Phân tích diễn ngôn đa phương tiện với quảng cáo của công ty toyota

Employing the framework of Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006and Halliday’s functional grammar 2014, the study has reached some mainfindings: 1 all the three meta-functions play their roles in r

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-*** -ĐINH THỊ VÂN ANH

A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA PRINT

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(Phân tích diễn ngôn đa phương tiện đối với quảng cáo in của công ty

Toyota)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201.02

HANOI – 2018 Vietnam national university Hanoi University of languages and international studies

Faculty of Post-graduate studies

-***** -ĐINH THỊ VÂN ANH

A MULTIMODAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF TOYOTA PRINT

This research has not been undertaken or submitted elsewhere inconnection with any other academic course.

First and foremost, I would like to express my whole-hearted gratitude

to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thu Ha for her guidance and continuoushelp throughout the completion journey of this thesis The momentoussupport given by Dr Thu Ha is indescribable and her persistent patience is of

a top-notch appreciation that will be always remembered

Also, I would like to thank to my parents for their never-endingencouragement and extra-ordinary guidance They instantaneously helpedthrough my hard times I am mightily thankful their sincere support andprecious effort shown from the beginning up till the completion of thisresearch

Last but not least, a special thank is dedicated to my best friends for theirmoral support To them I say: “we meet to part, but more importantly we part

to meet.”

This study is positioned within the multimodal discourse analysisdomain, which attempts to reveal the relationship between multimodaldiscourse and the underlying social meanings, especially the message ofenvironment protection and the link between human and nature The researchaims to find out the answer to how visual and verbal elements areincorporated in Toyota’s print advertisements to convey the message ofenvironment protection apart from drawing the attention of the viewer to themain product Employing the framework of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006)and Halliday’s functional grammar (2014), the study has reached some mainfindings: (1) all the three meta-functions play their roles in representing themessage of nature preservation in the five print advertisements, (2) thecompositional meta-function seems to be most productive in conveying themessage of nature protection, (3) the verbal elements and visual elements aresynonymous to demonstrate the message and the brand image of Toyota and(4) the visual elements seem to be more powerful in conveying the message

of nature protection in these advertisements

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES

Table 1 Mood in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78)

Table 2 Mood and Theme relations in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78)

Figure 1 Main types of visual representational structure (Kress and Van

Leeuwen, 2006)

Figure 2 Procedure of the study

Image 1 Min emissions

Image 2 The planet’s favorite hybrid

Image 3 Go green Go Prius

Image 4 Aim: zero emissions

Image 5 Myth

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND IMAGES iv

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Objectives of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 3

1.4 Methods of the study 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Organization of the thesis 4

PART 2 DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Discourse Analysis 6

1.2 Multimodal Discourse Analysis 8

1.3 Advertisements and Multimodal Discourse Analysis in advertisements 10 1.4 Kress and Van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design framework 11

1.5 Halliday’s functional grammar 18

CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Data of the study and some contextual background 21

2.2 Research procedure 22

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION…25 3.1 Data analysis 25

3.2 Findings and discussions 37

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 43

4.1 Summary of the study 43

4.2 Limitations of the study 44

4.3 Suggestions for further study 44

References 46

Appendices 48

Appendix I 48

Appendix II 49

Appendix III 50

Appendix IV 51

Appendix V 52

PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study

Discourses are produced for a variety of purposes and classified into manytypes and forms such as digital or print As a matter of fact, the emergenceand the fast increase in the popularity of multimodal discourse havedownplayed the once leading role of traditional discourse of sole linguisticmode In almost all aspects of life, multimodal discourse, i.e the discoursethat makes use of a few modes of communication such as color picture,sound, movement, and language, has become more appealing and moreinformative, especially in the arena of mass media One clear example ofmultimodal media genre is advertisement, which has received considerableattention from discourse analysts, who have been attempting to explain howdifferent modes of communication can be combined to function in adiscourse

