| As a grand-scale initiative,the“Belt and Road Initiative"(hereinafter shortened as the B&R)has steadily gained ground from domestic and foreign media.However,foreign media always perceive the B&R as rather aggressive or even offensive,and this misleading perception may even hinder the progress of the B&R.To improve the overseas publicity of the B&R,various efforts have been made in China,including expanding communication channels to new media,which have formed a socio-pragmatic space for the multimodal discourse to convey ideas and values.Editorial cartoons accompanying verbal news reports concerning the B&R in China’s new media,as a strand of multimodal metaphor-rich discourse,pIay an increasingly crucial role in image construction and attitude expression.However,research in socio-pragmatic aspect of multimodal metaphor is still in its infancy,and work on the interrelation between the editorial cartoon and the corresponding news report is still scarce.Conscious of this,the thesis focuses on 46 editorials(46 verbal news reports with 48 cartoons embedded inside)under the topic of the B&R in China’s new media and attempts to expand the applicable scope of the Discourse Dynamics Framework(DDF)for metaphor(Cameron&Malsen,2010)from verbal mode to visual mode.On the basis of the DDF,the thesis conducts a detailed content analysis to explore the distributional pattern of systematic metaphors discerned among editorial cartoons concerning the B&R,and the intersemiotic text-image relations between editorial cartoons and corresponding verbal news reports related to the B&R.Furthermore,the thesis investigates how pictorial/multimodal metaphors in cartoons construct the basic concept of the B&R,and inspects image construction strategy as well as attitude expression in multimodal editorials pivoting around the B&R.Research findings reveal that:through tracing systematic metaphors related to the B&R across editorial cartoons,the Initiative is constructed as TRANSPORT&LOCATION,GENERAL OBJECT,SOCIAL ACTION,ENTERTAINMENT,SPORT&GAME,as well as ART&CRAFT.In terms of text-image relations,on the one hand,the corresponding verbal news report helps to anchor and reinforce the interpretation of the editorial cartoon;on the other hand,verbal metaphors in corresponding news reports resonate or extend the metaphor scenario created among editorial cartoons,which strengthens or complements the attitude expression.The utilization of visual metaphorical images and the interaction between editorial cartoons and corresponding verbal news reports convey several affective stances including the positive prediction of the B&R,the advocation of the cooperative,inclusive as well as mutual beneficial concepts of the B&R,and the constructive problem-solving mindset against obstacles encountered in the process of implementing the B&R.Besides,reasons behind multimodal metaphoric choices made to conceptualize the B&R in the form of an editorial cartoon accompanying a verbal news report are analyzed from a social semiotic perspective through referring to context of situation and context of culture.At last,it gives suggestions on overseas publicity of the B&R from multimodal perspective,which is of practical significance in enhancing the effectiveness of overseas publicity of the B&R,preventing cultural misinterpretations as well as promoting people-to-people bonds. |
