The Meaning Construction Of Multimodal Metaphors In Chinese Car Stickers

With the advent of the digital age,multimodal discourse is prevalent in our life,and a variety of semiotics work together in the process of human communication.Among them,the combination of image and word is most frequently used.Metaphor structures human thought and action,when rendered in multi-modes,metaphor can yield to stronger cognitive force and emotional appeals.Chinese car stickers,emerging in our daily life,are particularly good examples with verbal and visual modes,which aim at delivering the information behind them and communicate the safety warning while driving.However,a multitude of the researches on the Chinese car stickers focus almost exclusively on the language in them from static perspectives,while the studies on the metaphorical meaning construction in the Chinese car stickers are relatively scanty,especially not taking into account both verbal and pictorial modes in them.The present study has continued that focus by taking 50 Chinese car stickers as research data taken from our daily life,other literature related to car stickers and the websites,and the qualitative method underpinned the study with the help of descriptive analysis.According to the possible manifestations of metaphors in Chinese car stickers,they can be preliminarily classified into five categories,that is,driving safety is keeping distance,driving safety is maintaining speed,driving safety is observing traffic rules,driving safety is accumulating the experience of driving,and driving safety is protecting life.Therefore,commencing from the new theoretical perspective of multimodal metaphor,this thesis tentatively attempts to explore how the word and image interact with each other and contribute to the metaphorical meaning,and discusses the similarities and differences among multimodal metaphors in these five kinds of Chinese Car stickers,and proceeds to uncover the factors affecting the construal of multimodal metaphors.Findings from the study underlined that the meaning construction of multimodal metaphors in the Chinese car stickers was a dynamic process based on the interplay of words and images.And this study exhibited the similarities and differences among multimodal metaphors in these five kinds of Chinese car stickers.Finally,a number of factors that appear to influence the construal of multimodal metaphors in the Chinese car stickers were identified as context,individual cognitive modes,and cultural elements,which worked together to realize the warning function in Chinese car stickers.The results of the study contribute to enriching Multimodal Metaphor Theory and facilitating the profound understanding of multimodal metaphors in the Chinese car stickers.Moreover,some inspiration and clues have also been provided for domestic designers of car stickers for reference,which can better achieve the meaning construction of multimodal metaphors in Chinese car stickers.In the meantime,the present study can help the audience enhance their safety awareness through the multimodal metaphors in the Chinese car stickers.