A Study Of Multimodal Metaphors In Chinese And English Video Advertisements For Cars

Since the 1980 s,metaphor has widely developed in the research of cognitive linguistics as a cognitive means of perceiving the world.Constructing multimodal metaphor based on the Multimodal Metaphor Theory and visual grammar has become a hot research area.As a kind of classical multimodal discourse,video advertisements contains abundant multimodal metaphors.This article is about to study multimodal metaphor construction in car video advertisements through the following research questions: 1.What are the multimodal metaphors existed in the Chinese and English car video advertisements? Considering constructing multimodal metaphor from the visual grammar,how the pictorial-verbal modes are cooperated in building multimodal metaphor? 2.What is the role of voice/sound mode in constructing multimodal metaphors in Chinese and English car video ads? 3.What are the similarities and differences among presentation of source domain and target domain in the Chinese and English video advertisements? How cultural reasons and thinking mode influence the metaphorical choice and presentation?Based on the Multimodal Metaphor Theory of Forceville(2009)and constructing multimodal metaphor from the perspective of Visual Design Grammar,which provided by Feng Dezheng(2011),this paper analyzed two types of cars of Mercedes-Benz,a total of six in order to explore the construction of multimodal metaphor in Chinese and English advertisements.The following conclusions are drawn:1.There are 9 metaphors in Chinese ads,of which are 6 multimodal metaphors.To illustration,Mercedes-Benz E-CLASS IS WISE MAN;DRIVING BENZ CAR IS DEVELOPING NEW PATTERNS;BACK SEAT IS WISE MAN;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS CHAMPION;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS SUPER MODEL;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS HERO.There are 16 metaphors in the English ads and all of them are multimodal metaphor.To illustration,PEOPLE IS EGG;COLLISION IS BOWLNG;LOCH NESS MONSTER IS BOWLING;LOCH NES MONSTER IS COLLISION;Mercedes-Benz E-CLASS IS PROTECTON GOD;Mercedes-Benz E-CLASS IS ARROW;Mercedes-Benz E-CLASS IS ARCHERY;REMOTE PARKIN G PILOT I Mercedes-Benz SUV IS DRIVER;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS Garrett McNamara;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS Lewis Hamilton;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS Ryan Tedder;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS HORSE;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS Petra Nemcova;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS Mike Horn;Mercedes-Benz SUV IS EXPLORER.Considering from the perspective of Feng(2011),the mappings of multimodal metaphors in Chinese and English ads belong to mono-modal mapping and cross-modal mapping through the activation of target domain and source domain by pictorial and written sign.At the same time,sound mode also plays a part in the meaning construction.2.Both in the Chinese and English ads,modes: voiceover,sound effects and music play different roles in constructing multimodal metaphor,among which voiceover is the major one in activating source domain directly and indirectly,activating target domain directly and mapping target domain indirectly.Sound effects plays an auxiliary role in mapping the source and target,enhancing the recognition of the source and target in audiences.The music affects the audiences emotionally and create an atmosphere to produce positive results.3.In the representation of target and source domain in the Chinese and English ads,there are similarities and differences.The target domains of multimodal metaphors in Chinese ads are related to the Mercedes-Benz car itself.It includes Benz car(four),and vehicle components(4),such as luxurious back seat,central controlling screen and so on,as well as driving Benz car.While target domains in multimodal metaphors of English ads not only includes the car and its components(11)but also it involves people,collision and Loch Ness.In the choice of source domain,Chinese ads contains concrete images “wise man”,“champion”,“super model” and “hero” and abstract conception “developing new patterns”.In the English ads,source domain includes “egg”,“bowling”,“protection God”,“archer”,“a sixth sense”,“horse”,“explorer” and various sports celebrities.As far as the cultural conventions and thinking mode are concerned,(1)Chinese ads tend to realize the product demand from the aspects of emotional experience while English ads care more about the practicability of the product itself,seeking a rational appeal.(2)The choice of source domain of multimodal metaphor in both Chinese and English advertisements is based on the national characteristics of the target place as well as the concepts that people are familiar with.In addition,the selection of source domain also presents a certain convergence.For instance,the involvement of supermodel and sports stars.(3)In terms of modal selection,there are some differences in modal quantity and collocation among Chinese and English advertisements.Chinese ads attach more importance to the promotion function of pictures and sound.Ads in English value the explanatory power of pictorial and verbal modals,which belongs to low context culture by using explanation function of text.