A Social Semiotic Approach to Multimodal Discourse of the Badge of Xi’an Jiaotong University

Using the school badge of Xi’an Jiaotong University as an example, this article aims to unravel that both literal expression and visual imagery have the ideographic function. The analysis in this article primarily utilizes the theoretical framework of the visual communication grammar, which is developed by Kress & Van Leeuwen from Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics. By analyzing the representational, interactive, and compositional meaning of the school badge, this article shows that school badges have rich connotations and the ability to interpret them should be attached importance. Furthermore, this article aims to make a little contribution to the interpretation of school badges.