Lexico-Semiotic Analysis of Pentecostal Social Media Signage in Livingstone, Zambia

Abstract

This study conducts a comprehensive lexico-semiotic analysis of the social media signage employed by selected Pentecostal churches in Livingstone, Zambia. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, utilizing a dual theoretical framework of Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) and Kress and van Leeuwen's Visual Social Semiotics (VSS). Data from Instagram, Facebook, and church websites were scrutinized to decode the relationship between word choice, visual elements, and communicative purpose. The findings reveal a sophisticated, multimodal strategy. Lexical choices draw from semantic fields of faith, prosperity, and divine intervention, while visual grammar through images, color, layout, and gesture works synergistically with text to construct persuasive messages. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers strategic code-mixing and platform-specific adaptations that enhance cultural resonance and digital virality. The study demonstrates how these churches strategically blend traditional religious rhetoric with digital affordances to shape identity, foster community, and engage in digital evangelism. By applying an integrated SFG-VSS lens, this research provides granular insights into the mechanics of meaning-making in digital religious advertising. It contributes significantly to understanding religious communication in the digital age, bridges theoretical gaps in multimodal discourse analysis within African contexts, and offers practical, evidence-based insights for media ministries seeking to optimize their digital engagement. Ultimately, the study argues that Pentecostal digital signage constitutes a distinct communicative genre, strategically engineered to navigate the affordances of social media platforms and effectively engage contemporary audiences.