To name just a few, Af Lars Sorensen’s research into professionals in films,television and photography business (2011) which aimed to find the visualcommunicative strategies and how the modes as well as the strategies wereemployed to persuade a professional audience A multimodal discourseanalysis of advertisements of Hong Kong charity organizations by Ma MeiLin Linda (2005) was conducted on three levels: micro, meso and macro tofind out the language status of Chinese and English in charity advertisements

in present-day Hongkong Moreover, another study applying multimodalapproach is Chunyu Hu and Mengxi Luo’s research on Tmall’s double elevenadvertisement (2016) which illustrated how visual components serve as ahuge attraction to the viewers and effectively justify the composition behavior

by appealing to the cultural and social state In addition, the multimodaldiscourse analysis in Indonesian print advertisements (2013) was conducted

by Yusnita Febrianti, which aimed to look at how the multimodality of the

semiotic resources in several Indonesian print advertisements expressesmeaning of the visual elements and vice versa Furthermore, Maria Bortoluzzialso carried out a study on corporate identity in Total’s 2005 advertisingcampaign in 2010 in order to analyze how the interplay between visual andverbal modes of communication constructs complex layers of meaning toenhance the advert’s main claim.

To follow this trend of research into the multimodal discourse ofadvertisements, the current study focuses on how visual and linguisticresources can be used, independently or in combination, to construct a theme

or a message in print advertisements In particular, this study will look at theadvertisements of Prius from Toyota and the overall theme of environmentprotection

Print advertisements as one of the media genres, plays a vital role in drainingattention and shaping attitudes, especially in the aspect of environmentalprotection In recent years, sustainability and environment protection havebecome one of the most important factors in conducting a successful business,which creates the green image of the company in more depth From 1883since the first modern automobile was invented, human only has strived toexpand the car industry in order to meet the higher demand of people.However, car industry is considered as one of the most air pollutingindustries That is why car manufacturers are trying to create more and moreawareness about its influence on the Nature Therefore, almost all of carmanufacturers have to adapt to those important factors and aim forsustainability The image of nature and environment protection can be found

in print advertisements of many large companies such as Toyota or Ford.However, the series of Prius from Toyota is considered as one of the mostsuccessful campaign for a hybrid car This company used various ways ofmedia including print advertisements to promote the campaign That is why,

the advertisements are chosen as the data of this study, aiming to find out howdifferent modes of communications (here, visual and linguistic) can be usedand combined to convey the message of environment protection andsustainability.

1.2 Objectives of the study

This study aims to explore how the systemic choice of visual elementstogether with the linguistic features in the discourse can represent the message

of the advertising campaign Specifically, it is implemented to investigatehow the multimodal discursive means are used, independently or incombination, in car print advertisements to construct the message ofenvironment preservation

In order to fulfill this purpose, the study will answer the following question:

- How are the visual and linguistic elements used to convey the message of environment protection in advertisements of Toyota Hybrid car?

1.3 Scope of the study

This study sought to investigate five print advertisements of Toyota for Prius,

a hybrid car series, aimed at the US consumers The study will scrutinize thevisual and linguistic aspects of the advertisements as apparent on theadvertisements It, however, does not aim to investigate the producers’viewpoints or the customers’ perception of the advertisement Such interestsare often out of the scope of a discourse analysis project

The data analysis will also focus on how the message of nature protection andsustainability is conveyed visually and linguistically Other messages, if any,will not be mentioned in this study

1.4 Methods of the study

This study is carried out based on a multimodal discourse analysis approachwhich is discussed in detail in the next parts This is a qualitative analysis ofadvertisement discourse, in which the frame work of Kress and Van Leeuwen(2006) will be used for visual analysis and that of Halliday on functionalgrammar (2014) will be used for verbal examination

In particular, for the framework of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), this studywill analyze the data basing on three meta-functions: representational meta-function, interpersonal meta-function and compositional meta-function to findout how visual elements are used to convey the message In addition, forverbal elements, the framework of Halliday’s functional grammar is appliedwith Mood and Theme structure In this study, the author will choose relevantand outstanding verbal elements to analyze

