Although pragmatics
is an interesting part of Applied Linguistics dealing, with among other points
the dichotomy of context and meaning,
unfortunately, many of the different questions from this field of linguistics
are neglected in some degree. More focus is needed on problems such as the certain kind of collaboration between words and pictures and their effects. The relationship between words
and visual images might seem very unambiguous and not too complex at first
glance but we should not underestimate the power of this kind of co-operation. In our modern life it seems to be
impossible to avoid the effects of visual objects because we meet them on the streets as
advertisements, on the television, and on the internet. We can intensify the
effects of a picture with a few words
or sentences and on the other hand a good photo is able to communicate other level of
meanings as phrases. My aim is with this research to feature the characteristics of the
communication through images and to show some different ideas how we can use
visual elements as the alternative way of pragmatics.
Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra
and simulation. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Jean Baudrillard is one of the most
important and influential philosophers of post-modernism. In the target of his
interest there are questions of the modern media and the new trends of
communication which are strongly connected to the subjects of pragmatics. This
source can be very helpful to see the different level an image could work as
the tool of manipulation and how visual objects are able to createe new
contexts.
In
this writing -which is a part of his book Simulacra and Simulation - he claims some basic ideas about his term of
hyperreality - it is a created world based on images and their context that is
seemingly more real than the real word itself. It can be used in movies, for
example, when we are able to see the acts in more detail than in the the
reality.
Next to this idea he does some case
studies to show the power in the relationships of words and visual images. He
mentions the famous scandal of Watergate, when the press managed to get
information about the illegal acts of Nixon and his men and because of the
general protests of people against him he had to leave his position. In this
case the media was very successful in using pictures and manipulating with
words: they could remove the president but nobody judged the press for getting
information about a politician illegally. Although the methods of the
journalists and the agents of the president were the same, the effects of the
created scandal determined the contexts differently.
Mitchell, W.J.T.
(1995). Picture
theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 11-13.
The author of this essay, W. J. T.
Mitchell is interested in the basic questions of the nature and the different
meanings of images and the complicated relationship between verbal and visual
communication. This essay would be very useful because it deals with important
elements of images so it is unavoidable if somebody wants to know more about
the ways a picture or an image can affect.
One
of his main ideas is the delineation of the “the family tree” of images;
we can speak about different categories as mental, optical, graphic,
perceptual and verbal images. The other important ideas argued in this work are
the phenomena of the pictorial turn and the scopic regime - both of them
connected strongly to the visual nature of humans.
In this essay we can learn how
images get more and more roles in our everyday life, this is the phenomenon of
the so-called
scopic regime, and at the same time the importance of written or spoken texts
is seemingly lower. He argues that images are more natural than words, they are
not created by humans in every case (see natural, untouched landscapes),
moreover, babies reflect on visual images sooner than on verbal signs. He
discusses the relationship of words and images: there is an analogy between the
two types of representation but in most of the cases it is the direct work of humans, according to his
opinion the words are usually carrying the meaning of the surface and the
images have the deeper and not so obvious meaning.
Gillian, R. (2012). Visual methodologies: An introduction to
researching with visual
materials
(third ed.).
London: SAGE Publications Ltd
This is a longer book with many
chapters dealing with different aspects of images so it is an extremely useful
writing if somebody is more interested in the topic of images and the science
of semiotics. Some of the chapters pay attention to sociological or
psychological questions but we can read about different methods of visual
analysis or the ethical point of view of researching images as well. Another
interesting fact connected to the book might be very useful to us: it is a
website of the book with lots of information, free links to some parts of the
book, and with an e-mail address because readers are encouraged to ask
questions about anything from the topics - so we can get even personal help
while doing research.
The author summarizes different
ideas connected to images and of course she can not leave out the relationship
of words and visual objects, as well. In her opinion this relationship is
rather neutral and natural; we will meet verbal or written phrases in the
context of pictures most of the time, which is influencing the meaning of
pictures (articles and their illustrations, the pictures in a gallery with
small pieces of papers saying something about the art work, advertisement
slogans on posters, etc.). She claims that images can help to increase the
pragmatical power of words; in one example she uses an analyse of a political
poster where the pictures advocate the meaning of words very strongly. The main
character of the poster was a young black man in a suit and his image meant to
fight against discrimination but the picture, the political slogan and the
background information of the audience created a much more complicated massage.
The
link of the web-side: http://www.sagepub.com/rose/home.htm
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