空间隐喻与多模态意义建构——以汽车广告为例

Spatial Metaphor and the Construction of Multimodal Meaning:The Case of Car Advertisements

Kress & van Leeuwen[1]所建立的图像语法的主要问题是缺乏认知理据,其中空间关系的符号学意义更是备受质疑。从概念隐喻理论出发,视觉空间的意义可视为空间关系与抽象意义之间的隐喻映射。在多模态视觉语篇中,空间隐喻通过方位关系构建社会现实与人际关系,并将语言、图像等各种意义载体组构为连贯的整体。同时,作为一种语篇策略,空间要素的分配与组织体现作者的语篇目的,影响读者的思维与行动。

The epistemological status of the visual grammar established by Kress ＆ van Leeuwen [ 1 ] has long been challenged, especially the meaning of spatial relations, which is the primary element of visual graannar. This thesis argues that the meaning of visual space comes from cross-domain mapping based on human experience. Therefore, spatial metaphor, which does the mapping from spatial elements to semiotic meaning, plays a significant role in establishing the epistemological status of visual grammar. In visual discourse, spatial metaphor constructs social reality and interpersonal relations on the one hand, and organizes different elements into a coherent whole on the other. Meanwhile, the choice and configuration of spatial elements is not arbitrary, but motivated by discourse strategies. The authors realize their specific discourse purposes through the choice, transformation and configuration of multimodal semiotic resources.