A Case Study Of Multimodal Metaphor And Metonymy In The U.S Epidemic Cartoons

The concept of multimodal metaphor introduced by Forceville(1996)has led to a new understanding of metaphor.It is considered to exist not only in language but also in other modalities such as images and sounds.Cartoon,which embodies multimodality,therefore,has attracted many researchers’ attention.Some researchers such as Philippe(1982),Morrison(1992)believe that multimodal metaphor is a common cognitive instrument for comic artists to express their opinions.Domestic and international scholars have conducted studies on cartoons from the perspective of multimodal metaphors,and conclude that there are metaphors and metonymies in cartoons that function as the main means of expressing opinions in cartoons.Despite many studies on cartoons,there have been few studies on the U.S epidemic cartoons.Studying cartoons helps readers know how to read cartoons of a special period and understand the real attitude of a country towards emergency more clearly.A thorough analysis of cartoons can also enable readers to understand cartoons comprehensively and be aware of official attitude for current affairs.Consequently,the current research aims to identify the process and type of modal metaphors in American epidemic cartoons,recognize the interaction between multimodal metaphors and metonymy,as well as figure out the meaning construction of American epidemic cartoons from different dimensions of modalities.Twelve cartoons related to the American epidemic situation from the official media the U.S News and World Report,the Weekly and an official website of cartoons(www.Cagle.com),are selected as the research data.Observation,comparison and description are employed based on multimodal metaphorical theory of Forceville and Eduardo Urios-Aparisi and the theory of content analysis of visual image of Van Leeuwen(2001).The results show that:(1)Metaphors are widely found in American epidemic-themed cartoons and are a common tool for cartoonists to convey views.All four metaphorical mapping modalities are used,including multimodal mapping,cross modal mapping,monomodal mapping,and implied mapping.Among them,multimodal mapping and cross modal mapping are used more frequently than monomodal mapping and implied mapping.The reason is that in monomodal mapping,the content expressed by the cartoonist cannot be highlighted,which may cause readers’ misunderstandings of cartoons.(2)In terms of metaphorical mappings,there are two kinds of interactions between metaphor and metonymy,including metonymy presented in the target domain and metaphor independent of metonymy.On the one hand,metonymy can achieve metaphorical mapping through the cognitive mechanism of utilizing concrete objects to represent abstract things or using one part to replace the whole;on the other hand,metaphor constructs mapping independently of metonymy.(3)Metaphor and metonymy play an important role in meaning construction and interpretation.Cartoonists often pay attention to five modalities including color,size,image distance and dynamic attributes in their creations,while readers often find it difficult to notice these aspects.By offering a thorough analysis through multiple dimension,this study can deepen readers understanding on cartoons.However,despite implications,there are still shortcomings in this study.For example,the number of cartoons analyzed is limited and the analysis is not deep enough.In the future,more related cartoons in news reports should be collected and analyzed by integrating different methods.