Slides about "7 Style by Leeuwen (2005) Introducing social semiotics". I made the slides for the presentation to explain.

1. Style
by Leeuwen (2005)
• The Slides are made by; Sura alharaki

2. Style’s Definition
‘A manner of writing, speaking or doing, especially
as contrasted with the matter to be expressed or
thing done’.
2
Genre
Discourse
(the matter expressed)
Multimodal
Involving not just speaking
and writing but also doing
-What of communication
-Talk expressed written
or spoken
-Presenting and
evaluating social practice
-How of communication
-Speech acts (apologies,
declarations, request)
-Shared expectations of
forms
Style
Broad signifying systems
that connect smaller parts
to concrete whole

3. The social semiotic approach to style
Tony Blair’s style The discourse of the
‘Third Way’
Genres
Political identities and
values
Political
representations
How language figures as a
means of Government, a
particular way of using
language in governing
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So any speech by Tony Blair for instance can be looked at in terms of;
How it projects a particular
identity and value tied
together.
How it represents the social
world and the political and
governmental process itself
How it contributes to the
governing process
In actual cases they are always simultaneously in operation.
British politician
Political-economic approach. it is neither
left nor right wing, but something in
between, or a combination

4. 4
Individual
difference
Self
expression
Impression
management
Individual
style
What
people do
as result of
group
membership
Social
Style
Combination
of both
individual
and social
lifestyles
Lifestyle
3 Kinds of Style
The social belongs to the public world, and is a
matter of strictly regulated, formal obligations.
The individual belongs to the private world and it
provides room for individuality and self-expression.

5. 5
• To some extent socially regulated,
with a room for ‘doing things our way’.
• The word ‘style’ comes from ‘stilus’, the Latin word for
‘pen’. Which connect it to ’Handwriting’ as an example.
• Handwriting is taught in the school system, but everybody
has their own recognizable handwriting.
• ‘Achieving your own style’ is mark of distinction in
literature, music and arts
• A mark of identity, a kind of fingerprint.
• The ability to recognize individual style becomes a field
of special expertise. For instance; the expertise of the art
historian, to find out authentic painting.
Individual style
Voice
to recognize who the speaker is
Handwriting
to identify who the writer is

6. • Style expresses feelings, attitudes, personality.
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Expressive
Feelings, desires,
characteristics and social
origin
Impressive
Values produced and get across
the impression the speaking
subject seeks to create.
Cont’d

7. Example;
Poem by
Sylvia Plath
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Many deletions
Writing
relatively clear
Then, words
and letters
become closer
together
Written at
different angles
No gaps
between stanzas
American poet,
novelist, and short-
story writer.

8. 8
• Express our social position
• ‘who we are’ in terms of stable categories such as class,
gender and age, social relations
• ‘what we do’ the social activities we engage in and our role
• Motivated and determined by social factors outside our
control.
• Related to sociolinguistics in varieties of language, social class,
power and status difference or styles of occupational fields
• Regards stylistic features as ‘markers’
• Stylistic features shows where someone comes from,
gender, age, class, what kind of activities they are engaged
in and what role they play
Social style

9. Example of social style
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• Through looking at
their fashion we
can know their
social class,
activities they do,
occupation and
others.

10. 10
• Shared by consumer behaviour, patterns of leisure time
activities and attitudes to key social issues
• ‘Interpretive communities’: groups created by lifestyle
• Their appearance announce their ‘interpretations’ of the
world, their connection with certain values, attitudes and ideas.
• Social because of the role it plays in marketing
Traditional social indicators such as class, gender, age, etc.
Replaced by ‘lifestyle market segmentation’ techniques which
classify consumers through a mixture of consumption patterns
and attitudes.
• Also individual because it increases choice and diminishes
requirement to dress according to your age, gender, class,
occupation and even nationality
Lifestyles

11. • The distinct styles for men and women, the young and
the old, and for different social classes and occupations
may not have disappeared, but they are gradually
becoming less important.
• ‘lifestyle’ identities are unstable and can be discarded
and re-made any time.
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Cont’d

12. • An article in Dutch Cosmopolitan (2001) shows font choice
interpret writing as indicating individual characteristics:
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Font Individual characteristic
Courier New
Helvetica
Times New Roman
Comic Sans
Verdana
a little old-fashioned
you have flair
modern
creates confidence
anonymous
attracting attention
professional
Cont’d

13. Example of a photograph of David Beckham
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• Style icon and role model
• His identity; combines aspects of the
rebel and the model citizen.
• Portrayed as troublemaker but
speaks up for disadvantaged children,
campaigns against racism, clean
living and family values.
• Portrayed by his appearance, the way
he is dressed, hair, poses and setting.
Bandanas are
often associated
with rebels
Black clothes of a loose cut
(fashionable and ‘artist’)
Sports shoes
( a kick)

14. Another Example; Angelina Jolie
14
Black Dress (fashionable)
shows power, elegance and
formality
Black high heel indicate
professionality and femininity
• Style icon and female heroine
• Her identity; dedicated
humanitarian around the
world
• Portrayed for her
attractiveness without taking
into account her being a
humanitarian where she visit
countries that need help and
encouragement

