The Visual Language of Comics: Introduction to the Structure and Cognition of Sequential Images. (Bloomsbury Advances in Semiotics)

Drawings and sequential images are an integral part of human expression dating back at least as far as cave paintings, and in contemporary society appear most prominently in comics. Despite this fundamental part of human identity, little work has explored the comprehension and cognitive underpinnings of visual narratives’ until now. This work presents a provocative theory: that drawings and sequential images are structured the same as language. Building on contemporary theories from linguistics and cognitive psychology, it argues that comics are written in a visual language of sequential images that combines with text. Like spoken and signed languages, visual narratives use a lexicon of systematic patterns stored in memory, strategies for combining these patterns into meaningful units, and a hierarchic grammar governing the combination of sequential images into coherent expressions. Filled with examples and illustrations, this book details each of these levels of structure, explains how cross-cultural differences arise in diverse visual languages of the world, and describes what the newest neuroscience research reveals about the brain’s comprehension of visual narratives. From this emerges the foundation for a new line of research within the linguistic and cognitive sciences, raising intriguing questions about the connections between language and the diversity of humans’ expressive behaviours in the mind and brain. Drawings and sequential images are an integral part of human expression dating back at least as far as cave paintings, and in contemporary society appear most prominently in comics. Despite this fundamental part of human identity, little work has explored the comprehension and cognitive underpinnings of visual narratives―until now. This work presents a provocative theory: that drawings and sequential images are structured the same as language. Building on contemporary theories from linguistics and cognitive psychology, it argues that comics are written in a visual language of sequential images that combines with text. Like spoken and signed languages, visual narratives use a lexicon of systematic patterns stored in memory, strategies for combining these patterns into meaningful units, and a hierarchic grammar governing the combination of sequential images into coherent expressions. Filled with examples and illustrations, this book details each of these levels of structure, explains how cross-cultural differences arise in diverse visual languages of the world, and describes what the newest neuroscience research reveals about the brain's comprehension of visual narratives. From this emerges the foundation for a new line of research within the linguistic and cognitive sciences, raising intriguing questions about the connections between language and the diversity of humans' expressive behaviours in the mind and brain--amazon.com. Machine generated contents note: 1. Introducing Visual Language -- What is visual language? -- The structure of visual language -- Outline of the book -- Concern #1: Panels are not arbitrary signs -- Concern #2: There is no systematic lexicon of panels -- 2. The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual Morphology -- A visual lexicon -- Open-class lexical items -- Combining schemas -- Conclusion -- Closed-class lexical items -- Bound morphemes/affixation -- Suppletion/umlaut -- Reduplication -- Conclusion -- 3. The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and Constructions -- Regularity in panels -- Suppletive panels -- Panel-level templates -- Panels as attention units -- Visual language constructions -- Multimodal constructions -- Conclusion -- 4. Visual Language Grammar: Narrative Structure -- Three ideas for sequential image comprehension -- Panel transitions/linear coherence relationships -- Promiscuous transitions -- General cognitive scripts and schemas -- Conclusion -- Basic narrative categories -- Peaks -- Initials -- Releases -- Establishers -- Prolongations -- Orienters -- Summary -- Constituent structure in visual narrative -- Modification -- Summary -- Discourse and Film -- Conclusion -- 5. Navigation of External Compositional Structure -- The challenge of page layouts -- Variations in ECS -- Comprehension of ECS -- Constraints on external compositional structure -- Embedding structures -- Descriptive tree structures -- The infinite canvas -- Conclusion -- 6. Cognition of Visual Language -- Graphic morphology -- Motion lines -- Carriers -- Narrative grammar -- Narrative categories -- Separation of structure and meaning -- Constituent structure -- Visual narratives and brains -- Fluency -- 7. American Visual Language -- Graphic structure -- Mainstream American VL: Kirbyan -- Cartoony American VL: Barksian -- Independent American VL -- Art versus language -- Morphology -- Narrative grammar -- Languages versus dialects -- 8. Japanese Visual Language -- Graphic structure -- Morphology -- Narrative grammar -- Differences in visual language grammars -- Influence in Japan and abroad -- Transmission of visual language -- Language contact -- 9. Central Australian Visual Language -- Cultural role -- Graphic structure -- Spatial orientation -- Lexicon and morphology -- Static signs -- Dynamic signs -- Narrative grammar -- Erasure -- Narrative structures -- Sequential constraints -- Culture meets structure -- 10. The Principle of Equivalence -- Other investigations -- Closing remarks. Neil Cohn. Includes bibliographical references and index. 3 The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and ConstructionsRegularity in panels; Suppletive panels; Panel-level templates; Panels as attention units; Visual language constructions; Multimodal constructions; Conclusion; 4 Visual Language Grammar: Narrative Structure; Three ideas for sequential image comprehension; 1. Panel transitions/linear coherence relationships; 2. Promiscuous transitions; 3. General cognitive scripts and schemas; Conclusion; Basic narrative categories; Peaks; Initials; Releases; Establishers; Prolongations; Orienters; Summary; Constituent structure in visual narrative FC; Half Title; ADVANCES IN SEMIOTICS; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Figures; Introduction; 1 Introducing Visual Language; What is "visual language"?; The structure of visual language; Outline of the book; SECTION 1 Structure of visual language; Concern #1: Panels are not arbitrary signs; Concern #2: There is no systematic lexicon of panels; 2 The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual Morphology; A visual lexicon; Open-class lexical items; Combining schemas; Conclusion; Closed-class lexical items; Bound morphemes/affixation; Suppletion/umlaut; Reduplication; Conclusion ModificationSummary; Discourse and Film; Conclusion; 5 Navigation of External Compositional Structure; The challenge of page layouts; Variations in ECS; Comprehension of ECS; Constraints on external compositional structure; Embedding structures; Descriptive tree structures; The infinite canvas; Conclusion; 6 Cognition of Visual Language; Graphic morphology; Motion lines; Carriers; Narrative grammar; Narrative categories; Separation of structure and meaning; Constituent structure; Visual narratives and brains; Fluency; SECTION 2 Visual language across the world Chapter 1. Introducing Visual LanguageSECTION 1: STRUCTURE OF VISUAL LANGUAGEChapter 2. The Visual Lexicon, Part 1: Visual morphologyChapter 3. The Visual Lexicon, Part 2: Panels and ConstructionsChapter 4. Visual Language Grammar: Narrative StructureChapter 5. Navigation of External Compositional StructureChapter 6. Cognition of Visual LanguageSECTION 2: VISUAL LANGUAGE ACROSS THE WORLDChapter 7. American Visual LanguageChapter 8. Japanese Visual LanguageChapter 9. Central Australian Visual LanguageChapter 10. The Principle of Equivalence Narrative structuresSequential constraints; Culture meets structure; 10 The Principle of Equivalence; Other investigations; Closing remarks; Graphic references; References; Index