Language in Digital Motion: From ABCs to Intermediality and Why This Matters for Language Learning
Язык в цифровой динамике: от азбуки к интермедиальности и почему это важно для изучения языков
2020-10-14
SCID: 54.1/rpthutjk
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conversational digital agentsdigital communicationintermedialitymobile language learningmultimodality
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Abstract (AI)
Abstract Linguistic communication has moved beyond simple alphabetic encoding to multimedia design, challenging the fit of structural theories of language to digital communication. This transition is barely evident in mobile language learning contexts where top-selling apps present language as a linguistic structure to be drilled, ironically bypassing the complex communicative potential of smart devices. This chapter overviews changing language norms from language as structure to language within multimodality and comparatively discusses multimodality from a social semiotics paradigm nested in linguistic theory and from Elleström’s intermediality paradigm. To illustrate how one could conceptualize multimodality from a perspective decentred from linguistics and leveraged to explain language use in multimedia contexts, the author examines two novel features of digital communication:emojiandconversational digital agents.
Key Findings
1
Digital communication has shifted from alphabetic encoding toward multimedia design, challenging structural theories that treat language primarily as a formal system.
2
Emoji and conversational digital agents are examined as emerging digital-communication features that illustrate multimodal language use beyond linguistics-centered models.
3
The chapter compares social-semiotic and Elleström’s intermediality paradigms as approaches to conceptualizing multimodality in relation to linguistic theory.
4
Top-selling mobile language-learning applications largely continue drilling linguistic structures, underusing smartphones’ broader potential for complex multimodal communication.
Research Object
digital communication, including emoji and conversational digital agents, and its representation in mobile language-learning apps
Research Subject
the shift from language as alphabetic structure to multimodal and intermedial communication, including the communicative potential and language-learning implications of emoji and conversational digital agents
Publication Details
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2020-10-14
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