Christian M.I.M. Matthiessen

Centre for Language in Social Life, Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University

Multimodality, media of expression, modes of expression and modes of meaning: language and other semiotic systems in the organization of the written page

Language is inherently “multimodal”; and this inherent multimodality links it to other semiotic systems within the expression plane — but these systems are co-ordinated within the content plane and the division of labour among them is determined within context. In this paper, I will explore this inherent multimodality, relating it to the more abstract principles of different modes of expression associated with different metafunctional modes of meaning. I will then focus on multimodality within the domain of the “written page”. I will explore the co-ordination, integration and complementarity of different semiotic systems within different registers, using WHO reports and topographic procedures in guides books as examples. These examples will illustrate the general principle that the division of labour among different semiotic systems, and the nature of their complementarity, vary across registers within different situation types.