statistical illustrations as to mine and extract the desired meaning potentials. Thus, the study has explored meaning potentials of New Oral-B Toothpaste communication with the following exquisite questions.

• How has the communicator deployed different modes to achieve holistic meaning in the New Oral-B Toothpaste video?

• At what frequency are the spoken modes operational in the Oral-B ad?

• How have gestural activities contributed to meaning-making in the Oral-B Toothpaste communication?

3. Methodology

Participants

As mentioned earlier, this research investigates the kinds of modes operational in a semiotic system. The goal is to identify the interactions of semiotic resources that generate holistic meaning potentials. That motive influences the choice of a New Oral-B Toothpaste as in YouTube. The selection of a YouTube document emanated, owing to the numerous advertising materials deposited in this media locale. Besides, advertisers seem to have considered YouTube as a social media site that attracts millions of users (Adami, 2015b). Being a fast moving product in Sub-Sahara Africa, the researcher has chosen a New Oral-B Toothpaste communication because the sign-maker deploys a metaphorical 2-IN-1 as a selling point, using animate and inanimate participants as entities reflecting interchangeability senses (Williamson, 2002).

Instruments

An hp 2000 ^® laptop and an MTN ^® Internet modem were electronic tools that assisted the researcher to download the video from a YouTube site, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F69YVBvF58, using Savefrom.net to convert the YouTube video into a readably accessible format. It is worth stressing that this ad is not the only Oral-B ad in YouTube. The peculiarity there is that the social actors are smartly time conscious, as the individuals smile all through the ad.

Procedures

Having converted the YouTube text into an interpretable manuscript, the analyst employed the snipping tool of the computer to cut the configured script into about 35 shots, which were classified into four different high-level mediated actions (HLMA) (Baldry & Thibault, 2010; Norris, 2019). The HLMA contains some low-level mediated actions (LLMA) with various meaning-making modes. Each shot, labeled as O-BT (Oral-B Transcript), reveals the transcript’s operational period ((e.g. O-BT1 (00:00 - 00:01))), as encoded at the left bottom side. The complexity of the kinesics actions stimulated the production of many shots publicized in the discussion domains. As there are Table 1 (showing HLMA shots and time) and Table 1 (indicating the conversion of spoken modes into written structures), the study presents the shots and analysis of the spoken modes side by side within the framework of the discussion section.

Specifically, Bloor and Bloor’s (2013 insight of the mood system contextualizes the explication of the written modes. With the application of distinct social semiotic ideas, the recurrence of the spoken modes and kinesics functions of images are illustrations at the result section. The frequencies demonstrate to readers the functional patterns of some modes in the communication. Some abbreviations such as: S = subject, F = finite, P = predicator, C= complement, A = adjunct, and CL = clause are inevitable for a reason of textual economy (Dalamu, 2019a).

Presentation of HLMA

The table below indicates the cultivation of HLMA into time frames and number of shots accompanying the segmented actions.

Table 1
HLMA in terms of time and shots

Time	Shots Numbers	High-Level Mediated Actions
0:00:00 - 00:00:11 (about 11 seconds)	O-BT 1 to O-BT 18	Social Actor 1 makes a general comment about cleaning the teeth and Social Actor 2 counters the claim, expressing adequate daily cleaning modalities of human teeth.
00:00:11 - 00:00:18 (about 7 seconcds)	O-BT 19 to O-BT 23	Social Actor 1 and Social Actor 2 jointly introduce New Oral-B Toothpaste 2-IN-1 as the solution to clean one’s teeth.
00:00:18 - 00:00:22 (about 4 seconds)	O-BT 24 to O-BT 27	Social Actor 3 functions as the evidence, demonstrating to viewers the implication of using New Oral-B 2-IN-I Toothpaste.
00:00:22 - 00:00:30 (about 8 seconds)	O-BT 28 to O-BT 35	Social Actors emphasize the fresh breath, and strong and healthy characteristic values deriavable from New Oral-B Toothpaste.

Presentation of spoken modes

Table 2 represents the conversations of the three social actors in the communication; the speeches are converted into clauses.

Table 2
Oral-B ad spoken modes in sequence

Section	CL	Spoken Modes
HLMA 1	1a	You clean your teeth every morning
	1b	But that breath feeling just doesn’t last
	1c	The answer?
	1d	Easy
	1e	You keep your teeth strong and healthy
	1f	And give your mouth long lasting fresh breath.
HLMA 2	2a	With New Oral-B 2-in-1 Toothpaste, it helps strengthening your teeth
	2b	And gives you long lasting fresh breath
HLMA 3	3a	So fresh.
	3b	Still fresh.
	3c	And still fresh
HLMA 4	4a	Stay strong
	4b	Stay fresh
	4c	New Oral-B toothpaste for strong teeth with long lasting fresh breath
	4d	Smile
	4e	Smile
	4f	Smile

