A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN AMERICAN AND VIETNAMESE CARICATURES FROM MULTI MODAL PERSPECTIVE

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

HUỲNH THỊ DIỄM NHƯ

A CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS OF
INTERPERSONAL MEANING IN AMERICAN AND
VIETNAMESE CARICATURES FROM MULTIMODAL PERSPECTIVE

Field:

English Linguistics

Code:

Supervisor: Võ Duy Đức, Ph.D.


BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

HUỲNH THỊ DIỄM NHƯ

PHÂN TÍCH ĐỐI CHIẾU NÉT NGHĨA LIÊN
NHÂN TRONG TRANH BIẾM HỌA MỸ VÀ VIỆT
NAM TỪ GĨC NHÌN ĐA PHƯƠNG THỨC

Chuyên ngành:

Mã số:

Ngôn ngữ Anh
8220201

Người hướng dẫn: TS. Võ Duy Đức


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that this thesis “A contrastive analysis of
Interpersonal meaning in American and Vietnamese caricatures from
multi-modal perspective” is my own work. All references and extracts have
been distinguished by quotation marks and all resources of information have
been specifically acknowledged. I further certify that I have not submitted this
thesis at any other institution in order to obtain a degree.
Binh Dinh, 2019

HUỲNH THỊ DIỄM NHƯ


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With the great help of my supervisor and all the lecturers of the course,
this thesis has been possible to complete on time.
First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
supervisor Dr. Võ Duy Đức for his patience, encouragement, and immense
knowledge, and for valuable materials of a very new linguistic field and for
the time he spent reading my drafts and for his precious comments. Without
his great experience and support, this thesis could not be done. He also
inspired me to choose the topic for my research.
My thanks particularly go to the lecturers who have been provided me

with important knowledge and foundation for this thesis.
I am also grateful for source of materials and helpful suggestions on
visual analysis in my thesis of Dr. Peter. R. R. White.
Also, my sincere appreciation goes to the Head of Foreign Language
Department, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Quang Ngoạn for giving me the best
infrastructures and materials for following this course of M.A. degree in
English Linguistics as well as the most convenient time for doing this thesis.
I am deeply grateful to my colleagues and close friends for sharing me
helpful materials, experiences and necessary sources of information about the
study.
Last but not least, my great gratitude is devoted to my family,
especially my mother. They have helped me overcome a lot of difficulties
about the fee as well as the time in order to complete this thesis smoothly.


ASTRACT

This study mainly investigates visual and verbal meanings in American
and Vietnamese caricatures based on the frameworks of Visual Grammar by
Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) and Appraisal Theory by White and Martin
(2005). Fifty American and Vietnamese caricatures were collected to explore
prominent visual and attitudinal features in terms of visual and attitudinal
meaning. The findings indicate that in Interactive meaning, Offer Gaze
between the viewers and the participants is the dominant type, Long shot is
the most frequent choice, and Frontal angle and High angle are mostly used in
American and Vietnamese caricatures. Moreover, in exploration of Attitudinal
meaning in caricatures, Appreciation was found to be used with the highest
percentage. The caricaturists in both languages seem to express their feelings
and their evaluation about the people and the current society. Besides the
similarities, some differences were observed in the two data sources. One

difference between them is that Vietnamese caricaturists tend to use implicit
assessments more than American ones. Based on the results of data analysis,
some implications and suggestions for further research were drawn out.


1

CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION

1.1.

Rationale

Nowadays, image, color, sound and action symbol which have been
considered as a tool play an essential role in modern communication.
Actually, through arts in general, caricatures in particular, the information is
transmitted into “channel” to connect everyone in the world. It can be argued
that caricatures bring a mass of benefits in both education and entertainment.
According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, that means they make fun
because they are created by “a funny drawing or picture of somebody that
exaggerates some of their features”. Additionally, caricatures can be found in
textbooks like History, Literature, or even Geography. Also, the most
important thing is that the feelings, beliefs, and values via caricatures strongly
have significant moral lessons. Moreover, the issues of modern society are
being concerned strongly. Henceforth, Kress and van Leeuwen (2006)
developed a grammar of visual design largely inspired by Halliday (1994)’s
functional grammar. Kress and Leeuwen (2006, as cited in Hart 2014, p. 11)
state “meanings belong to culture rather than specific semiotic modes and,
although realized quite differently, many of the same meaning potentials may

