# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE? What does LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE mean? LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE meaning

# data[].attributes.body
https://multimodalityglossary.wordpress.com/colour/

From a multimodal perspective Colour can be understood as a mode in that it consists of a set of elements and features, or semiotic resources, including hue, saturation, differentiation, modulation and purity. These exhibit regularities of use that are understood by people in context. Colour can be used to denote ideational, interpersonal and textual meaning: it is metafunctional. But the resources of colour are not (yet) fully specified in semiotic theory to the extent that some other modes are. Indeed the question of whether colour is a mode, or exists as a mode on its own is debated within multimodality.  Certainly it is the case that the resources of colour are often combined with other modes (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2002:351).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is SEMIOSIS? What does SEMIOSIS mean? SEMIOSIS meaning, definition & explanation

# data[].attributes.headline
Multi-Modal Communication: Writing in Five Modes

# data[].attributes.subject
Multi-Modal Communication: Writing in Five Modes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ann Fillmore

As writers, we make choices. In every situation, we must decide how to best communicate meaning to our intended audiences. It is a process of deliberation that involves calculated choices, strategies, and moves. And, nowadays, writing isn't just putting words onto paper anymore.

"Multi-modal" assignments have become common in higher education, and it is likely that you will be asked to create multi-modal texts during your academic career. In the field of writing/composition, "modality" is a rhetorical decision that you need to consider as you explore how to best achieve your intended purpose(s).

A multi-modal text employs more than one "mode" to communicate meaning beyond the written word alone. According to the New London Group, these are the five modes:

Why would writers want to communicate in a modality other than alphabetic text? We've all heard the saying that "a picture is worth 1000 words." In certain situations, a visual has the potential to convey an idea more effectively and more quickly than written text. Images can help readers to better engage with the topic and experience a moment in a way that could be more difficult to accomplish with words alone.

Modality is an important rhetorical decision that writers need to consider. Here's a more detailed look into each mode of communication. Modes can be used individually and in combination with others to create multi-modal texts.

Linguistic/Alphabetic Mode: includes written and spoken words, word choice, vocabulary, grammar, structure, and organization of sentences and paragraphs

Writers use words to communicate. This mode is the most widely used, is a form that most people are familiar with, and can be delivered through print and audio.

Shopping lists, emails, text messages, academic essays, and the automated voice you hear as you're on hold with customer service use the linguistic/alphabetic mode since they rely on words to create meaning.

Visual Mode: includes images, video, color, visual layout, design, font, size, formatting, symbols, visual data (charts, graphs), animation (like gifs)

The visual mode helps writers communicate meaning in a way that can be seen by the audience. Sometimes people must see to believe, and visuals can be helpful and even persuasive. For example, if you want to showcase how climate change has devastated the arctic ecosystem, you might include a video that shows real-world footage, like this one by National Geographic. This video is considered a multi-modal text since words, visuals, and audio are used together for a stronger effect.

The visual mode also includes elements of design and allows writers a more creative way to present text on a page/screen. For example, the textbook in the photo below makes use of labels, headings, color, and other visual features to help the reader more easily understand the information. This textbook is considered multi-modal since it combines multiple modes of communication.

Aural Mode: includes spoken words, sound, music, volume, rhythm, speed of delivery, pitch, tone, voice

Sound catches people's attention, and writers use the aural mode to bring their words to life. For example, have you ever listened to a game on the radio? Listen to the way the sportscasters help the audience to experience the game through sound. This sportscast is considered a multi-modal text since the authors combine words (linguistic/alphabetic mode) with sound (aural mode).

Another example of the aural mode is an audio book. Listen to the following excerpt from The Carriage, by Jena Baxter. Spoken words can add depth and emotion to a story. As you listen, pay attention to the volume, rhythm, pitch, speed, and tone of the narrator's voice. Multi-modality can enhance the experience of "reading" a text.

Gestural Mode: includes movement, speed, expression, body language, facial expression, physical proximity, interactions between people

The gestural mode of communication allows writers to communicate meaning through movement. Traditionally, this mode was used primarily in face-to-face interaction; however, modern technology allows writers to show movement virtually in their work, through video. The gestural mode is often used in combination with other modes, such as linguistic/alphabetic (written/spoken), spatial (physical arrangement), and aural (sound) to provide an enhanced sensory experience for the audience.

For example, sign languages use the gestural mode since position of the sign and movement are significant factors in generating and distinguishing meaning. In this video, look at how the speakers use movements of the hands, head, face, and body, along with position and speed, to communicate meaning to the audience. Sign languages are considered multi-modal communication since they combine linguistic/alphabetic text with movement.

Spatial Mode: includes physical arrangement―spacing, position, organization, proximity, direction, and distance of elements in a text

Writers use the spatial mode of communication in the physical layout and organization of a text. For example, this tri-fold pamphlet, printed and folded on paper, presents information spatially on six panels. Physical arrangement impacts the way the audience can interact with your work.

Websites also rely heavily on the spatial mode to communicate meaning. Writers make strategic rhetorical decisions about how to arrange digital information in a user-friendly way within a mobile "space." Features like menus, headers, physical layout, and navigation tools (such as links) help the audience to interact with the site spatially. Websites are considered multi-modal texts since multiple modes are used in combination to communicate with the audience.

Take a few minutes to browse the SLCC website. As you explore, pay attention to how the authors arrange the information within the digital space. What does this communicate to the reader? How does the spatial arrangement enhance or hinder the user experience? These are important rhetorical decisions to consider as you work.

