Visualizing the national voice: a multimodal metaphor analysis of Putonghua Promotion posters

References

Chan, Jim Y. H. 2024. English and Putonghua varieties in Hong Kong: Language attitudes and identity. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2024.2398184.Search in Google Scholar

Feng, Dezheng. 2011. 多模态隐喻的构建与分类—系统功能视⻆ [The construction and categorization of multimodal metaphor: A systemic functional approach]. Waiyu Yanjiu (1). 24–29.Search in Google Scholar

Feng, Dezheng. 2023. Multimodal Chinese discourse: Understanding communication and society in contemporary China. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.10.4324/9781003130659Search in Google Scholar

Feng, Dezheng & Kay L. O’Halloran. 2013. The visual representation of metaphor: A social semiotic approach. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 11(2). 320–335.10.1075/rcl.11.2.07fenSearch in Google Scholar

Feng, Debing & Xiangxiang Wu. 2022. Coronavirus, demons, and war: Visual and multimodal metaphor in Chinese public service advertisements. SAGE Open 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221078855 (accessed 30 June 2025).Search in Google Scholar

Forceville, Charles J. 2009. Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research. In Charles J. Forceville & E. Urios-Aparisi Eduardo (eds.), Multimodal metaphor, 19–44. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110215366.1.19Search in Google Scholar

Goatly, Andrew. 2007. Washing the brain: Metaphor and hidden ideology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/dapsac.23Search in Google Scholar

Halliday, Michael A. K. 1994. An introduction to functional grammar, 2nd edn. London: Edward Arnold.Search in Google Scholar

Jeong, Se-Hoon. 2007. Visual metaphor in advertising: Is the persuasive effect attributable to visual argumentation or metaphorical rhetoric? Journal of Marketing Communications 14(1). 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697010701717488.Search in Google Scholar

Jia, Yan. 2024. Beyond the scripts of digital posters: A case study of language ideologies and writing practices in contemporary China. Diggit Magazine. https://www.diggitmagazine.com/academic-papers/beyond-scripts-digital-posters-case-study-language-ideologies-and-writing-practices (accessed 1 July 2025).Search in Google Scholar

Jiang, Bingbing. 2023. The preservation and inheritance of Chinese dialects: Reflections on the phenomenon of Chinese dialect loss in the new era. Athena Transactions in Social Sciences and Humanities 4. 13–18.10.55060/s.atssh.230322.003Search in Google Scholar

Koutsogiannis, Dimitris & Bessie Mitsikopoulou. 2003. Greeklish and Greekness: Trends and discourses of “glocalness”. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2003.tb00363.x (accessed 1 July 2025).Search in Google Scholar

Kövecses, Zoltán. 2002. Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195145113.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Kövecses, Zoltán. 2020. Visual metaphor in extended conceptual metaphor theory. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 7(1). 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.00047.kov.Search in Google Scholar

Kress, Gunther. 2010. Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading images: The grammar of visual design, 2nd edn. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203619728Search in Google Scholar

Lakoff, George & Mark Johnson. 1980. Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Search in Google Scholar

Lampinen, Veera. 2024. Putonghua education in Hong Kong: Using Putonghua as the medium of instruction in Chinese classes. Turku: University of Turku BA thesis.Search in Google Scholar

Louzada, Bruno & Schuyler Laparle. 2025. The devil is in the gestures: Multimodal metaphors in preaching. Multimodality & Society 5(3). 346–371. https://doi.org/10.1177/26349795251355867.Search in Google Scholar

Machin, David. 2007. Introduction to multimodal analysis. London & Banbury: Hodder Education.Search in Google Scholar

Policy and Regulations Office of the National Language Commission (ed.). 1996. 国家语⾔⽂字政策法规汇编, 1949–1995 [Collection of state language and script policies, 1949–1995]. Beijing: Yuwen Press.Search in Google Scholar

Schmid, Carol L. 2001. Attitudes toward language, national identity, and cultural pluralism. In Carol L. Schmid (ed.), The politics of language: Conflict, identity, and cultural pluralism in comparative perspective, 75–100. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780195137750.003.0005Search in Google Scholar

Shabtaev, Ronald, Sharon Armon-Lotem & Joel Walters. 2024. The impact of ethnic identity on language attitudes. Journal of Language, Identity & Education. 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2024.2391961.Search in Google Scholar

Shen, Qi & Xuesong Gao. 2019. Multilingualism and policy making in greater China: Ideological and implementational spaces. Language Policy 18. 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9473-7.Search in Google Scholar

Silverstein, Michael. 1985. Language and the culture of gender: At the intersection of structure, usage, and ideology. In Elizabeth Mertz & Richard J. Parmentier (eds.), Semiotic mediation: Sociocultural and psychological perspective, 219–259. Oxford: Academic Press.10.1016/B978-0-12-491280-9.50016-9Search in Google Scholar

Tang, Mi, Ying Xiang & Cong Wang. 2020. Research on Putonghua promotion and dialect culture protection in Guanzhong region. In Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on arts, linguistics, literature and humanities (ICALLH 2020). https://webofproceedings.org/proceedings_series/ART2L/ICALLH%202020/WHYWB339.pdf (accessed 1 July 2025).Search in Google Scholar

van Leeuwen, Theo. 2005. Introducing social semiotics. London: Routledge.10.4324/9780203647028Search in Google Scholar

Wang, Hui & Zhongrui Yuan. 2013. The promotion of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese): An overview. In Yuming Li & Wei Li (eds.) The language situation in China, vol. 1, 27–44. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Search in Google Scholar

Wrenn, James J. 1975. Popularization of Putonghua. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 3(2/3). 221–227.Search in Google Scholar

Xu, Hao. 2019. Putonghua as “admission ticket” to linguistic market in minority regions in China. Language Policy 18. 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-018-9462-x.Search in Google Scholar

Xu, Chen & Xiao Liu. 2023. The economic value of language in China: How important is Mandarin proficiency in the Chinese labor market? A bounding approach. Labour Economics 84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2023.102393 (accessed 1 July 2025).Search in Google Scholar

Yang, Jia. 2020. 我国国家通⽤语普及能⼒建设 70 年:回顾与展望 [National competence of popularizing Putonghua in the past 70 years: Looking back and ahead]. Journal of Yunnan Normal University 11(6).Search in Google Scholar

Yu, Hanjing, Heyao Zhang & Wenyu Liu. 2025. Visual metaphors in current Chinese ideological promotion: A multimodal analysis of public service advertisements. Cogent Arts & Humanities 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2480883 (accessed 1 July 2025).Search in Google Scholar

Zhang, Huiyu & Shimeng Cai. 2020. Putonghua vs. minority languages: Distribution of language laws, regulations, and documents in mainland China. Ethnic and Racial Studies 44. 2574–2594. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1828598.Search in Google Scholar

Zhang, Huiyu, Yayu Shi & Haitao Liu. 2023. Evolving means of formal language policy on Putonghua and minority languages on the Chinese mainland (1986–2021). International Journal of Multilingualism 21(4). 1821–1840. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2023.2224008.Search in Google Scholar