A Cross-cultural Analysis Of Multimodal Metaphors And Metonymies In Chinese And American Chewing Gum Commercials

Multimodal metaphors and metonymies in TV commercials help a lot in promoting the sales of products.Previous studies of multimodal metaphors and metonymies in TV commercials mainly discuss the use of modalities and the choice of source and target domains.This study makes a cross-cultural analysis of the multimodal metaphors and metonymies in 70 Chinese and American TV chewing gum commercials.Issues discussed are types of metaphors and metonymies,communicative intentions,cultural similarities and differences and cognitive motivations for the similarities and differences as well as modalities and domains.The research is based on Lakoff & Johnson's(1980)conceptual metaphor theory and Forceville & Urios-Aparisi's(2009)multimodal metaphor theory.A qualitative and quantitative study is made to shed some light on the representation,the interaction patterns,and cross-cultural similarities and differences of multimodal metaphors and metonymies in Chinese and American TV chewing gum commercials.It is found that,(1)multimodal metaphors and metonymies in TV chewing gum commercials are represented with the interaction of various modalities,namely visual,verbal and aural modalities.Visual and verbal modalities are dominant in the direct presentation of both source and target domains.Sometimes,verbal modality is itself metaphorical in nature which helps identify metaphors.Aural modality can be used to create atmosphere and evoke emotions so as to present the source or target domains indirectly.(2)Multimodal metaphors and metonymies in TV chewing gum commercials are represented with the interplay of metaphors and/or metonymies as well.Metaphors,metonymies and conceptual complexities arising from their interplay can be classified into six types,namely metaphor,metaphoric amalgam(e.g.LOVE IS EXTRA supported by EMOTION IS TASTE),metaphoric chain(e.g.EXTRA IS BLUEBERRIES IS A LOVER),metonymic chain(e.g.CURVATURE FOR A SMILE FOR EXTRA),metaphtonymy and(MS)i T metaphtonymy(e.g.EXTRA IS AN ELECTRIC LAMP supported by several metonymies such as SWITCHING LINE FOR LAMP,LIGHT FOR LAMP etc.).(3)Multimodal metaphors and metonymies in Chinese and American commercials show similarities and differences in four aspects: domains,types of metaphors and metonymies,communicative intentions and modalities.(a)Human,emotion and non-electric object domains appear frequently in both cultures.Plant and facial expression domains are preferred by Chinese commercials.Americans are more interested in electric object domains.(b)Metaphor and(MS)i T metaphtonymy are the top two in both cultures.Metaphoric chain and metonymic chain appear in Chinese only.(c)Both cultures put more emphasis on the introduction of functions and properties,followed by the evocation of emotions.Chinese show more interests in positive functions Extra can bring.Americans focus more on negative functions Extra can remove.(d)Both Chinese and American commercials show a preference for visual presentation followed by verbal and finally aural presentation.Aural presentation are more frequently employed by Americans.The similarities are caused by similar bodily experiences while the differences are caused by differential physical environment,social context and cultural context.This research not only enriches the existing theoretical accounts of multimodal metaphors and metonymies in TV commercials but also offers some insights into the designing of cross-cultural TV commercials.