Cover not available

In:Motivation in Language: A cognitive perspective
Edited by Grzegorz Drożdż and Barbara Taraszka-Drożdż
[Human Cognitive Processing 83] 2027
► pp. 289–314

Chapter 12
Motivation in the visual language of comics

 | University of Wroclaw
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This chapter discusses motivatedness of visual representations in comics from the perspective of visual language theory (Cohn 2013a). In line with the theoretical orientation of the entire volume, the cognitive-linguistic approach to motivation in language (Panther 2013, 2021; Radden & Panther 2004; Panther & Radden 2011) was adopted as the theoretical perspective framing this discussion. Due to the chapter’s limited size, an exhaustive discussion of motivation in the visual language of comics is impossible. Instead, this chapter is meant to provide a general survey of how prominent visual representations used in comics are motivated.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Peirce’s theory of signs
  • 3.Cognitive-linguistic research into motivation in language
  • 4.Cohn’s visual language theory
  • 5.Open-class lexical items of VLC
    • MT: Visual verisimilitude of open-class lexical items of VLC ← MS: iconic thinking based on visual perception
    • MT: Inherent incompleteness of open-class lexical items of VLC ← MS: indexical thinking based on culture
    • MT: Conventionality of open-class lexical items of VLC ← MS: cognitive modeling based on culture; VLC system
  • 6.Closed-class lexical items of VLC
    • 6.1Carriers
      • MT: Boundedness of carriers ← MS: indexical thinking based on aural perception or embodiment
      • MT: Function of carrier tails ← MS: indexical thinking based on culture
      • MT: Standard carrier shape ← MS: VLC system
      • MT: Non-standard carrier shapes ← MS: iconic motivation based on visual, aural, or tactile perception and culture
    • 6.2Non-conventional comic onomatopoeias
      • MT: Structure of onomatopoeia’s ‘proxy sound’ ← MS: iconic motivation based on aural perception
      • MT: Onomatopoeia’s orthographic representation ← MS: iconic motivation based on aural perception
    • 6.3Motion lines
      • MT: Boundedness of motion lines ← MS: indexical thinking based on visual perception and embodiment
      • MT: Shape of motion lines ← MS: iconic thinking based on visual perception
      • MT: Multiplication of motion lines ← MS: iconic thinking based on embodiment
    • 6.4Upfixes
      • MT: Pictorial upfixes (e.g. gears, lightbulbs, storm clouds) ← MS: iconic thinking based on visual perception
      • MT: Fixed sign upfixes (e.g. heart signs, exclamation points, question marks) ← MS: pragmatic inferencing based on culture
      • MT: Boundedness of upfixes ← MS: indexical thinking based on embodiment
      • MT: Locatedness of upfixes ← MS: VLC system
  • 7.Comic panels
    • MT: Rectangular shape of panels ← MS: VLC system, iconic thinking based on culture
    • MT: Panels as containers ← MS: iconic thinking based on perception and embodied experience
    • MT: Panel-level templates ← MS: iconic thinking based on culture
    • MT: Panels as attention units ← MS: VLC system, iconic thinking based on culture
    • MT: Panel constructions ← MS: VLC system, iconic thinking based on culture
  • 8.Visual narrative grammar
    • MT: VNG phase structure ← MS: cognitive modeling based on perception
    • MT: VNG constituent structure ← MS: cognitive modeling based on perception
  • 9.Navigation of external compositional structure
    • MT: ‘Z-path’ of American and European comics ← MS: cognitive modeling based on culture
    • MT: ‘S-path’ of manga ← MS: VLC system
    • MT: Constraints on ECS ← MS: VLC system
  • 10.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (66)
References
Baig, M. N., Chishty, F., Immesoete, P., & Karas, C. S. 2007. The Eastern heart and Galen’s ventricle: A historical review of the purpose of the brain. Journal of Neurosurgery, 23(1), 1–6.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bordwell, D. 1986 [1985]. Narration in the fiction film. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carey, M., Bachalo, C., Ramos, H., & Brooks, M. 2007. X-Men: Supernovas. New York: Marvel Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohn, N. 2013a. The visual language of comics: Introduction to the structure and cognition of sequential images [Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics 6]. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013b. Navigating comics: An empirical and theoretical approach to strategies of reading comic page layouts. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohn, N., & Campbell, H. 2015. Navigating comics II: Constraints on the reading order of page layouts. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 29, 193–199. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohn, N., Jackendoff, R., Holcomb, P. J., & Kuperberg, G. R. 2014. The grammar of visual narrative: Neural evidence for constituent structure in sequential image comprehension. Neuropsychologia, 64, 63–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cohn, N., & Paczynski, M. 2019. The neurophysiology of event processing in language and visual events. In R. Truswell (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of event structure (624–637). