Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Image-Text Relations in Persian and English Advertisements in Terms of Logico-Semantics

Abstract

This study aimed at addressing advertisement, which is one of the topics we deal with on a daily basis. Advertising today has affected many aspects of human life. The importance of the discourse of advertising and its prominent role in daily life has caused this phenomenon to be considered by researchers. This paper, with reference to the Systemic Functional Multimodal approach, examines the nature of connections that can occur between texts and images in English and Persian advertisements, whether to advertise products or to promote ideas in the form of posters. The main objective of this study is to compare image-text relations in Persian and English advertisements in terms of logico-semantic relations, namely: Elaboration, extension, Enhancement, and projection. The analysis of a sample of thirty English and thirty Persian advertisements manifests the employment of all four logico-semantic relations in the composition of English advertisements. Elaboration, ranking first in English advertisements, has been used in more than fifty percent of cases; other fifty percent illustrates extension, Enhancement, and projection. Projection is the least frequently used logico-semantic relation in English advertisements. However, in Persian advertisements, image-text connection was limited to Elaboration which is identified in all Persian advertisements of the present study. The analysis revealed diversity and more creativity in image-text combinations in English advertisements in comparison to Persian ones. A better understanding of the inter-semiotic relationships between visual and verbal modes helps designers of advertisements and other multimodal texts to make the most of the potential in this field and thus have innovative designs.