4. Analysis and Discussion

The video of New Oral-B^® toothpaste (henceforth: Oral-B) advertising, examined in this study, is an illustration of human and material actions mediated in higher-level and lower-level terms. The modes, of course, operational in copresence enable such actions in certain environments. The modes, because of their different affordances, range from animate to inanimate materiality. Following the modes’ theoretical scheme in Figure 1, the concepts of written modes (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014; Dalamu, 2018b), images (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2021; Baldry & Thibault, 2010), proxemics (Norris, 2019), and gestures (Kendon, 2015) are explore-able domains of this investigation. Thus, the discussion follows the sectional pattern of the presentation of modes, demonstrated in terms of HLMA 1, HLMA 2, HLMA 3, and HLMA 4. The entire time of this ad is just 30 seconds.

Figure 2
Shots of HLMA 1 (images)

Figure 3
Analysis of HLMA 1 (conversation)

HLMA 1, as observed above, accommodates LLMA that ranges from O-BT 1- O-BT 18, being the image transcripts of Oral-B. In the same vein, the researcher systematically analyses the systemic conversation (converted to written modes) in the communication. The ad commences its persuasion, showing a structural building of the Oral-B Dental Institute, with musical rhythmic notes. The appearance of the structure seemingly denotes a theme-rheme configuration (O’Toole, 2011). This is because the part of the building projecting Oral-B Dental Institute is lower in height and smaller in size than the other building, which tends to be a glassily dazzling house of guesstimate.

Thereafter, a social actor (labeled as Social Actor 1), wearing a deep blue tie on a light blue long sleeve shirt, comments in the toilet that: You clean your teeth every morning. This declarative clause, shown in 1a, is assertive in pronunciation, acknowledging that people usually wash their teeth daily. The deployment of You (subject) in the clause is generic because the pronoun refers to all viewers of the ad, making You an object of exclusivity. Then the target audience of Oral-B is everyone who uses toothpaste. The adjunct, every morning, indicates that taking care of the teeth is a daily ritual done in the morning before breakfast consumption or going out for one’s daily routines. Social Actor 1 accompanies You clean your teeth every morning with gestural activities of the hands and head. Social Actor 1 folds his ten fingers as a boxer preparing to fight. He moves the hands from the resting positions up a bit to the chest. Holding a toothbrush in his right hand, as the individual makes a sagittal movement of the head, using the right hand to emphasize the point, You clean your teeth every morning. The spoken modes and the gestural actions are demonstrative affordances of conviction.

The domain of this communication appears to be within the Oral-B Dental Institute. That might be the reason for projecting the institute first as a prologue. Besides, the environment that illustrates that position, one could also argue that the sudden appearance of the social actor two (labeled as Social Actor 2) in the event, is a testimony to that. As well planned, Social Actor 2 interposes the negotiation, saying that: But that breath feeling just doesn’t last. The paratactic, But (Thompson, 2014), contradicts to nullify the remark of Social Actor 1. The lexeme, But, reveals to viewers that something else is missing despite that people brush their teeth every morning. The mislaid substance, in Social Actor 2’s point of view, is the breath feeling that doesn’t last. The breath feeling derived from the toothpaste is the core selling point of Oral-B at this point in time. Such an argument indicts other toothpaste products that lack a great quality of a lasting breath feeling that characterizes the mouth of human beings. By implication, Oral-B sustains fresh breath feeling, unlike other toothpastes, in the users’ mouths for 14 hours, as revealed latter in the communication hemispheres of O-BT24 to O-BT27.

Social Actor 1 gives a support to the issue of breath feeling, raised by Social Actor 2, using the toothbrush in his hand as a gestural accent to that. Social Actor 1 rotates his head to facilitate gaze and queries that: The answer? The answer in this context is an interrogative clause, which elements are punctuated (Cook, 2001). The individual would have said: [What is] the answer? The fragmentation is to fulfill a principle of aptness and textual economy in advertising (Leech, 1966; Gieszinger, 2001). Social Actor 2 responds with a communicative component, Easy. Easy would have come in the form of an imperative clause, [Take it] easy. However, for the principles highlighted earlier, the component, Easy, in 1d serves as an invaluable proportion of advertising. There is a need to calm Social Actor 1 down because of the confidence that Social Actor 2 has in Oral-B though Social Actor 1 is still kept in suspense.

Surprisingly, Social Actor 2 creates a sense of belonging for Social Actor 1, giving and wearing a white lab-coat for him, making two of them as being indexical (Dyer, 2005). Perhaps, the donation and wearing of the lab-coat connote that only dental experts could promote Oral-B in the way that such marketing should be done. Social Actor 2 indirectly tells Social Actor 1 that a layman cannot advertise Oral-B; and that only dentists of repute from the Oral-B Institute have the capacity to enlighten the target audience about the pedigree of the toothpaste.

