Scribd
Upload
10 views

IACS 2024 - Conceptual generalizations of multimodal metaphor expressions

Uploaded by

vlado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
10 views

IACS 2024 - Conceptual generalizations of multimodal metaphor expressions

Uploaded by

vlado
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Conceptual generalizations of multimodal metaphor expressions

Vlado Sušac, University of Zadar (Croatia)


[email protected]

The central research question posed here is whether, and under what circumstances, the
metaphorical conceptualizations we derive from linguistic expressions and vice versa apply to
cases of multimodal metaphors in the process of meaning making. Specifically, in cognitive
linguistics, the phenomenon of conceptual mapping between metaphorical domains, which
leads to a number of associated linguistic realizations, has been thoroughly explained and
confirmed theoretically and through corpus research so far. However, researchers' attention
has recently been drawn more to the phenomenon of multimodality in communication,
metaphors included, particularly with the advancement of digital technologies. As a result, the
ground-breaking work of Charles Forceville (1996) was largely responsible for the first
recognition of visual metaphor in a variety of genres, and later interest was expanded to
include its multimodal expressions. Unfortunately, not much corpus research has been done in
this area, but the available material can be used to identify inconsistencies in the identification
process as well as in the associated taxonomies. It appears that such research is mostly kept at
the expression level, so multimodal metaphors are frequently recognized and annotated
superficially, while the question of their conceptual generalizations, which have been well
described through language examples, largely escapes the authors' attention. To resolve this
issue, or at the very least to suggest potential solutions, two currently dominant models of
identifying multimodal metaphors will be used as a theoretical template: the previously
mentioned Forceville's linguistic model and the marketing approach developed by Phillips
and McQuarrie (2004), combined with the VisMet online database of visual and multimodal
metaphors for the analysis. The already recognized inconsistencies in the current annotations
regarding the level of metaphorical expression will be highlighted (Sušac, 2022), as well as
the possibilities of their conceptualizations that could generate different multimodal
realizations, similar to the process already recognized in language samples. The assumption is
that such an approach can have a high application value, primarily in the field of advertising,
i.e. for different displays of the same product or for different products with equal or similar
conceptual mappings.

References

Bolognesi, M. (2017). Conceptual metaphors and metaphoric expressions in images. In


Baicchi, A. & Pinelli, E. (eds.). Cognitive modelling in language and discourse across
cultures. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 367–383.

Bolognesi, M. & van Den Heerik, R. & E. van Den Berg, E. (2018). VisMet 1.0: An online
corpus of visual metaphors. In G. Steen (eds.), Visual metaphor: Structure and process, 89–
113. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Bort-Mir, L & Bolognesi, M. (2022). Reliability in the identification of metaphors in (filmic)


multimodal communication. Multimodal Communication 2022; 11(3): 187–201.

Forceville, C. (1996). Pictorial metaphor in advertising. London: Routledge.


Forceville, C. (2017). Visual and multimodal metaphor in advertising: Cultural
perspectives. Styles of Communication 9(2). 26–41

Forceville, C. & Urios-Aparisi, E. (eds.). 2009. Multimodal metaphor. Berlin: Mouton de


Gruyter.

Kress, G. (2009). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary


communication. London: Routledge.

Kress, G. & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design.
London: Routledge.

Lakoff, G. & M. Johnson. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago/London: The University of
Chicago Press.

Oswald, L. (2012). Marketing Semiotics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pérez-Sobrino, P. (2017). Multimodal metaphor and metonymy in advertising. Amsterdam:


John Benjamins

Phillips, B. & McQuarrie, E. (2004). Beyond visual metaphor: a new typology of visual
rhetoric in advertising, Marketing Theory 2004; 4; 113–136.

Stampoulidis, G. & Bolognesi, M. & Zlatev, J. (2019). A cognitive semiotic exploration of


metaphors in Greek street art. Cognitive Semiotics 12 (1).

Steen, G. J. (eds.). (2018). Visual metaphor: Structure and process. Amsterdam: John
Benjamins.

Sušac, V. (2022). Kognitivna semiotika oglašavanja. Zadar: Morepress

You might also like