Abstract
The seems to be less research that has been done on the significance of visual language in South African cartoons so far. As an attempt to bridge this gap, the aim of this research article is to investigate the literary significance of colour and size as visual language features in Mqapheli Mngadi's South African editorial cartoons. The study is done literary through 'semiotic – stylistics' to interpret the 'visuo – textually' examined data. The reader response theory is also adopted to aid the analysis. The findings of the study demonstrate that colour and size are used as one of the narrative techniques in Mqapheli Mngadi's selected cartoons. These features play a significant stylistic role in assisting the cartoonist to express his ideas. While colour is used figuratively or symbolically to present hidden ideas, size is used to depict the socio – political and socio – economic power relations.