The World Told And The World Shown

The World Told and The World Shown: Multisemiotic Issues is concerned with the development of multisemiotic meaning-making theories and their applications, and the contributions draw the attention of linguists and students alike to the fact that language rarely stands alone in written and spoken discourses, i.e. mono-modally, in today's discourses.

The principal aim of the volume is to point out the ways in which spoken and written discourses combine with other modes, simultaneously making use of the multiple resources of different semiotic systems as they are subsequently created and consumed. The chapters discuss the relationship between the discourses that 'tell' and visuals (either still or moving, like film) that 'show', sharing the point of view that all the various modes specialize in the transmission of particular meanings.

The innovative component of this book in comparison to those existing in the fields is the application of current multisemiotic theories to a great variety of genres: picture books, billboards, cartoons, advertising, web games, science documentaries, poetry, etc. The volume begins with chapters that take the theorizing of the text/discourse -- visualization cline a step beyond current frameworks.

The book, which is divided into five sections, also highlights the importance of cultural and social aspects in the configuration of language and visualizations as well as their multisemiotic use in the community.