Now that you have a further understanding of the five modes of communication and how they work individually and in combination, how can you apply them into your writing?

Start by researching the rhetorical situation. It is essential that you have a firm understanding of the purpose, audience, and context surrounding the writing task. Understanding the rhetorical situation will help you to make decisions as to which mode or combination of modes might best help you to connect with your intended audience.

As the writer, you'll need to determine which modes could add value to your work. Be careful not to add modes just because you think you should. Each mode you use should add meaning to the text. Consider the opportunities, challenges, and constraints of any writing task and assess and revise your work to meet the needs of the audience.

In conclusion, modality affects how the audience will interact with and generate meaning from your work. Writing in the five modes can help you to think "outside the box" as you make rhetorical decisions about the kinds of communication that you could use as you venture beyond the printed word.

Works Cited

Lutkewitte, Claire, editor. Multimodal Composition: A Critical Sourcebook. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014.

All photos labeled for reuse unless otherwise noted.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Multi-Modal Communication: Writing in Five Modes

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ann Fillmore As writers, we make choices. In every situation, we must decide how to best communicate meaning to our intended audiences. It is a process of deliberation that involves calculated choices, strategies, and moves. And, nowadays, writing isn't just putting words onto paper anymore.

# data[].attributes.headline
Colors and different types of colors depends on the language you speak. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Colors and different types of colors depends on the language you speak. 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The human eye can physically perceive millions of colours. But we don't all recognise these colours in the same way.

Some people can't see differences in colours - so called colour blindness - due to a defect or absence of the cells in the retina that are sensitive to high levels of light: the cones. But the distribution and density of these cells also varies across people with "normal vision" causing us all to experience the same colour in slightly different ways.

Besides our individual biological make up, colour perception is less about seeing what is actually out there and more about how our brain interprets colours to create something meaningful. The perception of colour mainly occurs inside our heads and so is subjective - and prone to personal experience.

Take for instance people with synaesthesia, who are able to experience the perception of colour with letters and numbers. Synaesthesia is often described as a joining of the senses - where a person can see sounds or hear colours. But the colours they hear also differ from case to case.

By derivative work: Sakurambo, CC BY-ND

Another example is the classic Alderson's checker-shadow illusion. Here, although two marked squares are exactly the same colour, our brains don't perceive them this way.

The culture of colour

Since the day we were born we have learnt to categorise objects, colours, emotions, and pretty much everything meaningful using language. And although our eyes can perceive thousands of colours, the way we communicate about colour - and the way we use colour in our everyday lives - means we have to carve this huge variety up into identifiable, meaningful categories.

Painters and fashion experts, for example, use colour terminology to refer to and discriminate hues and shades that to all intents and purposes may all be described with one term by a non expert.

Different languages and cultural groups also carve up the colour spectrum differently. Some languages like Dani, spoken in Papua New Guinea, and Bassa, spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone, only have two terms, dark and light. Dark roughly translates as cool in those languages, and light as warm. So colours like black, blue, and green are glossed as cool colours, while lighter colours like white, red, orange and yellow are glossed as warm colours.

The Warlpiri people living in Australia's Northern Territory don't even have a term for the word "colour". For these and other such cultural groups, what we would call "colour" is described by a rich vocabulary referring to texture, physical sensation and functional purpose.

Five key colours

Remarkably, most of the world's languages have five basic colour terms. Cultures as diverse as the Himba in the Namibian plains and the Berinmo in the lush rainforests of Papua New Guinea employ such five term systems. As well as dark, light, and red, these languages typically have a term for yellow, and a term that denotes both blue and green. That is, these languages do not have separate terms for "green" and "blue" but use one term to describe both colours, a sort of "grue".

Shutterstock

Historically, Welsh had a "grue" term, namely glas, as did Japanese and Chinese. Nowadays, in all these languages, the original grue term has been restricted to blue, and a separate green term is used. This is either developed from within the language - as is the case for Japanese - or through lexical borrowing, as is the case for Welsh.

Russian, Greek, Turkish and many other languages also have two separate terms for blue - one referring exclusively to darker shades, and one referring to lighter shades.

Language and colour

The way we perceive colours can also change during our lifetime. Greek speakers who have two fundamental colour terms to describe light and dark blue - "ghalazio" and "ble" - are more prone to see these two colours as more similar after living for long periods of time in the UK - where these two colours are described in English by the same fundamental colour term: blue.

This is because after long term everyday exposure to an English speaking environment, the brain of native Greek speakers starts interpreting the colours "ghalazio" and "ble" as part of the same colour category.

But this isn't just something that happens with colour, in fact different languages can influence our perceptions in all areas of life. And in our lab at Lancaster University we are investigating how the use of and exposure to different languages changes the way we perceive everyday objects. Ultimately, this happens because learning a new language is like giving our brain the ability to interpret the world differently - including the way we see and process colours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The way you see colour depends on what language you speak

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The human eye can physically perceive millions of colours. But we don't all recognise these colours in the same way. Some people can't see differences in colours - so called colour blindness - due to a defect or absence of the cells in the retina that are sensitive to high levels of light: the cones.

# data[].attributes.body
Dr Jackie Lou, Lecturer in Sociolinguistics at Birkbeck, explains what is meant by linguistic landscapes - the visual display of languages and dialects in public space. This might include things like signage, street names or shopping bags, and can give us a window into the sociolinguistic makeup of a certain geographic area

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Birkbeck Explains: What is linguistic landscape?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sign Language 101  Lesson 1 - Gestures & Body Language