Another Stepping Stone to Multimodal Theory and Practice

Multimodality – Towards a New Discipline

I am very much looking forward to a book that will see the light of day with de Gruyter soon. It has been put together by the very active multimodal researchers at Bremen University and Salzburg University, spearheaded by Janina WILDFEUER, Jana PFLAEGING, and John BATEMAN. Not only does the volume come as a collection of interesting new chapters on the theory and applications of multimodality, it is also framed by two programmatic pieces: an introduction (by the editors) outlining the situation of multimodality as a potentially independent discipline, and a afterward legitimating multimodal research (by John Bateman).

The chapters consequently revisit and redefine theoretical or empirical analyses, which are crucial to the study of multimodality from various perspectives, with a view towards evolving issues of multimodal analysis. They thus show the continuing expansion of the field and are relevant for helping to shape a roadmap for further discipline-building explorations to come (page 31)

In the introduction, the editors suggest that multimodality research can best be developed by building a more robust theoretical core and by moving more strongly towards large-scale empirical investigations. The book is another direct product of the established/ing Bremen Conferences on Multimodality (BreMM 14/15/17/19).