Mental Process of Meaning Construction in Advertisement Discourse: Multimodal Approach.

The interaction of verbal and visual elements is what forms the unique superficial structure of advertisements. Scholars like Barthe (1977), Martinec and Salway (2005), Jackendoff (2002), Cohn (2016) have examined text and image relation focusing on the meanings that could be achieved through the interaction of verbal and visual modes. However, much attention has not been given to the degree of contribution of these modes and the fundamental mental processes involved in meaning construction in adverts. This study seeks to fill this gap by identifying the meanings that actually emanate from the interaction of the verbal and visual modes in adverts. It identifies the dominant mode in the interaction and the fundamental mental processes involved in meaning construction in adverts through multimodal metaphor. Thereby, highlights the role of multimodal metaphor and metonymy in meaning construction. The data of this study comprises advertisements in selected German magazines (der Stern, der Spiegel, das Bild der Frau). The analytical approach adopts Cohn Multimodal Parallel Architectural Model (2016) and Forceville’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory (1980) to determine the contribution of each mode and the mental process of meaning making in advert. The aim is to reveal the mental process of meaning construction in adverts through text and image relation. The study concludes that applying cognitive processes in analysing multimodal texts enhances language learning and cognitive ability in foreign language learning through critical thinking.