After the wearing of the lab-coat in O-BT9 and O-BT10, Social Actor 1 disappears, leaving Social Actor 2 behind. It is at this point that Social Actor 2 sensitizes viewers with a carton of Oral-B with the left hand. While still holding the carton, Social Actor 1 reappears again to intervene in order to form a synergy with Social Actor 2 in the promotion. One observes a turn-taking behavior at this juncture (van Leeuwen, 2005). The position of exchange creates cooperation between Social Actor 1 and Social Actor 2.

In that regards, Social Actor 2 holds a carton of Oral-B with the left hand and Social Actor 1 with the right hand. To iterate, this becomes possible because Social Actor 1is now a much qualified dentist, recognized to promote the characteristic contents and worth embedded in the toothpaste. That qualification springboard influences Social Actor 1, as illustrated in O-BT13 to O-BT18, to raise his left hand, placing it on the shoulder of Social Actor 2. The attitude explains the reliability of the information that Social Actor 2 disseminates to Social Actor 1, regarding the long lasting breath feeling that Oral-B enables. As a result, Social Actor 1 trusts to associate with Social Actor 2, perceiving that his product is worthwhile.

Simultaneously, Social Actor 2 says that: You clean your teeth strong and healthy; Social Actor 1 reciprocates that: And gives your mouth long lasting fresh breath. Of importance is the function of the paratactic, And, in terms of the paratactic, But, discussed earlier. Social Actor 2 deploys But to counter the statement of Social Actor 1, as demonstrated in Ia and 1b, above. In this case, Social Actor 1 differs. This person utilizes And to bravely approve of that the current claim that Oral-B supplies the teeth with the breath feeling as well as long lasting fresh breath to the mouth. That means the toothpaste cares for both the teeth and the mouth, giving energy to the teeth and a good smell to the mouth at the same time. The dual purposes influence the communicator to certify Oral-B as being 2-IN-1 kind of toothpaste.

Figure 4
Shots of HLMA 2 (images)

Figure 5
Analysis of HLMA 2 (conversation)

One observes the establishment of 2-IN-1 excellence of Oral-B in HLMA 2, as configured within O-BT19 to O-BT23. The domain begins with the appearances of seemingly two cartons of Oral-B, the advertised product, from left and right with the assistance of two hands. The horizontal movements of the cartons from two dissimilar ends initiate the fusing possibility of the two cartons into a single entity. The statements: With Oral-B 2-in-1 toothpaste, it helps your teeth; And gives your mouth long lasting fresh breath, which are declarative clauses simultaneously backing the fusing images of the toothpaste into one indivisible body. Because Oral-B is the goal of the ad, the meaner uses O-BT21 as a shade of emphasis. That is the motive for demonstrating modes such as 2-IN-1; NEW and the carton of Oral-B as held with a social actor’s right hand for viewers’ sensitivity.

Among all the LLMA domains, O-BT21 is the first domain where the image of the advertised good is completely revealed. The pronunciation of With New Oral-B 2-IN-I Toothpaste reinforces the reason that viewers should purchase to use the product for cleaning the teeth every morning. While saying that, Social Actor 1 gazes, in the form of vector and gesturing with his hands in order to make a strong eye contact with the target audience of the ad. The communication designer goes ahead to present a social actor to reviewers as the individual touches to hold a teeth-like structure, recounting how Oral-B assists the teeth to be strong and to have a long lasting fresh breath. While in the action of holding the teeth-like object, the social actor turns his head towards the viewer (sagittal, nodding), gazing to make an eye contact with them.

Figure 6
Shots of HLMA 3 (images)

Figure 7
Analysis of HLMA 3 (conversation)

The ad propagates the evidence of the 2-IN-1 superiority of Oral-B in HLMA 3. Here the LLMA begins in O-BT24 and ends with O-BT27. In these accounts, time has become imperative, as shown on top of the frames as 7:00, 7:43, 13:00, and 19:00. The narratives illustrate a historical account of a tested and trusted product. The various time factors imply that the lady (labeled as Social Actor 3) cleansed her teeth with Oral-B at 7:00 in the morning, and left her home for the office around 7:43 with a fresh breath. This was in obedience to the first statement of You clean your teeth every morning. While in the office as at 13:00, the fresh breath remained in her mouth. Surprisingly, as at 19:00 later in the evening while returning home from the office Oral-B still sustained the propagated fresh breath.

These obvious vitalities of New Oral-B Toothpaste influenced the lady to remark that the toothpaste made her mouth So fresh at 7:00; Still fresh at 13:00, And still fresh at 19:00. If not for a reason of economy and unnecessary repetition, the full-fledged constructs would have been [It is] so still fresh; [it is] still fresh; And [it is] still fresh. A bit of emphasis in these subjects is a deliberate way of making a characteristic of Oral-B memorable. From a semantic assessment, So, still, and still are qualifiers that portray the manners of intensity that the advertised product has on human teeth and mouth in terms of strength and breath feeling. The linguistic devices also confirm the precision of the aforementioned claims of Social Actor 1 and Social Actor 2. What they have said concerning Oral-B, in the prerogative of Social Actor 3, the consumer, is truly accurate.

