Source actions ground metaphor via metonymy

TY - CHAP

T1 - Source actions ground metaphor via metonymy

T2 - Toward a Frame-Based Account of Gestural Action in Multimodal Discourse

AU - Mittelberg, Irene

AU - Joue, Gina

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - This chapter starts from the observation that metaphoric understandings expressed monomodally through gesture tend to rely on “primary metaphors” (Grady 1997). Asserting that gestures draw on basic, experientially motivated, embodied construal operations, we detail how primary scenes and subscenes (Grady & Johnson 2002), image and force schemas, metonymy, and frames (Fillmore 1982) interact in situated meaning-making. We propose that by shifting the focus from object-oriented schemas, source domains, and mappings to what we call “source actions” and “embodied action frames,” we can account for the pragmatically minded nature and specific mediality of communicative gestural acts integrated in natural multimodal discourse. We argue that coverbal gestures recruit frame structures metonymically, singling out elements of “scenes“ (Fillmore 1977), especially those underpinning correlated metaphoric meanings. We back up our theoretical claims with evidence from neuroscientific studies and outline how a frame-based approach may help trace avenues for further research into embodied cognition and multimodal discourse processes.

AB - This chapter starts from the observation that metaphoric understandings expressed monomodally through gesture tend to rely on “primary metaphors” (Grady 1997). Asserting that gestures draw on basic, experientially motivated, embodied construal operations, we detail how primary scenes and subscenes (Grady & Johnson 2002), image and force schemas, metonymy, and frames (Fillmore 1982) interact in situated meaning-making. We propose that by shifting the focus from object-oriented schemas, source domains, and mappings to what we call “source actions” and “embodied action frames,” we can account for the pragmatically minded nature and specific mediality of communicative gestural acts integrated in natural multimodal discourse. We argue that coverbal gestures recruit frame structures metonymically, singling out elements of “scenes“ (Fillmore 1977), especially those underpinning correlated metaphoric meanings. We back up our theoretical claims with evidence from neuroscientific studies and outline how a frame-based approach may help trace avenues for further research into embodied cognition and multimodal discourse processes.

M3 - SCORING: Contribution to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 9781107198333

SP - 119

EP - 137

BT - Metaphor

A2 - Hampe, Beate

PB - Cambridge University Press

ER -