廣告英語(yǔ)中的雙關(guān)語(yǔ)--廣告英語(yǔ)雙關(guān)語(yǔ)的語(yǔ)用學(xué)分析_圖文

1、河北大學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文廣告英語(yǔ)中的雙關(guān)語(yǔ)-廣告英語(yǔ)雙關(guān)語(yǔ)的語(yǔ)用學(xué)分析姓名:張京申請(qǐng)學(xué)位級(jí)別:碩士專業(yè):英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)言文學(xué)指導(dǎo)教師:李佐文20040601摘要摘要隨著進(jìn)一步改革和對(duì)外開放步伐的加快來(lái)自各方面的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)使我們有必要強(qiáng)化與國(guó)際間的認(rèn)同和規(guī)則的一致成為了促銷本文論題的主要目的就是從語(yǔ)用學(xué)角度分析雙關(guān)語(yǔ)在印刷品英語(yǔ)廣告中的運(yùn)用和雙關(guān)語(yǔ)在廣告者和受眾之間的語(yǔ)用交際功能符號(hào)學(xué)和交際功能三個(gè)方面進(jìn)行語(yǔ)用推理暗含和關(guān)聯(lián)理論定義廣告語(yǔ)言廣告結(jié)構(gòu)和廣告的經(jīng)濟(jì)同時(shí)還涉及到廣告中雙關(guān)語(yǔ)使用的動(dòng)機(jī)問(wèn)題但也希望本文能為廣告理論家和從業(yè)人員起到拋磚引玉的作用語(yǔ)用學(xué)AcknowledgementsI hereby exte

2、nd my sincere thanks to those who have supported and encouraged me in the course of writing this thesis.I would like to show my gratitude to Professor Li Zuo-wen, for his academic guidance and personal support, without which this thesis would not have been possible. It was his acumen and insight tha

3、t guided me to make the best efforts at every turn and prompted me to seek new approaches of research.For all the encouragements and suggestions from my tutor, all the mistakes and pitfalls are entirely mine.AbstractSUMMARYWith the further advancement of reform and opening up, China has been gradual

4、ly stepping into the main stream of world economy. Competitions from all dimensions are compelling China to fortify its commitment to international identification and acceptance. Advertising, once well exploited, is an especially valid channel of promoting sales, delivering services and constructing

5、 images. The main purpose of this thesis is to break down the puns employed in written advertising English within the framework of pragmatics and to explain the functions of punning in the intercourse between advertiser and audience. Previous studies on advertising language made from three main pers

6、pectives: linguistic, semiotic and intercourse has been introduced. From pragmatic perspectives, some related concepts like communication and interference, ostensive-inferential communication, implicature and relevance theory have been analysed. In the following section, the concepts of English adve

7、rtisements have been explored from the aspects of its evolution, definition, language, varieties of advertising, researching, structures and economic & social effects. Finally, puns have been examined from viewpoint of linguistics, pragmatics and sociology. Motives behind the puns employment are als

8、o mentioned. Although this thesis attempted a preliminary exploration of puns in advertising language from pragmatic viewpoints, it is hoped that it can supply some insights helpful to advertising theoreticians and practitioners alike.Key Words puns; pragmatics; advertising第一章引言Chapter 1 Introductio

9、n1.1 PurposeAs the significance of advertising expands, the study of advertising and advertising language takes in expanding attention from advertisers and scholars alike, approached from different prospects. Meanwhile, advertisements in different mediaTV, newspaper and magazinehave been analyzed. A

10、s the advertising has become a popular subject of study, it has been approached from a wide range of disciplines, such as anthropology, linguistics, media studies and literary criticism. The main purpose of this thesis is to break down the puns employed in written advertising English within the fram

11、ework of pragmatics and to explain the functions of punning in the intercourse between advertiser and audience. However, advertising in China stays lagging behind the West in both physical appeal and persuasiveness and it seems even truer of its academic standing in the country. As China develops it

