The Model Of Intermodal Convergence

Martin & Zappavigna (2019: 27-8):

As we stressed at the beginning of the paper building models of intermodality is facilitated if the descriptions of distinct modalities are informed by the same theoretical principles; and this is important for applications. Work in educational linguistics, for example Hood (2011) and Hao and Hood (in press), regularly has to deal with the interaction of language, paralanguage and imaging on Power Point slides. And for forensic linguistics, for example Martin and Zappavigna (2013) and Martin and Zappavigna, 2018, Zappavigna and Martin (2018), language and paralanguage interact with the semiotics of the location of the legal proceedings (which are very different for courtrooms and Youth Justice Conferences). The model of intermodal convergence (ideational concurrence, interpersonal resonance and textual synchronicity) presented in Table 2 above is far easier to operationalise when each of the modalities involved is interpreted from the perspective of SFL.

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, the authors have concluded that paralanguage is an expression system of language.  That is, in their own terms, they have not provided a model of intermodality any more than proposing a phonological or graphological system of language would be a model of intermodality.

[2] To be clear, since the authors have concluded that paralanguage is an expression system of language, language and paralanguage do not interact, any more than language and phonology interact.

[3] To be clear, the model of intermodal convergence is one idea, redundantly given different names for each metafunction.  Moreover, the one idea is merely the superficial observation that different semiotic modes can make the same meaning.

More importantly, since the authors have concluded that paralanguage is an expression system of language, this model of intermodal convergence no longer applies, which, in turn, undermines the entire argument of the paper, given that the paper is predicated on the intermodal convergence of language and paralanguage (sonovergent vs semovergent).