The researcher will manually analyze the advertisements one by oneseparately using the frameworks mentioned, and then group the prominentpatterns to come up with findings

1.5 Significance of the study

Theoretically, the study contributes to the contemporary understanding of avisual grammar framework and how multimodal discursive strategies are used

to convey meaning, in advertisement discourse in particular

Practically, the study provides a chance to discover how the nature’s imagesare represented via print advertisements and to raise people’s awareness aboutthe environmental issues

1.6 Organization of the thesis

This study is divided into 3 parts:

Part I: Introduction

This part consists of the rationale, objectives of the study, research questions,methods, scope and significance of the study as well as the organization of theresearch.

Part II: Development

Chapter I: Theoretical background and Literature review

This chapter illustrates key approaches and frameworks used to analyzed dataand related researches of the study

Chapter II: Research Methodology

This section reveals a detailed way to implement the study with theapplication of different approaches

Chapter III Findings and Discussion

This section represents the results of the study and a discussion of how toclarify the data analysis

Part III Conclusion

The last part provides a brief summary of the study, several limitations aswell as suggestions of further research on the same topic

PART 2 DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is devoted to the theoretical background and literature review ofthe study It describes the theoretical background of discourse analysis,multimodal discourse analysis, advertisements and multimodal discourseanalysis in advertisements Moreover, the backbone frameworks used in thisstudy are also dealt with: Kress and Van Leeuwen (2016) and Halliday’sfunctional grammar (2014)

1.1 Discourse Analysis (DA)

Discourse analysis is a general term that stands for several various approaches

to analyze written or spoken language This definition is general, but it gives acommon idea of fields where discourse analysis can be used According toBrown and Yule (1983), discourse analysis means the analysis of language inuse The analysis is not limited to the analysis of individual linguistics formsand it functions in human affairs but it investigates the relationship of thelanguage and the context it takes place It includes both transactional andinteractional view to understand the function of language in expression of

‘context’ and the function the language serving in presenting social relationsand personal attitudes

“The analysis of discourse is, necessarily, the analysis of language in use As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent

of the purposes of functions which those forms are designed to serve in human affairs.” (Brown& Yule, 1983, p.1)

Since the contexts of situation where discourse is found can overwhelmingvary, it is useful to refer to Halliday and Hasan’s (1985 in Butt 2000) showthat when discussing text, we are discussing “language that is functional in its

context” (Halliday and Hasan, 1985, p.3) However, it is essential to note thatspoken and written language use can be understood more thoroughly if wetake into account the fact that both forms very often are used with othermodalities The channel of meaning making resource is shaped socially andunderstood culturally such as writing, image, layout, music, gestures, speech,moving image and sound track which are common modes in representationand communication (Kress, 2006, p.54) The functional use of language asdiscourse using more than one modality is termed as multimodal discourse Inwritten texts, the multimodality feature is presented with several modesconsisting of visual images, design elements and other semiotic resources.(Jewitt and Kress, 2003)

In addition, discourse analysis also has an interest in concepts likecommunication patterns in public institutions, media discourse such asadvertisement, television broadcast, etc The ideological attitudes, power andstatus can be conveyed with the constitution of individual and group identity

In these interests, visual elements are gradually gaining the attention with theresearch of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), Jewitt (2009) or Machin (2007)

In the research in 1992, Fairclough realized the value of visual factors isimportant to extend the notion of discourse to find out other symbolic fieldssuch as images and texts which are the combination of words and images like

in advertising Then, Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) have recognized theimportance of the visual elements of images such as colors, composition ortypography in linguistic structures and what meaning does it want to convey

In recent years, this semiotic mode has received a lot of concerns from otherresearchers

1.2 Multimodal discourse analysis

Systemic functional linguistics, which has initially been developed byHalliday since the 1960s is considered as a semantic theory of language

