Detecting generic patterns in multimodal argumentation

Abstract The present study devises and puts into practice an annotation scheme for interrogating the patterns of multimodal argumentation found in environmental protection print-advertisements collected between 2018 and 2022. 134 ads featuring the sub-topics climate change, deforestation, pollution, and preservation have been subjected to annotations for various features on four levels: genre/text, image, multimodal argument and multimodal coherence/rhetoric. By contrast with previous, predominantly case-based studies in argumentation, the approach presented here aims not to reconstruct single instances of multimodal argumentation but to identify recurrent patterns along with their typical features. The results show distinct regularities in the way arguments for environmental protection are constructed from large images and short text.