A multimodal analysis of selected literary elements in award-winning Malaysian picturebooks / S. Komathy Senathy Rajah

S. Komathy Senathy , Rajah (2022) A multimodal analysis of selected literary elements in award-winning Malaysian picturebooks / S. Komathy Senathy Rajah. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

Picturebooks are a suitable medium for embracing multimodal literacy and literature as they characterise a unique visual and literacy art form that keeps young learners engaged at all times (Arizpe & Styles, 2016). This study investigates how the visual and textual meaning making systems work individually and also cohesively to develop a selection of four literary elements in Malaysian picturebooks. The theoretical frameworks for this study are established on the works of Painter et al’s (2013) Multimodal Discourse Framework which in return is based on the frameworks of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday, 1994); Grammar of Visual Design (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, 2006); and Appraisal Framework (Martin & White, 2005). Six Noma-Concours award-winning Malaysian picturebooks were analysed and interviews with the writer-illustrators for triangulation were conducted. The visual analysis of the literary element ‘character’ indicates that conceptual images are used to introduce the main characters and highlight their physical attributes, while character qualities are inferred visually by looking at the characters’ actions. Semiotic resources like size, position and proximity are used to identify the main characters and the type of relationships that they form. Additionally, the writer-illustrator interviewed in the study have also shed light on how to identify the main characters. The visual analysis of ‘setting’ indicates that maximum commitment of circumstantiation is established through panoramic views. Also, the analysis of ‘point of view’ reveals that the contact option is seen mainly in picturebooks written from the first-person perspective, while resources like facial expressions and colours realise the literary iv element ‘mood ‘in most picturebooks. This study also investigates how textual meaning potentials are composed to represent the literary elements. The textual analysis of character attribution shows that descriptive intensive attributes are predominantly used while the analysis of evaluative language provides information about character qualities. Character identification helps to verify and track the characters and indirectly, establish the weight of their roles while the findings on character relationship reveals the wide interpersonal distance between them. Successively, the analysis of setting reveals that the backdrop setting is kept simple and straightforward while the analysis of point of view reveals the predominant use of limited omniscient perspective. The textual analysis of mood shows that verbal affect is mainly realised through inscribed instances. Finally, the findings for intermodal cohesion are revealed on a picturebook-by-picturebook basis. Overall, the textual analysis shows a lack of detailed external characterisation, setting and mood elements but the visual depiction of the three literary elements addresses these shortcomings effectively. The intermodal cohesion results clearly show that literary elements are represented in both semiotic modes and meanings multiplies when they are understood simultaneously. This concurs with Moya’s (2014) postulation that “picture adds specificity to the verbal text as it provides an instantiation of the text and attaches additional meaning” (p.71). In short, this study enhances knowledge specifically in the areas of multimodality as the findings from this study are used to develop a ‘Visual Metalanguage Checklist’ that is sufficient for a theoretical analysis of literary elements in picturebooks.

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