Semiotic resources

The second stratum of a semiotic mode consists of the semiotic resources, which are “semiotically-charged organisations of material that can be employed for sign-construction” (Bateman 2011, p. 20). Following de Saussure, Hjelmslev and Hal-liday, Bateman proposes that the semiotic resources should be modelled along paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes, so that the semiotic resources include “paradig-matic systems of choice together with a syntag“paradig-matic organisation for re-expressing paradigmatic choices in structural configurations” (2011, p. 20). In simple terms, the semiotic resources allow making choices and combining them in expressions.

And for each choice, there are several options from which to choose. This may be illustrated using a simple linguistic example of the paradigmatic and syntagmatic axes of organisation, which is shown in Figure 3.7.

To draw on a non-linguistic example, Sepp¨anen (2005, pp. 128-129) has ex-plored certain syntagmatic and paradigmatic choices in photography. According to Sepp¨anen, syntagmatic choices are made in, for example, aperture, exposure, focal length and lighting, all of which affect the resulting photograph. He relates the paradigmatic choices to the context of situation, which determines the avail-able syntagmatic choices. For example, studio photography affords syntagmatic choices in the setting and the object of photography, for instance, in the back-ground and the clothes worn by the model. The paradigm of news photography, in turn, is unlikely to afford these syntagmatic choices, but the photographer can make other types of syntagmatic choices related to composition and camera angle (see e.g. Caple 2009b).

The city Helsinki The capital

is hosted was founded

located the capital

the Olympics

in 1952.

of Finland.

in 1550.

by the Baltic sea.

paradigmatic

syntagmatic

Figure 3.7: Paradigmatic and syntagmatic choices in language (after Bateman and Schmidt 2012, p. 83)

However, a closer inspection reveals that photography encompasses a far more complex paradigmatic and syntagmatic organisation even without invoking the notion of context. Assuming that Sepp¨anen (2005, pp. 128-129) refers colloquially to the camera’s shutter speed asexposure (time), the actual exposure is the process whereby light is allowed to fall on a photographic medium. The choices required for an exposure and their syntagmatic and paradigmatic organisation are represented in Figure 3.8. Achieving the desired depth of field requires making paradigmatic choices in the syntagms of aperture, shutter speed and focal length. Moreover, the lighting and the photographic medium also afford a range of choices, which have not been expanded in the system network shown in Figure 3.8.

What is worth noting here is that although Figure 3.8 only describes the phys-ical realisation of a photograph — the exposure — the network can be used to realise a photographic representation of any given object in any given situation, and most importantly, in a wide range of different ways. This highlights the im-mense semiotic potential of photography, which arises from the available choices and their combinations.

However, Bateman (2011, p. 20) points out that each semiotic resource does not necessarily possess a similar structural organisation, drawing on the notions of

“grammatically-organised” and “lexically-organised” semiotic resources (Kress and van Leeuwen 2001, p. 113). Whereas grammatically-organised semiotic resources are productive in the sense that they are capable of producing new meanings by combining their sign repertoire, lexically-organised resources have a rather fixed

Aperture

Small aperture

Large aperture

Focal length

Variable

Fixed

Tele

Wide angle

Fast shutter speed Shutter speed

Slow shutter speed Ambient light

Artificial light Lighting

Depth of Field

Exposure

Photographic medium

Film

Digital image sensor Type

Sensitivity Physical format

Figure 3.8: Paradigmatic and syntagmatic choices in photography. The two-headed arrows indicate a scale of choices, for instance, in the case of aperture, the f-number or focal ratio.

sign repertoire. In this connection, it is also important to note that no semiotic resource is “naturally” organised in a particular way: they are shaped by the semiotic needs of a group (Bateman 2011, p. 20).

In addition, individuals may differ in their mastery of a semiotic resource.

Consider, for instance, the difference between novice and advanced photographers:

the skill of a professional arises from an understanding of the organisation of the semiotic resource and the choices that it allows. Consequently, the advanced photographer’s capability to exploit the organisation of the semiotic resource to make complex meanings exceeds that of the novice.

In short, the creation of aesthetically pleasing, high-quality photographs re-quires the knowledge of making delicate paradigmatic and syntagmatic choices in the network shown in Figure 3.8. This may be contrasted with automatic exposure, in which the camera makes these choices on behalf of the novice photographer.

Furthermore, I would like to suggest that the gap between the professional and the amateur also defines the photography in the tourist brochures and the pho-tography by the tourists (Garrod 2009). As Molina and Esteban (2006, p. 1045) have shown, a visual representation that produces a sense of wonder contributes significantly to the formation of a mental image of the destination. Producing this outcome requires the skill of a professional, who can manipulate the semiotic resource for the desired effect.

Unfortunately, the complexity of the semiotic resources denies their in-depth analysis as a part of this dissertation. For instance, it is unnecessary to emphasise the complexity of language in this connection: the whole field of linguistic science speaks for itself. The previous discussion identified a similar complexity in pho-tographs, which nevertheless represent only one type of visual semiotic resource used in the tourist brochures.

Furthermore, this discussion did not consider the interpretation of photographs in their context of use (see e.g. Machin 2004; Caple 2009a). Yet describing the ac-tual use of language and images is necessary for understanding the structure of the tourist brochures. Therefore, I continue by focusing on the semiotic modes, which also account for the discourse semantics required for the contextual interpretation of the semiotic resources.