find expression in both linguistic and visual discourse”. Furthermore, the
framework of White and Martin (2005)’s Appraisal Theory is suggested for
investigation the verbal meanings; therefore, provides a particularly useful
and appropriate grammatical tool for analyzing aspects of evaluation. Having
an overall view on Appraisal Theory and Visual Grammar will enable us to
know more about arts discourse in general and caricatures in particular. A


2

small amount of language is utilized to partially identify more
comprehensibly the idea of the images. According to Brown and Yule (1983,
p. 1), language is a system for expression of meaning: “primary function
being interaction and communication”. It is believed that the language used in
caricatures is considered as a means of comprehension, an aid. Moreover,
caricatures in different countries have different cultural and social contexts.
As a result, it is extremely obvious that the research on both American and
Vietnamese caricatures leads to the difference. What’s more, as a sub-category
of caricatures, social caricatures bring us a tremendously sharp view of
modern society. It is not surprising that a lot of linguistic studies are
concerned with evaluation the meanings and the language in images. For
instances, Economou (2009)’s study investigated verbal-visual news media
texts basing on social semiotic theory, critical discourse analysis and Systemic
Functional theory. Chen (2009) carried out a study on how linguistics and
visual semiotics resources are used to convey Interpersonal meaning in
multimodal textbooks. However, to my best knowledge, no research has been
done on American and Vietnamese caricatures with the employment of Visual
Grammar and Appraisal Theory as a theoretical framework. For these reasons,
it is essential to conduct the thesis “A
contrastive analysis of Interpersonal meaning in American and Vietnamese

caricatures from multi-modal perspective”.
1.2.

Significance of the study

Analyzing American and Vietnamese caricatures has an important role
not only to linguistic learners studying how language works with images
together and its effects but to artists who would like readers to get a precise
observation of contemporary life. The findings of the study will present an
analysis of the evaluative meanings in terms of attitude in caricatures as well


3

as visual analysis. It will offer a detailed description of the attitudinal features
of caricatures, contribute to answer the question of how to achieve the
effectiveness of caricatures to readers. Moreover, the contrastive analysis of
visual and evaluative meanings in American and Vietnamese caricatures is
hoped to be useful for learning as well as teaching the Amerian and
Vietnamese culture and serving as a reference for researchers who are
interested in evaluating visual and verbal meanings in images.
1.3.

Aims and objectives

1.3.1. Aims
This thesis is carried out to investigate Interpersonal meaning in
American and Vietnamese caricatures. Moreover, the final goal is to explain
the similarities and differences between American and Vietnamese caricatures
from multi-modal perspective.

1.3.2. Objectives
The objectives of the study are to:
identify the visually interactive and verbally evaluative meanings

-

operating in American and Vietnamese caricatures based on Grammar
of Visual Design by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) and White and
Martin (2005)’s Appraisal Theory.
point out the similarities and differences between American and

-

Vietnamese caricatures in terms of how Visual and Attitudinal
resources are used in the light of Visual Grammar and Appraisal
Theory.
1.4.

Research questions

To achieve this aim, the following research questions are raised:


4

How do the images in American and Vietnamese caricatures carry

1.

Interactive meanings?

What are the sub-types of Attitude used in American and Vietnamese

2.

caricatures and how frequently are they used?
What are the similarities and differences between American and

3.

Vietnamese caricatures from multi-modal perspective?
1.5.

Scope of the study

In this research, I particularly focus on the multi-modal meanings
conveyed in American and Vietnamese caricatures. With Visual Grammar,
there are three modes of meaning: Representational, Interactional, and
Compositional; however, due to lack of time, space as well as relevant
materials, the study just focused on Interactive meanings. In the same way,
Appraisal Theory has three main types: Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation
but only Attitude is under the investigation.
1.6.

