Mixing in pictorial and multimodal metaphors?

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2016
Host editors
  • R.W. Gibbs, Jr.
Book title Mixing Metaphor
ISBN
  • 9789027202109
ISBN (electronic)
  • 9789027267504
Series Metaphor in Language, Cognition, and Communication, 6
Pages (from-to) 223-240
Publisher Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Organisations
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication (ACLC)
Abstract
"Mixed metaphors" in language use two or more different source domains to predicate something about the same target domain in a short stretch of discourse. This often leads to unintendedly humorous results and is usually considered bad style. Given that metaphors may be expressed pictorially or multimodally as well as verbally, one may ask whether non-verbal modalities can also give rise to metaphors of the "mixed" kind. If so, would such instances be considered odd, humorous, or stylistically awkward? And what, if anything, would make such "mixed metaphors" different from metaphoric blends with three input spaces (one target and two sources)? The provisional conclusion is: we should, for the time being, not adopt "mixed pictorial/multimodal metaphor" as a technical term; but the discussion provides leads for further research from which both metaphor theory and multimodal discourse analysis will benefit.
Document type Chapter
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.6.11for
Downloads
11for (Final published version)
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