Systematic functional linguistics views language in a tri-strata system wherelanguage works context-dependently as a whole unit in making meaning withthe notion of register such as field, tenor and mode which represent languagefunctions Halliday created the register analysis theory, which recognized theimportance of the social dimension of meaning He focused on the fact thatthe social process produces the language Therefore, to understand themeaning in a fixed context, not only the sentences but also the discourseneeds to be looked at (Halliday, 1996, p89) In addition, Halliday alsointroduced a tri-functional conceptualization of meaning Subsequently, thesethree functions formed up the language resources of register analysis, whichwere also applied to the visual mode by Kress and Van Leeuwen later Andthe mixture of different modes and channels in the field of communicationhas results in the phenomenon, called Multimodality Moreover, language isalso viewed as emerging from situational contexts and different situationsgive a way for the use of different features of language (Delin, 2000, p3) Theemerging of multimodal semiotic resources as common communication modehas inspired linguists to explore a framework to analyze multimodaldiscourse Nowadays, in modern communication, language users have moreways or modes to communicate or to convey their messages More and morescholars have paid attention to the influence of visual components on theconcepts of discourse with their dimension and have made the concept ofmultimodality broader such as Barthes (1977), Kress and Van Leuween(1996), Machin (2007), O’Halloran (2007), etc Barthes (1977) recognizedthe importance of images in deciphering the meaning According to him, “themeaning of images is always related to, and, in a sense, dependent on verbaltext.” (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, p18) He also distinguished betweentwo types of text-image relation The first one is that the verbal text extendsthe meaning of the image (relay) And another thing is that the verbal textelaborates the image (anchorage) (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, p18)

As defined by Stockl (2004, p.9), multimodality is “communicative artifacts and processes, which combine various sign systems (modes) and whose production and reception calls upon the communicators to semantically and formally interrelate all sign repertoires presents.” In addition, multimodal

discourse approach adopts the viewpoint that diverse semiotic modes such aslanguage, images, music, sound, animation, etc are combined to multiply themeaning in multimodal texts or communicative situations It also considershow multimodal texts are designed and how semiotics tools such as color,framing, focus and positioning of elements contribute to the making of themeaning in the texts Moreover, it can be used wisely in many fields rangingfrom place to place like from classroom teaching environment, workingenvironment to theatres, architecture and so on The fact is that in modern life,advertising discourse is also another good priority of the application ofmultimodal discourse approach Even though many researchers have carriedout a variety of study on advertising discourse based on linguistic featuressuch as rhetoric, cohesion, coherence, etc the practical application ofmultimodality to the analysis of print advertisement still remains to be furthertapped One of the most important features of advertising discourse is people-orientation which focuses on the interaction with people by using images,pictures, color, movement, sound as well as music

1.3 Advertisements and Multimodal discourse analysis in

advertisement

Advertisements function to inform, persuade, remind, influence and perhapschange opinions, emotions and attitudes (Cook, 2001) Moreover, advertising

is a persuasive tool used by designers in marketing It is also a powerful tool

to influence the mind, to improve profit margins and to present trends inmodern society This study chose print advertisements as the data of the studysince they are considered effective information conveyance tool As stated by

Delin (2000), language used in advertisements can make the viewer to believe

in a “common sense” assumption that one particular belief is preferable bypeople on general and that belief in this preferable value is entirely cultural

Moreover, Goldman in Reading Ads Socially suggests that “Advertisements are social texts which are motivated by market shares.” (Goldman, 1992) It

means that advertisements are a type of discourse which is motivated byeconomic activity Goldman also states that advertisements are also a part ofour social lives in which human inevitably participates by decoding imagesand messages in advertising In trying to understand the meanings withinadvertisements, the viewers read and interpret all of the semiotic resourcesinvolved In the study of Williamson (1987, p.12), it is stated that

“advertisements are message systems designed to organize perceptions and create structures of meaning.” Almost all of semiotic analysis focuses on the

meaning of the images and signs Therefore, advertisers use visual andlinguistics meaning to persuade their viewers and constructs the meaning ofimages and signs values associating with constructing the identities andmessage

