Metaphorical images of food in polycode texts of the modern Russian-language internet space

The article examines the functioning of visual metaphorical images of food in polycode texts of the modern Russian-language Internet space. The wide distribution of polycode texts in the digital environment, their transformation into an active influencing tool of mass communication determines the relevance of studying various mechanisms of interaction between visual images and verbal textual means in the information space of modern man. The purpose of the work is to study visual metaphorical images of food in texts of various discursive nature and genre and stylistic affiliation; in identifying the functions, pragmatic potential, areas of denotative application of visual metaphors with gastronomic semantics; in the description of typical situations of their use in Internet communications. Methodology and methods. The methodology of the work is based on cognitive, discursive, linguoculturological and system-structural approaches to the study of imagery of language and speech, used in the field of semantics of language units, text stylistics, semiotics of images, discursive-pragmatic analysis of Internet communication. When analyzing the visual components of a polycode text, the experience of predecessors in the field of analysis of the composition and typology of visual images that form the iconic element of its complex structure is taken into account. When collecting material, methods of sampling from open Russian-language Internet sources, methods of systematization and classification of verbal-iconic complexes were used. Visual metaphor was studied based on theories of figurative structure of language and cognitive theory of metaphor. The research material is presented in polycode texts, the iconic component of which includes images of food – products, dishes, situations of absorption and cooking. A total of 230 texts were analyzed that included or accompanied the visualization of a gastronomic image in the form of a photograph of an object, a photo collage or a drawing. The study demonstrated that in the modern open Russian-language Internet space on the websites of the media, trade, financial, public and private organizations, one of the effective influencing tools is visual gastronomic images included in polycode texts. Together with verbal elements (inscriptions on images, titles and text fragments of publications), they convey meanings of an allegorical nature, which, as a rule, are based on the figurative semantics of linguistic expressions (chop cabbage ‘make money’), the symbolism of precedent texts (“porridge from an ax” – the name of a Russian fairy tale) and phenomena (state flags, banknotes, leaders of states). The functioning of a visual food metaphor is associated with the manifestation of linguistic creativity and language play, creating a comic effect to attract the attention of the target audience – potential readers and clients. As a result, frequent visual culinary images were identified (cabbage, pies, porridge, grain, peas, mushroom, jar, pan, knife, cook), associative phenomena associated with them, creating a metaphorical and expressive-figurative effect (money, finances, animals, household items, attributes of professions), stable metaphorical models (cabbage – money, pie – financial and political value, kitchen – politics, cooking – carrying out social activities); The communicative areas of application of visual food images in polycode texts (economics, commerce, advertising, politics, entertainment) are characterized. Food metaphorical images are stable and are part of language as a culturally conditioned semiotic system. They are fixed in linguistic units and are consistently reproduced in communication, including using various methods of visualization through iconic elements of polycode texts.

food metaphor, gastronomic images, polycode text, communication, Internet space