This article aims to explore how the use of pictorial and multimodal metaphors in informational picture books contributes to children’s understanding of the information or facts and, at the same time, attracts their interest in the plot of the story. The sample picture book selected for the analysis is Inside the Human Body , from The Magic School Bus series, the informational picture books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. Based on Forceville’s categorization of pictorial and multimodal metaphors, the sample text is analyzed from three perspectives, namely, the construction of the narrative reality transmitted in this picture book, the identity construction of the main characters and the interaction of pictorial and multimodal metaphors in the successfully representation of the information to the young viewer in the book. The results of the analysis show that pictorial metaphors are employed in the construction of the narrative reality transmitted in the picture book to make the plot of the story interesting and reasonable; the picture book resorts to multimodal designs to construct the unique identities of its main characters both verbally and pictorially; the text writer and the illustrator of the information picture book collaborate to present the concepts and information through the combination of different types of pictorial and multimodal metaphors. The analysis also suggests that most of the pictorial metaphors are represented with two pictorially present terms (MP2) and verbo-pictorial metaphors (VPMs).
KeywordsPictorial MetaphorMultimodal MetaphorInformational Picture Books<i>Inside the Human Body</i>
Bounegru, L., & Forceville, C. (2011). Metaphors in Editorial Cartoons Representing the Global Financial Crisis. Visual Communication, 10, 209-229. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1470357211398446
Chen X. (2014). Current Research on Identity from the Pragmatic Perspective: Key Issues and Main Approaches. Ph.D. Thesis, Nanjing University.
Cole, J. (1990). The Magic School Bus—Inside the Human Body. New York: Scholastic Press.
Dong, W. M. (2014). Metaphor Cognition and its Educational Application in Children Aged from 3 to 6. Ph.D. Thesis, Zhejiang University.
El Refaie, E. (2003). Understanding Visual Metaphors: The Example of Newspaper Cartoons. Visual Communication, 2, 75-95. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1470357203002001755
Forceville, C. (1996). Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising. Routledge.
Forceville, C. (1999). The Metaphor “COLIN IS A CHILD” in Ian McEwan’s, Harold Pinter’s, and Paul Schrader’s. The Comfort of Strangers. Metaphor and Symbol, 14, 179-198. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327868MS140302
Forceville, C. (2002). The Identification of Target and Source in Pictorial Metaphors. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(01)00007-8
Forceville, C. (2006). Non-Verbal and Multimodal Metaphor in a Cognitive Framework. Agendas for Research. In G. Kristiansen, M. Achard, R. Dirven, & F. Ruiz de Mendoza (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives (pp. 379-402). Mouton de Gruyter.
Forceville, C. (2007). Multimodal Metaphor in Ten Dutch TV Commercials. The Public Journal of Semiotics, 1, 15-34. https://doi.org/10.37693/pjos.2007.1.8812
Forceville, C. (2008). Metaphors in Pictures and Multimodal Representations. In W. R. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought (pp. 462-482). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816802.028
Forceville, C. (2009a). Metonymy in Visual and Audiovisual Discourse. In E. Ventola, & A. J. Moya, (Eds.), The World Told and the World Shown: Multisemiotic Issues (pp. 57-74). Basingstoke.
Forceville, C. (2009b). Non-Verbal and Multimodal Metaphor in a Cognitive Framework: Agendas for Research. In C. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal Metaphor (pp. 19-44). Mouton de Gruyter.
Forceville, C. (2016). Visual and Multimodal Metaphor in Film: Charting the Field. In K. Fahlenbrach (Ed), Embodied Metaphors in Film, Television and Video Games: Cognitive Approaches (pp. 17-32). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315724522-2
Forceville, C., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (Eds.) (2009). Multimodal Metaphor. Mouton de Gruyter.
