On Linguistic Features of Advertising English 英语专业毕业论文.doc

on linguistic features of advertising english一、 课题(论文)提纲引言1. 广告介绍1.1广告的历史1.2广告的定义1.3广告的分类2. 广告语言的特征2.1 广告英语的句法特点2.1.1 广告中的语态特点2.1.2 广告中的时态特点2.2广告英语的用词特点2.2.2描述性动词2.2.2符号及缩略语2.3广告英语的修辞特点2.3.2双关2.3.2隐喻结束语二、内容摘要广告有多种表现形式，但语言是广告的精髓部分，是最能打动人心的部分。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：简洁甜美，因此广告很值得在语言学的范畴内研究。由于广告英语有其自身的特点，因此广告撰稿人有必要积极从事于创造性的写作。众所周知，广告英语不仅仅是有关字词的堆积问题，而且是一种语言特点有其独到之处的英语语体。因广告英语有其独特的词法、句法和修辞手法，所以本文通过查阅有关广告英语的资料，在国内外主要报纸和网络上收集了1些英语广告实例，结合相关学者在研究广告英语实例中的理论依据、研究步骤及其研究方法，采用分析法和例证法来对这些书面英语广告的语言来进行分析，旨在通过分析而总结出广告英语在词汇句法修辞手法这3个层面上的语言特点。衷心希望此论文的分析结果能给英语广告的写作者以及广告英语的学习者提供帮助，也希望通过本文能够对理解，欣赏，创作和准确地翻译英文广告起到一定的帮助作用。三、 参考文献1 徐小娟, 广告英语m. 北京: 首都经济贸易大学出版社, 2004.2 vestergaard, torben and kim schroder. the language of advertising m. britain: basil blackwell press, 1985.3 cook, guy. the discourse of advertising m. london: rout ledge press, 1992.4 戚云方. 广告与广告英语m. 浙江: 浙江大学出版社，2003.abstract: advertising takes many forms, in most of which, however, language is of crucial importance and the language is required to be simple and sweet. thus a comprehensive analysis on the linguistic features in advertising english is worthwhile. as advertising english is characterized by many special features, there arises the demand that the advertising copywriter be engaged in creative writing. it is to be understood that advertising english is not merely a business of words, but also kind of original english with its peculiar features. this thesis tries to study advertising language in linguistic perspectives and employs the following two approaches: the analytic method, by which to examine advertising english and its linguistic features; and the paradigmatic method, by which to exemplify specific cases for the illustration of the described features. as advertising english is characterized by unique morphology and syntax and as so many rhetorical devices are found in it, this thesis presents an analytical study of the linguistic features in english advertisements at lexical, syntactic and rhetorical levels. it is hoped that by studying the linguistic features of advertising english this thesis will be of some help in comprehending and translating english advertisements for those copywriters and advertising english learners.key words: advertising english; linguistic features; morphology; syntax; rhetorical devices introduction advertising, just as its name implies, means publicize and transmit information in order to make everyone know. it has been gone through a rapid development. nowadays, advertising is everywhere. it is necessary to the economy of any country in the world. the importance of advertising in individual countries depends on the nations level of development and national attitude toward promotion. typically, advertising expenditures are higher in countries with higher personal incomes. and in the process of globalization, there were a lot of trades done among countries and there will be even more in the future. during the introducing and trading processes, people gradually realized the importance of understanding of each others advertising language. since then people began trying to know about its functions, nature, characteristics and so on. they did lots of study on it. as time goes by, advertising english became popular since it owns most speakers. until now, advertising english is still the research target. 1. an introduction to advertising1.1 history of advertisingadvertisement emerged from the womb of commodity production and exchange. the condition for the existence of advertising is “at least a segment of the population must live above the subsistence level”. when this situation occurs，it also becomes necessary for “the producers of materially unnecessary goods to do something to make people want to acquire their commodities”.the embryonic form of advertising in the world is street cries, which exists even today. advertising was not unknown in ancient greece and rome, but advertising as we recognize it did not start until the seventeenth century in the west. it was at about this time that newspaper began to circulate. before that, it is printing which was first invented in china and then introduced to the west that played a vital role in the production of print advertising. “classified” (small ads) types of advertising were dominant before the nineteenth century and style and language used in ads at that time tended to be direct and informative. the industrial revolution, which began in england in the mid-1700s and reached the united states by the early 1800s, facilitated mass-production of goods. meanwhile advertising became more and more important in the industrial market. the great breakthrough for advertising came only in the late nineteenth century. technology and mass-production techniques were then sufficiently developed for more firms to be able to turn out products of roughly the same quality and at roughly the same price. this brought on a crisis of over-production and under consumption which meant that the market needed to be stimulated by advertising. at this time advertising changed its function from proclamation to persuasion. in the twentieth century, advertising developed rapidly alongside the advent of new media-radio and television in succession.according to richard pulleys content analysis of two thousand print ads from ten leading magazines in the usa, ads have progressively