A Study Of Meaning Construction Of Multimodal Metaphors In The Economist From The Perspective Of Conceptual Blending Theory

Conceptual blending theory and conceptual metaphor have been a hot topic in the modern cognitive linguistics, in recent years, some scholars have begun to combine the two theories and study the impact of them. The emergence of multimodal metaphor makes up for the insufficiency in the previous research of conceptual metaphor. The notion of multimodal metaphor is put forward by Forceville(1996), a Dutch Scholar and develops very rapidly, and has become a hot topic in the interdisciplinary research field. A multimodal metaphor can be defined as “metaphor whose target and source domains are each represented exclusively or predominantly in different modalities”(Forceville, 2009:24). It is the further development of cognitive metaphor theory with two big characteristics: dynamism and interactivity.By studying multimodal metaphor, metaphor is represented with interest on the one hand, and dynamic and cultural characteristics are achieved in the production and interpretation of metaphor, with abstract mental process fully revealed on the other hand.Previous studies of multimodal metaphor mainly concern with cases study of genres, involves advertisements, cartoons, comic books, sign language, films, etc.Few studies focus on the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor in English news. And conceptual blending theory, as one of the most influential theories in the field of cognitive linguistics, provides a powerful explanation for innovative thinking and generation of new notion of people.Conceptual blending theory is a cognitive theory put forward by Fauconnier(1997) which combines metaphorical mechanism with other linguistic and cognitive phenomena, improving the model of two domain mapping into four spatial patterns.To some extent, conceptual blending theory is regarded as the dynamic model of meaning construction. So it is widely applied to analyze the changing psychological process. In short, conceptual blending means a series of cognitive activities,combining different frames of cognitive domain together. Mental spaces process and blend input information on procedures for producing notions, playing a critical role in the acquisition of conceptual knowledge. The process of meaning construction of multimodal metaphor would necessarily concern the construction of mental space and their interactions. So using the conceptual blending theory to the analysis of meaning construction of multimodal metaphor is feasible.After a brief review of the previous studies and with conceptual blending theory as the framework, this thesis adopts both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze and study the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor in The Economist. The author adds a new semiotic base space to the original four mental spaces model as proposed by Fauconnier, namely, an input space consisting of pictures, cartoons, colors and so on. The thesis aims to answer the following three research questions:1) What is the process of meaning construction of multimodal metaphor in The Economist?2) How are the meaning of multimodal metaphor constructed in four blending networks in The Economist?3) What factors may influence the meaning construction of multimodal metaphors in The Economist?All the research data are chosen from The Economist for the following reasons.Firstly, The Economist is one of the mainstream western magazines. Secondly, the articles, famous for its wit, rigor and humor, aim at delivering as much information as possible in the limited space. Notably, the articles are anonymous so that the author can take a firm stand on his own view. Meanwhile, compared with other foreign magazines, The Economist holds a more objective attitude. Thirdly, with a comprehensive perspective, The Economist covers a relatively wide range of topics concerning politics, economy, business, technology and art, etc. Fourthly, the pictures and cartoons match the text appropriately. Fifthly, the magazine is updated once a week, with a great number of articles to be collected as research data.In order to conduct the research, this thesis takes the English news in The Economist from April 2014 to May 2015 as its range of data collection, from which100 news with pictures and cartoons are chosen randomly. After a detailed study, the thesis finally selects 10 news with distinct examples of multimodal metaphor as its analysis objects.According to conceptual blending theory, when people think and communicate with others, they have to understand what the message means. So they have to construct some small conceptual packages, storing them in fictitious mental spaces.When people carry on a conversation with others, they build some new mental spaces continually, and each mental space is a temporary structure, which depends on one or more specific or related knowledge structure. Finally, there are three component processes that give rise to emergent structure: composition, completion and elaboration. The component structure is the source of metaphorical meaning and realizes the construction of metaphorical meaning. Conceptual blending network is the core of the conceptual blending theory, and its principle is the cognitive operations of the mental spaces and the construction of mental space networks by mapping.Conceptual integration network is divided into four sub-networks by different degree of emergent meaning: Simplex networks, Mirror networks, Single-scope networks and Double-scope networks. All of them are contributed to constructing meaning of multimodal metaphor, although the four integration networks have different working mechanisms.Based on the conceptual blending theory, the thesis classifies and analyzes ten articles in four integration networks of The Economist to find how the meaning of multimodal metaphor are constructed in the emergent structure.It is found that in The Economist, the image modal and text modal of the news event have different functions with the text modal still being the main modal and possessing an important position in describing news events. However, the image modal is very effective in attracting the reader’s attention by using bold colors and exaggerated composition. So the picture or the cartoon always work together with the text in conveying the writer’s real intention. It is also found that there is synergy between news and picture or cartoon in constructing metaphorical meaning. One is to point out its complementation between texts and image, by eliminating indeterminacy and ambiguity. The other one is to point out or explain what the picture means, and express writer’s real intentions clearly. The research assumes that analyzing semiotic mode is one of the key points in understanding the meaning of multimodal metaphor.Therefore, to better understand what the writer means, we need to understand the significant roles played by the text modal as well as the image modal. So it is feasible for the new mental space-semiotic base space to be proposed by the present study in analyzing the meaning construction process of multimodal metaphor in The Economist.It is also found that the factors influencing the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor can be classified into cultural model and individual cognition.As is analyzed, the understanding of the multimodal metaphor as represented by the combination of the text modals and the image modals consisting of the pictures and cartoon vary from individual to individual and from culture to culture.To some extent, the thesis can further verify the feasibility and efficiency of conceptual blending theory in studying the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor. An input space or semiotic base space is added in the thesis based on the conceptual blending theory and features of multimodal metaphor. The newly added space to some degree has improved the network model of conceptual blending,elaborated the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor and broadened the range in explaining the conceptual blending theory. The study of the meaning construction of multimodal metaphor and of western mainstream media news is hoped to provide a constructive method and give some inspiration to understand and appreciate news with pictures and cartoons.