John Benjamins Publishing Company
Woven emotions
Abstract
Following Forceville (2005, 2011), in this paper I show that the same conceptual models underlie the expression of Old English emotions in both the language and the visual modes. Kövecses (2000, 2005) and Stefanowitsch (2004, 2006) have shown that verbal expressions and idioms used to describe emotions can be traced back to a limited number of conceptual metaphors. In the light of these findings, I will analyze here the pictorial representations of emotions in the Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th century embroidered cloth that narrates and depicts the events that led up to the Norman Conquest of England and the invasion itself. The tapestry, which has been described as an example of early narrative art (McCloud, 1993, pp. 12–14), shows hundreds of human figures in an astounding range of poses and circumstances. My analysis of the set of pictorial signals used in the Anglo-Norman Bayeux Tapestry to represent emotion types such as ‘anger’, ‘grief’ and ‘fear’ shows that (1) Anglo-Norman artists used a well-organized set of visual stimuli to convey emotion-related meanings in a patterned way, that (2) the same idealised conceptual models are shared by verbal and visual modalities, and that (3) whereas verbal expressions of emotions regularly draw on non-embodied, behavioural concepts, visual representations show a clear preference for embodied container concepts.
Abstract
Following Forceville (2005, 2011), in this paper I show that the same conceptual models underlie the expression of Old English emotions in both the language and the visual modes. Kövecses (2000, 2005) and Stefanowitsch (2004, 2006) have shown that verbal expressions and idioms used to describe emotions can be traced back to a limited number of conceptual metaphors. In the light of these findings, I will analyze here the pictorial representations of emotions in the Bayeux Tapestry, an 11th century embroidered cloth that narrates and depicts the events that led up to the Norman Conquest of England and the invasion itself. The tapestry, which has been described as an example of early narrative art (McCloud, 1993, pp. 12–14), shows hundreds of human figures in an astounding range of poses and circumstances. My analysis of the set of pictorial signals used in the Anglo-Norman Bayeux Tapestry to represent emotion types such as ‘anger’, ‘grief’ and ‘fear’ shows that (1) Anglo-Norman artists used a well-organized set of visual stimuli to convey emotion-related meanings in a patterned way, that (2) the same idealised conceptual models are shared by verbal and visual modalities, and that (3) whereas verbal expressions of emotions regularly draw on non-embodied, behavioural concepts, visual representations show a clear preference for embodied container concepts.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the contributors vii
- Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics 1
-
Cognitive Linguistics and multimodal metaphor
- Cross-modal resonances in creative multimodal metaphors 13
- Metaphor and symbol 27
- Woven emotions 45
- Approaching the utopia of a global brand 61
- Multimodal metaphors in political entertainment 79
-
Multimodality, Cognitive and Systemic Functional Linguistics
- The visual representation of metaphor 99
- Visual metonymy in children’s picture books 115
- The establishment of interpretative expectations in film 131
- Multimodal digital storytelling 147
-
Cognitive Linguistics and multimodal interaction
- Intermedial cognitive semiotics 167
- Multimodality in Conversational Humor 181
- Image schemas and mimetic schemas in cognitive linguistics and gesture studies 195
- Index 211
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- About the contributors vii
- Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics 1
-
Cognitive Linguistics and multimodal metaphor
- Cross-modal resonances in creative multimodal metaphors 13
- Metaphor and symbol 27
- Woven emotions 45
- Approaching the utopia of a global brand 61
- Multimodal metaphors in political entertainment 79
-
Multimodality, Cognitive and Systemic Functional Linguistics
- The visual representation of metaphor 99
- Visual metonymy in children’s picture books 115
- The establishment of interpretative expectations in film 131
- Multimodal digital storytelling 147
-
Cognitive Linguistics and multimodal interaction
- Intermedial cognitive semiotics 167
- Multimodality in Conversational Humor 181
- Image schemas and mimetic schemas in cognitive linguistics and gesture studies 195
- Index 211
