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In defense of a "grammar" in the visual language of comics
Cohn,Neil
Cohn,Neil
Abstract
Visual Language Theory (VLT) argues that the structure of drawn images is guided by similar cognitive principles as language, foremost a "narrative grammar" that guides the ways in which sequences of images convey meaning. Recent works have critiqued this linguistic orientation, such as Bateman and Wildfeuer's (2014) arguments that a grammar for sequential images is unnecessary. They assert that the notion of a grammar governing sequential images is problematic, and that the same information can be captured in a "discourse" based approach that dynamically updates meaningful information across juxtaposed images. This paper reviews these assertions, addresses their critiques about a grammar of sequential images, and then details the shortcomings of their own claims. Such discussion is directly grounded in the empirical evidence about how people comprehend sequences of images. In doing so, it reviews the assumptions and basic principles of the narrative grammar of the visual language used in comics, and it aims to demonstrate the empirical standards by which theories of comics' structure should adhere to. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Description
Date
2018-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Keywords
Visual language, Narrative grammar, Comics, Linguistics, Empirical research, SEQUENTIAL IMAGE COMPREHENSION, EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS, NARRATIVE COMPREHENSION, CONSTITUENT STRUCTURE, SEMANTIC INTEGRATION, DISCOURSE, BRAIN, TIME, INFERENCE, COMPONENT
Citation
Cohn, N 2018, 'In defense of a "grammar" in the visual language of comics', Journal of Pragmatics, vol. 127, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.01.002