A Social Semiotic Approach to Childrenʼs Books: Focus on Persian Book of the First Grade of Primary School

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

MA in Linguistics, Razi University

Abstract

This study uses the framework of social semiotics of images proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen. In their visual grammar, the terms representational, interactive, and compositional, correspond, respectively, to Halliday’s terms ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions. 20 images of the Farsi book of the grade one were analyzed within the framework of the social semiotics of Kress and van Leeuwen. Analysing the ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions, the pictures demonstate and convey the dominant Iranian cultural patterns to children. In the images of this book human participants are presented more than non-human ones. All the represented participants are the normal members of society busy with usual occupations and daily choirs. Represented things are simple, without luxury and far from the modern technology. This, in fact, decreases the realism of the images. Additionally, the analysis shows that gender stereotyping and bias are widely shown and conveyed in the pictures. That is, men and boys are shown in various occasions with higher frequency.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

اکبری شلدره، فریدون و دیگران (1392). فارسی اول دبستان. ادارۀ کل چاپ و توزیع کتاب‎های درسی تهران.
بختیاری، سمیه (1390). بازنمایی جنسیت در تصاویر کتاب‎های اینترچینج. پایان‎نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه شیراز.
رضایی، طاهره و فرزان سجودی (1394). بازنمایی جنسیت در متون دیداری کتاب‎های آموزشی زبان انگلیسی به غیرانگلیسی‎زبانان از منظر نشانه‎شناسی اجتماعی. جستارهای زبانی، دورۀ 6، شمارۀ 3، 115-140.
مردانی، انسیه (1391). تحلیل بیلبوردهای تبلیغاتی شهری از منظر نشانه‎شناسی اجتماعی. پایان‌نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه علم و فرهنگ.
مصلح‌زاده، فاطمه (1391). نشانه‌شناسی اجتماعی تصاویر کتاب‌های درسی دورۀ راهنمایی. پایان‌نامۀ کارشناسی ارشد، دانشگاه هنر.
Guijarro, A. J. M. (2010). A Multimodal Analysis of the Tale of Peter Rabbit within the Interpersonal Metafunction. ATLANTIS, Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies, 32(1), 123–140.
Halliday, M. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Harrison, C. (2003). Visual Social Semiotics: Understanding How Still Images make Meaning. Technical Communication, 50(1), 46-60.
Hodge, R. & G. Kress (1988). Social Semiotics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jewitt, C. & R. Oyama (2004). Visual Meaning: A Social Semiotics Approach. In: T. Van Leeuwen & C. Jewitt (Eds.), The Handbook of Visual Analysis, (pp. 134-156). Sage Publication.
Kress, G. & T. Van Leeuwen (1990). Reading Images. Geelong, Australia: Deakin University Press.
Kress, G. & T. Van Leeuwen (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.
Kress, G. & T. Van Leeuwen (1998). Front pages: (The Critical) Analysis of Newspaper Layout. In: A. Bell, & P. Garrett (Eds.), Approaches to Media Discourse, (pp. 186-219). Blackwell. Malden, Mass, Oxford.
Kress, G. & T. Van Leeuwen (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. London: Routledge.
Lirola, M. M. (2006). A Systemic Functional Analysis of Two Multimodal Covers. Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses, 19, 249-260.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Introducing Social Semiotics. London/New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Wilcox Hemais, B. J. (2014). Word and Image in Academic Writing: A Study of Verbal and Visual Meanings in Marketing Articles. E.S.P Today: Journal of English for Specific Purposes at the Tertiary Level, 2(2), 113-133.
Yang, J. & Y. Zhang (2014). Representation Meaning of Multimodal Discourse – A Case Study of English Editorials in the Economist. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(12), 2564-2575.
Research in Western Iranian Languages and Dialects
Volume 5, Issue 19
January 2018
Pages 119-140

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics