INTERPLAY OF VERBAL AND TYPOGRAPHIC MODES IN THE FICTIONAL TEXT. A MULTIMODAL APPROACH

Abstract

Since typography as one of the semiotic resources is a potentially meaningful aspect of written language, the resume can be stated in the observation that typography is a semiotic resource within the multimodal paradigm that offers a framework for analyzing how the typographical effects add to the meaning potential in the fictional text. This paper highlights the interplay of verbal and typographic semiotic modes in Robert Nye’s The Late Mr. Shakespeare
from a multimodal perspective. The typographic semiotic mode of meaning-making is considered to be a component of multimodal literary narrative. I have attempted to integrate typography with already existing methods of analyzing a literary text and to apply the semiotic principles to typography in the narrative which is its visual emphasis. The analysis of typographic meaning-making of the narrative is based on semiotic principles of index, iconicity and discursive import. The notion of salience is used to foreground the prominent parts of the multimodal text (words, phrases or paragraphs) accompanied by different typefaces to make language visible. The distinctive typographical features such as weight, expansion and curvature based on the semiotic principle of visual connotation got a special prominence to multimodal analysis in The Late Mr. Shakespeare. There is admittedly a need to further analyze graphic novels as multisemiotic texts to properly situate and understand such aspects as layout, typography and illustrations in a multimodal perspective.