Organization of the study

The study is organized into five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1, Introduction, contains the rationale, aims, and objectives,
research questions, the significance of the study, the scope of the study and
the organization of the paper.
Chapter 2, Literature review, presents Caricatures, Visual Grammar,

Appraisal Theory, then the previous studies related to the features of these
theories are given.
Chapter 3, Methods and Procedures, mentions research methods, the
data collection, and the data analysis. Besides, reliability and validity of the
data are addressed in this chapter.
Chapter 4, Findings and Discussions, focuses on the results of the data


5

analysis to find out how images in American and Vietnamese caricatures
convey Visual meanings and Attitudinal meanings. The discussion based on
the research results is also made.
Chapter 5, Conclusions and Implications, summarizes the main
findings of the study which satisfy the research questions, draws conclusions
and pedagogical implications, limitations, and puts forward suggestions for
further studies.


6

CHAPTER 2:
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.

Caricatures

According to Ames (1998), the word "caricature" is derived from the
Italian word "caricatare" or "carcate" which means "exaggerate". A caricature

is defined in Oxford dictionary as “a funny drawing or picture of somebody
that exaggerates some of their features”. It means that through pictures the
artists would like to display precisely the facts of the social life. According to
Perkins (1975), “A symbol referring to an individual and relative to a given
scale, norm, and population is a caricature just when the scale and norm
relative to the population are individuating and the symbol relative to the
individual scale and norm exaggerates” (Perkins, 1975, p. 7). Actually, this
symbol is a caricature. He also identified a caricature by some keywords
“individuation” and “exaggeration”, “humor”, “idealization”, “defects”, and
“personality”. It can be seen that now the definition may be tried on a fresh
domain, the cluster of problems surrounding the use of animal-like figures in
caricatures and cartoons. The accurate reflection of the nature of special
situations in the form of pictures is brief, concise as well as there is the
biggest influence; therefore, the caricature is considered as an extremely
essential part of the indigenous literature on the political and social history of
human beings. With the great powers, at the end of the nineteenth century and
the beginning of the twentieth century, the caricature was introduced in
schools in developed countries like England, Germany, USA, Australia, etc.
Caricatures are not only beneficial to entertainment but also important to
education. Caricatures play an influential social and political role. Caricatures


7

can illustrate the sufferings of citizens by tackling the issues of society,
analyzing economic problems, and analyzing problems (Hafiz, 2006).
Caricatures have been widely used as a modern teaching tool in social studies.
In the past, caricatures often reflected politics truly but today they also
indicate the negative aspects of modern life. There are not many researches
studying deeply caricatures because of barriers of society. Ibrahim (2014)

investigated the use of caricature in Iraqi Media, which bases on Grice's
maxims to find out whether these maxims are obeyed or not, and the sociopragmatic factors governing language use or choice derived from the social
situational context surrounding each caricature. In Vietnam, Nguyễn Khắc
Huy (2015) carried out a study about the process of formation and
development of caricatures in Vietnamese newspapers and then he gave some
suggestions to effectively exploit the power of caricatures for the press,
especially the type of print. This study mainly investigates the caricatures
representing the issue of society.
This study focused on the meaning of visual and evaluative language in
American and Vietnamese caricatures via the use of Visual Grammar by Kress
and van Leeuwen (2006) and Appraisal Theory by White and Martin (2005)
as the theoretical framework. The following sections will present these
frameworks.
2.2.