Specifically, in relation to print advertisements in car industry about usingenvironmental discourses and other semiotic resources, Julia Corbett

considers environmental communication as “the various ways we communicate about the natural world.” (Corbett, 2006) Moreover, this

particular factor of communication focuses on the relationship betweenhuman and the nature In Corbett’s research, four types of advertisements arealso provided, which employ environment in different ways like nature-as-backdrop, green product attribute, green image and environmental advocacy.(Corbett, 2006) These types reveal the various uses of nature in theproduction of advertising materials, especially in print advertising and alsothe relationship between the company and the Nature They are also

considered as a selling tool, a device to draw the attention of the viewers.Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) believes that the images as well as the signschoose part of existing attitudes or messages to portray or to convey in a waythat the viewers become recipient of their interpretation of social reality With

a point of view to finding out what is actually used to convey the messagebehind a multimodal discourse, particularly, advertising discourse, especially

in print advertisements has been carried out

1.4 Kress and Van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design framework

When a multimodal discourse analysis is complemented, there are five questionswhich should be answered, according to Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006):

1 What meaning is being made in the text?

2 How is meaning being made in the text?

3 What resources have been drawn on to make the meaning in thetext?

4 In what social environment is the meaning being made?

5 Whose interest and agency are at work the making of the meaning?

At this point, it is worth noting that the current research is designed to stayfocus on 4 questions from question 2 to question 5 because the answer forquestion 1 has been clear from the researched context, which is the message

of natural protection and the harmony among nature, human and machinethrough 5 print advertisements Originated from Halliday’s systemicfunctional grammar theory, Kress and Van Leeuwen created another social

semiotics approach to the visual mode In their joint work, “Reading Images – The grammar of visual design” the two theorists adapted Halliday’s three

functions: ideational function, interpersonal function and textual function to

decode the meaning in visual data They explain that: “ we have taken Michael Halliday’s social semiotic approach to language as a model, as a source for

thinking about general social and semiotic processes, … His model with its three functions is a starting point for our account of images ” (Kress and Van

Leeuwen 2006, p20)

Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) also assume that image, color, music,typography and other visual modes are the same with language They canconcurrently fulfill and realize the three wide communicative meta-functions

In their viewpoint, there are many ideational choices available for visual making in visual communication They also think that image and other visualmodes have the ability to form texts, complexes of signs which internallycohere with each other and externally with the context in and for which theywere produced Besides a particular relation between the producer, the viewerand the represented object is illustrated by image and other visual modes

sign-Based on Halliday’s theory, Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) use a slightlydifferent term when they discuss the meaning of image in visualcommunication While the textual social semiotics has the ideational,interpersonal and textual function, the visual social semiotics approach hasrepresentational meta-function, interactional meta-function and compositionalmeta-function

The representational meta-function deals with the way of images represent therelations between represented participants in the picture It includes twoprocesses which are narrative representation and conceptual representation.The narrative process illustrates unfolding actions and events or processes ofchange by analyzing social actions and interactions within and outside thevisual frame (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, p.40) In addition, narrativerepresentation can be further categorized in to action process including uni-transactional, bi-transactional process and non-transactional, reaction processconsisting of transactional and non-transactional process, speech and mentalprocess, which referred to six processes in Halliday’s transitivity system In

terms of action process, uni-transactional process reveals a vector formed by adepicted element connects two participants In addition, bi-transactionalprocess is a vector, formed by a depicted element, connects two interactors.Non-transactional process is a vector, formed by a depicted element, emanatesfrom a participant, the Actor, but it does not point at any other participants Inreaction process, transactional process is an eyeline vector connecting twoparticipants On the other hand, non-transactional process is also an eyelinevector emanating from a participant, the reactor, but it does not point atanother participant However, the conceptual representation describesparticipants such as people, places and things in terms of visually constructedhierarchies or social groups in advertisements Conceptual representation isdivided into three groups including classification process, analytical processand symbolic process

