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In:Expanding Horizons in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Interdisciplinary applications, multimodality, and theoretical advances
Edited by Claudia E. Stoian and Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen
[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 80] 2027
► pp. 124–144

Chapter 6
Character-reader interaction in male same-sex parent family picture books

A multimodal systemic functional analysis

ORCiD logo with link | University of Castilla-La Mancha
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Abstract
This study investigates the multimodal strategies through which writers and illustrators foster interaction between child readers and the characters in three picture books portraying same-sex male parent families. The theoretical approaches applied in this study are Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Kress and van Leeuwen’s Visual Social Semiotics (2006), later developed by Painter, Martin and Unsworth (2013) for the analysis of visual narratives. The results reveal that eye-level angles, middle shots, a notable presence of frontal images, together with a generic drawing style and vibrant, warm and familiar colours, in combination with verbal language, are the main semiotic resources through which illustrators foster a sense of connection and engagement between the story’s characters and the child reader. Some demand images and close-ups, although smaller in number, also contribute to aligning the visual readers with the characters at important points of the stories. Visual Social Semiotics, therefore, seems to be an appropriate approach to examine the interactive potential inherent in the interplay between visual and verbal modes in these picture books that challenge male gender stereotypes within family environments.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review: A multimodal social semiotic approach to picture books
    • 2.1Interpersonal verbal and visual systems
    • 2.2Systems of focalization, distance, attitude, and modality
    • 2.3Interpersonal intermodal complementarity
  • 3.Analysing character-viewer engagement multimodally and inter-semiotically
    • 3.1Sample texts
    • 3.2Methodology
    • 3.3Multimodal choices in the sample texts
      • 3.3.1Interpersonal options in the verbal mode
      • 3.3.2Interactive choices in the illustrations
      • 3.3.3Interplay of images and words
  • 4.Conclusion and discussions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (19)
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