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Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication ACLC

Relevance & multimodal communication

Communication (including “narration,” “argumentation,” & “rhetoric”) can be purely verbal, but often combines language, visuals, music, sound, and/or gestures, thereby being multimodal. An inclusive theory of communication must be embedded in cognition. “Relevance” is considered to be the single most important principle governing communication and cognition.

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