Figure 1 Main types of visual representational structure (Kress and Van

Leeuwen, 2006)

In addition, the visual semiotic approach also has interactional meta-function

or interpersonal meta-function defining the relationship between therepresented subjects (human or not) and the viewer (Kress and Van Leeuwen,

2006, p.41) By this function, the position of the viewer such as socialdistance or attitude in regards to the picture is clarified In order to codify theinterpersonal meaning, the gaze of the represented participant, the size of

frame and the vertical camera angle are analyzed About the gaze of theimage, if the subject directly looks at the viewer, an imaginary contact isestablished between the represented participant and the viewer, which iscalled a demand picture However, it the subject looks away from the viewers

to another object in the picture, the viewer’s role will be an invisibleonlooker, which is called an offer picture The choice of demand or offertypes of gaze demonstrates certain communicative purposes that can beanalyzed in particular context In addition, the size of frame also reflects thesocial distance of the represented participant and the viewer, including aclose-up, a medium shot or a long shot These things can illustrate a close ordetached relationship between the subject and the viewer One more thing isthe camera angle which can signify a symbolic power relation between thesubject and the viewer With a high camera angle, the viewer is meant to havepower over the one being represented, while with a low camera angle, thesubject is depicted as exercising power over the viewer Lastly, with at eyelevel camera angle, the point of view is one of equality and there is no powerdifference involved (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, p50) Moreover, Kressand Van Leeuwen also provide several modality markers which enable tofigure out how social reality is constructed in the image

The third meta-function in the work of Kress and Van Leeuwen is thecompositional meta-function which illustrates the structure and cohesionbetween both verbal and visual modes in the frame (Kress and Van Leeuwen,

2006, p.41) According to Kress and Van Leeuwen, visual images possesscohesiveness which connects different components of the visual to oneanother and to external elements in the context The relationship orconnection is analyzed by focusing on the information value, salience andframing Salience is how certain elements might be made to stand out and tohave the viewers’ attention drawn to them In term of information value, it is

how elements are placed that makes them relate to each other and to theviewer The last one is framing, which is used to connect, relate, group orseparate elements in the image In this research, salience, information valueand framing are analyzed to find out the compositional meta-function in fiveprint advertisements.

Additionally, Kress and Van Leeuwen also analyzed the color’s features invisual social semiotics approach Beginning with the ideational meta-function, color can be seen clearly as a way to denote people, places andthings Take the color of a flag as an example, a flag’s color denotes countries

or unique identities of groups or communities Moreover, color is also used toreveal interpersonal meta-function It allows people to realize the act ormeaning to each other According to Lilian Verner-Bonds, author of Color

Healing, “Colors are very powerful and can be reduce or raise stress levels Bright reds are energizing and are good for offices in the banking of entertainment fields Green is useful if there is discord or disharmony as it is soothing Blue is rated as the best color for promoting calm and pastel orange is goof for gently encouraging activity” In addition, color also has

textual meta-function at the text level Color can be used to create coherence

in the text such as textbooks, film reviews, etc The coordination of colorrather than the repetition of single color can be also utilized to enhance textualcohesion It can be seen clearly that color fulfils the three meta-functionssimultaneously and equally As Kress and Van Leeuwen stated in their study,

“Color does what people do with it, in making a sign and in remaking the sign in its reception.” (Kress and Van Leeuwen, Reading Images, 230-231)

It is also stated in the study of Kress and Van Leeuwen that any specificinstance of color can be defined as a combination of specific values which isvalue, saturation, purity, modulation, differentiation and hue

- Hue ranges from the warmth or red to the coldness of blue

- Brightness: truth as opposed to darkness

- Saturation: exuberance as opposed to tenderness and subtlety

- Purity: modernism and certainty

- Modulation: are there different shades as in real colors?

- Differentiation: is there a full range of colors or monochrome?