Figure 8
Shots of HLMA 4 (images)

Figure 9
Analysis of HLMA 4 (conversation)

As shown in HLMA 4, it seems that the lady’s witness stimulates the indexical social actors to reinvigorate the campaign of the toothpaste, counseling viewers and the testifier to Stay strong and Stay fresh. As a result, viewers should Stay with the 2-IN-1 support that Oral-B provides users. Consumers ought to be steadily abiding with the product, as their steadiness-cum-stability will continue to maintain strong teeth and fresh breath that endure for a long period of time. Again, at this juncture, the image of Oral-B appears in a motion, as indicated in three forms in O-BT30 to O-BT32. These transcripts are significant, as demonstrators of the sparkling movement of the whitish content of the original toothpaste as it moves in a rolling form from a source from up down to the labeled carton (body) of Oral-B.

To culminate the ad, as a voice says that New Oral-B toothpaste [is] for strong teeth with long lasting fresh breath, the image of the lady comes up again with some gestural behaviors of: raising up of her hands and breathing a fresh breath into the two hands; and again raising up of the right hand, using a finger to tap her teeth for about two consecutive times. The former gesture designates fresh breath. The later signals strong teeth to the larger audience. As the communication commences with rhythmic music of low tempi, the communicator ends the ad with melodious sounds of high tempi. The ambient musical sound functions in the form of orchestra throughout the communication events (Till, 2017). Moreover, the finale of two seconds witnesses a high musical tempo accompanied with some shouts of Smile, Smile, Smile. The Smile imperative clauses command viewers to smile for people to see the nature of their teeth; perhaps, the teeth are white or otherwise. If white, that is the act of Oral-B on their teeth; if otherwise, Oral-B is still much available to correct the dirt on their teeth. In other words, the repetitive smile commands direct viewers to replicate the smiling behaviors of the three actors in the communication. The purpose is to understand the quality of the viewers’ teeth whether the teeth have the characteristic values of 2-IN-1 as advertised in the video.

Four settings are operational in Oral-B ad. These are the Oral-B Dental Institute office, the toilet, the home of Social Actor 3, and her office. These domains have different layout systems as well known in society. One also observes the utilization of various color schemes such as blue, being the traditional color of the advertised product; white, which positions Social Actors 1 and 2 as being indexical professionals. The indexical appearance gives the male actors the license to promote the toothpaste through its qualities. The top dress of the female actor is in cool but dull green. The mint of Oral-B’s content is also in white. These colors are not without symbolic functions. Consequently, the researcher could deduce that blue connotes calmness, tranquility, and acceptance (Kandisky, 1977; Gage, 1993). White, being the color of the teeth and other modes, specifies purity, cleanliness, and unity beyond human negative criticisms (Zelansky & Fisher, 2003). The green color of Social Actor 3 is a probable representation of harmony, honesty and natural spring of nature (Gage, 1999). Though red is a strong connection with fire, the lexeme, New, represented in red, might paint a different picture of excitement, courage, and passion (Heller, 2009). These characteristics are augmenting the qualities of Oral-B so that viewers could be motivated to patronize the product.

There are two major reflectors of proxemics in this communication. The first one happens when Social Actor 2 opens the door to meet and contest the statement of Social Actor 1 in the toilet. Ab initio, there is a seemingly personal distance, which the movement of Social Actor 2 collapses to intimate distance, as he puts a lab-coat on Social Actor 1. The second situation operates when Social Actor 1 enters, in another scene, to join Social Actor 2 to mutually advertise Oral-B with the right hand. The proximity also is as the first, where the movement of Social Actor 1 flops the personal distance between them, enabling an intimate to operate to an extent that Social Actor 1 puts his hand on the shoulder of Social Actor 2 for a unified resolution of mutually marketing Oral-B.

It is worth stressing that the appearance of Oral-B in upper right corner of the LLMA spheres and other visible places are an indicator of two specific functions. One, Oral-B is the focus of the ad. Two, the designer intends to impress Oral-B in the cognitive process of viewers. A keen observation suggests that Social Actors 1 and 2 are a single individual, who acts two different roles, as a computer-mediation characteristic has enabled such functions. In corollary, the dual roles are thoughtfully deliberate. This is a metaphor that creates a relationship between the actor and Oral-B. That is, as the actor from the dental institute is 2-IN-1, so also is Oral-B 2-IN-1. That is what Williamson (2002) constructs as interchangeability of semiotic resources. One might moreover add that the present of the toothbrush and toothpaste, being products of joint demand, are characteristic of 2-IN-1.

