The Plurality of Denotative Meanings in a Detextualized Social Cartoon

Author:   Tiba Akram Yousif

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Abstract

The sense of contradiction between Gernsheim’s statement (2015) image language is universal and that of Fairclough’s (1992), an image can be a source of ambiguity and creativity, has pushed the researcher to conduct the present study. Besides, surveying the literature review of caricature images, the researcher has found that still much work needs to be done as far as images are concerned in different disciplines in general and in linguistics in particular to bridge the many gaps there. Accordingly, the objective of the current research is to examine the students’ ability to identify the denotative key-signs that help access and share the intended denotative meaning and/or highlight other denotative meaning potentials from a detextualised image caricature. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher adopts cognitive semantic model,  which consist of Domain Analysis by Ronald Langacker (1987) amalgamated with the semiotic concept of denotation by Ronald Barthes from his theory entitled Mythologies (1957). The study has revealed that only (10%) of the respondents were able to fully access the right denotative meaning. This very low percentage revealed the fact that the respondents could not invest the identified denotational key-signs in building the right denotational meaning.

 

Key Words: Denotation, Caricature Image, Denotative Domains, Plural Denotations.