MASTER TROPES IN ENGLISH MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENTS: A SEMIOTIC TOPIC-VEHICLE APPROACH
Jian-Shiung Shie
This paper investigates three master tropes (viz. simile, metaphor, and metonymy) in English magazine ads, taking a semiotic topic-vehicle approach to identify and analyze the three tropes. The purpose of the investigation is twofold: to see (i) if the topic-vehicle approach can account for the three tropes in English magazine ads and (ii) if the three tropes occur in independent phrases the same as they occur in complete clauses. It is concluded that the semiotic topic-vehicle approach, including the concept of complex tropes derived from it, is generally applicable to the three tropes in English magazine ads and that every type and subtype of a trope assuming the form of a complete clause can also take the form of an independent phrase.
