A Comparison of Visual Communication between Chinese and English Advertisements
This paper aims to demonstrate the notion that visual communication is neither a culturally transparent nor a universally perceived means of communication. Instead, it is even more culturally and ideologically loaded than other communication systems in that it operates very often at the unconscious level of the mind and thus is more easily free from the critical analysis. I will draw on the composition framework of visual texts developed by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), especially the two descriptive categories -spatial arrangement and visual directionality, to analyze some subscription advertisements in Chinese and English newspapers. The analysis finds that the Western and Chinese advertisements display very different features in this respect, and can only be satisfactorily explained with consideration of a complex array of underlying factors including traditions of visual culture, writing system, philosophy, etc.
visual communication advertisements textual composition visual directionality
Yanli MENG
Department of English, Peking University
国际会议
The 36th International Systemic Functional Congress(第36届国际系统功能语言学大会暨第十一届全国功能语言学研讨会ISFC36)
北京
英文
208-212
2009-07-14（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）