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Danaher, D. 1998. Peirce’s semiotic and conceptual metaphor theory. Semiotica, 119(1–2), 171–207.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dodge, E., & Lakoff, G. 2005. Image schemas: From linguistic analysis to neural grounding. In B. Hampe, & J. E. Grady (Eds.), From perception to meaning: Image schemas in cognitive linguistics [Cognitive Linguistics Research 29] (57–91). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duncan, R., & Smith, M. J. 2009. The power of comics: History, form and culture. New York & London: Continuum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eisner, W. 2008 [1985]. Comics and sequential art. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elleström, L. 2013. Spatiotemporal aspects of iconicity. In L. Elleström, O. Fischer, & C. Ljungberg (Eds.), Iconic investigations [Iconicity in Language and Literature 12] (95–118). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Farias, P., & Queiroz, J. 2006. Images, diagrams, and metaphors: Hypoicons in the context of Peirce’s sixty-six fold classification of signs. Semiotica, 1(4), 1–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. 2002. The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C. 1996. Pictorial metaphor in advertising. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2005. Visual representations of the idealized cognitive model of anger in the Asterix album La Zizanie. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(1), 69–88. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C., & Urios-Aparisi, E. (Eds.). 2009. Multimodal metaphor [Applications of Cognitive Linguistics 11]. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C., Veale, T., & Feyaerts, K. 2010. Balloonics: The visuals of balloons in comics. In J. Goggin, & D. Hassler-Forest (Eds.), The rise and reason of comics and graphic literature: Critical essays on the form (56–73). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibson, J. J. 1979. The ecological approach to visual perception. London: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. 2006. Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goossens, L. 1990. Metaphtonymy: The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in expressions for linguistic action. Cognitive Linguistics, 1(3), 323–340. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Groensteen, T. 1999. Système de la bande dessinée. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2007. The system of comics. Translated by B. Beaty, & N. Nguyen. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hacımusaoğlu, I. 2025. The dynamic out of the static: Representation of motion and spatiotemporality in static images. PhD dissertation, Tilburg University.
Hacımusaoğlu, I., & Cohn, N. 2023. The meaning of motion lines?: A review of theoretical and empirical research on static depiction of motion. Cognitive Science, 47, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. 2010. Meaning and the lexicon: The parallel architecture 1975–2010. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jappy, T. 2013. Introduction to Peircean visual semiotics [Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics 3]. London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kowalewski, H. 2015a. Against arbitrariness: An alternative approach towards motivation of the sign. Public Journal of Semiotics, 6(2), 14–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2015b. From icono-linguistic unity to semiotic continuity: An alternative description of semiotic repertoire of comics. International Journal of Comic Art, 17(1), 24–44.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2018. Heart is for love: Cognitive salience and visual metonymies in comics. The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship, 8(1), 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kukkonen, K. 2011. Metalepsis in comics and graphic novels. In K. Kukkonen, & S. Klimek (Eds.), Metalepsis in popular culture [Narratologia 28] (213–231). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. 1980. Metaphors we live by. London & Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., Espenson, J., & Schwartz, A. 1991. Master metaphor list. 2nd ed. Berkeley, CA: University of California.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Langacker, R. W. 2011. Semantic motivation of the English auxiliary. In K.-U. Panther, & G. Radden (Eds.), Motivation in grammar and the lexicon [Human Cognitive Processing 27] (29–47). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lichtenberg, L. D., Klomberg, B., Schilperoord, J., & Cohn, N. 2025. Understanding lightbulb moments: Meaning-making in visual morphology from comics and emoji. Memory and Cognition. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCay, W. 1905. Little Sammy Sneeze. New York Herald, 24 September 1905.