12、s economy and Chinese advertisers learn how to market their products effectively, there is a burning demand for the theoretical study of the l a nguage of advertising. And yet among the researches on advertising, few involve the study of advertising language and an in-depth examination remains to be

13、 directed. Previous studies on advertising language have been made from three main perspectives: linguistic, semiotic and communication.The theory used for analysis in the thesis is Sperber and Wilsons Relevance Theory (1986a, 1995. Even before their seminal book had been published, the theory had a

14、ttracted waves of profound and inspiring argumentation in many domains of research.1 Reviewing their book for the London Review of Books, Alastair Fowler elucidated:The repercussions of Relevance are likely in the long run to be greatfelt first, perhaps, in the pragmatics of conversation, t he philo

15、sophy of language, and reader-response criticism, but also in many other activities: construction of memory models, pedagogy machine learning and (doubtless advertising and propaganda.The thesis is to probe one angle of the language, that is, puns used in advertising from the prospect of Relevance T

16、heory. My exploration is part of a more universal investigation into the power of language, more explicitly into the way language is used to persuade, convince, and maneuver others. The instances used by Sperber and Wilson are chiefly concerned with situations in which intercourse occurs between tru

17、sting and equal partners. Much of my striving, in contrast, is contributed to apply the central notions of Relevance Theory to the very different social situation that characterizes advertisements.1 Tanaka K. (1995 Advertising Language: 1河北大學(xué)文學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文The first section of the thesis gauges selected ad

18、vances to the language of advertising, and puts forward Relevance Theory as the groundwork for expounding the comprehension of utterances. Then the t h esis delves into the selected topic of the advertising language, which might seem to present problems to Relevance Theory. The fractional suppressio

19、n of the advertisers purpose in punning emerges problematic at first sight. Sperber and Wilsons analysis of intercourse is based on a mirror, which involves the speaker letting it be known that he is trying to communicate something. 2 There are forms of intercourse that fall outside this mirror. Pun

20、ning seems to be a counter-example for Relevance Theory, whereby the speaker not only to recover the first explication, which comes to their mind, but also to go on and recover the second explication anticipates the audience. Nevertheless, it is argued that Relevance Theory subsumes valuable insight

21、s and helpful explications as to how such forms of intercourse are achieved. The distinction between the informative purpose, the purpose to inform the audience of something, and the communicative purpose, that is, the purpose to reveal this informative purpose, is crucial in accounting for covert i

22、ntercourse3. The audiences interests in cost-effectiveness, and its search for optimal relevance, prove to be vital in understanding how intercourse works when there are two or more explications involved, especially in the case of punning.1.2 Data CollectionMy current probe into puns in advertising

23、English has so far revealed some interesting features about the copywriters use of puns. This probe has concentrated principally on advertisements written in English of w hich the main source is from the written medium of the press.1.3 MethodologyThe probing method employed in this thesis is mainly

24、qualitative.1.4 Literature ReviewThere has long been interest in the means employed by advertisers to communicate with their audience. This part assesses how the problems raised by the language of advertising have been approached. It is my contention that those who have written on this subject have

25、not dealt adequately with the question of the context within which an audience processes an advertisement. Conversely, they have relied too much on system2 Tanaka K. (1992 The Pun in Advertising: 153 According to Bencherif (1987 Covert Forms of Communication: p.22, Covert communication is a case of

26、intercourse where the purpose of the speaker is to alter the cognitive environment of the hearer, i.e. to make asset of assumptions more manifest to her, without making this purpose mutually manifest.第一章引言of signs in the text. This part reviews a selection of theories in semiotics and linguistics, w

27、hich provides insights into the problem. At the same time, the defects of these theories are examined from the point of view of the contribution made by Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson, 1986a, 1995.Semiotics focuses on the structure of meaning-producing events, with the sign (verbal or non-verb

