Visual language of multimodal text: pragmatics of color (The Russian-Ukrainian war in the covers of world publications)

We interpret red color usage in analyzed covers as a manipulative tactic, because it is an appellation to the subconscious and genetic memory, that are closely connected with the unity of the whole world against war. Such color combination depicts war, in particular, red symbolizes blood, white and black emphasize exclusively negative connotations, including death. This causes the activation of basic cognitive processes at the genetic level. We are dealing with feelings of fear, danger and the memory of wars experienced by all nations. The analyzed cover presents an image of a sense of unity with the world, which supports Ukraine and considers this war as its own.

The expression of red in contrasting black and white triggers the semantic code of the bloody battle against evil and the battle against death. The cover appeals to the recipient and form a cognitive process aimed at recognizing the danger that threatens the entire world, and activating cognitive shifts in consciousness.

It seems that Vladimir Putin being a leader of the aggressors is normally depicted on a red background. Appealing to the corpus of empirical material we focused our attention on the contrast of the prevailing colors, particularly red - white, red - black. Authors try to convey emotions and atmosphere based on the theoretical hypothesis of experimental psychosemantics, the essence of which is that there are “two-way" relationships between color perception and emotional tone, that is, not only mutual translation of content is possible between them, which is defined as “broadcast", or representation of the material of one modality on the materials of another. The current Russian president is traditionally shown on a red background associated with the color of blood. The usage of paralingual markers draws the reader's attention to the basic problems of the present, which are discussed in the issue, and also reminds of past historical facts, including totalitarian regime.

Let us look at several samples of multimodal texts that became the basis for the covers of foreign magazines such as “IR", “Polityca", “Respekt" (Figure 3).

The Latvian magazine "IR" published on the cover a portrait of Vladimir Putin with a head in the form of a skull, which symbolizes the death of a person and the nation he leads (Figure 3, A). In addition, Putin and his army brought death and suffering to the Ukrainian people. We interpret the red background unambiguously as blood and death, called “Russian peace".

The combination of the visual component and the text block, the captions "Ko sei, to pjausi" / "Що посієш - те й пожнеш", “Stalinowska wojna Putina" / "Сталінська війна Путіна", “Putinova valka proti nasemu svetu" / “Війна Путіна проти всього світу" are endowed with the same representativeness.

The Polish issue “Polityka" depicts Putin in the image of another bloody dictator Stalin (Figure 3, B). The white military uniform contrasts with the black background, which symbolizes the bloodshed caused by the tyranny of both leaders of the state. Poles see Putin as a successor to Stalin, a follower of his political ideas and initiatives.

It is appropriate to emphasize the visual part created with its comic or ironic effect, the evaluative modality is negative since the image emphasizes the failure of the government. The core function of the visual part is to attract attention, the verbal part is to explain the visual series.

In order to continue and emphasize the theme of blood and gore of the Russian leader, who leads a nation that seeks the bloodshed of innocent people, popular Czech magazine “Respect" published an issue with a bloodied Putin on the cover (Figure 3, C). The main article of the issue “Putin's War against Our World" coincides with the heading, which is the key verbal component of the analyzed multimodal text. Accordingly, Czechs demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine. The colors of the Ukrainian flag can also be seen on the general bloody canvas. In this way, the authors try to emphasize the importance of the Ukrainian peoples' struggle against Russian tyranny, which has become a visible threat to the entire civilized world. In addition, the yellow and blue elements is a symbol of support for Ukraine, as well as a point of great concern, cheering for the victory of the Ukrainian people in the fight against Putin's aggression.

Covers with a black background

Figure 4 contains examples of how the black color was used to convey the impressions of different countries from the war that Putin started on the territory of Ukraine. The yellow and blue elements, which have a direct connection to the culture, symbols and traditions of the Ukrainian nation, in particular the dream and the Ukrainian flag, contrast sharply with the black background of the canvas, demonstrating the idea of the indomitability of the nation, the eternity of everything Ukrainian and, of course, hope for a brighter future to come.

At the beginning of the war, the Portuguese publication “Jornal de Noticias" published an issue with an all-black cover. In the centre of the black canvas, the flag of Ukraine was depicted (Figure 4, A). We interpret such experiments with colors unambiguously: the black background symbolizes death, grief, and troubled times that the Ukrainian people are currently experiencing. This suffering was caused by the Russians, who invaded the territory of a sovereign state and began killing civilians, destroying infrastructure and committing numerous crimes. Instead, the central position of the Ukrainian flag reflects the full support of Ukrainians in their struggle. The verbal element of this multimodal sample, in particular the inscription “Solidarious com o povo Ukraniano" / “Солідарні з українським народом", does not require additional decoding. The color scheme, together with the verbal component, creates an effect on the reader with the aim of emphasizing the events taking place in Ukraine. The key idea is to support the Ukrainian people.

The March issue of “The Guardian Weekly" was published with an all-black cover. In the foreground, there is a hand tightly clutching a sunflower. The flower is traditionally depicted in yellow, and the hand in blue. We consider it necessary to focus on the combination of colors that are dominant on the cover. Black, yellow and blue colors are very harmonious for visual perception. The harmony of Ukraine, its strength is indestructible. This is the message we perceive in semiotic codes, and on an implicit level we read the decree - Ukraine will stand despite everything.

This can be interpreted as a combination of Ukrainian symbolism, since traditionally for Ukrainians the sunflower is a symbol of the Sun, work and prosperity, strength and well-being. It is the strongest among flowers. Ukrainians believe that the sunflower has found its place under the Sun. And this ancient and sacred symbol for every modern Ukrainian is held in the hand of a Ukrainian. The black background is the total hopelessness, hopelessness, grief and numerous deaths on the territory of Ukraine, brought about by Russian aggression. Such a presentation and vision of the situation can be interpreted as a determined intention of the Ukrainian people to resist the enemy and persevere, to win in the struggle for the future. The European world sees Ukraine as a country and a force capable of doing this.

