What steers the interpretation of a visual or multimodal message? A relevance theory perspective
CERES Palais, room "Ruhrpott" (4.13)
SFB 1475 MASTER CLASS
Guest Lecture by Dr. Charles Forceville (University of Amsterdam)
Multimodality and semiotics scholarship is in need of an inclusive model of communication that takes into account the identities of the communicator, the audience, as well as their relation, and that does not privilege specific media and/or modes over others. The contours of such a model exist in relevance theory/RT (Sperber/Wilson 1995), whose central claim is that each act of communication comes with the presumption of optimal relevance to the envisaged audience. Conversely, the envisaged audience expects each act of communication aimed at it to be optimally relevant.
Hitherto RT scholars (typically: linguists) have almost exclusively analysed face-to-face exchanges. To fulfil RT's potential to develop into an inclusive theory of communication, it is necessary to explore how it can be adapted and refined to account for (1) messages in other modes than (only) the verbal mode; and (2) mass-communication. In Forceville (2020) I propose how RT works for mass-communicative messages that involve static visuals. The presentation will specifically focus on how RT approaches the key issue of which factors have an impact on the interpretation of a picture or a multimodal message, discussing this issue by drawing on examples from different genres (logos & pictograms, advertisements, and cartoons)
This lecture is part of the Master Class on “Multimodal Metaphor Analysis” with Dr. Charles Forceville (University of Amsterdam). The Master Class will comprise daily lectures, discussions and working sessions, organized by the Metaphor & Materiality working group.