Gibbs, W. R. (Eds.) (2008). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511816802
Johnson, M. (1987). The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination and Reason. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226177847.001.0001
Johnson, M. (1993). Moral Imagination: Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226223230.001.0001
Johnson, M. (2007). The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding. University of Chicago Press.
Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A Social Semiotic Approach to Contemporary Communication. Routledge.
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226471013.001.0001
Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought (2nd ed., pp. 202-251). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139173865.013
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press.
Ma, T. H., & Gao, Y. (2020). Multimodal Metaphor Construction and Critical Analysis of American Political Cartoons: The Case of the U.S.-China Trade Conflict. Foreign Language Research, 1, 25-32. https://doi.org/10.13978/j.cnki.wyyj.2020.01.005
McQuarrie, E. F., & Phillips, B. J. (Eds.) (2008). Go Figure! New Directions in Advertising Rhetoric. ME Sharpe.
Meng, L. (2019). Multimodal Construction of the Meaning of Death in the Narrative of English Children’s Picture Book: Multimodal Narrative Analysis of Is Daddy Coming Back in a Minute? Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 1, 12-19.
Jesús Moya Guijarro, A. (2013). Visual Metonymy in Children’s Picture Books. Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 11, 336-352. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.11.2.08moy
Ortony, A. (Ed.) (1979). Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge University Press.
Rohdin, M. (2009). Multimodal Metaphor in Classical Film Theory from the 1920s to the 1950s. In C. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal Metaphor (pp. 403-428). Mouton de Gruyter.
Schilperoord, J., & Maes, A. (2009). Visual Metaphoric Conceptualization in Editorial Cartoons. In C. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal Metaphor (pp. 213-240). Mouton de Gruyter.
Seitz, J. A. (1997). The Development of Metaphoric Understanding: Implications for a Theory of Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 10, 347-353. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1004_6
Siltane, S. A. (1986). “Butterflies Are Rainbows”: A Developmental Investigation of Metaphor Comprehension. Communication Education, 35, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634528609388314
Thompson, G., & Ye, Y. Y. (1991). Evaluation in the Reporting Verbs Used in Academic Papers. Applied Linguistics, 12, 365-382. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/12.4.365
Turner, M. (1996). The Literary Mind. Oxford University Press.
Wang, H., & Xin, B. (2019). On the Construction of China’s Image by US Media Based on a Critical Metaphor Analysis of News Coverage on “US Withdrawal from TPP”. Foreign Language Education, 3, 32-38.
Wang, J. (2013). Preschool Children’s Reading Comprehension of Informational Picture Books. Ph.D. Thesis, East China Normal University.
Wang, X. P., & Wang, J. (2018). On the Representation Forms of Dynamic Multimodal Metaphors in Advertising: Properties of Modal Usage and Motivations. Foreign Language Research, 5, 47-52.
Wang, Y. L., & Feng, D. Z. (2020). Multimodal Construction of Online Media and Female Identity—Taking Douyu Live Video as an Example. Foreign Language Studies, 00, 66-76.
Whittock, T. (1990). Metaphor and Film. Cambridge University Press.
Wiggin, A. A., & Miller, C. M. (2003). “Uncle Sam Wants You!” Exploring Verbal-Visual Juxtapositions in Elevision advertising. In L. M. Scott, & R. Batra (Eds.), Persuasive Imagery: A Consumer Response Perspective (pp. 267-295). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Yu, N. (2009). Nonverbal and Multimodal Manifestation of Metaphors and Metonymies: A Case Study. In C. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal Metaphor (pp. 119-143). Mouton de Gruyter.
Zhao, X. F. (2017). Multimodal Construction of Discourse Perspective in Graphic Narrative from the Perspective of Cognitive Poetics. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 1, 35-43.
Zhao, X. F., & Li, X. W. (2016). EMOTION Representation Model of Continuum from Metonymy to Metaphor in Narrative Picture Books—From the Perspective of Cognitive Poetics. Foreign Language Education, 1, 10-14.