A Study Of Multimodal Metaphors In Public Posters Based On Visual Grammar

“Poster” is a means of publicity which can convey information effectively.An excellent poster’s designer should be equipped with the ability to combine various elements in a harmonious way to show people the key information in the most straightforward way.The process of viewing posters is actually a process of interpreting a“compound language” that includes image,text,spatial location and other elements.Modern metaphor believes that metaphor is not only an ornament of language expression,but also a common linguistic phenomenon and a way of thinking,cognition and conceptualization.Metaphor not only exists in language,but also in image,sound,and other communicative symbols.Public poster is a typical multimodal corpus with rich implied metaphors.The proposed framework of Visual Grammar analysis provides the possibility for multimodal discourse analysis of posters.This paper adopts the research method combining theoretical research and corpus analysis.Guided by the Visual Grammar proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen and the Multimodal Metaphor proposed by Forceville,this paper carries out case analysis on the multimodal metaphors in these public posters.And the following three questions are discussed in this paper:(1)What are the types of multimodal metaphors showing up in public posters?(2)How can multimodal metaphors in public posters complete meaning construction through three mechanisms of Visual Grammar,namely,“representational meaning”,“interactive meaning” and “compositional meaning”?(3)What is/are function(s)of these multimodal metaphors in public posters?With qualitative analysis,the research has obtained findings as follows:(1)In public posters,multimodal metaphors can be classified into three types—“cross-modal mapping”,“mono-modal mapping” and “multimodal mapping”,while mono-modal mapping accounting for the majority,followed by cross-modal mapping and multimodal mapping;(2)The meaning construction of multimodal metaphor in public posters can be analyzed from the three mechanisms of Visual Grammar: as to “representational meaning”,poster designers can realize the construction of multimodal metaphors through the substitution of “represented participants”;as regards “interactive meaning”,multimodal metaphor can be constructed through the framework of “IMAGE-VIEWER RELATION IS CAMERA POSITIONING”.In terms of “compositional meaning”,designers can use the orientational metaphor “INFORMATION VALUE/SALIENCE/FRAMING IS SPATIAL POSITION” to construct multimodal metaphors;(3)On the one hand,the multimodal metaphor in public posters reflects its function of emotional persuasion.On the other hand,compared with traditional textual metaphors,the visual communication strategy of multimodal metaphor is more likely to arouse emotional resonance,thus improving the acceptability and appeal of information to be conveyed.This paper illustrates the operability and feasibility of using foreign Visual Grammar theory to analyze the graphic information of public posters both at home and abroad,and breaks through the limitation of traditional perspective of analysis which is usually onedimensional,thus enriching the research dimension of public posters.In addition,this paper plays an auxiliary role in viewer’s better interpretation of multimodal metaphors and also provides inspiration for poster designers.