Digital Technology and Multimodal Discourse Analysis

Digital technology provides new tools for discourse analysis, including easy and effective ways of transcribing, annotating and analyzing multimodal social semiotic and dynamic discourse.This paper introduces the use of computer software in annotating, describing and analyzing different social semiotic modalities, such as language, sound and visual image.It also shows how software can manipulate video discourse in different ways, such as segmentation, summarization and searching.In this age when discourse is getting digitalized and complex, researchers should utilize digital technology more proactively to describe and explain multimodal discourse more effectively and thoroughly.