Multimodal metadiscourse markers in the entries of English learner’s dictionaries

• Autor(a) principal: Ribeiro, Lorena Américo
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Pontes, Antônio Luciano
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista do GEL
• Texto Completo: https://revistas.gel.org.br/rg/article/view/1849
• topic: Dictionary entry; Metadiscourse; Multimodality; Verbete lexicográfico; Metadiscurso; Multimodalidade.; O metadiscurso multimodal dos dicionários de inglês

In this article, it is analyzed the multimodal resources that perform the metadiscourse function of differentiating the pieces of information that make up the entries of the monolingual learner’s dictionaries Oxford Essential Dictionary (2009) and Collins COBUILD Illustrated Basic Dictionary of American English (2010). The study is based on Kress and van Leeuwen (2006[1996]), in respect to the theory of multimodality of texts; on Pontes (2009), regarding the multimodal elaboration of the entry; on van Leeuwen (2005), concerning the concept of visual contrast; and on Hyland (1998, 2000, 2007, 2017), with regard to the studies about metadiscourse. As criterion for the selection of the entries in each dictionary, representative samples of each kind of differentiating marking were selected. It is concluded that, in both dictionaries, various nonverbal elements play a distinctive role: types and sizes of letters, colors, numbers, symbols, punctuation marks and framings. Finally, the user must understand the function of each of these elements in order to find the specific information he or she searches for inside the entry.