The thematic structure of homepages

An exploratory systemic-functional account

Bibliographic Data

ID10738658
AuthorsLeong Ping Alvin (1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume2016
Issue210
Pages105-127
Publication date2016-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSemiotica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/sem-2016-0048
OpenAlexW2345444936
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited18

The visual social semiotic approach, based on Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL), is widely used in studies on multimodal texts. As SFL is a framework focusing on the functions of language, several SFL categories are re-conceptualized in visual social semiotics to handle the analysis and interplay of extra-linguistic features; other categories, however, are excluded. A consequence is that any insights offered by these excluded categories in multimodal texts remain obscured. This paper focused on one such category, theme, as a generator of expectations. It analyzed the thematic structure of twenty homepages to show that the different SFL themes are applicable and evident in such multimodal texts. It underscores the importance of theme as a point of departure of any discourse, textual or otherwise, allowing us to form expectations about how the rest of the discourse may be acceptably developed

Discourse analysis · Linguistics · Multimodality · Point (geometry) · Semiotics · Social semiotics · Sociology · Systemic functional linguistics · Thematic structure · Theme (computing) · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology

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