• Rana H. Al-Bahrani

  Author

• Shatha Al-Saadi

  Author

• Tiba Akram Yousif

  Author

language is universal and that of Fairclough’s (1992), image can be a source of
ambiguity and creativity, has pushed the researchers to conduct the present study. Besides,
surveying the literature review of caricature images, the researchers have found that still much
work needs to be done as far as images are concerned in different disciplines in general and in
linguistics in particular to bridge the many gaps there. Accordingly, the objective of the current
research is to examine students’ ability to identify the denotative key-signs that help access and
share the intended denotative meaning and/or highlight other denotative meaning potentials
from a detextualised image caricature. To achieve the objective of the study, the researchers
adopted a cognitive semantic model, Domain Analysis by Ronald Langacker (1987)
amalgamated with the semiotic concept of denotation by Ronald Barthes from his theory entitled
Mythologies (1957). The study has revealed that only (19%) of the respondents were able to fully
access the right denotative meaning. This very low percentage revealed the fact that the
respondents could not invest the identified denotational key-signs in building the right
denotational meaning.

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