Visual metaphor analysis: a relevance theory approach

Abstract

The article proposes a method for analyzing visual metaphors using Relevance Theory tools, including ad hoc concepts, emergent properties, and meta-representations. It identifies the specific features of visual metaphor meaning inference as a multi-component structure based on the interplay of explicature, contextual assumptions, and implicatures from ad hoc properties of visually encoded source and target concepts. The study demonstrates that implicatures from the source domain concept's ad hoc properties, adapted to the target, form primary and secondary mappings between domains, checked for relevance against contextual constraints and meta-representations. A hypothesis is proposed and tested regarding the influence of domain visualization methods and processing focus on cognitive effort and achieving an optimal balance between effort and cognitive effects.