Visual and Multimodal Communication

Visu AL AND
Mul TIMODAL
Co MM u NICATION
Applying the Relevance Principle

Charles Forceville

1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Forceville, Ch. (Charles) author.
Title: Visual and multimodal communication : applying the
relevance principle / Charles Forceville.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019054912 | ISBN 9780190845230 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190845254 (epub) | ISBN 9780190845261
Subjects: LCSH: Visual communication. | Relevance.
Classification: LCC P93.5 .F67 2020 | DDC 302.2/26—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019054912

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
Dedicated to the Memory of
My Father, Charles
Forceville
(15 October 1924–31 January
1976) and
My Mother, Joke Forceville-Van
Rossum (14 September 1927–10 July
2014)
CONT ENT S

List of Illustrations xi
Acknowledgments xv

Introduction 1
1. Preliminaries 7
1.1 Introduction 7
1.2 Intentionality and Humans’ Tendency to Cooperate in Using
Language

8
1.3 Cognitive Approaches to Making Sense of Film 13
1.4 Communicative Dimensions of Art 18
1.5 Humans’ and Apes’ Inclination to Cooperate 21
1.6 The Humanities and Evolution Theory 26
1.7 Summary 30
2. Relevance Theory—Basics 33
2.1 Introduction 33
2.2 The Cognitive and Communicative Principles of Relevance 33
2.3 Communicative and Informative Intentions 35
2.4 Effect (Benefit) and Effort (Cost) 40
2.5 (En/de)coding: From Ostensive Stimulus to Logical Form 42
2.6 Explicatures versus Implicatures 45
2.7 Relevance Is Always Relevance to an Individual 49
2.8 Descriptive and Interpretive Uses of Utterances 49
2.9 “Symptomatic” Communication? 52
2.10 Other Points for Consideration 54
2.11 Summary 59
3. Adapting Relevance Theory to Accommodate Visual Communication 63
3.1 Introduction 63
3.2 Multimodality 65
3.3 Relevance Theory Views on Applications Beyond Language 69
3.4 The Cognitive and Communicative Principles of
Relevance: Visuals 71
3.5 Relevance to an Individual in Visuals 72
 3.6 Effect (Benefit) and Effort (Cost) Revisited 73
3.7 Visuals and the Code Model 74
3.8 Some Other Useful Semiotics Concepts Pertaining to
CODE** in Visuals 79
3.9 Reference Assignment, Disambiguation, Enrichment, and
Loose Use in Visuals 80
3.10 Explicatures, Implicatures, and Symptomatic Meaning in
Visuals 87
3.11 Descriptive versus Interpretive Uses of Visuals? 90
3.12 Blending/Conceptual Integration Theory Perspectives 92
3.13 Pictorial/Visual and Multimodal Metaphor and Relevance
Theory 95
3.14 Summary 96
4. Relevance Theory and Mediated Mass-Communication 99
4.1 Introduction 99
4.2 Optimal Relevance to Somebody Who Is Not (Just) Peter 100
4.3 Mediated Communication in One-on-One Exchanges 103
4.4 Mediated Mass-Communication: What Is a Medium? 104
4.5 Aiming for Relevance in Mediated Mass-Communication 109
4.6 Relevance to Groups of Individuals 111
4.7 Mass-Communication: Communicative versus Informative
Intentions 113
4.8 Summary 114
5. Genre 117
5.1 Introduction 117
5.2 Genre Governs the Interpretation of Discourse 118
5.3 Genre as “Activity Type”: The Interface between Discourse
and Context 120
5.4 Genre and Prototype Theory 126
5.5 Genre as “Kind” Applied to Categories of Visuals in Pictures
and Images 127
5.6 Some Further Thoughts on Genre 129
5.7 Summary 131
6. Case Studies: Pictograms, Traffic Signs, and Logos 133
6.1 Introduction 133
6.2 Pictograms 134
6.3 Pictograms in the Michelin Guide 137
6.4 Traffic Signs 139
6.5 Brand Logos 140
6.6 General Remarks about Coded Visuals in Various Genres 143
6.7 Are Coded Visuals Similar to Symbols in Art? 144
6.8 Summary 146

[ viii ] Contents
7. Case Studies—Advertising 149
7.1 Introduction 149
7.2 The Genre of Advertising 150
7.3 Case Studies 155
7.4 Summary 165
8. Case Studies—Political and Non-Political Cartoons 167
8.1 Introduction 167
8.2 The Genre of Political Cartoons 167
8.3 Case Studies: Political Cartoons 171
8.4 Case Studies: Non-Political Cartoons 179
8.5 Summary 183
9. Case Studies—Comics 185
9.1 Introduction 185
9.2 The Genre of Comics 187
9.3 Case Studies 189
9.4 Summary 215
10. Controversial Communication 217
10.1 Introduction 217
10.2 Misleading Visuals: Case Studies 220
10.3 Deceptive Echoing in Visuals? 234
10.4 Summary 236
11. Concluding Remarks 239
11.1 Introduction 239
11.2 Claims Rooted in Relevance Theory Made in This Book 240
11.3 Other Genres, Other Media, Other Modes 248
11.4 Issues for Research to Further Strengthen Relevance
Theory 253
11.5 The Relevance of Relevance 257

Bibliography 261
Author Index 277
Subject Index 281

Contents [ ix ]