The structure of a communicative event as a multimodal representation (based on the cognitive-discursive analysis)

Abstract

The article discusses the conceptual structure of the term “мультимодальный” and its English translation equivalent “multimodal” in the conceptual retrospective of its understanding with regard to modern approaches to multimodal communication, as well as intersections with semiotics and cognitive research. The development of new meanings in the structure of the concept is traced using computer methods based on the consideration of distributional semantics of lexemes in high frequency fragments of their functioning. This approach reveals the assimilative connections of words and reflects the linguistic representation of the conceptual sphere. Various semiotic resources in the structure of a multidimensional object can be represented actually or potentially (in the form of a mental representation). The ‘narrativity’ of the visual is revealed in relation to the use of verbal elements in painting. One example is the inclusion of letters and their combinations in the pictorial space of a work of art. The titles of some such works use “speech markers” that can be expanded into a whole situation. The translation of discursive units becomes “intersemiotic”, as it covers a wide range of meanings and senses in the spatial perspective of the art object, due to the individual perception of the viewer. A large amount of information contained in a short word or phrase is thus subjected to interpretation. The article also reveals the intrinsic ties of multimodality studies with psycholinguistics and cognitive discourse analysis.