A Diachronic Study Of Coca-cola Posters Based On Multimodal Metaphor And Metonymy(1931-1954)

In recent years,multimodal communication has been attracting increasing attention in linguistics,sociology,psychology,mass communication and related disciplines.And researchers have begun to apply theories of Conceptual Metaphor and Conceptual Metonymy from Cognitive Linguistics(Lakoff and Johnson,1980;Panther and Radden 1999)and Relevance Theory(Sperber and Wilson,1995/2002)from pragmatics to the analysis of multimodal discourse,especially in studies of the discourse of advertisements.However,previous studies have been dominated by synchronic analyses of one or two pieces of discourse,lacking in diachronic perspectives in multimodal discourse analysis.This thesis,combining the two perspectives mentioned above and borrowing from the multimodal analysis approach of Forceville(1998,1999,2002),will make an in-depth study of the advertisements related to Santa Claus put by Coco-Cola Company in three print media in the U.S.between 1931 and 1954.We will focus on the following research questions:(1)What patterns of mapping occurred in multimodal metaphors and metonymies in print advertisements of the company during the different periods between 1931 and 1954?(2)How were the different patterns of mapping distributed in the different periods?(3)What was the cause of the diachronic change in the patterns of mapping?Our findings are as follows.Firstly,in terms of multimodal metaphors,there are two major patterns of mapping,with HAPPINESS and GROUP as the target domain respectively.The former can be divided into two more specific patterns,including COCA-COLA IS HAPPINIESS and RED IS HAPPINESS.In the case of the latter,an individual,a family or a state is conceptualized as a group.With respect to multimodal metonymy,there are three major patterns of mapping,including EFFECT FOR CAUSE,POSSESSED FOR POSSESSOR,and MEMBER FOR CATEGORY.And they can be divided into more specific patterns.The metonymy EFFECT FOR CAUSE covers five specific patterns of mapping,including HAPPY EXPRESSIONS FOR COCA-COLA,TIRED EXPRESSIONS FOR GREAT DEPRESSION,BOOTS COVERED WITH SNOW FOR LONG JOUREY,COCA-COLA FOR STIMULANT and COCA-COLA FOR HOSPITALITY.And the metonymy POSSESSED FOR POSSESSOR involves three specific patterns of mapping,including TOYS FOR CHILDREN,UNIFORMS FOR SERVICEMEN,MILITARY GOODS FOR SERVICEMEN.MENBER FOR CATEGORY involves two specific patterns of mapping,including ONE OR MORE CHILDREN FOR ALL AMERICAN CHILDREN,and ONE OR MORE SERVICEMEN FOR ALL AMERICAN SERVICEMEN.Secondly,the patterns of mapping were distributed differently in the period between 1931 and 1954.Of multimodal metaphors,for the pattern of mapping with the group as the target,the use of individuals as the source domain occurred only before World War II(WWII),while the use of families as the source domain occurred both before and after WWII,with a few isolated instances during WWII,the use of states as the source domain occurred only during WWII.With reference to the pattern of mapping that uses happiness as the target domain,COCO-COLA IS HAPPINESS and RED IS HAPPINESS occurred evenly during the various periods.In terms of multimodal metonymies,there are also some interesting differences in the various patterns of mapping.First,in terms of EFFECT FOR CAUSE,the metonymy HAPPY EXPRESSIONS FOR COCA-COLA occurred evenly across the different periods,while the metonymy TIRED EXPRESSIONS FOR GREAT DEPRESSION occurred only before WWII,and the metonymy BOOTS COVERED WITH SNOW FOR LONG JOUREY occurred only during WWII.Besides,the metonymy COCA-COLA FOR STIMULANT was found before and during WWII,and the metonymy COCA-COLA FOR HOSPITALITY was found before and after WWII.In terms of the metonymy POSSESSED FOR POSSESSOR,the pattern TOYS FOR CHILDREN occurred before and after WWII,UNIFORMS FOR SERVICEMEN and MILITARY GOODS FOR SERVICEMEN occurred during WWII.In addition,for the metonymy MEMBER FOR CATEGORY,the pattern ONE OR MORE CHILDREN FOR ALL AMERICAN CHILDREN occurred before and after WWII,and the pattern ONE OR MORE SERVICEMEN FOR ALL AMERICAN SERVICEMEN occurred during WWII.Finally,the thesis,based on Relevance Theory,explores the causes of the various patterns of metonymic mapping in different periods centered around WWII,in connection with the social context of the various advertisements.Our exploration reveals that the patterns of mapping constructed by the advertiser in the process of ostensive-inferential communication depend on the cognitive context of target readers,which is constrained by the social and historical context in question.Therefore,the patterns of mapping display some diachronic changes with the evolution of the cognitive context of target readers.And in the process of ostension,the pattern of mapping constructed will influence the process of inferencing of target readers,reinforcing their positive perceptions of the product.This study has implications for explorations of pragmatic strategies used in multimodal discourse of advertisement.Besides,those strategies are closely related to the social context of various periods.The research will be of value for studies of discourse strategies in mass communication and assessments of their effects.