The modal density of Oral-B ad enhances some meaning potentials. The analyst observes these substances in the following parameters. The smiling behaviors of Social Actors 1, 2, and 3 are obvious, as clear throughout the campaign segments. The goal of the smiles is to show viewers the extraordinary white color of the social actors’ teeth. The brightness of the teeth, accomplished with laughter, illustrates the effects of the toothpaste on the teeth over a season. This manifestation becomes an appeal to people in order to fraternize with Oral-B, meaning to validate that consumers’ teeth, with the application of this toothpaste, will be white as snow.

That factor is the motive for the sign-maker to uncompromisingly support the smiles, which exhibit the whiteness of the actors’ teeth with grammatical components in different practices.

The grammatical communicative devices are: the generic you teeth, functional about three times; and the mode, fresh, operational in the variants of long lasting fresh breath, breath feeling, so fresh, still fresh, and stay fresh. The texts, strong, and smile, are other linguistic facilities that sustain to promote the teeth feature. The communication unveils the word, strong, in the shade of strong and healthy, helps strengthening, and stay strong; whereas smile operates in three consecutive times. The modal consistency of the blue and white schemes demonstrates an adventurous quality (Chiazzari, 1998; van Leeuwen, 2016). The stress laid on the smiles, linguistic structures, and color pallets does not only give special weight and distinction to Oral-B, the prominence and fame induce viewers to give an unusual attention to the communication in order to patronized the advertised product.

5. Result

The researcher divides the outcome of the analysis into two forms: (i) the employment of modes for holistic meaning; and (ii) frequency of spoken modes in the video. These outcomes are responses to RQ1 and RQ2, featured at the introductory section

Deployment of modes for holistic meaning

HLMA1 displays Oral-B Institute, Social Actors, and toilet, as the setting of the communication with a comment, You clean your toilet every day. That signals that the toilet and teeth must be washed daily for hygienic purposes and to avoid smells. Thus, viewers are to clean their teeth not with any other device but Oral-B for strong and healthy breath. Oral-B, according to the ad, adds long lasting fresh breath to the users’ mouths for 14 hours. There are: a sagittal head movement, holding of a tooth brush and the using of the right hand to emphasize and convince viewers. With the indexical appearance of Social Actors 1 and 2, Social Actor 2 testifies the cleanliness strength of Oral-B. Social Actors 1 and 2 are dentists, who associate in unison to promote Oral-B in synergy.

HLMA2 reveals the fusing of two Oral-B cartons as a single item to symbolize a unity of purpose, once again, between Social Actors 1 and 2. This influences Social Actor 1 to gaze and make an eye contact with the target audience, demanding their cooperation. A social actor touches a teeth-like image in order to depict Oral-B as the toothpaste that strengthens the teeth.

HLMA3 projects Oral-B’s superiority over its competitors within the profile of 2-IN-1 to indicate the availability of toothpaste and tooth brush in a single Oral-B carton. Social Actor 3 demonstrates historical accounts of Oral-B’s long lasting fresh breath in time. That is, Oral-B sustains fresh breath in the lady from 7:00 at home to 13:00 in the office, and to 19:00 back at home in the evening.

HLMA4 shows social actors and a movement of the white sparkling content of Oral-B, as the product rolls from up to down to attract customers. Social Actor 3 touches her teeth in order to acknowledge cleanliness, strength, and long lasting fresh breath of the advertised product. The advertiser culminates the message with Smile, Smile, Smile to signify the end result of using Oral-B. In addition, colour and musical tunes attract and excite viewers to patronize Oral-B.

Frequency of spoken modes

There are one table and two figures in this section, calibrating the frequencies of the spoken modes in the Oral-B ad. The statistical interpretation comes in terms of modal structure recurrence and higher-level mediated discourse recurrence. This study considers the clause as the bedrock of the analyzed resources.

Table 3
Frequency of spoken modes

Modal Structure		Clause, Spoken Mode																	Total
		1a	1b	1c	1d	1e	1f	2a	2b	3a	3b	3c	4a	4b	4c	4d	4e	4f
Mood	Subject	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5
	Finite	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
Residue	Predicator	1	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	1	11
	Complement	1	0	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	15
	Adjunct	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	8
Conjunction		0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
Total		5	5	1	1	5	4	5	5	2	2	2	2	2	3	1	1	1
HLM Segment		21				10			6			10

Figures 10 and 11, below, derive their communicative structures from the calibrated components in Table 3, above.

Figure 10
Oral-B modal structure frequency

Figure 11
Oral-B HLMA segments’ clause frequency

The modal structure of Oral-B ad’s conversational modes, as shown in the Total (vertical) aspect of Table 3, indicates that there are mood and residue units. However, the residue scores more points than the mood, as 15 points is obviously attached to the complement. This seems to acknowledge the residue of a clause as the rhematic aspect accommodating the core of the message (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014; Dalamu, 2018a).

