Abstract
Drawing on his earlier work on music (van Leeuwen, 1999), film (van Leeuwen, 1985) and the representation of time in language (van Leeuwen, 2005, 2008), van Leeuwen examines how time is represented through the coordination of sound, images, and language in a range of multimodal texts and performances. Time, he argues, is not a pre-existing entity but “a product of the activity of timing, or more precisely, the activity of measuring one kind of social activity against another” (Elias, 1992: 43). As a result, the ways in which time is measured and organized in multimodal texts and performances can reflect the underlying structure of social life in different societies and historical periods. For example, naturally occurring rhythms such as the cycle of day and night served as important reference points for determining when and for how long activities should be carried out in small agricultural societies (Malinowski, 2002 [1935]). In contrast, industrial societies increasingly relied on mechanical instruments such as clocks to regulate work and encourage greater productivity. The central argument of the book is that the ways in which time is structured in multimodal texts and performances are rooted in natural rhythms (such as the cyclical movements of the sun and the planets) but are subject to the rhythms of social life.
The book consists of seven chapters. Chapter 1 introduces time as a social practice used to coordinate activities and symbolize values. According to the author, natural synchronization (e.g., farmers returning home for a rest during the intolerably hot hours of a day), social synchronization (e.g., shared rituals), and mechanical synchronization (such as clocks) are three typical ways people used to coordinate social activities. Building on earlier discussions of rhythm in film and language, Chapter 2 presents rhythm as a biologically grounded and indispensable element of all time-based communication. Through examples of rhythmic regularization in everyday activities, the chapter shows how rhythm functions as a fundamental “glue of social life” (p. 36). The following three chapters focus on the representation of time in music, film, and language. Chapter 3 presents music as an integral part of social life, fostering social cohesion through rhythmic entrainment (e.g. coordinating speech, facial expressions and gestures to a shared rhythm), cultural continuity (e.g. preserving and transmitting the same song across generations), emotional bonding, and multimodal representation. Chapter 4 focuses on timing in film, arguing that the filmic medium’s ability to connect events occurring in different places simultaneously creates new experiences of time, and familiarizes viewers with the mobility of modern social life. Chapter 5 extends the discussion to language. Starting from the premise that the structuring of time in language reflects the structuring of social life, the chapter first illustrates how time is expressed morphologically, grammatically, and metaphorically across different languages. It then proposes a theoretical framework for analyzing linguistic representations of time. Chapter 6 turns to the visualization of time. The author first argues that the intangible nature of time requires socially constructed forms of representation, such as timelines and flowcharts. Drawing on detailed historical examples, van Leeuwen then shows how static images, diagrams, and flowcharts are used to represent dynamic social processes in different historical periods. Chapter 7 concludes by emphasizing the multidisciplinary nature of research on time in multimodal texts and performances.
Arguably, the most significant contributions of the book lies in the theoretical frameworks it develops for analyzing representations of time in multimodal texts and performances. These frameworks provide students and researchers with valuable tools for examining the role of time in social life. Another important contribution is the book’s treatment of rhythm as the foundation of time-based multimodal practices. By foregrounding the biologically grounded bodily experiences of communicators, the author not only deepens our understanding of timing but also provides a new perspective on how time is represented across different modes. A further strength of the book is its clear and accessible writing. The author uses simple, straightforward language and a wide range of everyday examples to illustrate the often abstract relationship between natural and social forms of synchronization in multimodal communication. However, the book is not without shortcomings. Firstly, both the term “mode” and “multimodality” receive only brief discussion and are often clarified through the analyses themselves. Readers who are new to multimodal studies may therefore find it difficult at first to identify the specific semiotic resources under scrutiny. What’s more, although the book examines a range of modes, it pays less attention to how visual and verbal resources interact to create new representations of time in multimodal texts and performances. Finally, given the growing influence of AI on how humans organize social activities, the discussion could have been enriched by considering how AI technologies may reshape experiences of time and their multimodal representation.
To summarize, the book makes a valuable contribution to the study of time in multimodal texts and performances. Its multidisciplinary perspective, together with the analytical frameworks it develops, makes it a helpful reading for students, teachers, and researchers in multimodal studies, media studies, communication, and sociology.