Abstract:

Corporate websites are not only the crucial online communication medium for companies, they are also typical platforms for multimodal resources. In this cross-cultural study, which was inspired by the GeM model and cross-cultural theories, the multimodality of Chinese and US corporate websites were compared by adopting a corpus-based approach. The results show that both Chinese and US corporate websites are dominated by text-typographic and photo-pictorial elements, followed by diagram-representational and video-animated elements. However, the Chinese sites tend to employ more multimodal elements in total and more text-typographic and video-animated elements compared to the US sites. The Chinese sites featured more news and photos that are arranged in an atomized and compartmental format, while the US websites often use larger-sized pictures as backgrounds on which other elements are embedded in a more complex manner. In addition, the Chinese sites display more indicative elements with interactional functions to assist readers to navigate the sites and to build rapport with the audience. Finally, the Chinese sites use more QR codes and include more videos and flash videos, while the US sites display more social media icons. Conclusions about corporate multimodal discourse are drawn and implications for corporate web communications in a cross-cultural context are provided.

Keywords: online communication; discourse structure; corporate websites; multimodal corpus; cross-cultural study

摘要：

企业网站不仅是企业重要的网络传播媒介，也是网络多模态话语重要的承载平台。本文借鉴多模态GeM模型，结合现有跨文化理论，运用多模态语料库研究方法，对中美企业网站的话语结构进行了定量对比分析。研究发现，虽然中美网站在话语结构上呈现出相似特点——都以文字类和图像类元素为主、以图表类和视频类元素为辅，但在各类模态元素的使用上表现出一定的跨文化差异。中国网站倾向于通过列表方式对新闻和图片进行排列组合，比较重视显示栏目标题和菜单等指示性元素，注重使用二维码、Flash动画与视频；美国网站则倾向于将新闻标题与图片单独呈现，比较重视使用传统社交媒体图标，对指示性元素、Flash动画和视频无特定使用偏好。希望本研究可以为跨文化语境下企业网络多模态话语建构以及网络传播实践带来一定的启示。

关键词: 网络话语, 话语结构, 企业网站, 多模态语料库, 跨文化对比