The social semiotic construction of chemical periodicity: A multimodal view
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Yu Liu,
Yu Liu (b. 1975) is an associate professor at Sichuan International Studies University 〈liuyunus@gmail.com〉. His research interests include Systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis and scientific literacy. His publications include “Intersemiotic Texture: Analyzing cohesive devices between language and images” (with K. O'Halloran, 2009) and “Metaphor, multiplicative meaning and the semiotic construction of scientific knowledge” (with Y.S.M. Owyong, 2011).
and
Aylanda Dwi-Nugroho,
Aylanda Dwi-Nugroho (b. 1965) is a lecturer at Petra Christian University 〈aylanda@peter.petra.ac.id〉. Her research interests include Critical discourse analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. Her publications include “Generic structure of Elizabeth Arden's Intervene advertisement” (2009).
Abstract
Chemical periodicity is widely recognized as one fundamental idea in science and much of the existing research attempts to discover one periodic table most accurately depicting the natural order. This article adopts a multimodal perspective on the periodic system by analyzing its historical evolution and the constructed nature of periodic tables. The analysis indicates that chemical periodicity was culturally shaped as specialized functionalities for classifying elements by their similar chemical behaviors. We argue that tabular representations have powerful yet constrained modal affordances to interpret scientific phenomena and that social semiotics provides a preliminary meta-language for teaching and learning chemical periodicity.
About the authors
Yu Liu (b. 1975) is an associate professor at Sichuan International Studies University 〈liuyunus@gmail.com〉. His research interests include Systemic functional multimodal discourse analysis and scientific literacy. His publications include “Intersemiotic Texture: Analyzing cohesive devices between language and images” (with K. O'Halloran, 2009) and “Metaphor, multiplicative meaning and the semiotic construction of scientific knowledge” (with Y.S.M. Owyong, 2011).
Aylanda Dwi-Nugroho (b. 1965) is a lecturer at Petra Christian University 〈aylanda@peter.petra.ac.id〉. Her research interests include Critical discourse analysis and multimodal discourse analysis. Her publications include “Generic structure of Elizabeth Arden's Intervene advertisement” (2009).
©[2012] by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Idealizing the life-world in the age of discovery
- Peirce's ten trichotomies: Metaphor, hypothesis, and decision
- A sociosemiotic approach to fundamental rights in China
- A comparative analysis of print advertising applying the two main plastic semiotics schools: Barthes' and Greimas'
- A note regarding unspeakable words
- The gate of the gateway: A hypermodal approach to university homepages
- Nāṭya, rasa, and abhinaya as semiotic principles in Classical Indian dance
- The social semiotic construction of chemical periodicity: A multimodal view
- The semiotic construction of worldview in film: Multimodal variations in Le Samourai, The Killer, and Ghost Dog
- What is the proper characterization of the alphabet? VI: Three-finger exercises
- Dynamic modeling of visual texts: A relational model
- Touch, vision, and diagrammatical reasoning
- The making of theatrical groupings: A cognitive perspective
- Encyclopedia of semiotics
