Metaphtonymic Projections in Digital Multimodal Discourse

Abstract

This article analyses metaphtonymic projections implemented by small plot-based discursive forms in digital multimodal discourse. The research is carried out within the framework of the cognitivediscursive and anthropocentric scientific paradigms. This paper is relevant due to the wide distribution of the analysed discursive forms based on metaphtonymy in digital multimodal discourse and, accordingly, due to the need to study these forms in terms of their involvement in the interpretation of digital and objective reality and exerting a pragmatic impact on the recipient. The material for the analysis includes 250 small plot-based discursive forms, the most frequent being Internet memes selected from Russianand English-language sources of new media using the continuous sampling method. Based on the empirical material analysed, the most productive metaphtonymic projections were identified according to the multimodal metaphtonymy classification suggested by P. Pérez Sobrino. It was established that the most productive metaphtonymic projections in small plot-based discursive forms are parallel metonymic narrowing in the source and target domains of the metaphor and metaphtonymic scenarios. In addition, the study found that the metaphtonymic method of conceptual integration is a complex cognitive mechanism involved in the formation of plots, whose recognition requires a cognitive load associated with the decoding of components embedded in them. Interpretation of metaphtonymically organized discursive forms is provided by the cognitive process of comprehending the semantics of multicode structures of these discursive forms belonging to different semiotic systems, which are conditioned by contextual connections. Further research is seen in the analysis of the tropical organization of digital multimodal discourse with the identification of the most stable trope combinations.