THE CORRELATION OF VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMPONENTS AS OBSERVED IN ENGLISH MASS MEDIA MULTIMODAL TEXT CORPUS

Abstract

This article deals with the interconnection and interdependence of verbal and nonverbal components, which are integral components of many English-language mass media multimodal texts. The verbal-visual graphic models which were analysed have been divided into six types: verbal-iconic, verbal-illustrative, verbal-photographic, verbal-pictographic, verbal-symbolic, and verbal-cartographic. The degree of correlation between the verbal and visual elements has been determined and substantiated. Several of the most common ways of combining verbal and nonverbal means are identified. It is demonstrated that nonverbal components play an important role in the production of multimodal texts; their overall content and communicative-pragmatic orientation depends on them. On the basis of the entire body of the actual material, a typology of multimodal texts was created and a system of nomenclature was proposed (multimodal texts with a leading, secondary, duplicate (identical), contradictory, intensifying, identifying and additional role of the image). It is established that the most common combinations are the symbiosis of verbal and nonverbal means, which supplement each other’s content and contribute to a more satisfactory exposition of the author's intentions. The possibility cannot be excluded that there may be cases where the illustrative component contradicts the verbal text and can be inappropriate in the article. Attention is drawn to the fact that many of the articles include at least one image. It is demonsrated that in the English-language mass media, images fulfil different functions. With printed periodicals, for example, they not only form a significant part of the content which is presented – they carry a significant semantic load.