Position paper on argument and multimodality

Abstract

This short position paper argues that new semiotically-anchored approaches to multimodality offer much for other disciplines now engaging with multimodality. In particular, the account of multimodality introduced is argued to position current discussions of the potential role of multimodality in argumentation studies more effectively, untangling several problematic distinctions drawn previously. Questions concerning the existence of visual argumentation, the necessity of propositionality, and the nature of argumentation are reconstructed from an inherently multimodal perspective.