15. 15
1. How can the writing style of Cosmopolitan be described as a ‘composite
of connotations’, and what identities and values does it express?
•Lifestyles are put together from existing styles and combined to form
hybrid styles that express a combination of meanings deriving from
connotations.
•The principal styles are;
Language style as lifestyle
Linguistic style can be based on the principle of lifestyle.
An analyses of the style of Cosmopolitan magazine. This means asking two questions:
1) The style of advertising
2) The style of the fashion caption
3) The style of expert discourse
4) Street style, the slang of the trendy and the
young
5) Conversational style

16. Cont’d
2. How diverse is this style? How does it negotiate between the individual
and the social, or, in this case, the local and the global?
•Lifestyle entails a loss of uniformity and a gain of space for individual
style which draw on designed and globally distributed semiotic resources
that are not individual.
•Contribute to increased global cultural homogeneity by comparing
•Localized into 48 different versions including languages other than
English which created room for difference.
•All Editors of the local versions have to undergo compulsory training
and all must develop the Cosmopolitan style, by imitating the
neologisms English the language of young and trendy people
16

17. 1. Advertising style
• ‘Marketisation’ of discourse.
• It is not just to sell products and services but also to model
the identities and values of consumer
• Spreading beyond the actual advertisements
17
Advertising style
Direct
address
-Ideological; to address you
-Practical; to persuade
readers and viewers to do or
think certain things
Adjectives
Apply both to the
advertised product as
the signifier and to the
values it signifies.
Poetic
devices
-Also has a practical and an
ideological function.
-Using recall, rhymes and
mnemonic function to make
the brand easy to remember

18. Examples;
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Poetic devices
Adjectives
Direct Address
Adjectives

19. • Similar to advertising style, in the use of direct address, adjectives
and poetic devices. But a style of its own.
• ‘Metalinguistic’ statement; from ongoing, changing and playfully
written dictionary of fashion.
• Overriding importance of being in fashion and up to date with the
latest.
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2.The style of the fashion caption
Signified
Signifier
An outfit, item
of clothing, or
aspect of it, such
as; colour
(1) Simple assertion ‘this is in fashion’
For example; ‘the season’s hottest’, ‘feel
“fall 2002”, ‘the season must-have’
(2) A meaning that indicates, activities
or time of day to a suitable outfit
For example; “movie date”, “mood”,
“personality trait” “feeling cozy”

20. 3.The style of the expert
• The fashion expert who defines this season’s meanings and
values
• Dutch version of Cosmopolitan is distinguishing between
people who ‘make their own style’ and people who
‘slavishly follow styles’
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The key characteristics of expert style For example
More formal vocabulary with technical terms ‘anger management’ and ‘inferiority
complex’
A preference for abstract and general nouns ‘the phenomenon of gossip’ instead
of just ‘gossip’
A limited vocabulary of verbs mostly ‘be’, ‘have’ and ‘mean’ and
their synonyms
An objective, third person form of address often
contrasts with the second person address

21. 4.The style of the street
• Being up to date is an important aspect of lifestyle.
• It can be connoted by ‘street’ vocabulary, by using a
sprinkling of the latest slang expressions of the young and
the trendy.
• In many non-English versions of Cosmopolitan, trendiness
is almost synomous with the English language.
• For example in the Chinese version;
• nu ren yu shou dair de guan xi ke yi shi hen ou miao de, si best friend
you si fan (The relation between women and their handbags can be
very subtle, like a best friend and also like a fan)
• ni de mei li Must-Have shi shen me? (What is your beauty Must-
Have?)
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22. 5.Conversational style
• To bring a sense of informality to the stylistic mix.
• Private speech, dialogue between equals.
• Media communication is deeply unequal since viewers
and listeners cannot talk back
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23. For example; Dutch Cosmopolitan uses conversational devices
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Ben ik raar?
Vorig weekend was ik bij m’n Antwerpse vriendin Linde.
Letter tutten samen. Je weet wel, eerst winkelen, dan
mossels met friet lunchen en het hele leven doornemen.
Beetje over de liefde, beetje over de lijn, en heeeel veel over
de nieuwe kleren die we nog willen. En over Cosmo
natuurlijk. Ik raakte helemaal op dreef toen ik haar vertelde
dat we zo’n onwaarschijnlijk fantastische Bel&Win- actie
hadden gemaakt.
(Am I weird?
Last weekend I was in Antwerp with my friend Linde. Having
a nice girly time. You know, bit of shopping first, then lunch
with mussels and chips and discussing the whole of life. Bit
about love, bit about the [waist]line, and looooots about the
new clothes we still want. And about Cosmo of course. I
really got going when I told her about this absolutely brilliant
Phone&Win action for our lingerie special ... ’)
Incomplete
sentences
Indications of
intonation and
timing
Typical
conversational
fillers
Contractions
Trendy
evaluatives
(‘implausibly
fantastic’)
Informal
spellings
(Instead of ‘frites’,
the official French
spelling)
Slang words
Cont’d

24. Conclusion
• Styles are broad signifying systems which link together smaller
parts, turning them into concrete wholes.
• Individual style, social style and lifestyle, are in one way or
another connected even though having different aspects that they
indicates.
• Shows how Cosmopolitan style has different styles with the
connotations that express the magazine’s identity and values.
• Even if language differ, style’s message will not.
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25. References
Brianna Esparza (2017). Style Semiotics: The Influence of Levels of
Professional Style of Dress on Perceived Competency. Digital
Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations.
Malcolm Barnard (2002). Fashion as Communication. New York, United
States.
Theo Van Leeuwen (2005). Introducing Social Semiotics. New York, United
State.
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26. TERIMA KASIH / THANK YOU
www.upm.edu.my