Cover not available
Part of
Theory and Practice in Functional-Cognitive Space
Edited by María de los Ángeles Gómez González, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez and Francisco Gonzálvez-García
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 68] 2014
► pp. 85–106

An interpersonal study of The Leading Hotels of the World. A systemic-functional social-semiotic approach

Within the frameworks of Halliday’s SFL and Kress and Van Leeuwen’s Visual Social Semiotics, the main aim of this chapter is to analyse how the verbal and visual modes of ten tourist brochures, taken from The Leading Hotels of the World guide (2009), are co-deployed to construct interpersonal meaning. The use of declarative mood structures, the scarce presence of imperative clauses and the lack of interrogative clauses demonstrate that the verbal component accompanying the photographs does not encourage much interaction. However, the middle-shots and essentially the medium angles utilised are evidence of the engagement created between the visual readers and what is displayed in the photographs. This analysis shows that words and images reinforce each other to highlight the elitist characteristics of the facilities and services offered to the potential clients.

Keywords: interpersonal, multimodality, social semiotics, tourist brochures
Published online: 22 July 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.68.04moy
References
Bell, A
(1991)  The language of news media . Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bortoluzzi, M
(2010) Energy and its Double: a Case-Study in Critical Multimodal Discourse Analysis. In E. Swain (Ed.), Thresholds and Potentialities of Systemic Functional Linguistics: Multilingual, Multimodal and other Specialised Discourses (pp. 158–181). Trieste: EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste.Google Scholar
Budd, M., Craig, S., & Steinman, C
(1999)  Consuming environments: Television and commercial culture . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Cheong, Y.Y
(2004) The construal of ideational meaning in print advertisements. In Kay O’Halloran (Ed.), Multimodal discourse analysis (pp. 163–195). London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Coleman, L
(1990) Review article. The language of advertising. Journal of Pragmatics , 14(1): 137–145. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cook, G
(1992)  The discourse of advertising . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Crook, J
(2004) On covert communication in advertising. Journal of Pragmatics , 36(4): 715–738. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D
(2011)  Internet linguistics . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fontaine, L
(2013) Introduction. choice in contemporary Systemic Functional Theory. In L. Fontaine, T. Bartlett, & G. O’Grady (Eds.), Systemic Functional Linguistics: Exploring choice (pp. 6–25). Cambridge: Cambrige University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Forceville, C
(2010) Review of Carey Jewitt (ed), Routledge Handbook of Multimodal Analysis (2009). Journal of Pragmatics , 42: 2604–2608. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Geis, M
(1982)  The language of television advertising . New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Goddard, A
(1998)  The language of advertising . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Günther, K., & Van Leeuwen, T
(2001) Multimodal Discourse. The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K
(2004)  An introduction to Functional Grammar . 3rd edition. Revised by Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
(1978)  Language as social semiotic: The social interpretation of language and meaning . London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R
(1985)  Language, context and text: Aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective . Geelong: Deakin University Press.Google Scholar
Hopearuoho, A., & Ventola, E
(2009) Multisemiotic marketing and dvertising: Globalization versus localization and the media. In E. Ventola, & A.J. Moya (Eds.), The world told and the world shown. Multisemiotic issues (pp. 183–204). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Hoey, M
(2001)  Textual interaction. An introduction to written discourse analysis . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, G
(2010)  Multimodality. A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication . London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T
(2006 [1996])  Reading images. The grammar of visual design . ­London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Martin, J
(2002) Fair trade: Negotiating meaning in multimodal texts. In P. Coppock (Ed.), The semiotics of writing: Transdisciplinary perspectives on the technology of writing (pp. 311–338). Begijnhof, Belgium: Brepols and Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
(1992)  English text: System and structure . Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moya, A.J
(2013) Textual and compositional choices in hotel brochures. In G. O’Grady, T. Bartlett, & L. Fontaine (Eds.), Choice in language. Applications in texts analysis (pp. 301–322). London: Equinox.Google Scholar
Myers, G
(1994)  Words in ads . London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K., & Lim Fei, V
(2009) Sequential visual discourse frames. In E. Ventola, & A.J. Moya (Eds.), The world told and the world shown. Multisemiotic issues (pp. 139–156). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Royce, T
(2007) Intersemiotic complementarity: A framework for multimodal discourse analysis. In T. Royce, & W. Bowcher (Eds.), New directions in the analysis of multimodal discourse (pp. 63–110). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Tan, S
(2009) A Systemic Functional framework for the analysis of corporate television advertisements. In E. Ventola, & A.J. Moya (Eds.), The world told and the world shown. Multisemiotic issues (pp. 157–182). London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Thurlow, C., & Jaworski, A
(2006). The alchemy of the upwardly mobile: Symbolic capital and the stylization of elites in frequent-flyer programs. Discourse and Society , 17(1): 99–135. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unsword, Len
(2006) Towards a metalanguage for multiliteracies education: Describing the meaning-making resources of language-image Interaction. English Teaching: Practice and Critique , 5(1): 55–76.Google Scholar
Vestergaard, T., & Schrøder, K
(1985)  The language of advertising . Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar