MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS: FUNDAMENTAL NOTIONS AND PROCEDURES

ABSTRACT Drawing on Systemic Functional Theory and the decompositional model proposed by Bateman, Wildfeuer and Hiippala (2017), this paper outlines notions and procedures we consider fundamental for the analysis of multimodal texts, particularly digital ones, by providing a theoretical and methodological model that enables a greater commitment to a clear and replicable organization of the analytical procedure. We introduce the fundamental systemic functional concepts of realization and instantiation and their implications for the study of multimodality; next, we present the notion of ‘canvas’ and the multidimensional classification of semiotic materialities; then, we make explicit the basic steps for the substantiation of the analysis of multimodal texts; and, finally, we exemplify the model with a cursory analysis of the canvas composition of Facebook posts.