Multimodal Distance Crossing in Arctic Environmental Discourse
Based on the perspective of Critical Cognitive Linguistics,this study investigates the multimodal symbolic representation and meaning construction of Arctic environmental discourse.Geographical,physical and social distances in the real world can be dis-cursively represented as symbolic distances,and can be adjusted by means of specific discursive strategies,thus achieving the re-construction of social relations.The reduction of symbolic distance is known as"distance crossing",which involves two discur-sive strategies.Proximization constructs negative meanings by presenting the approaching of threat or danger,while alignment conveys positive meanings by projecting coexistence,connection and identity.Distance crossing can be realized either linguisti-cally by lexico-grammatical devices,or visually by semiotic resources including images and colors.We investigate the deployment of distance crossing devices in multimodal Arctic environmental discourse with data from a series of reports released by the U.S.Arctic Research Commission.This study helps to enrich the perspective of interpreting Arctic environmental discourses on the one hand,and to refine the Proximization Theory on the other.
万方数据
维普
