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How visual metaphors can contradict verbal occurrences
A cross-linguistic and multimodal analysis of the imprint of climate change
- Source: Metaphor and the Social World, Volume 12, Issue 1, Mar 2022, p. 1 - 22
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- 08 Nov 2019
- 27 Aug 2020
- 01 Nov 2021
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Abstract
Abstract
We investigate the different interpretations related to the metaphorical imprint of climate change in English and French media discourses. This cross-linguistic perspective is motivated by the particularities of both languages which have been assumed to promote different understandings of climate change-related concepts. We focus on the metaphor carbon footprint whose meaning can be compared to another climate change metaphor in English: fingerprint. These two source domains share a highly specific and concrete meaning interpreted from lexical constructions enabled by the English language. In French, however, such a specification cannot be interpreted from the meaning of the metaphor empreinte carbone (carbon imprint) which defines a similar concept. We rely on visual representations of these metaphorical expressions in English and French to discuss the characteristics associated with each source domain: we show that visual metaphors can contradict expectations emerging from the interpretations of verbal metaphors.