广告英语的特点分析

An Analysis of Language Features In English AdvertisementsbyXXXA thesis presented to the School of English Studies ofXian International Studies Universityin partial fulfillment of the requirementsfor the degree ofBachelor of ArtsJune 10, 2011Class: Advisor: 毕 业 论 文 开 题 报 告姓名 性别 班级 学号毕业论文题目：An Analysis of Language Features In English Advertisements广告英语的特点分析任务起止日期: 2011 年 3 月 18 日 至 2011 年 6 月 15 日毕业论文主要内容及参考文献：广告在我们今天的社会几乎是无孔不入,它的传播介质多种多样,包括报纸、杂志、电视、广播、网络等。广告具有鲜明的目的性,即说服顾客进行购买,这种目的性决定了其语言的特色性风格,使其独立于其它文体,在语言学范畴内值得研究。本文选定英语这一全球普遍使用的语言,就其应用于广告领域而产生的一些语言学特点和广告本身的社会性特点进行深入分析,希望能对相关领域的研究有一定的借鉴作用和参考价值。本文共分为三章,第一章对广告的定义做了简单的概要,并探讨什么是广告英语及相关研究;第二、章从词汇学、句法学、修辞学、等理论切入,用大量例子分析了广告英语的语言特点,进行了剖析;最后一章对论文进行了总结,并谈谈本论文的局限性。参考文献：A.L Samovar, E.R Porter 第二、章从词汇学、句法学、修辞学、等理论切入,用大量例子分析了广告英语的语言特点,进行了剖析;最后一章对论文进行了总结,并谈谈本论文的局限性。关键词：广告; 广告英语; 语言特点An Analysis of Language Features In English AdvertisementsAbstract: Nowadays advertising has penetrated into every corner of our life as its transmitting media in many forms: newspaper, magazine, TV, radio as well as network. The goal of advertising decides its language to be simple and direct, distinct from the characteristics of other discourses. Thus an analysis on the linguistic features of advertising English in the linguistic field is worthwhile. Under such circumstances, a study on the linguistic features of advertising English will have practical effects on the composing and translating work of the copywriters. The whole paper is divided into three chapters. The first chapter give the definitions of advertising and talk about what is English for advertising . The next three chapter study from the theories in syntax, lexicology, rhetoric with many examples. The last chapter does the conclusion and shows the limitation of the paper.Key Words: Advertising,; Advertising English; Linguistic FeaturesTable of Contents1. Introduction .11.1 Definitions of Advertising.11.2 What Does English for Advertising“ Refer to? .11.3 Overall Characteristics of English for Advertising .11.4 Related study .22. Analyses of English Advertisement Characteristics .42.1 Lexical Characteristics .42.1.1 Oral Words .42.1.2Coinage Coinage .52.1.3 Borrowed Words .52.1.4 Compound Words and Abbreviations .52.1.5 Verbs .62.1.6 Adjectives.62.2 Syntactical Characteristics .72.2.1 Use Commands or Imperative Sentences.72.2.2 Use Questions or Interrogative Sentences.72.2.3 Use the simple sentences.82.3 Rhetorical Characteristics.82.3.1 Metonymy .92.3.2 Pun.92.3.3 Personification.92.3.4 Parody.103. Conclusion.11Works cited.1211. Introduction1.1 Definitions of AdvertisingAfter a brief introduction of the classifications and roles of advertising, we now come to the definitions of advertising. From different perspectives or purposes, the definitions might also vary. In English, the word “advertise“ has its origin in “advertere“ in Latin, meaning “to inform somebody of something“, “to bring into notice“ or “to draw attention to something“, etc. In Chinese, the equivalent term “guanggao“ means “widely announce“.1.2 What Does English for Advertising“ Refer to? Literally, “English for advertising“ refers to the language used in advertisements. As a matter of fact, “English for advertising“ is a practical style which is characterized by the unique use of English in various advertisements.Language is used by people to convey information, to communicate ideas and, in a word, to carry out social communication. This verbal communication is achieved in given situations, in particular ways, with certain people and for some specific purposes. Different communicative situations, ways, target audiences and purposes call for different choices of diction and expressions of language. This leads to different varieties of language. The variety motivated by a certain function is called “style“. English for advertising, thus, falls into this category.1.3 Overall Characteristics of English for AdvertisingAdvertising language belongs to “loaded language“, which has strong “persuasive power“ (Geis, Michael L., 1982). Its primary aim is to attract our attention and dispose us favorably towards the product or service on sale. Advertisers use language quite distinctively: there are certainly advantages in making bizarre and controversial statements in unusual ways as well as communicating with people using simple, straightforward language. According to G .Leech (1996), in order to serve the functions of advertising, the language must have attention value, memory value, readability and selling power. To be more precise, it is attractive, interesting, 2memorable and persuasive.1.4 Related studyThe study of language of advertising from a linguistic perspective has been attempted by several scholars (Leech 1966; Kumar 1978; Gopal 1980; Geis 1982;Vestergaard and Schrodder 1985; Manian 1986; Dhongde 1987; Hemamalini 1989;Mencher 1990; Satyanarayana 1990; Venkatesa Raja 1991; Suresh 1992;Arokianathan 1993; Manoharan 1994).Leech (1966), in his pioneering and comprehensive study on English in advertising, analyzed in detail different aspects pertaining to grammar, vocabulary, discourse and rhyme and rhetoric of advertising with special reference to television. He effectively related these aspects to the functional factors such as attention value, listenability/readability, memorability and selling power. Illustration, displaytypography, vocal emphasis, prompt spelling, grammatical solcism, metaphor andparadox are some of the aspects linked with attention value. Simple and colloquialstyle and familiar vocabulary are connected with readability. Phonological regularitiessuch as alliteration, rhythm, rhyme and jingle are related to memorability. Frequentuse of imperatives and superlatives are connected with selling power. The distinctive property of advertising language has been closely identified with the use of clauses, phrases and words as minor sentences, which constitute a different kind of grammar called as disjunctive grammar. Geis (1982) made an attempt to describe how language is used in American advertising, especially television advertising. He focused on certain linguistic devices that figure most prominently in advertising. According to him, the advertising claims employing the word help as in phrases like helps to achieve and comparative phrases like more or less are impressive because they are indistinguishable from the law like generic claims of scientists. He concluded that advertisers in general tend to prefer vague language rather than language with explicit empirical consequences and to prefer subjective claims to objective claims.Vestergaard and Schroder (1985) studied the language use in commercial press advertising in relationship with 3communicative functions of language such as expressive, directive, informational, metalingual, interactional, contextual and poetic and the five advertising functions. The different textual aspects such as coherence and cohesion, topicalization, presupposition and entailment and participant roles arestudied in detail.42. Analyses of English Advertisement Characteristics2.1 Lexical CharacteristicsThe lexicon choices are closely related to the style of the text, just as said by Jonathan Swift (1721) that “proper words in proper places make the true definition ofa style”. The Fowler Brothers (1908) mentioned five principles of lexicon choices in The Kings English. They said “using similar words to replace farfetched words, concrete words to abstract words, single word to multiple words, simple words to long words and Anglo-Saxon words to Latin words”. Although these principles are too strict and absolute, they have somewhat instructive significance for English beginners in writing English texts. English stylistics put much stress on the very important factor of “Register” in lexicon choices, which refers to the range of the language use and points out that different contents of styles demand different words to express theirexact meanings. According to what is mentioned above, this part conducts an analysis on the lexicon features of advertising English with typical examples, covering the following as