Abstract
Most studies on metaphor, in the wake of the work published by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), have mainly focused on its verbal component. Few scholars have attempted to approach the study of metaphor from the perspective of its non-verbal manifestations. Among them, I will mention Forceville (1994, 1996), who has done extensive research into the use of what he has coined “pictorial metaphor” and has provided an interesting account of it in the domain of advertising. In this paper, following the example set by this author, I consider a number of pictorial metaphors with some of the same guiding questions: What is the literal A-term? What is the figurative B-term? And what properties get projected from one onto the other? The concept of situational context (Fairclough, 1989) will play a key role when answering these questions. Finally, presuming that language is “an instrument of control” as claimed by Hodge and Kress (1993), I will try to uncover the persuasion exercised through metaphor (its inference patterns and value judgements) in the discourse of advertising.
Highlights
Has the study of metaphor been one of the main subjects of inquiry within the fields of literature and psychology, but it has been within linguistics -our primary concern
Since the working hypothesis for this paper was that the use of pictorial metaphor contributed to a more effective and visual transmission of a number of values promoted through advertising, let us look into each advertisement at the secondary subject (SS) chosen and at the properties projected from SS onto PS as that will determine the values enhanced as part of our society’s upheld ideology
Pictorial metaphor was the focus of this paper
Summary
Has the study of metaphor been one of the main subjects of inquiry within the fields of literature and psychology, but it has been within linguistics -our primary concern-. Later contributions by the same authors to the theory of metaphor can be found in Lakoff’s publication on the analysis of contemporary American politics (1996) and Lakoff and Johnson’s book (1999) on the analysis of Western philosophy Both publications work on redefining the structure of the two concepts by applying this new vision of metaphor. In the case of Kennedy, he studied metaphor in pictures by applying Richards’ (1971) well-known concepts of tenor (primary subject) and vehicle (secondary subject). As far as Forceville (1994, 1996) is concerned, he is the first one to introduce a comprehensive theory of pictorial metaphor in advertising which offers a useful model for analysis He proposes that pictorial metaphor, the same as its verbal version, has two terms: a “literal primary subject” and a “figurative secondary subject” (1996: 5). The reason behind the choice of advertisements is that they have a very straight forward purpose directing our attention persuasively to certain aspects of experience and hiding others, which is the point highlighted by Barthes (1986) when he says that intentionality is a key ingredient in advertising as only the attributes that want to be transmitted get all the light and attention
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