Grammar of Visual Design

According to Halliday (1994), Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is
a theory of language which focuses on analyzing structure, meaning, and the
purpose of language. Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) stated that Systemic
Functional Grammar (SFG) attempts to explain and describe the organization
of “meaning-making resources”. Basing on SFL, Kress and van Leeuwen
(2006) suggested that meaning of images can be expressed “through the


8

choice between different uses of color or different compositional structures”
(Kress & Leeuwen, 2006, p. 2). According to Kress and Leeuwen (2006),
“Analysing visual communication is, or should be, an important part of the

“critical” disciplines” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 14). Because of its
essence, the Visual Grammar is obviously utilized to find out how language is
expressed in social interaction and how it emerges with images in newspapers,
magazines, reports, government publications, or even in textbooks. Kress and
van Leeuwen (2006)’s theory describes the combination of components into
meaningful wholes by dealing with a system of three metafunctions. They are
called differently: Representation, Interaction, and Composition. The sections
that follow discuss the three modes of meaning in detail with a focus on
Interactive meaning as it is the theoretical framework of the study.
2.2.1. Representational meaning
Visual Grammar introduces Representational meaning which functions
well in visual mode. "Any semiotic mode has to be able to represent aspects
of the world as it is experienced by humans. In other words, it has to be able
to represent objects and their relation in a world outside the representational
system" (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 42). Representational meaning
refers to how semiotic system display objects or elements called
“participants”. Every semiotic includes two main types of participants:
represented participants (people, things, and places depicted in an image) and
interactive participants (people who communicate with each other through
images including image producers and viewers). Kress and van Leeuwen
(2006) stated that Representational meaning is classified into two categories:
Narrative representation and Conceptual representation.


9

Representational

Narrative

structures
Conceptual

Classificatory
Analytic
Symbolical
Figure 2.1.
Main types of
visual
representation
al structure
(Kress & van
Leeuwen, 2006,
p. 59)

2.2.2.
Intera
ctive
meani
ng
Up

to

this

point,

this

review

has discussed
Kress

and

van
Leeuwen’s
description of
the ways that
various kinds
of

visuals

organize and


represent their meanings

who

representationally

communicate

(Ideational). This section

with each other

deals with a discussion of

through

the

images,

ways

that

visuals

the

attempt to address their

producers and

potential

viewers

viewers

in

of

Interactional (Interactive)

images). Three

terms

main

in

their

Visual

Grammar.

In

their

systems

consisting

of

discussion of Interactive

Contact, Social

meaning in their Visual

distance,

and

Grammar, Kress and van

Attitude

are

Leeuwen

(2006)

presented

visual

below.

recognized

that

forms of communication
also

utilize

resources

which both constitute and
maintain

interaction

between the producer(s)
and viewer(s) of a visual.
In this meaning, Kress
and van Leeuwen (2006)
stated that images involve
two kinds of participants,
represented

participants

(the people, the places
and things depicted in
images) and interactive
participants (the people


10

Demand
Contact

Offer
Intimate/ personal
Social
distance

Social
Public

Interactive
meaning

Subjectivity

Attitude

Objectivity
Knowledge orientation
Figure 2.2. Interactive meaning in images (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 149)

2.2.2.1. Contact
The first variable of the interactive meaning structure is Contact, the
site where the represented participants set their gaze. According to Kress and
van Leeuwen (2006), the two values attributed to this variable are Demand
and Offer. When the eyes of a represented participant(s) directly meet(s) those
of the viewers, the image is described as a Demand, where the Demand image
is assumed to ask the reader to have a virtual relation with the represented


participant (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 123). In contrast to the Demand
image, when a represented participant does not look at the viewer, the

11

interaction between the viewer and the depicted person is indirect or does not
occur, and the image is called an Offer.

Figure 2.3. Contact of Offer (VC7)

The image in Figure 2.3 shows a Contact of Offer in which the
represented participant does not look directly at the viewer. The old woman is
looking at the fruit in the tree.
2.2.2.2. Social distance
Kress and van Leeuwen (2006, p. 124) suggested that the size of the frame
option through the Close, Medium or Long shot is said to express the social
distance between the represented participant and the viewers. In images, the
relation between the represented participant and the audience is imaginary and a
shot can convey a Personal, Social or Public distance. According to Kress and
van Leeuwen (2006), as cited in Hall (1966), there are different meanings of the
size of the shot: a “very close” image that shows the head or face of a person
suggests an “intimate distance”, a “close image” through which a person is
represented by her/his head and shoulder conveys a “close personal distance”,
whereas a “far personal distance” is communicated through a “medium close”
image that shows a person up to the waist. “Close social distance” is conveyed


12

through depicting the whole person in a “medium long” image, but when the
person is shown as surrounded by space in a “long” image, this conveys “far

social distance”. In representing a number of people by their trunk in a “very
long” image, “public distance” is suggested.

