A pragmatic cognitive model for the interpretation of verbal–visual communication in television news programmes

The combination of the verbal and the visual track in television news discourse poses a considerable analytical challenge. In the viewers’ minds the co-habitation of these two semiotic channels triggers a complex network of inferential processes, based on expectations of coherence and relevance, with which they make sense of the representation of the world offered in the news. Through the analysis of a number of news items, this article considers the cognitive processes which viewers may activate when extracting meaning from the multimedial messages contained in television news. The analysis of news items from two British television networks offered by the authors traces the possible meanings that, it is assumed, become available to a potential, ‘idealised’ or ‘implied’ viewer, who accesses the information with some social and cultural knowledge of contemporary Britain. Building on existing studies, the article proposes a model for the classification of verbal–visual relations

Values and choices in television discourse. A view from both sides of the screen

Discourse and media scholars who study television often focus on the way this medium constructs its messages linguistically and semiotically by words, images, sounds, camera movements and in general by making specific choices that appear to reflect cultural values and ideologies. At the same time, television is a very complex medium whose products are the result of a cooperative effort and are generally created under a number of practical constraints and in response to pressing market imperatives. Professionals who make television focus on the production and coherence of their broadcasts, as well as their responsibility to the audience (both in terms of professional commitment to the viewers and consideration of their evolving tastes), and can rarely take the time to reflect on how their choices may be interpreted beyond immediate broadcast. In short, there are two sides to television: what can be seen on the screen and another behind it, inaccessible to the viewer. This book offers an initial forum in which both academics and practitioners can reflect on the choices that television makes and some of the reasons for them

Quality and Quantity in English Linguistics Research: Some Issues

Analisi comparativa dei vantaggi e degli svantaggi di un approccio qualitativo o quantitativo alla metodologia della ricerca applicata alla linguistica inglese. Sei saggi a tema