透過網路影片平台Youtube的分享，Kuso影片近來成為網路上頗為盛行的新興文類，以kuso影片方式對台灣社會的種種議題表達看法已蔚為風潮。因此，本研究主要探討kuso影片製作過程中的意義創造機制。有別於以往相關研究大多關注單一模態的kuso呈現方式，如：文字或圖片， 本研究將分析Youtube上的多模態與多媒介的kuso影片，並著重探討影片的表演性、影響力與潛在意義，藉以探索下列研究問題：

一， 從多模態社會符號學的觀點來看，kuso影片的潛藏意義如何在創造過程中展現出來？
二， 在多模態kuso影片中，如何定義模態 (mode)？模態的限制條件為何？是否可將單一模態視為創造多模態影片潛藏意義的個別單位？
三， 從社會符號學的角度來看，掌控或參與kuso影片製作的角色為何？亦即，在創造影片意義的過程中，如何將影片當中的身分認同語境化並與其他參與者 (評論kuso影片者)進行協商？
四， 在kuso影片製作與傳播的過程中，去語境化、重構語境與身分認同之語境化三者的相互關聯性為何？

本研究引用多模態符號模型 (Halliday, 1978; Lim, 2002) 與Bakhtin (1981; 1986) 所提出的文類理論，作為分析架構的基礎，並透過「身分認同之投射行為」 (projective act of identity) 理論 (Coupland, 2007)，闡釋kuso影片中身份認同語境化的現象。此外，本研究提出「功能性多模態符號學模型」，以實例解說經由去語境化、重構語境與身分認同之語境化的過程中，如何展現不同層次的意義組合，並說明其語言符號功\\能 (概念、篇章與人際功能)。整體而言，本研究旨在分析並闡明多模態kuso複雜的意義創造過程，希望對此研究議題有所貢獻。

Kuso videos as an emergent Internet genre have gained its popularity among a great number of online participants, especially via the most popular video-sharing website, Youtube. The present study explores the meaning-making mechanism that operates in the production of kuso videos, which are worthy of note inasmuch as they have been more and more widely used in response to issues arising in Taiwanese society. Different from previous research on monomodal representation of kuso (e.g. written, graphic kuso), the present research takes the previous studies as a point of departure and will analyze a multimodal and multimedial kuso video uploaded onto Youtube. The analysis will center around its performance, power, and meaning potentials and seek to answer the following research questions.

(1) From a multimodal social-semiotic perspective, how are the meaning potentials of kuso videos being performed in the process of meaning-making?
(2) In multimodal kuso videos, what accounts as a mode and what are the affordances of a specific mode? Or, is it necessary to define mode as a separate unit which creates meaning potentials in the whole multimodal production?
(3) In social-semiotic production of kuso videos, who is in control in the process of meaning-making? In other words, in the meaning-making process, how is the identity of kuso video being contextualized and being negotiated with other participants?
(4) How are decontextualization, recontextualization, and identity contextualization interconnected to each other in the production and the distribution of kuso videos?

To analyze the meaning-making process and meaning potentials of the target kuso video, multisemiotic models (Halliday, 1978; Lim, 2002) as well as Bakhtin’s (1981; 1986) genre theory are applied as the basis of the analytical framework while “projective act of identity” (Coupland, 2007) is used to account for the how identity is contextualized in the video. In addition, the present research proposes the Functional Multisemiotic Model to illustrate with examples how layers of remix operate in the processes of decontextualization, recontextualization, and identity contextualization and to elucidate what semiotic functions they serve at three levels (i.e. ideational, textual, and interpersonal levels). On the whole, this research may shed light on the intricate meaning-making process in multimodal kuso analysis.

Contents
Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………........i
Abstract (Mandarin Chinese)……………………………………………………..… iii
Abstract (English)…………………………………………………………………...... v
List of Figures…………………………………………………………………..…….. x
List of Table………………………………………………………………….…......... xii

Chapter 1. Introduction………………………………………………………..………1
1.1 Background…………………………………………………………………..……1
1.2 Research Purpose……….........................................................................................4
1.3 Research questions……………………………………………………………..….6
1.4 Overview……………………………………………………………………..……9

Chapter 2. Toward an Analytical Framework……………………………………....10
2.1 Genre theories………………………………………………………………….…11
2.1.1 Genre as a process of social practice and performance…………………….11
2.1.2 From Bakhtin’s dialogism to Kristeva’s intertextuality…………….…….. 13
2.2 Decontextualization, recontextualization, and identity contextualization…….... 18
2.3 Multimodal communication……………………………………………............. 23
2.3.1 Multimodal stratra…………………………………………………….….. 24
2.3.2 Production as remix………………………………………………….…… 27
2.3.3 Social-semiotic communication………………………………….……….. 29

Chapter 3. Research Data and Data Analyses……………………………………... 33
3.1 Research data…………………………………………………………………… 33
3.1.1 Research site…………………………………………………………….....33
3.1.2 Participants………………………………………………………………...35
3.1.3 Data types and data collection……………………………………………..35
3.1.4 Data analysis methods………………………………………………….….37
3.2 Multimodal data transcription…………………………………………………...38
3.3 Data analyses: Performance of kuso videos……………………………………..40
3.3.1 Layer 1: Remix of modes, materials and senses…………………………..40
3.3.2 Layer 2: Remix of symbolic meanings……………………………………55
3.3.2.1 Semiotic principle: Provenance…………………………………...56
3.3.2.2 Semiotic principle: Experiential meaning potential…….…………61
3.3.3 Layer 3: Remix of identity contextualization……………………….…….65

Chapter 4. Further Analyses and Discussions………………………………….…..87
4.1 New framework for multimodal genre analysis…………………………….…...87
4.2 Interconnection between decontextualization, recontextualization, and identity contextualization………………………………………………………………...93
4.3 Control and intertextual gap…………………………………………….…….....97
4.4 Mode, affordance, and socio-cultural context…………………………….……103

Chapter 5. Conclusion………………………………………………………………108
5.1 Research implications…………………………………………………………..108
5.2 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...109

References…………………………………………………………………………...111
Appendix 1: Multimodal transcription of the target kuso video………………...117
Appendix 2: An extraction of audience’s comments on the target kuso video….124

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