Key objectives
- Further strengthening of relevance theory as an inclusive, all-encompassing theory of communication
- Examining how visual information, alone or in combination with language, music, sound, and gestures communicates explicit and implicit meaning in rhetorical and argumentative discourse
- Contributing to theorizing multimodal media and genres, specifically: political cartoons, advertising, comics, pictograms, children’s picture books, documentaries, animations – where appropriate with a (sub)cultural angle
- Contributing to theorizing visual and multimodal metaphor and other tropes.
- Finding opportunities where the above can play a demonstrable role in solving societal problems (specifically pertaining to “mental health”)
Events
Meetings of the group are scheduled on an ad hoc basis. Members of the group will regularly present at ACLC seminar lectures. Where possible members will deliver (key) lectures and organize workshops at international conferences.
Coordinator and group members
Dr Charles Forceville (coordinator), Dr Bart Garssen, Dr Corina Andone
Pertinent websites
- https://semioticon.com/semiotix/2021/02/relevance-the-key-to-visual-multimodal-and-all-other-communication/ (Jargon-free 2800 words explanation of the “relevance principle” by Forceville)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNmHHf8NKQI (5’ oral explanation of Forceville (2020) by the author)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvocTKD5o5A (5’ animation made by students of HKU & Forceville to explain the “journey” metaphor)