In our opinion, not only the image of a sunflower, but also the hand that courageously holds it is symbolic on this cover. We can clearly notice that it is not a frail little hand that raises the sunflower, but a manly fist tightly squeezes it. It can be considered as a powerful sign of the strong Ukrainian resistance. There is no doubt that these are military and civilians who rose against the aggressor, and demonstrated their capability to fight for Ukraine, protect their country, peace, sun, and light symbolized by the sunflower.

The sunflower depicted on the cover is not withered, which is associated with the strength and light of the country. At the same time, we fix one detached petal. Nevertheless, even for this one, the “fist" of the people rises in defence. The torn petal represents a double semantic code: sadness and loss - strength and resilience. In one torn petal we trace a powerful manipulative message - war is depicted as the destruction of natural beauty and life harmony. In the semantic code, we interpret the petal as a sign of insulted beauty, life, and principles of justice and well-being.

This is confirmed by a key verbal element, namely the phrase “Ukraine resists". Even in absolute chaos and grief, Ukraine is trying to fight. We read this from the color: the black color of total grief contrasts with the yellow-blue fragment, which represents a chance for the future.

In the spring of 2022, “The New York Times" was released with a cover that featured artwork by artist Sho Shibuya. On the cover of the magazine, only a black garbage bag can be seen, indicating the numerous burials of civilians in Bucha during the Russian occupation. It was in this way to present to readers geographic data and visual evidence documenting the aftermath of about three dozen deaths in Bucha, Ukraine, at the hands of invading Russian soldiers. To be more precise, it recounts numerous cases of inhumane treatment of Bucha's citizens, which was committed by the Russian troops.

The black color expresses sorrow, death and pain, as well as grief for the Ukrainian people. This idea, broadcast mainly non-verbally, is reinforced by verbal components, in particular by the inscription “Horror grove over slaughter in Ukraine" / “Гай жаху над бійнею в Україні". In combination, they create an effect of fear and horror, paint a picture of the abuse of Ukrainian civilians, whose bodies ended up in black bags.

At the level of perception, the image actualizes the perceptual scheme, cognitive structures: the black package is a civilian (Ukrainian) killed by the russians. At the same time, the Bucha component may appear. The non-verbal code on the cover illustrates the situation: the death of innocent people due to the aggression of the Russian army.

The conducted research does not represent all possible aspects of multimodal discourse analysis in the context of the pragmatic paradigm on Ukrainian-language material. There are obviously more possibilities to conduct detailed study on how to express key ideas through color and other non-linguistic components of the cover as a visual and verbal text.

Conclusions

The vectors of the text's scientific description have recently changed noticeably. We have shifted our interest from the traditional analysis of a homogeneous text to the multifaceted study of samples consisting of verbal and non-verbal components. We consider this phenomenon as a significant multimodal turn in contemporary linguistics. As a result of this numerous complex studies of various multimodal texts have appeared in recent times. A magazine cover can be interpreted as a multimodal text, particularly complex of verbal and visual components, which have a strong pragmatic potential. The main visual characteristics of the cover include color, layout, prominence, framing, and photographs. The cover normally contains a summary of the issue, titles of the articles, announcements, interesting quotes, captions to illustrations, etc. Constitutive elements interact with each other and form a single semantic and informational coherence and cohesion. The main function of a magazine cover is to attract the attention of potential readers and increase sales.

It is worth noting that when analyzing a political multimodal text, color also plays an important role. Colors are used to indicate general realities, specific aspects of a time, event, person, its character, rules of conduct or lifestyle priorities. In addition to this arrangement, mixing or contrasting of colors is essential for expressing the general meaning. The dominant color gamut depends on the main idea of the author / cover creator. Colors chosen for the cover usually affect the reader's feelings, causing an emotional response to the multimodal text.

Solidarity with Ukrainians, strong support and protest against the unjustified invasion of the territory of an independent state, expression of grief and destruction in Ukraine, expression of deep sorrow for dead civilians and Ukrainian soldiers have manifested on covers via verbal and non-verbal elements, among which color plays an important role. Based on the dominance of a certain color range, the surveyed covers were ranked into several groups: 1) ravers that are done in colors of the Ukrainian flag; 2) ravers made in a crimson-grey color paradigm; 3) ravers made in a red color paradigm; 4) ravers with a black background. Each of the named groups contains coded information on events that illustrate the course of the war on the territory of Ukraine and the reaction of the world community to it. By decoding the visually and verbally presented meanings, the key ones were revealed, including grief, death, sadness, blood, despair, grief, confusion. Instead, light colors and yellow-blue splashes symbolize hope for peace. By means of different semiotic codes, on the one hand, the support of the Ukrainian people is represented, and on the other hand, the condemnation of Russian aggression, the inhumane behavior of the Russian occupiers on the temporarily occupied territories and the total condemnation of the current Russia leader are depicted.

Despite the peculiarity of the text space and the form of verbal part presented in covers, it is the context and its integrity that is the text's key aspect. This is quite explainable by the fact that the meaning of the fragment is clear and acceptable to the reader only in the case of inseparable perception of both verbal and non-verbal means in a multimodal text, in particular in covers.

However, color as an essential element of the visual component on covers makes it possible to perceive and interpret the key idea embedded in the analyzed multimodal samples. Verbal framing can be considered additional and such that it enhances the overall pragmatic effect.

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