Where do mixed metaphors come from? How do we make sense by mixing metaphors? How do life metaphors mix in language and other semiotic systems?
Answering these questions and many more, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of mixed metaphors in Chinese, especially with regard to its multimodal expression, its links with metonymy and its pragmatic functions. It examines verbal and non-verbal life metaphors identified from a variety of sources including self-constructed Chinese corpus of literature, multimodal life metaphors transcribed from Chinese talk shows, and visual life metaphors in internet memes, collected from Chinese social media.
The author proposes a unitary working definition for mixed metaphor, systematically delineates the features of metaphor cluster and its subcategory mixed metaphor in Chinese, characterizes the various degree of mixedness, and proposes a working criteria for evaluation. With a joint theoretical perspective from cognitive linguistics, cognitive semiotics, cognitive sociolinguistics and phenomenology, this book not only presents an in-depth description of the nature of mixed metaphor but also provides cutting-edge discussion of the linguistic and polysemiotic mixed metaphors of life in Chinese – its nature, motivation and meaning construction.