28、al as the fundamental unit4. Signs (e.g. words, clothing combine to form messages and texts (e.g., sentences and short stories, ensembles and fashions. Both the production of a message or text, and the subsequent decoding by readers, are governed by rules that are generally known to individuals who

29、are from the interpretive community or culturally constituted code environment in which the message or text is exchanged. These rules establish the manner in which signs combine into acceptabl e and understandable messages or texts, and the correlation that signs (as expression can have with their p

30、otential meanings (as content in specific contexts. Theoretical semioticians have concentrated on describing and classifying both signs and sign-functions to explicate the complex nature of intercourse (see Mick 1986.Semiotics has influenced prior analyses of advertising as a cultural form of interc

31、ourse. A semiotic text analysis scrutinized the various signs in an attempt to characterize their structure and identify potential meanings5. Hence, semiotic text analysis readily overlaps with an interpretive-hermeneutic approach to consumer research6, which involves the critical analysis of a text

32、 for the purpose of determining its single or multiple meaning(s. However, meaning can never be fully specified since each interpreter brings a reservoir of personal interests and experiences that introduces various degrees of non-convergence and idiosyncrasy into the intercourse process. The distin

33、ctive feature of semiotics relative to other approaches to analyzing texts is that semiotics places due weight on the constraints imposed by the structure of signs within a text, on the freedom of the reader to interpret the text in a variety of ways, and on the socio-cultural context that jointly s

34、hapes the text and its potential readings.Barthes is one of the most distinguished scholars to have tackled the language of advertising from such a perspective. His Rhetoric of the Image 7(1984 is claimed by Dyer8 to be a major essay on semiotics and its application to the analysis of an4 Mick, Davi

35、d Glen (1986, Consumer Research and Semiotics: Exploring the Morphology of Signs, Symbols and Significance5 McQuarrie, Edward F. (1989, Advertising Resonance: A Semiological Perspective, 97-114.6 Holbrook, Morris B. (1980, Some Preliminary Notes on Research in Consumer Esthetics, Advances in Consume

36、r Research, Vol.7,Jerry C. Olson, ed. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 104-108.7 Barthes R. (1984 Rhetoric of the Image translated from the French 1964 by Heath, S., London. Fontana8 Dyer, G. (1983 The Modularity of Mind, p.9, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press河北大學(xué)文學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文advertising messa

37、ge. In this stimulating but ultimately unsatisfactory text, Barthes studies the interrelationships between the images and the advertising messages with taking an advertisement for a kind of pasta called Panzani as an example.Barthes argues that there are 3 kinds of messages:u the linguistic message;

38、u the coded iconic message;u the non-coded iconic message.The linguistic message consists of the caption and the labels. Barthes points out that there exist two levels of explication of the linguistic message, namely, de-notational and con-notational. The name of the advertised product denotes the p

39、asta, and connotes Italianicity. Putting aside the linguistic message, Barthes argues that we are left with the pure image. This is divided into two categories, which are the iconic equivalents of con-notation and de-notation. The former is also categorized as a coded, symbolic, and cultural message

40、, while the latter is said to be the non-coded, perceptual and literal message. Barthes insight that one can derive different pieces of information from a single advertisement is valuable, but the way in which he sets out to analyze it is problematic.The denotation-connotation is not clear-cut, at e

41、ither the linguistic or iconic level, because perceptual information is not independent of cultural knowledge. As Fodor9 points out, a distinction between central thought processes and perceptual processes is assumed in current cognitive psychology. Perceptual systems are said to transform informati

42、on from sensory representations into conceptual representations. The information received by such input systems, however, under-determines the information derived from them by the central thought processes. In other words, the central thought processes integrate information derived from the senses w

43、ith information stored in memory to determine what is actually perceived. Thus, even the processing of information derived from the senses is affected by cultural knowledge.The thesis that different messages are disentangled solely by reading system of signs runs up against the fact that there are a

