2.1.1 Modes and Multimodality Defined
According to Forceville (2009:22), Mode can be simply defined as “interpretablesemiotic system through specific perception process”. In this way classification ofmode can be related to five perception processes, i.e. 1) image and visual mode; 2)sound and auditory mode; 3) olfactory mode; 4) gustatory mode; 5) tactile mode.However, under real-scene communication circumstances, communication forms areoften mixed up with modes. For example, both written language and gesture belong tovisual mode; oral language, music and other kinds of sound all belong to auditorymode. This leads to infinite classification of modes (Zhao Xiufeng, 2011). For thesake of research, Forceville (2009: 23) classifies Mode as nine types, i.e. 1) pictorialsigns; 2) written signs; 3) spoken signs; 4) gestures; 5) sounds; 6) music; 7) smells; 8)tastes; 9) touch. This paper will follow Forceville’s classification of modes.
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2.2 Previous Studies on Advertising DiscourseAnalysis
Advertising discourse has hitherto been one of the main subjects in discourse analysis.This is partly because of its prevalence and social impact in people’s life. One of themost complete compilations of works in ads study would be Cook’s (2008) Thelanguage of Advertising. He collects and reprints articles and chapters from manyother scholars and himself, covering analysis of both monomodal (linguisticcommunicative mode) and multimodal discourse. Barthes (1977) examines therelation between language and images in an advertisement for Panzani pasta,“dwelling in particular on how words are used to delimit the signification of images”(Cook, 2008: 2). Kress and Van Leeuwen (1996) apply their visual grammar in“reading” print ads of foods, clothes, cars, etc. among many other pictures. Forceville(1996) discuss words and images work together to create “pictorial metaphor” in printads, which tends to be cognitivism rather than functionalism. Cook (2001) presentsways of presenting and understanding the interplay of pictures, music, speech andwriting in television ads. Using digital technology, O’Halloran (2005) demonstratesthe SF-MDA approach through the analysis of ideational meaning in a print ad ofpublic service.
Drawing on foreign research findings, domestic researchers attempt to interpretand understand the advertising discourse through applying the SF-MDA approach.The research objects include television ads of public service (Chen Yumin, 2008;Wang Jin & Zhu Yanran, 2011), television commercial ads (Lai Haiyan, 2010; QianYunran, 2011; Jiang Ting, 2012), print commercial ads (Hu Dan, 2007; Peng Yi &Yang Haiyan, 2010), print ads of public service (Kong Yanan, 2009), videocommercial ads (Liu Xiaolin, 2011). However, quite few writings concerning theimage-text relations has been done on print commercial ads, especially ads of serviceproducts which can be more and more significant in modern economy.
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CHAPTER THREE THEORETICALFRAMEWORK.........17
3.1 Systemic Functional Grammar....17
3.2 Visual Grammar........... 18
CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH PROCEDURES.............2