The first and foremost scale relates to the range from the light to darkness inregards to tones Saturation reveals the level of saturation in color, whether it

is high or low, which could signify an intense emotion or a neutralizedfeeling High saturation may be positive, exuberant, adventurous but alsovulgar or garish Low saturation might be subtle and tender, but also cold andrepressed or brooding and moody Moreover, in terms of purity, it illustratesthe scale from maximum purity to maximum hybridity which showsmodernism and certainty Terms like “purity” and “hybridity” suggestsomething of the meaning potential of this aspect of color The “pure” brightred, blue, green and yellow of the color scheme have become key signifiers ofthe ideologies of modernity While a color scheme of pale has become a keysignifier of the ideologies of post modernism Next feature is modulationwhich explores flat or highly modulated colors such as basic and simplifiedcolors or colors with various tints and shades The affordances of modulationare various and strong value-laden Flat color might be perceived as simpleand bold in positive sense or as basic and simplified Modulated color may beperceived as subtle and doing justice to the rich texture of the real color or asoverly fussy and detailed Moreover, modulation also relates to the issue ofmodality In addition, the differentiation is also analyzed to find out theamount of mixture of colors in the palette The last feature is hue which is thescale from blue to red It shows the meaning of these two particular colors.(Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2006, pp 355-357)

In addition, it is probably acknowledged that culture also plays an importantrole in interpreting the visual For instance, when we travel from one place ofthe world to another one, we immediately recognize the existence of othercultures There is no need to have conversation with local people not even

read information about a place “Culture is what we can see, and what we can see is also image.” (Blerina Berberi, 2003) Therefore, people find it possible

to understand culture by looking at images and vice versa The connectionbetween visual elements and culture is not deniable So, images as texts andlanguage can be said to embody the cultural system Moreover, images can bedefined as cultural products The study of images should guide us to theunderstanding of culture That is why it should be agreeable that theinterpretation of visual images can sometimes be culture-specific That means

a visual cue may signify different meanings in different cultures Take, forexample, colors Black may mean sadness in some cultures but it may wellmean formality in another cultural context The analyst of visual imagesshould, hence, highlight any observation of culture specific instances In thevisual analysis of this study, however, all the visual interpretation seems to beuniversal, rather than culture-specific

In short, the three meta-functions along with the color features, suggested byKress and Van Leeuwen, will be a backbone of the visual analysis of theToyota’s advertisements

1.5 Halliday’s functional grammar

This research also employed a part of the system of Functional grammar ofHalliday (2014) to analyze some verbal elements appearing in five printadvertisements It contains Transitivity, Mood and Theme According toHalliday, in this system, the meaningful grammatical unit is clause It willexpress what is happening, what is being done, what the feelings is and so on.However, in this study, the author just analyzes the Mood and Theme to

recognize the choice of verbal elements within the context In term of Mood,which is usually used to illustrate the interpersonal function Mood oftenreveals what role the speaker selects in the context of the speech and whatrole he assigns to the reader or the listener.

Declarative The PPA won that competition

Exclamative How excellent the winner is!

Interrogative: Wh- Who won that competition?

Interrogative: Yes-No Did the PPA win that competition?

Imperative: You Take part in that competition, right now!

Imperative: You and me Why don’t we participate in that competition?

Table 1: Mood in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78)

The declarative mood occurs when a speaker makes a declaration or claim Itcan be as simple as “The PPA won that competition.” This mood is oftenlinked to the creation of an assertive tone, which could demonstrate self-confidence or even a self-centered nature The second mood is exclamative,which describe a strong emotion It occurs in a compliment or comments.Another mood is interrogative mood Questions are always examples of theinterrogative mood and vice versa For instances, “Who won thecompetition?” or “Did the PPA win that competition?” This mood can create

an atmosphere of uncertainty and demonstrate a lack of confidence from thespeakers’ perspective However, this mood can be viewed as speakers’attempt to undermine their peers by challenging them or “putting them on thespot.” The last mood is imperative It is used to express a desire, wish,demand, offer or request Depending on the context, imperative mood canshow an authoritarian tone or a frantic atmosphere, particularly if imperativesentences are in abundance or not followed by a response

