Reading Meaning through the Visual Images: Social Semiotic Approach to TELL Magazine in Nigeria.

Abstract

Several studies have been carried out on verbal communication but with the  recent  trends  and  development of communication in conveyance of meaning, the  importance  of  the  cover-pages  of  news  magazine  in the  print media deserves to be given attention. Hence, the employment of social semiotic approach of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006)’s Multimodal Discourse Analysis to four selected editions of TELL magazine. The purpose is to present a shift from the usual study of visuals in line with the semantic indicators to an examination of visual images in isolation. The research brought to the conclusion that the visual images such as pictorials, colour, signs, posture, distance and symbols go a long way to convey meaning in print media especially, news magazines that need to attract the attention of the public.

Keywords: Advertisement, media, multimodal, images and context.