Verbal, Paragraphical, and Visual Representations of Concepts in Polymodal Texts of Naïve Discourse (Based on instagram.сom)

Abstract

The aim of the work is to analyze the correlation between verbal, paragraphical, and visual components of the polymodal text of naïve discourse through the analysis of the concept uniting these parts of the text. During the analysis of ninety Instagram posts written in Russian, English, and French we found out several types of polymodal texts: 1) texts without text-forming concepts: 2) texts with text-forming concepts which are represented either 2.1) verbally and visually or 2.2) verbally and paragraphically or 2.3) paragraphically and visually or 2.4) verbally, paragraphically, and visually. The majority of the posts contain text-forming concepts, and they are represented at all the three levels. Types 2.3 and 2.2 are the least common. Although Instagram is a visual-centric social network, it is the verbal component of polymodal texts that represents concepts most often. Moreover, verbal component can represent all the sides of the concept connected with image perception, notion and values while non-verbal components often objectify only some of these sides. We also found out some specific traits connected with representation of concepts with the help of paragraphical means (emojis). First, metaphoric and metonymic transfers are inherent in emoji. Second, concepts can be represented by several emojis following each other. In this case each of them represents one attribute of the concept. Their order is usually random, and sometimes it causes ambiguity. As for the prospect of this research, our next step is to create the general method of analysis of concepts in polymodal texts and other polymodal objects, such as films.