Multimodality in Internet Discourse: The Interplay of Textual, Visual, and Paralinguistic Elements

Abstract

Contemporary internet discourse is characterized by a complex semiotic environment where meaning is co-constructed through multiple modes of communication. This paper investigates the intricate interplay of textual, visual, and paralinguistic elements in shaping meaning on social media platforms. Moving beyond analyses that treat these modes as discrete, this study adopts an integrated social semiotic framework to explore how they combine, compete, and synergize to create coherent and nuanced communicative acts. Using a qualitative content analysis of a curated corpus of 200 posts from the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), this research examines the functional hierarchy and interdependence of different modes in contexts of humor, irony, and emotional expression. The results reveal a clear trend towards multimodal dominance, where visual elements (images, GIFs) and paralinguistic cues (emojis, typography) frequently override or fundamentally alter the literal meaning of accompanying text. Findings indicate that in affective and ironic discourse, the visual mode often serves as the primary carrier of pragmatic meaning, while paralinguistic features act as crucial disambiguating agents. This study contributes to the field of computer-mediated communication by providing empirical evidence that multimodality in internet discourse is not merely additive but transformative, creating composite meanings that are irreducible to their individual components. The implications for digital literacy, sentiment analysis, and communication theory are discussed.