Figure 2.4. Picture taken from very Long shot (AC13)

In Figure 2.4, the image shows that a very Long shot is illustrated because
the whole figure of the three people is presented with space around them.

2.2.2.3. Attitude
In this system, the subjective image, perspective, is mentioned because
of the absence of human beings. Perspective relates to relations between
represented participants and the viewer, which is realized through the
selection of an angle, a “point of view”. “The point of view is imposed not
only on the represented participants but also on the viewer, and the viewer’s
“subjectivity” is therefore subjective in the original sense of the word, the
sense of “being subjected to something or someone” (Kress & van Leeuwen,
2006, p. 131). There are two types of angles used in pictures: Horizontal angle
which can be further divided into Frontal angle and Oblique angle, and


13

Vertical angle which is classified into High angle, Eye level and Low angle.
Horizontal angle
In the Horizontal angle, images may be Frontal or Oblique, where a
Frontal image means “involvement”, in that “what you see here is part of our
world, something we are involved with” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p.
136). On the other hand, an image from an Oblique angle suggests
“detachment”, in that “what you see here is not part of our world; it is their
world, something we are not involved with”.

Figure 2.5. Oblique angle (VC15)

Vertical angle
Vertical angle refers to power between the represented participants and
the viewers, in which three meanings can be communicated through three
choices of representation. A person can be depicted through the options of a
High angle, Eye level, or Low angle, which suggest hierarchical social
relations. If a represented participant is seen from a High angle, the reviewer
is more powerful than the represented participant. Representing a participant
at Eye level suggests that the relation between the represented participant and
the viewer is equal. An image from a Low angle is likely to convey that the
represented participant’s power is more than that of the viewer. In Figure 2.6,


14

here the viewer observes the participants from a High angle, which makes the
participants (the fish) look small. This type of angle places the viewer in a
position of more symbolic power than the fish.

Figure 2.6. High angle (VC4)

In short, the Interactional meanings concern with the relation between
the represented participant and the viewer through the following realizations.
Table 2.1. Realizations of types of interactional meanings
(Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p. 148)

Types
Demand

Offer
Intimate/personal
Social
Impersonal
Involvement
detachment
Viewer power
Equality
Represented participant power


15

In conclusion, the Interactional meanings correspond to the social
relations between represented participants and the viewer by Gaze, Social
Distance, Horizontal and Vertical angles. As previously mentioned, the
Interactional meanings are the focal points of the study. The next section
would present the last mode of meanings in Visual Grammar - Compositional
meaning.
2.2.3. Compositional meaning
Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) stated that the meanings of
representation and interaction are linked together, where composition creates
a coherent whole. The three principles of composition, namely information
value, salience, and framing, apply to images as well as any multimodal
discourse that utilizes language and visual resources. (Kress & Leeuwen,
2006, p. 177)
-

Information value: Information value is achieved by the layout of visual

elements in the image. The placements of the elements, left and right, top and
down, as well as center and margin, endow them with specific information
values relative to each other. (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006, p. 181). In composition,
there are Given and New, for example, Given would be on the left side and the
New would be on the right side of a page. Besides, there is also Ideal and Real
and they can be presented as what is Ideal on the top and what is Real at the
bottom. Moreover, information value can be from center and margin, such as
having a picture in the middle and texts around it. With all of these structures,
Kress and Leeuwen (2006) stated that “Given-New an Ideal-Real can combine

with Centre and Margin.” (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006, p. 196)
-

Salience: Salience means different degrees of attraction by the visual

elements in images for viewers. It can be realized by various ways such as
placement in the foreground or background, relative size, and difference in


16

sharpness. For example, in an advertisement poster, one might have a product
really big and bright so it will capture the viewers’ eyes.
-

Framing: Framing is concerned with the fact of whether there exist framing

devices to separate or connect visual elements in an image. Some of the things
that have different ideas can be framed so the viewers will know that they do
not belong together.

