Winespeak in wine’s pics

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates how wine pics construct visual winespeak through investigating the metaphor and metonymy in the Japanese manga, Drops of God. The study demonstrated that metonymy has the indicational function to help others understand the winespeak quicker and can be elaborated as a visual metaphor as suggested in previous studies (Isabel Negro Alousque 2015; Zahra Kashanizadeh & Charles Forceville 2020). Two metonymies related to winespeak include the smell and mouthfeel of the wine. Four common source domains of metaphor in visual winespeak, human, nature, art , and activity have been identified. The study further utilized the Visual Narrative Grammar (VNG) proposed by Neil Cohn (2013a, 2013b, 2015, 2020) to examine the roles of metaphor and metonymy in visual winespeak. Visual winespeak can be deconstructed as establisher, initial, prolongation, peak, and release. Findings suggest that the VNG corresponds with the procedure of wine tasting, which involves attack, evolution, and aftertaste (Rosario Caballero, Ernesto Suárez-Toste & Carita Paradis 2019; Adrienne Lehrer 2009). Also, results show that it is possible to predict the positions of metonymy and metaphor in a narrative of visual winespeak. Metonymy usually occurs in the establisher, and metaphor tends to be presented in the peak. Their positions in a narrative further indicate their function. The usage of metonymy aims to set up a concrete and general setting, and metaphor is used to create a climax. In general, the findings show that, although metaphor and metonymy play different roles in a narrative, they co-construct a comprehensive and detailed visual narrative to elaborate a winespeak.