Still on the residue, the predicator and adjunct are of 11 and eight points respectively. These scores position the predicator as the second level and adjunct as the third level of components’ functions in the Oral-B communication. Thereafter, the subject, as Figure 10 annotates, operates about five times, whereas the finite also functions with only five points. The least in the graph is the conjunction with three points.

Ordinarily, the conjunction is not part of the interpersonal metafunction, the analyst just considers the component as communicating something to viewers in copresence, that being the reason for accounting for its contribution. The appearance of the elements in Figure 6 informs one to quickly remark that the proliferation presence of nominal items in the clauses positions the residue as the most operational in Figure 10. Thus, the communicator prefers deploying nouns to persuade viewers than verbal devices.

Drawing on Table 2, there are four HLMA segments that Oral-B video displays. That orientation influences the calibration of the HLMA frequency (horizontal) in Table 3. As illustrated in Figure 11, the social actors of HLMA 1 construct weightiest grammatical components of 21 than any other phase. HLMA 4 and HLMA 2 employ 10 components each to sensitize the target audience into consumption. Less linguistic components of six operate in the sphere of HLMA 3. The calibration infers that the advertising practitioner considers using more words at the introductory and concluding remarks of the communication than any other aspect. In that sense, HLMA 2 and HLMA 3 are more of images, colors, and sounds than speeches.

6. Conclusion

This video, marketing Oral-B, is a quintessence of meaning as various semiotic resources have enabled some semantic treasures. The modes cover different domains simply because of their different affordances, contributing to meaning potentials, derivable from the communication. The modal resources integration principle indicates conversational structures, images in the form of animate and inanimate bearings, music, and color as the propagators of holistic meanings of the publicist to viewers.

Regarding the conversation translated into written modes, one observes that the lexeme, You, operates as a deictic pointing to viewers in a generic form as in You clean your teeth every morning. Your teeth and your mouth are also parallel in the generic application focusing the target audience in all ramifications. The communicator employs the generic group to create a connection with linguistic items such as long lasting fresh breath, fresh feeling, and strong and healthy teeth in order to illustrate the 2-IN-1 qualities entrenched in the Oral-B.

The lexical groups receive robust sustenance from images and gestures. That is the message of indexical appearances of Social Actor 1 and Social Actor 2, using the same lab-coats to convey the 2-IN-1 characteristics of the product to consumers. These features propel the participants to jointly argue that With New Oral-B 2-IN-1 Toothpaste, it helps strengthening your teeth; And gives you long lasting fresh breath, as in 2a and 2b. Apart from the Oral-B label showcasing in every shot of the LLMA, the connectivity of the speeches and images is palpable. The actors are fond of, and consistently opening their teeth, smiling as they focus on viewers of the ad. Then the white teeth and the white lab-coats are representation of the outcomes of using Oral-B, and professional touches that the product has undergone. White itself connotes purity; and the blue schemes position the ad as being calmly daring.

The communicator illuminates the evidence of every morning and long lasting fresh breath with substantiation from Social Actor 3. In this case, the woman cleans her teeth in the morning, precisely at 7:00, and the fresh breath feeling lasts till 13:00, while in the office, and still sustains till 19:00 in the evening, while returning home. That experience of Oral-B’s 2-IN-1 influences Social Actor 3 to emphatically comment thus: So fresh; Still fresh; and And still fresh. As the settings of the ad are Oral-B Dental Institute, toilet, offices, and home, the participants enhance their communication activities with head movement in sagittal, rotational, and lateral ways up to about 90^o - to facilitate gaze - , personal and intimate distances, gestural touching of the teeth, and demonstration of fresh breath feeling. The Oral-B communication is metaphorically critical, especially, the illustration of 2-IN-1 as touching the indexical Social Actors 1 and 2, and the dual qualities of the 2-IN-1 benefit of Oral-B. This construction is good for academic purposes. However, there is a need to simplify this so that the illiterate might quickly understand its meaning potentials.

Acknowledgements

I love to appreciate Mrs. Bonke Adeyeni for the moral and financial supports provided me during the course of this research.

