Interaction and multimodality in the spoken communication by TED speakers from a cross-cultural perspective

The study is aimed at investigating the relationship between spoken communication and multimodality in TED talks corpus. The talks included in the corpus under investigation are mostly delivered by experts on several subjects where they are specialists aimed at a non-specialist audience. They are made available online by a nonprofit devoted to ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become broader. Today TED provides a platform for thinkers, such as teachers or scientists, ‘[…] so that millions of people can gain a better understanding of the biggest issues faced by the world, and a desire to help create a better future. Core to this goal is a belief that there is no greater force for changing the world than a powerful idea’ (http://www.ted.com/pages/42) One of the main instruments aimed at spreading idea is represented by TED talks. They began as an “attempt” to share what happens at the TED Conference with the world. Talks were initially released online and rapidly drew the attention of a global audience. So, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TED Talks, “[…]with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world's most inspiring voices” (http://www.ted.com/pages/about). Thus, in the study, attention will be devoted to the analysis of the interactional dimension of popularization and its relationship with the multimodal dimension implicit in talks published on TED website. According to a general trend, popularization is becoming a semiotically complex communicative event (Garzone 2006), in which images are increasingly salient as an element of reification. In particular, in TED, the different semiotic modes imply verbal and non-verbal signs (speakers talk about their topics and, while talking, they show images linked to what they are talking about and combine their speeches with gestures). Furthermore, TED talks are filmed and published online, so they can be seen on the web. So, medium implies vocal apparatus as a fundamental medium of communication and the web. Three methodological points can be included in the analysis of Ted Design. In particular, the “informative value” concerns the placement of the objects which basically depends on their importance or their value inside a more complex structure. “Salience”, instead, concerns the placement of the objects aimed at drawing the viewer’s attention. Finally, “Framing” regards the presence or the absence of some framing devices, which create some dividing lines between the image and the whole setting (Kress / van Leeuwen 2001). According to Halliday (1978: 192), “The grammar of language is not a code, not a set of rules but a resource for making meanings”. What is interesting here is the definition of language in a social semiotic approach. Language is not intended as code but as a resource to make meanings. Thus, this approach focuses on a concept of language which implies usefulness because language can produce meanings. Starting from these assumptions, the main research question has been provided: 1) To what extent does TED design (in terms of modes and medium) contribute to the interaction between the speaker and the audience? Starting from this theoretical assumption, the complementary function played by images during the interactional with the audience will be explored consistently with the most recent developments in the field of visual grammar and visual semiotics (Kress and van Lleeuwen 1996; O’Haloran 2006). In short, the interactional dimension will be explored along with meanings deriving from the complex use of semiotic resources.