Abstract—The meaning construction and interpretation of
metaphor exist in verbal and non-verbal forms (multimodal
forms such as sound and color). As the carrier of verbal and
non-verbal symbols, the function of news cartoons is far greater
than that of words. Based on the conceptual integration theory,
this paper analyzes the multimodal metaphor phenomenon and
meaning construction process of news cartoons with the theme
of “uniting as one to fight the epidemic” selected from China
News Cartoons Network. The research finds that the
multimodal metaphorical representation of “uniting as one to
fight the epidemic” reflects people’s basic cognition, which is
affected by one’s experience, history and culture; the meaning
construction of the multimodal metaphorical scene of “uniting
as one to fight the epidemic” has the characteristics of dynamic
processing. This paper aims to enhance people’s awareness of
novel coronavirus through the cognitive interpretation of
multimodal metaphors in news cartoons.
Index Terms—Metaphor, news cartoons, conceptual
integration theory, multimodal metaphor, meaning
construction
Li Chen is with the School of Foreign Languages, Northwest Normal
University, Lanzhou, China. E-mail: Lichen279101@163.com
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Cite:Li Chen, "A Cognitive Analysis of Multimodal Metaphors in News Cartoons Based on Conceptual Integration Theory," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 276-280, 2023.