A Multimodal Analysis of Negation in Princess Diana’s "Panorama" Interview

Authors

  • Shatha Khuzaee Department of English, College of Education for Humanities, Al-Muthanna University
  • Gibreel Sadeq Alaghbary Department of English and Literature, College of Languages and Humanities, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia (g.alaghbary@qu.edu.sa)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2025.11.27581

Abstract

Stylistic analyses of negation have traditionally and predominantly focused on linguistic texts due to lack of a well-defined tool for investigating negation in multimodal texts. To fill this methodological gap, the present study integrates the critical stylistics tool of negation in written texts with Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework of visual analysis to develop a tool for the analysis of negation in multimodal texts. This tool is named the multimodal textual conceptual function of negation (MTCFN) and is used to explore how multimodal meanings of negation are constructed in Princess Diana Panorama interview, broadcasted in 1995. The analysis revealed that the co-occurrence of language and images in the same text creates a co-text that regulates and determines the meanings of negation produced by both semiotic systems. The combination of the visual affordances of gaze direction, head tilts, and different shot types and angles helps reinforce and make coherent the meanings initiated through the verbal medium, thus creating a coherent and impactful multimodal narrative. The study concludes that stylistics holds significant potential for informing approaches to the analysis of multimodal texts and recommends that further research is carried out on other multimodal text types to test the explanatory adequacy of the proposed MTCFN tool.  

Author Biographies

Shatha Khuzaee, Department of English, College of Education for Humanities, Al-Muthanna University

Shatha Khuzaee is a senior lecturer of Linguistics at the Department of English, College of Education for Human Sciences, Samawah, Al Muthanna University/Iraq. She holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Huddersfield, UK. She is also a member of the MA courses in the College of Education for women, Qadisiya, Al Qadisiya University/Iraq. Her research interests include multimodality, multimodal stylistics, critical stylistics, textual stylistics, textual analysis, visual grammar, social semiotics, and critical discourse analysis.

Gibreel Sadeq Alaghbary, Department of English and Literature, College of Languages and Humanities, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia (g.alaghbary@qu.edu.sa)

Gibreel Sadeq Alaghbray is Associate Professor of English at the Department of English Language and Literature, Colleges of Languages and Humanities, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. He is also Professor of English at the Centre for Languages and Translation, Taiz University, Yemen. He served as a Fulbright post-doctoral fellow and adjunct faculty at San Diego State University, USA, in 2013. His research covers multimodal stylistics and the analysis of textual ideology, with a focus on political discourse. He is author of “Ideological Positioning in Conflict” in the Routledge Handbook of Language in Conflict, 2019, and “Introducing Stylistic Analysis: Practising the Basics” by Edinburgh University Press, 2022.

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Published

2025-10-07

How to Cite

Khuzaee, S., & Alaghbary, G. S. (2025). A Multimodal Analysis of Negation in Princess Diana’s "Panorama" Interview . Public Journal of Semiotics, 11(2), 48–68. https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2025.11.27581

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2025): Public Journal of Semiotics

Section

Articles