The aim of this study is to develop a typology of visual stylistic devices in Chinese outdoor social advertising based on the pragmatic patterns governing their functioning depending on the thematic focus of advertising messages. In the article, visual tropes are examined as integral components of polycode discourse, possessing pragmatic potential and structural integration with the verbal element. The theoretical interpretation is grounded in works on visual stylistics, rhetoric, and semiotics, allowing the advertising poster to be positioned as an object of linguistic analysis of multimodal nature. The empirical material consists of a corpus of advertising posters photographed in the streets of cities across the People’s Republic of China. The scientific novelty lies in the implementation of a step-by-step approach to the analysis of visual stylistic devices: initially as autonomous rhetorical techniques, and subsequently within the context of their operation inside thematic clusters. This approach has made it possible, for the first time, to identify stable discourse-pragmatic correlations between the type of social issue addressed in Chinese outdoor advertising and the choice of visual design, thereby clarifying the pragmatic mechanisms of visual expressiveness in Chinese social advertising. The study reveals that the most frequent and universal visual-stylistic devices are metaphor and synecdoche, due to their high cognitive density and cultural relevance. Allusions are actively used in topics related to ethical norms and traditional values, while such devices as hyperbole, personification, and simile serve an auxiliary role, enhancing emotional impact. The absence of tropes in certain cases is interpreted as a deliberate visual strategy aimed at conveying normative messages through direct visual representation. The identified distribution of visual devices demonstrates the existence of a stable rhetorical model that ensures effective visualization of social issues within a linguistically organized visual discourse.
Stupkina et al. (Thu,) studied this question.