On the functions of symbolic conceptual representations in the grammar of visual design: embedded or underlying patterns?

Abstract

Our aim in this article is to discuss the function of the grammatical categories symbolic attribute and carrier in the Grammar of Visual Design (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006 [1996]). For the authors, these constituents, belonging to the ideational metafunction, could be present or not in symbolic conceptual structures, giving a participant a value that would characterize and/or conceptualize him. We advocate that, as a result of the ideational function, symbolic attributes and carriers are responsible for the production of inferences by the readers of images and, therefore, are always present in any visual representation. As a result, we believe that symbolic conceptual representations are not at the same level of autonomy as classifying and analytical narrative and conceptual representations, but at the level of underlying patterns.