Dynamic Construction Of Multimodal Metaphor In Automobile Print Advertisements From The Perspective Of Visual Grammar

According to conceptual metaphor theory, the persuasive use of verbal metaphors is a result of thinking conceptually in nature. While language is merely one of the social semiotics, the manifestation of metaphors can extend to other modes, such as pictures, architectures, music and gestures. Recently, a flow of researchers, especially Forceville, focus on shifting metaphor study from the exclusively verbal text to the domain of interdisciplinary multimodality, aiming at a further development of conceptual metaphor theory. As a new trend of multimodal discourse analysis, the multimodal metaphor study, home and abroad, are dominantly conducted from the cognitive perspective. The present thesis attempts to explore multimodal metaphor within the frame of Visual Grammar. Through a penetration of metaphor potential, the construction and types of multimodal metaphors are systematically demonstrated.Kress and Leeuwen (1996) claim that images belong to the edifice of social semiotics. Based on the meta-functions of the systemic-functional grammar, they put forward three meanings of visual images (Visual Grammar):representational meaning, interactive meaning and compositional meaning. By a qualitative study of automobile print advertisements (APA), the thesis will analyze the dynamic construction of multimodal metaphors out of the metaphor potential deriving from the three meanings. After an elaborate analysis, the paper has drawn the following conclusions:(1) Representational meaning includes narrative process and conceptual process. The former has the metaphor potential through a replacement of conventional elements (participant, process and circumstance); the latter is divided into classificational process, analytical process and symbolic process, which respectively corresponds to species relation, part-whole relation and identifying relation. The multimodal metaphors are realized by such techniques as juxtaposition and fusion.(2) The metaphor potential of interactive meaning and compositional meaning is determined by two spatial metaphors:IMAGE-VIEWER RELATION IS CAMERA POSITIONING, INFORMATION VALUE IS SPATIAL POSITION. The metaphorical meanings of camera positioning and spatial position derive from human beings’ physical and cultural experience.(3) The pictorial-verbal interaction and the interplay between multimodal metaphors and metonymies in APA contribute to the mappings from source domain to target domain. Besides, the construal of multimodal metaphors is influenced by multiple factors such as specific cultural convention, individual response and so forth. Therefore, the APA producers should take these variables into account so that the persuasive function can be fully achieved.The construction of multimodal metaphor can be conclusively and systematically interpreted by the Visual Grammar. In terms of the theoretical complementation, the thesis effectively combines the systemic-functional grammar with cognitive linguistics. The research, to some extent, broadens the scope of metaphor study, enriches its theory and proposes some suggestions regarding the future APA design and other multimodal discourses.