The multimodal representation of "Ideas worth spreading" through TED talks

The slogan of TED talks reminds one of the overarching goals of this genre, i.e. to spread/share worthy ideas from different knowledge domains among the general public. The present contribution applies a multimodal perspective to the analysis of evaluation as a strategy used to shape such ideas in the talks. It actually takes into account a broad conception of evaluation as the expression of the speaker's attitude or stance towards, viewpoint on, or feelings about what is being talked about (Thompson, Hunston 2000), which, in this textual genre in particular, tends to be imbued with a strong desire to cause or evoke a similar experience in the audience. The study focuses on quantitative and qualitative data on subjective (emotional and axiological) adjectives, gestures and visuals (content of slides) combining in ever more complex multimodal ensembles from a selection of talks in three different domains, in order to gain a more comprehensive insight into tedsters' representations of their views emerging from the interactions of such resources. In fact, the findings show that the latter contribute significantly to the shaping of the proposed ideas as something worth listening to (and, ideally, endorsing). Also, they appear to display varied combinations across knowledge domains, thus pointing towards domain variation as a possible constraining factor responsible for the diversification of the multimodal rhetoric associated with the genre.

TED演讲的口号，点明了这一话语品类的核心目标：即在普罗大众之间传播、分享来自不同知识领域的优质理念。本研究采用多模态（multimodal）视角，针对演讲中用于塑造此类理念的评价策略展开分析。本研究采纳汤普森与亨斯顿（Thompson, Hunston 2000）提出的广义评价定义：即说话者对所谈论对象所持态度、立场、观点或情感的表达。而就这一话语品类而言，这类评价往往饱含着唤起听众产生相似体验的强烈诉求。本研究选取覆盖三大知识领域的多组TED演讲，对其中的主观（情感与价值论）形容词、手势及视觉素材（幻灯片内容）这类日趋复杂的多模态组合进行定量与定性分析，以期更全面地洞察TED讲者通过此类资源互动所呈现的观点表征。研究结果显示，上述多模态资源对塑造“值得聆听（理想状态下还能获得受众认同）”的核心理念起到了显著作用；此外，不同知识领域的这类资源组合呈现出显著差异，这提示领域差异或是制约该品类话语多模态修辞多样化的潜在约束因素。