Understanding Contemporary Communication: A Multimodal Corpus Linguistic Approach

Abstract

This study reconceptualizes contemporary communication by extending the traditional notion of conversation to include not only face-to-face interaction but also non-face-to-face exchanges, as well as spoken, written, and multimodal forms of expression. In this framework, multimodal communication is treated as the primary object of analysis, defined as the integration of linguistic and nonverbal resources in interaction. To examine this phenomenon systematically, the study establishes an analytical framework based on five key elements of conversation: medium, setting, sensory modality, communicative purpose, and participant relationship. Drawing on data from television dramas alongside naturally occurring interactions, it explores how these elements are dynamically configured across diverse communicative contexts. A multimodal corpus linguistic approach is employed as the methodological foundation to analyze the realization of speech acts, with particular attention to the interplay between linguistic expressions, prosodic features, and nonverbal behaviors. The analysis demonstrates that contemporary communication is characterized by considerable variability and flexibility, as multiple semiotic resources are strategically combined in response to contextual and interpersonal conditions. The findings demonstrate that participant relationships and emotional states play a crucial role in shaping communicative practices, particularly in the organization and interpretation of actions in interaction. The study underscores the importance of understanding contemporary communication through corpus-driven multimodal analysis grounded in authentic discourse data. It further highlights the value of incorporating a conversation-analytic perspective on sequential interaction. This research contributes to bridging theoretical perspectives on communication with empirical corpus-based analysis, offering meaningful implications for future research in conversation analysis and applied linguistics.