MULTIMODALITY: A NEW PARADIGM IN CONTEMPORARY LINGUISTICS

Abstract

This article examines multimodality as an emerging paradigm in contemporary linguistics, tracing its evolution from structural semiotics to modern AI-integrated research. The study explores how the integration of verbal, visual, audial, and kinesthetic modalities creates meaning that exceeds the sum of individual components through synergistic interaction. Drawing on systemic-functional linguistics, social semiotics, cognitive theory, and pragmatic approaches, the article demonstrates that communication has always been inherently multimodal, though scholarly attention to this phenomenon has intensified only in recent decades. The research analyzes key theoretical frameworks including Kress and Van Leeuwen's visual grammar, Halliday's metafunctions, and modal density theory, while examining the historical development of multimodal discourse studies from the 1960s to the present digital era. Special attention is given to the impact of digital technologies, social media, and artificial intelligence on multimodal communication practices. The article concludes by identifying promising research directions, including accessibility, multilingual contexts, ecological activism discourse, and specific applications for Uzbek linguistics. This comprehensive overview positions multimodality as an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of linguistics, semiotics, psychology, sociology, design, and computer sciences, with significant implications for education, professional communication, and intercultural understanding.