References

• Adami, E. (2014). Aesthetics in digital texts beyond writing and image: A social semiotic multimodal framework. In A. Archer & E. Breuer (Eds.), Multimodality in writing. the state of the art in theory, methodology and pedagogy (pp. 43-62). Brill.
• Adami, E. (2015a). What’s in a click? A social semiotic framework for the multimodal analysis of website interactivity. Visual Communication, 14(2), 133-153.
• Adami, E. (2015b). What I can (re)make out of it: Incoherence, non-cohesion, and interpretation in YouTube video responses. In M. Dynel & J. Chovanec (Eds.), Participation in public and social media interactions (pp. 233-257). John Benjamins.
• Antas, J., & Gembalczyk, S. (2018). Człowiek negujący - multimodalne studium cielesnych wyrazów negacji towarzyszących mowie. In A. Załazińska, & J. Winiarska (Eds.), Multimodalność komunikacji (pp. 47-56). Księgarnia Akademicka.
• Baldry, S., & Thibault, P. (2010). Multimodal transcription and text analysis. Equinox.
• Bateman, J. (2013). Multimodal analysis of film within the gem framework. Ilha do Destrro Florianopolis, 64, 49-84.
• Bateman, J., Delin, J., & Henshel, R. (2002). Multimodality and empiricism: Methodological issues in the study of multimodal meaning-making. GeM Project Report 2002/01. University of Bremen/University of Stirling.
• Bateman, J., Wildfeuer, J., & Hiippala, T. (2017). Multimodality: Foundations, research and analysis, a problem-oriented introduction. De Gruyter Mouton.
• Bezemer, J., & Jewitt, C. (2010). Multimodal analysis: Key issues’. In L. Litosseliti (Ed.), Research methods in linguistics (pp. 180-197). Continuum.
• Bezerra, F. (2020). Multimodal critical discourse analysis of the cinematic representation of women as social actors. DELTA, 36, 4: 1-28.
• Bloor, T., & Bloor, M. (2013). Functional analysis of English. Routledge.
• Butler, C. (1985). System and linguistics: Theory and applications. BAE.
• Cambria, M., Arizzi, C., & Coccetta, F. (2012). Web genres and web tools. http://www.ibisedizioni.it
  » http://www.ibisedizioni.it
• Chiazzari, S. (1998). The complete book of color. Elements Books.
• Constantinou, O. (2005). Multimodal discourse analysis: Media, modes, and techniques. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 9(4), 602-618.
• Cook, G. (2001). The discourse of advertising. Routledge.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2018a). Evaluating ‘registerial’ norms in advertising texts: A systemic perspective. BJLL, 11, 64-97.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2018b). English language development in Nigerian society: A derivative of advertising communications. CJES, 26, 263-286.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2018c). Advertising communication: Constructing meaning potential through disjunctive grammar. ANAGRAMAS, 17(33), 73-104.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2019a). Halliday’s mood system: a scorecard of literacy in the English grammar in an L2 Situation. RELIN, 27(1), 241-274.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2019b). A Discourse analysis of language choice in MTN® and Etisalat® advertisements in Nigeria. LAP Publishing.
• Dalamu, T. O. (2021). Social semiotic genre: Exploring the interplay of words and images in advertising. AFLLM, 11, 19-51.
• Dalamu, T. O., & Ogunlusi, G. (2020). Revitalizing cultural characteristics in advertising in Nigeria within a sketch of systemic paradigm. ANAGRAMAS, 19(37), 13-48.
• Dyer, G. (2005). Advertising as communication. Routledge.
• Eisenmann, M., & Meyer, M. (2018). Introduction: multimodality and multiliteracies. Inglistik: International Journal of English Studies, 29(1), 5-23.
• Fei, V. (2004). Developing an integrative multi-semiosis model. In K. O’Halloran (Eds.), Multimodal discourse analysis: Systemic functional perspectives (pp.219-246). continuum.
• Forceville, C. (2020). Visual and multimodal communication: Applying the relevance principle. OUP.
• Gage, J. (1993) Color and culture: practice and meaning from antiquity to abstraction. Thames and Hudson.
• Gage, J. (1999). Color and meaning: Art, Science and symbolism. Thames and Hudson.
• Gieszinger, S. (2001). The history of advertising language. Peter Lang GmbH.
• Hall, E. (1959). The silent language. Doubleday.
• Hall, E. (1966). The hidden dimension. Doubleday.
• Hall, E. (1974). Handbook of proxemic research. Society for the Anthropology of Visual Communication.
• Halliday, M., & Matthiessen, C. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. Routledge.
• Heitzmann, W. (1998). The power of political cartoons in teaching history. Occasional Paper. National Council for History Education, Inc.
• Heller, E. (2009). Psychologie de la couleur: effets et symboliques. Pyramyd
• Herman, D. (2010). Word-image utterance: Case studies in multimodality. In R. Page (Ed.), New perspectives on narrative and multimodality (pp. 75-98). Routledge.
• Hiippala, T., & Bateman, J. (2020). Introducing the diagrammatic mode. Computer and Language. arXiv:2001.11224 [cs.CL].
