[Lecture] Metaphor, Metonymy and the Multimodal Construction of Meaning, 5 Dec.

Last updated:2014-11-24

Topic: Metaphor, Metonymy and the Multimodal Construction of Meaning
Speaker: Dr. Feng Dezheng,  The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Time: 16:20, Friday, December 5, 2014
Venue: Room 210, School of Foreign Languages Building, South Campus, SYSU
Organizer: School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University

Bionote: Dr. Feng Dezheng is Research Assistant Professor at Department of English, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His main research interest include multimodal discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, language education, etc. He has published over a dozen articles in SSCI journals such as Journal of Pragmatics, Visual Communication, Semiotica, Review of Cognitive Linguistics, and Narrative Inquiry, and Chinese journals such as Journal of Foreign Languages, Contemporary Linguistics, Modern Foreign Languages, Foreign Language Research, Foreign Languages Research. He is currently Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator of several projects, ranging from national, provincial and university levels, with the main focus on the multimodal construction of information/knowledge in public media (e.g. Public service advertising and news) and English language education (e.g. Textbooks and classroom teaching).

Abstract
In this talk, I will integrate the two main theoretical foundations of multimodal discourse analysis, namely, systemic functional theory (SFL) (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004) and conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). These two theories enlightened visual grammar (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996), and visual metaphor (Forceville, 1996) respectively, which are now two main approaches to multimodal studies. However, both theories have their limitations. First, as Kress & van Leeuwen (1998: 218) admit, “the major challenge to our approach is the epistemological status of our claims. For instance, how can we know that in western semiosis, left and right, top and bottom have the values we attribute to them, or more fundamentally, have any value at all?” Second, as Feng & O’Halloran (2013) observe, there is still no systematic account of how visual metaphors are semiotically constructed.
In spirit of cross-disciplinary fertilization, I find that SFL and CMT can solve each other’s problems. On the one hand, the systemic functional framework provides a comprehensive modeling of the visual realization of metaphor; on the other, conceptual metaphor theory provides an epistemological status to the semiotic description of visual images. This talk also proposes a new theoretical framework to explain the metonymic nature of visual representation. Therefore, I argue that the integration of these two major theoretical approaches to multimodal analysis is significant to furthering our understanding of the visual semiotic mode.
The relevance of this talk for SYSU research students is threefold. First, it critically introduces the two main approaches to multimodal studies to deepen their understanding. Second, it advocates theoretical integration and cross-fertilization as a necessary means of creation in academic research. Third, it provides practical methods for writing thesis and papers on multimodality.

Key words: metaphor, metonymy, multimodality, meaning construction