To summarize, in Visual Grammar, the visual meanings in images are
often identified through three sub-categories: Representational, Interactive,
and Compositional meaning. Representational meaning mentions the
relationships which exist between things in the world and within us.
Interactive meaning refers to the interaction between the viewers and the
represented participants. Whereas Compositional meaning relates to the way
in which the representational and interactive elements are made to relate to
each other, and the way they are integrated into a meaningful whole.
However, this study only focuses on analyzing Interactive meaning. The next
section deals with Appraisal Theory by White and Martin (2005), a theoretical
framework to explore verbal interpersonal meanings.
2.3.

Appraisal

According to White and Martin (2005), Appraisal is “the language of
evaluation”. It means the language is used to express feelings, opinions, or
judgment of speakers about someone or something. Through the use of
evaluative language, communication is more effective. White and Martin
(2005) state that “Appraisal Theory offers a framework for the exploration of
speakers/writers’ style in their positive or negative assessment of people,
places, things, happenings and states of affairs” (White & Martin, 2005, p. 2).
They also show that the theory focuses on how speakers express feelings, how
they intensify them, and how they may integrate additional voices in their


17

discourses. Moreover, they explain that the Appraisal framework bases on the
notion of viewpoint: “Appraisal is probably most closely related to the

concept of stance” (White & Martin, 2005, p. 40), which subject to the
opinion that “whenever speakers (or writers) say anything, they encode their
point of view towards it” (White & Martin, 2005, p. 92). The Appraisal
framework is used to analyze how the feelings/ opinions of the speakers or
writers are expressed. For instances, when the authors do not express directly
their viewpoints, the Appraisal framework is used to shed light on the authors’
position.
White and Martin (2005) separate the Appraisal framework into three
main sub-systems: Attitude, Engagement, and Graduation. These sub-systems
of Appraisal are indicated in Figure 2.7.
monoglosss
A

ENGAGEMENT

P

heterogloss

P
R

ATTITUDE

A

JUDGEMENT

I

APPRECIATION
raise
FORCE

S
A

AFFECT

GRADUATION

L

lower
FORCUS

sharpen

soften
Figure 2.7. An overview of Appraisal resources (White & Martin, 2005)

2.3.1. Attitude
According to White and Martin (2005, p. 42), Attitude “involves three
semantic regions covering what is traditionally referred to as emotions, ethics,


18

and aesthetics”. This means “emotional reactions, judgments of behavior and
evaluation of things”. It consists of three regions of feelings: Affect,

Judgement, and Appreciation.
2.3.1.1. Affect
According to White and Martin (2005), Affect relates to “positive and
negative feelings” happiness, sadness, excitement, interest and so on. There are
two sub-types of Affect: Observed Affect/Non-Authorial and Authorial Affect.
When the writer or speaker uses Observed Affect, this is the writer/ speaker’s
observation of others’ emotional responses and report. In contrast, the authorial
is the feeling of the writer/ speaker that he/she would like to express.

According to White (2001), Affectual positioning may be indicated in
different ways as follow:
-

through verbs of emotion (Mental Processes) such as to love/to hate,
to frighten/to reassure, to interest/to bore, to enrage/to placate (Your offer pleases me, I hate chocolate.)

-

through adverbs (typically Circumstances of Manner) such as
happily/sadly (Sadly the government has decided to abandon its
commitment to the comprehensive school system.)

-

through adjectives of emotion happy/sad, worried/confident,
angry/pleased, keen/uninterested - (I'm sad you've decided to do
that, I'm happy she's joining the group, She's proud of her
achievements, he's frightened of spiders, and so on.)

-

through nominalization (the turning of verbs and adjectives into
nouns) joy/despair, confidence/insecurity ( His fear was obvious to
all, I was overcome with joy).

According to White and Martin (2005), Affect involves the subcategories of Un/happiness, In/security, and Dis/satisfaction that is presented