Multimodality: Disciplinary Thoughts and the Challenge of Diversity – Introduction

In this introduction, we discuss the idea of establishing a discipline of multimodality, considering both how this might be defined and potential benefits and challenges of attaining such an independent status. This builds on previous rounds of discussion within the Bremen Conferences on Multimodality (BreMM) series concerning this issue, where diverse approaches to the study of multimodality have come together to create a broad-based set of agenda items where a more systematic engagement with the phenomena of multimodality is key.