• Holsanova, J. (2016). New methods for studying visual communication and multimodal integration. Visual Communication , 11(3), 251-257.
• Hostetter, A. (2012) When do gestures communicate? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 297-315.
• Howells, R. (2003). Visual Culture. Polity Press.
• Iriskhanova, O., & Cienki, A. (2018). The semiotics of gestures in cognitive linguistics: Contribution and challenges. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 4, 25-36.
• Jaworski, A., & Coupland, N. (Eds.). (2006). The discourse reader. Routledge.
• Jewitt, C. (Ed.). (2009). The routledge handbook of multimodal analysis. Routledge.
• Kandinsky, W. (1977[1914]) Concerning the spiritual in art. Dover Publications.
• Kendon, A. (2015). Gesture and sign. In A. Keith (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of linguistics (pp. 33-46). Routledge.
• Knoll ,G., & Fuzer,C. (2019). Analysis of info graphics of the advertising sphere: Multimodality and Compositional Metafunction. RBLA, 63(3), 589-612.
• Knox, J. (2016). Punctuating the home page: Image as language in an online newspaper. Discourse & Communication, 3(2), 145-172.
• Kraśnicka, I. (2020). Meaning in multisemiotic messages - functions of gestures accompanying speech as elements of utterance structure. Crossroads, 31, 7-22.
• Kress, G. (1981). Halliday: System and function in language. OUP.
• Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality. A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge.
• Kress, G. (2011). Multimodal discourse analysis. In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 35-50). Routledge.
• Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal Discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. Arnold.
• Kress, G., & van Leeuwen, T. (2021). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.
• Leech, G. (1966). English in advertising: A linguistic study of advertising in Great Britain. Longmans.
• Ly, T., & Jung, C. (2015). Multimodal discourse: A visual design analysis of two advertising images. International Journal of Context, 1(2), 50-56.
• Martin, J., & Zappavigna, M. (2018). Embodied meaning: A systemic functional perspective on body language. Chinese Edition Contemporary Rhetoric, 1(1), 2-29.
• Martin, J., & Zappavigna, M. (2019). Embodied meaning: Systemic functional perspective on paralanguage. Functional Linguistics, 6(1), 1-33.
• Matthiessen, C., & Halliday, M. (2009). Systemic functional grammar: A first step into the theory in English and Chinese. Higher Education Press.
• Norris, S. (2011). Identify in interaction: Introducing multimodal interaction analysis. De Gruyter.
• Norris, S. (2019). Systematically working with multimodal data. Wiley Blackwell.
• O’Halloran, K., & Baldry, S. (Eds.). (2011). Multimodal studies: Exploring issues and domains. Routledge.
• O’Toole, M. (2011). The language of displayed art. Leicester University Press.
• O’Toole, M. (1994). The language of displayed art. Pinter
• Page, R. (2010). New perspectives on narrative and multimodality. Routledge.
• Ravelli, L., & McMurtrie, R. (2016). Multimodality in the Built environment: Spatial discourse analysis. Routledge.
• Scollon, R. (1998). Mediated discourse as social interaction. Longman.
• Scollon, R. (2001). Mediated discourse: The nexus of practice. Routledge.
• Scollon, R., & Scollon, S. (2003). Discourses in place: Language in the material world. Routledge.
• Silvestre, C. (2008). Mapping emotions in multimodal texts. Odense Working Papers in Linguistics and Communication 29, 738-748.
• Thompson, G. (2014). Introducing Functional grammar. Routledge.
• Till, R. (2017). Ambient music and religion. In C. Partridge & M. Moberg (Eds). Bloomsbury handbook for religion and popular music (pp. 327-37). Bloomsbury.
• Unsworth, L. (2020). Intermodal relations, mass and presence in school science explanation genres. In M. Zappavigna & S. Dreyfus (Eds.). Discourses of hope and reconciliation: J. R. Martin’s contributions to systemic functional linguistics (pp. 131-152). Bloomsbury Academic.
• Van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Introducing social semiotics. Routledge.
• Van Leeuwen, T. (2010). The language of colour: An introduction. Routledge.
• Van Leeuwen, T. (2011). Rhythm and multimodal semiosis. In S. Dreyfus, S. Hood, & M. Stenglin (Eds.), Semiotic margins (pp. 168-176). Continuum.
• Van Leeuwen, T. (2014). Towards a semiotics of listening. In E. Djonov & S. Zhao (Eds.), Critical multimodal studies of popular discourse (pp. 251-264). Routledge.
• Van Leeuwen, T. (2016). A social theory of synesthesia: A discussion. Hermes, Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 55, 105-119.
• Van Leeuwen, Th., & Jewitt, C. (Eds.). (2001). Handbook of visual analysis. SAGE.
• Williamson, J. (2002). Decoding advertising: Ideology and meaning in advertising. Marion Boyars.
• Yule, G. (2020). The study of language. CUP.
• Zelanski, P., & Fisher, M. (2003). Color. Prentice Hall Inc.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 Mar 2023
• Date of issue
  2023

History

• Received
  09 Apr 2021
• Accepted
  18 Apr 2022