44、 potentially infinite number of different messages carried by a finite number of signs. Barthes is clearly aware of this difficulty. He attempts to resolve it by arguing that the linguistic message has a function vis-vis the iconic message, a function which he calls anchorage, that is the determinat

45、ion of the selection of the intended message: All images are polysemous which poses a question of meaning and this question always comes through as dysfunction even if this is dysfunction is recuperated by society as tragic or a poetic game The caption helps me to choose the correct9 Fodor, J.A. (19

46、83 The Modularity of Mnd, p.9, Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press第一章引言level of perception, permits me to focus not simply my gaze but also my understanding. (Barthes 1984b: 38-39, authors italicsThe problem with this proposed solution is that linguistic messages are also polysemous. However much we wou

47、ld like them to be clear and straightforward, linguistic codes are not devoid of ambiguity. Reference assignment, disambiguation and enrichment are part of the normal process of utterance explication (Sperber and Wilson 1986a: 185.Moreover, Barthes account fails to explain the popularity in advertis

48、ing of such linguistic devices as puns, where the linguistic message is purposely polysemous. Indeed, it is doubtful whether advertisers regard the polysemous nature of linguistic and non-linguistic message as a tragedy. On the contrary, the advantage of puns, which are frequently exploited in adver

49、tising, lies in their potential multiplicity of meanings. They are eye-catching and can thus sustain an audiences attention for a longer period of time. The focus that Barthes (Rhetoric of the Image 1984: 34-51 places on the discontinuity between different causes further problems. He concludes that

50、there are four discontinuous connotation signs in the advertisement in question:u a suggestion of a return from the market implies the freeness of the products and domestic preparation;u the colors used in the poster mean Italianicity;u the serried collection of different objects suggests the idea o

51、f a total culinary service;u the composition of the objects implies the image of a still-life painting.Nevertheless, why are the freshness of the product and the domestic preparation categorized as one image, while the idea of culinary service is placed in a separate category? The division seems arb

52、itrary. The number of signs attributed by Barthes to the illustration appears equally, for he does not provide any criteria for determining how many signs there might be. It would surely be possible for an audience to derive further messages from the advertisement in question, for example, ideas of

53、a harvest and abundance.Moreover, Barthes analysis would completely fail to provide an adequate account for other advertisements. How would he read the discontinuous message of advertisements? How would he read the discontinuous connotation message of advertisements in a controversial Benetton serie

54、s, which show a dying Aids patient, a victim of the Mafia, an electric chair, and a blazing car?10 These illustrations have no obvious connection with Benetton clothes. Many advertisements for Silk Cut cigarettes河北大學(xué)文學(xué)碩士學(xué)位論文in Britain do not even show the brand name, and the only linguistic message

55、is the government health warning at the bottom. 11 This appreciation of such advertisements involves more than decoding their linguistic and iconic messages.As for Barthes contention that it is possible to talk of explicit, discontinuous messages, this stems from a more general claim that language i

56、s the prime example of a semiological system,12 where as Sperber and Wilson maintain that kind of explicit intercourse that can be achieved by the use of language is not a typical but a limiting case. While it is reasonable to argue that linguistic intercourse is capable of achieving a degree of pre

57、cision and complexity un-attainable by non-linguistic intercourse, the communicator does not always intend to communicate a finite number of explicit and precise messages. Instead, he provides evidence for a range of conclusions, which become more accessible to the audience to varying degrees. The t

58、houghts that are communicated by advertisements seem to be richly structured as the sentences used to communicate them and much more so than the systems of signs proposed by semioticians.Another semiotician Judith Williamson takes advantage of a stimulating but problematic approach to the language o

59、f advertising. She analyzes a Goodyear tire advertisement, which shows a jetty on which a car is apparently being tested for its braking performance. She argues that, on the manifest level, the jetty signifies the test of braking power and connotes risk, but on the latent level, it signifies tire because of their similarity in appearance, and connot