Jordanian editorial cartoons: A multimodal approach to the cartoons of Emad Hajjaj

This paper investigates Jordanian editorial cartoons drawn by the eminent Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj. It aims at analyzing Hajjaj's cartoons within a multimodal approach to context with a consideration of three types of sub-contexts essential to the understanding of the cartoon's message: (1) macro-context, (2) microcontext and (3) dynamic context. The data is based on a corpus of 300 cartoons analyzed within a general linguistic framework inspired by Van Dijk's (2008) theory of context models. Two main results emerge: First, Hajjaj's cartoons take into full consideration the verbal, visual, and socio-cultural modes to create visually stimulating images and socioculturally relevant issues. Second, the study presents an inventory of Hajjaj's lexical devices and innovative techniques.