EDITORIAL
Verbal-visual analysis: contribuitions to the studies of discourse
In honor of Iurii Pavlovich Medviédev (1937-2013)
The verbal-visual reading and analysis, that is, the reading and the analysis of utterances whose main feature is to combine different languages, different planes of expression, is undoubtedly a challenge for linguists and discourse analysts. Whereas in several fields of knowledge the studies on visuality, and even their articulation with the verbal dimension, have a long tradition, in various theoretical frameworks of Linguistics and Discourse Analyses the verbal studies have been the main object, if not the only one. How can one take on, also as an object of study, this new contemporary reality which is manifested in the streets, at school, in different media, in virtually all spheres of human activity? How can one describe, analyze and interpret, with the same theoretical and methodological rigor as one has with the verbal dimension, the utterances in which the oral and/or written dimension is only one of the elements in the game of meaning production and meaning effect?
Given this theoretical and practical reality, Bakhtinana. Journal of Discourse Studies propounded the theme Analysis of verbal-visuality: contributions to the discourse studies for the second issue of 2013, which is now being published. The journal acknowledges that different trends of discourse analysis are adopting the verbal-visual perspective, which features outputs from different fields and spheres of activities as one of their objects of reflection. It also acknowledges that, not overlapping with Aesthetics, Semiotics or Semiology, different DAs are eager to take/are taking on verbal-visuality studies with the same rigor as when dealing with exclusively verbal discourses, whether oral or written.
The response to the call for papers was beyond expectations. From a large number of works submitted, twelve papers were selected by the double-blind peer review system. Together and individually, they significantly contribute to dimension, to read and to analyze verbal-visual discourses, from the perspective that they are present in contemporary society as well as from the possibility that they can be established as a research object of language studies from their linguistic, enunciative and discursive perspective. As readers will see, this issue of Bakhtiniana (8/2) is certainly a reference to the field in the sense that it comprehensively covers different trends of Discourse Analyses, including the Bakhtinian perspective, its dialogue with other trends, and very important to this theoretical plurality other approaches that, even not dialoguing with the Bakhtinian perspective, show the state of art of verbal-visuality on discursive studies. Furthermore, the papers provide an overview of the researches done in academic institutions nationwide, with articles coming, as usual, from top institutions from the North to the South of Brazil: UFPE and UPE (the State of Pernambuco), UFF (the State of Rio de Janeiro), UNESP, USP, PUC, UPM, UFSCAR (the State of São Paulo), UFPR (the State of Paraná), FURB (the State of Santa Catarina), FURG and UCPel (the State of Rio Grande do Sul).
Which researches are highlighted in this scenario?
There are some that showed interest in the way that verbal-visuality is present and must be considered from the teaching/learning perspective. In this sense, at least two papers demonstrate this reality: An Approach to Images in a Literacy Textbook: Perspectives on Visual Literacy and Verbal-Visual Theatrical Protocols: Meaning Production for University Theatrical Practice. Both situate, in different objects, the verbal-visuality of teaching/learning discourses and, especially, the challenge brought by it to researchers, teachers, and professors.
There are those that resulted in papers which exercise the practical possibility of visual and/or verbal-visual analyses and the reading from the discursive perspective. They face the theoretical and methodological issue under different points of view, showing not only the object consistency but also the possibility to take it in discourse studies. This is the case of Looking and Reading: Verbal-Visuality from a Dialogical Perspective, Discourse Analysis before Strange Mirrors: Visuality and (Inter)Discursivity in Painting, Verbal-Visual Intertextuality: How do Multisemiotic Texts Dialogue?, and The Architectonics of Luna Clara e Apolo Onze: a Metalinguistic Reflection.
Other researches produce works in which the theoretical and methodological issue is clearly discussed; however, their primary objective is to clarify the specificities of certain verbal-visual corpora and, therefore, to acknowledge a consistent enunciative and discursive approach. Falling into this type of work are Reflections on the Dialogic Analysis of Verbal-Visual Discourses: a Case of Humor in Brazilian Politics, Verbal-Visual Discourse in Brazilian Sign Language Libras, Verbal-visuality at the service of pathemization in illustrated books, Verbal and nonverbal language in the discursive network, and Verbal-visuality of Journalistic Television Genre: Readings to Build Sign Language Interpreting Strategies.
There is still a paper in which the prevailing theoretical discussion even though it makes reference to verbal-visuality lies in a dialogue, sometimes a controversial one, between the Bakhtinian thought and the Semiotic School of Culture. This paper is Systemic Conception of the World: Biases of the Bakhtinian Intellectual Circle and the Semiotic School of Culture.
Besides the articles, as in the other issues, two works of interest to the study of language were reviewed: a Brazilian one, Texto ou discurso? [Text or Discourse?], edited by Brait e Souza-e-Silva and reviewed by Luci Banks-Leite, and a French one, Petit traité de la bêtise contemporaine: suivi de comment (re)devenir inteligente [A Small Treatise on the Contemporary Stupidity: Guidelines for Becoming Intelligent (Again)], signed by Marília Amorim and reviewed by Valdir do Nascimento Flores.
In this issue, there is also a very sad piece of news: the death of Iurii Pavlovich Medviédev, Russian intellectual, son of one of the members of the intellectual circle of Bakhtin, Pavel Medviédev. Craig Brandist, director of the Bakhtin Centre/Sheffield, signs the obituary. Taking into consideration that Iurii Medviédev was, among other things, in the movie business, this issue is dedicated to him.
Beth Brait e Maria Helena Cruz Pistori
Publication Dates
-
Publication in this collection
17 Dec 2013 -
Date of issue
Dec 2013
