A Comparative Study On Multimodal Metaphors In Chinese And American New Product Launches

Metaphor is initially known and used as a rhetorical device,but is proven as a pattern of thinking and cognition after Metaphors We Live by was published.The three stages of metaphor cognized by people include conceptual metaphor,mono-modal metaphor and multimodal metaphor.The research objects of previous multimodal metaphor studies include static print advertisements,political comics,language teaching texts,movie posters,cartoons,movies,advertisements and so on.The multimodal metaphor studies on dynamic discourses are restricted to some common ones.In order to broaden the multimodal metaphor study on dynamic discourses,a comparative study on multimodal metaphors in product launches of Huawei and Apple is made in this thesis.This study focuses on the 140 multimodal metaphors in six selected product launches of Huawei and Apple from 2017 to 2019,and 70 for each respectively.Qualitative,quantitative and comparative methods are used to carry on this study and answer three questions:(1)What are the main mapping ways of multimodal metaphors in Huawei and Apple? What are the similarities and differences between them?(2)What are the main metaphor types of multimodal metaphors in Huawei and Apple? What are the similarities and differences between them?(3)What are the possible reasons for similarities and differences of mapping ways and metaphor types between Huawei and Apple ?Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Multimodal Metaphor Theory,the major findings of this study include three parts.Firstly,there are six mapping types of multimodal metaphors in product launches of two companies,including “SD-function,TD-product”,“SD-quality,TD-product”,“SD-user experience,TD-product”,“SD-humanistic care,TD-product”,“SD-influence,TD-product” and “SD-function,TD-company”.Similarities between Huawei and Apple in mapping types include three aspects:(1)the first four mapping types appear more frequently in two companies with the total percentages more than 95% in both Huawei and Apple;(2)the modes mainly used for source domains and target domains include written mode,sound mode and pictorial mode;(3)meaning constructions are based on mapping types and modes combinations.Differences mainly include two aspects:(1)the number of “SD-function,TD-product” and “SD-quality,TD-product” in Apple is more than itin Huawei,and the number of “SD-user experience,TD-product” and “SD-humanistic care,TD-product” in Huawei is more than it in Apple;(2)written modes appear more frequently in source domains than target domains,and color modes just appear in source domains.Secondly,the metaphor types in this study include structural metaphors and ontological metaphors according to Lakoff and Johnson's classification.The sub-types are classified based on the definitions of structural metaphor and ontological metaphor.Similarities include two aspects:(1)the sub-types of structural metaphors in two companies are capacity metaphors,fitness metaphors,belief metaphors,aesthetic metaphors and joy metaphors,and all ontological metaphors are used to compare the appearance or quality of the products to architecture;(2)the total proportion of capacity metaphors,fitness metaphors and aesthetic metaphors are around 90% respectively in Huawei and Apple.Differences mainly include two aspects:(1)the number of capacity metaphors and fitness metaphors in Apple is more than it in Huawei,and the number of aesthetic metaphors in Huawei is more than it in Apple;(2)the metaphorical objects for the same metaphor type of Huawei and Apple are different.Lastly,the reasons for similarities and differences of mapping types and metaphor types are analyzed from different perspectives.Reasons for similarities are explained from physical structure,life attitudes and cognitive styles.Humans have the same sense organs to perceive things,and they have life attitudes to truth,kindness and beauty.Besides,they live under the same global environment to get the same cognition styles.Differences of mapping types and metaphor types between Huawei and Apple are explained from different values under different cultural backgrounds and technical confidence.This study broadens the research scope of multimodal metaphor theoretically which is not restricted to static discourses and the common dynamic discourses.The instructional significance is to help companies and designers to enhance the quality of product launches.Meanwhile,this thesis reveals the importance of brand communication,and the establishment of national brands like Huawei.