Emergent meaning-making in multimodal discourse: A case for sadness in The Horse Whisperer

Abstract

This article addresses functional-pragmatic and cognitive-semiotic issues of emergent meaning-making in multimodal discourse. The theoretical backbone comprises the theories of conceptual integration, blended classic joint attention, embodied cognition, and performativity. This study acknowledges that emergent meaning-making is a performative act grounded on the intersubjective interaction of communicants constituted by environmental and bodily factors. Emergent meaning is viewed as novel, which possesses a certain level of complexity, and is not derived from the meaning of its semiotic elements. A case study analysis of sadness in film enables to reveal the main features of emergent meaning-making: 1) filmmakers and viewers co-participate in meaning-making and are able to share joint attention providing intersubjective interaction mediated by the camera; 2) meaning-making is grounded in bodily experiences and embodied not only through nonverbal elements but also verbal and cinematic semiotic resources in film; 3) a synergistic integration of modes and semiotic resources constructs the emergent meaning; 4) the configuration of semiotic resources is characterized by the volatility of combinations; 4) emergent constructs may be organized according to particular regulations creating constructive patterns. These findings stipulate further analysis of meaning-making, its material-perceptual and socio-semiotic aspects.