Theme is considered as the point of departure of the message, which placesand orients the clause within its context According to Halliday (2014, p64),basing on the theme or the topic of the clause, the message is also developed,

which is really important Theme reveals the message from the speaker’s orthe writer’s viewpoints Halliday divided theme into two types: unmarkedtheme and marked theme Unmarked theme normally illustrates what usuallystarts a clause, while marked theme demonstrates what is less common likeprepositional phrase or adverbial group (Halliday, 2014, p74) In this study,theme and mood will be discussed in order to find out the way to chooseverbal elements which is suitable and synonymous to the visual elements

Declarative The PPA won that competition (unmarked

theme)Exclamative How excellent the winner is! (Marked theme)

Interrogative: Wh- Who won that competition? (Unmarked

theme)Interrogative: Yes-No Did the PPA win that competition? (Unmarked

theme)Imperative: You Take part in that competition, right now!

(Unmarked theme)Imperative: You and me Why don’t we participate in that competition?

Table 2: Mood and Theme relations in clause (Halliday, 2014, p78)

CHAPTER II RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Data of the study and some contextual background

The thesis is mainly qualitative-oriented with print advertisements for Priusfrom Toyota company chosen as the studied case They were issued in order

to aim at the US market, where the Prius became the leading selling vehicle.Moreover, when the U.S tries to make an effort to minimize the use and waste

of energy, fuel, hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius has dominated themarket over the SUV’s who once adored every Americans Therefore,advertising designers for car companies have to try to catch the eye and

pockets of many Americans who prefer the “gas sipper” over the “gas guzzler” (Kotler & Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 2010) These

advertisements are chosen from the website named: adsoftheworld.com These advertisements are both printed and electronic advertisements Such a

choice is made out of the ensuing reasons In the first place, Toyota is one ofthe largest brands in car industry all over the world Moreover, Toyota is also

a dedicated car company in regards to sustainability, innovation andpreserving the environment In Toyota website, the vision of the company is

represented as “Toyota will lead the way to the future of mobility, enriching lives around the world with the safest and most responsible ways of moving people Through our commitment to quality, constant innovation and respect for the planet, we aim to exceed expectations and be rewarded with a smile.

We will meet our challenging goals by engaging the talent and passion of people, who believe there is always a better way.” However, it has had a big

trouble when its hybrid model Prius was released and had problem with thismodel’s brakes As a consequence, this issue had a huge influence on bothcredibility and the brand’s image Nevertheless, Toyota managed to overcomedifficulties by launching a new project to promote for Toyota Prius which is

hybrid car series A large amount of print advertisements, billboards, TCcommercials, etc has been released Above all, the print advertisementsamong a number of other Toyota Prius advertisements have proved to bewell-known as one of the most successful and classical case ever since theywere produced in 2010 Soon later, Toyota has become the most successfulcar company in the world, having the largest area of car manufacturing Inthis study, the author chose 5 famous print advertisements from Toyotacampaign to promote Prius in the U.S market

2.2 Research procedure

As the title of the study indicates, it is the multimodal discourse analysis ofprint advertisement from Toyota company For a comprehensive view of theconcept of nature which is used in all five advertisements, it is essential toreveal how semiotic modes are used in those advertisements Hence, thisstudy focuses mainly on three meta-functions by Kress and Van Leeuwen(2006) for visual analysis and Halliday’s functional grammar (2014) forverbal examination In order to carry on the study, the following steps areimplemented:

Step 1

5 printed advertisements of Toyota are collected from the website:

https://www.adsoftheworld.com/taxonomy/brand/toyota

Step 2

Those advertisements are investigated one by one, using framework

of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) including three meta-functions and color analysis for visual elements and Halliday's functional grammar (2014) for verbal elements

Step 3

A multimodal analysis of all investigated advertisements is performed to find out the answers for research question