Coordinator: Jean Wagemans
This research line examines how various modes of communication (language, image, and sound) are strategically combined to engage and persuade audiences. As multimodal message design becomes increasingly central to public discourse, it is crucial to understand how rhetorical strategies function across diverse modes and platforms. We examine how texts, images, and videos integrate verbal, visual, and auditory elements to create meaning and shape perception.
Drawing on rhetoric, argumentation theory, and semiotics, the various projects within this research line examine the distinctive features of multimodal messages. Through case studies spanning political campaigns and advertising, as well as digital and visual art, they explore how multimodal strategies contribute to argumentation and persuasion.
The projects in this research line aim to advance theoretical models and methodological tools that address the complexity of multimodal communication. It also promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and provides resources for educators, designers, and communicators working in today’s increasingly multimodal environment.
Projects
The Normativity of Multimodal Argumentation
In this NWO-funded project, Jan Albert van Laar (PI), Emar Maier, Jean Wagemans, Janina Wildfeuer, Lotte van Poppel, Lilian Bermejo Luque (PhD supervisors), Eda Sükan, and Bernardo Rilla (PhD students) collaborate on developing models for analyzing and evaluating multimodal argumentation.
Multimodal Rhetoric in Art and Cultural Heritage
The research project “Multimodal Rhetoric in Art and Cultural Heritage” aims to map the various verbal, visual, and spatial rhetorical devices employed in museum contexts. Based on multimodal rhetorical, argumentation, and semiotic analyses of museum presentations, a theoretical framework is constructed that complements the fields of museology and cultural analysis in explaining the rhetorics of museums, from multimodal storytelling to the use of visual and/or verbal metaphors. This project is carried out in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum research line Art Argues, which focuses on the various ways in which art and cultural heritage presentations within the museum context impact museum visitors and collaboration partners. Art Argues does so by (1) analyzing the underlying reasoning and multimodal rhetoric in art and cultural heritage presentations, and (2) mapping the (cognitive) impact of multimodal art and cultural heritage presentations on visitors’ attitudes and behaviors, vis-à-vis the presented topics, themes, and persons.
Activities and publications
Workshop talk – J.H.M. Wagemans (2025). Analyzing multimodal arguments with the MATIP: Two example analyses. Workshop Multimodal Argumentation #3: “Multimodal Argumentation in Everyday Conversation & the Media: Putting Methods to the Test”. University of Salzburg. December 12, 2025.
Workshop talk – J.H.M. Wagemans (2024). Identifying multimodal arguments: A parametric approach using cross-modal aggregation. Workshop Multimodal Argumentation #2: Bridging Linguistics, Semiotics & Philosophy. University of Groningen, June 13, 2024.
Workshop talk – J.H.M. Wagemans (2023). Cross-modal mapping in multimodal argument type identification. Workshop Multimodal Argumentation: Text, Image, Sound, and Gesture in Persuasive Communication. University of Salzburg, April 20, 2023.
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