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1908. Little Nemo in Slumberland. New York Herald, 8 November 1908.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCloud, S. 1994 [1993]. Understanding comics: The invisible art. New York: HarperPerennial.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Making comics: Storytelling secrets of comics, manga and graphic novels. New York, NY: HarperCollins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miller, A. 2007. Reading bande dessinée: Critical approaches to French-language comic strip. Bristol & Chicago: Intellect Books.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miodrag, H. 2013. Comics and language: Reimagining critical discourse on the form. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mittelberg, I. 2008. Peircean semiotics meets conceptual metaphor: Iconic modes in gestural representations of grammar. In A. Cienki, & C. Müller (Eds.), Metaphor and gesture [Gesture Studies 3] (115–154). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morrison, G., Truog, C., Hazlewood, D., Costanza, J., & Wood, T. 1990. Animal Man #23. New York: DC Comics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nöth, W. 1995 [1990]. Handbook of semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Panther, K.-U. 2013. Motivation in language. In S. Kreitler (Ed.), Cognition and motivation: Forging an interdisciplinary perspective (407–432). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2021. Motivation. In X. Wen, & J. R. Taylor (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of cognitive linguistics (297–313). London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Panther, K.-U., & Radden, G. 2011. Introduction: Reflections on motivation revisited. In K.-U. Panther, & G. Radden (Eds.), Motivation in grammar and the lexicon [Human Cognitive Processing 27] (1–26). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Panther, K.-U., & Thornburg, L. L. Forthcoming. Motivation. In C. Sinha, & X. Wen (Eds.), The Cambridge encyclopedia of cognitive linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pederson, K., & Cohn, N. 2016. The changing pages of comics: Page layouts across eight decades of American superhero comics. Studies in Comics, 7(1), 7–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S. 1931–1958. Collected papers. Vols. 1–6 edited by C. Hartshorne, & P. Weiss; vols. 7–8 edited by A. W. Burks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1940. Logic as semiotic: The theory of signs. In J. Buchler (Ed.), The philosophy of Peirce: Selected writings (98–119). London: Kegan Paul.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinar Sanz, M. J. (Ed.). 2015. Multimodality and cognitive linguistics [Benjamins Current Topics 78]. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Potsch, E., & Williams, R. F. 2012. Image schemas and conceptual metaphor in action comics. In F. Bramlett (Ed.), Linguistics and the study of comics (13–36). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pratha, N. K., Avunjian, N., & Cohn, N. 2016. Pow, punch, pika, and chu: The structure of sound effects in genres of American comics and Japanese manga. Multimodal Communication, 5(2), 93–109. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Radden, G., & Panther, K.-U. 2004. Introduction: Reflections on motivation. In G. Radden, & K.-U. Panther (Eds.), Studies in linguistic motivation (1–46). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saraceni, M. 2003. The language of comics [Intertext 15]. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shen, Y. 2008. Metaphor and poetic figures. In R. W. Gibbs, Jr. (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (295–307). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szawerna, M. 2013. A Peircean characterization of the semiotic properties of selected visual signs found in comics. Ars Aeterna, 5(1), 51–72.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2017. Metaphoricity of conventionalized diegetic images in comics: A study in multimodal cognitive linguistics [Łódź Studies in Language 54]. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szawerna, M., & Cohn, N. 2026. Iconicity in the visual lexicons of comics. In O. Fischer, K. Akita, & P. Perniss (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of iconicity in language (509–521). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tezuka, O. 2006 [1972–1983]. Buddha. Translated by A. Haynes. New York: Vertical [Budda. In Kibōnotomo, September 1972–December 1983].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Werth, P. 1999. Text worlds: Representing conceptual space in discourse [Textual Explorations 2]. Harlow: Pearson.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zacks, J. M. 2020. Event perception and memory. Annual Review of Psychology, 71, 165–191. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold-dark jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold-light jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold prag Twitter_Logo_Blue