turned towards the emotional rather than the informative approach and there is a shift seeing human nature as rational to seeming it as emotional.today in china, while our economic structure is shifting from the entirely planned economy to the socialist market economy system, advertising is becoming more and more active and sophisticated. in 1992, chinas advertising expenditure reached $ 862 million, among the fastest growing countries in asia. this year with the entry of china into wto, this expenditure figure will undoubtedly rise up, which will support the view that advertising is an indispensable means for providing the information that all market-oriented industrialized societies need for their economies to function efficiently.1.2 definition of advertisingamerican marketing association (ama) defines advertising as “the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media”. today, with the development of the technology and the diversity of the mass media, advertising has influenced us pervasively in our daily life. however, whatever the primitives strategies advertising takes, language is the main carrier of message all along, as the language of advertising , by vestergaard & schroder, says, “advertising takes many forms, but in most of them language is of crucial importance.” advertising language is a style of immediate impact and rapid persuasion. the point of an advertisement is to persuade you of the merits of a particular product or service, in order that you will take out some of your money.“advertising is the non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods or services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media”.another linguist bolen defines advertising as a “paid, non-personal communication through various mass media by business firms, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who are in some way identified in the message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience”.1.3 classifications of advertisingadvertising may be classified by medium (newspaper, magazine, radio, television), by target audience (consumer, industrial, business), by geography (international, national, regional, local), or by its function or purpose (product or non-product, commercial or noncommercial, primary demand or selective demand, direct action or indirect action).because it is difficult to gain access to enough date for english commercials and ads on radio or tv, thus, the subject of this research paper will mainly concentrate on the print advertising.2. features of advertising languagesince the advertising aims at drawing attention from the public and leading them to some direction, and thus the language of advertising is language that is used in efforts to persuade or otherwise entice people to purchase products or services.the structure of advertising sentence should be the same as that of other styles. it is comparably complete and independent language unit. it has certain grammar structure, phonetic structure and meaningful vocabularies. however, first of all, copywriters need to consider consumers thoughts so as to make every piece of advertisement is eye-catching. describe the merits of products, causing buying interest. then can they get peoples action of purchasing. therefore, for all these reasons, advertising english has its particular characteristics on syntax, morphology and rhetorical devices. namely, as followed.2.1 characteristics on syntaxto make people understand the advertisement easily, we always pay more attention to the syntax. lets learn something from sentences and voices.2.1.1 wide use of simple and colloquial sentenceswidely use of simple and oral sentences is very important in advertising. they are easy to understand and easy to remember as well. advertisement is facing everyone person. anybody might be the customer. so it requires that each sentence appeared in advertising must easy, brief and make sure almost everyone can understand and remember without efforts. then it may catch the eyes and ears of consumers so as to make them interest in the product. in opposite, long and complicated sentences are usually boring and difficult. besides colloquial language is natural and make people feel comfortable. it is more acceptable. what is more, there is another reason why advertising adopt this strategy. it is the cost. the fee of making advertisements is quite high. in order to cut down the cost, they need to use as less phrases as possible. therefore copywriters are demanded to transmit as much information as possible thought the minimum space and sentences. as time goes by, more simple and colloquial sentences become one of vital features of advertising english. lancme was created by armand petit jean in france, 1935. relying on his talented sensitiveness to perfume, his remorseless sprits and his ambition of creating frances own cosmetic brand so as to fight against america, armand petit jean invented perfume and established lancme. he made a great contribution to cosmetic history in the world. the name lancme comes from a castle called lancme, located in the middle of france. because lancme is surrounded by roses, very romantic and poetic, since then rose become the symbol of lancme. gradually, it became world famous product. today, it is getting more and more popular in our country. 2.1.2 more active and present voices, less passive voicein daily life, we mostly use active voice to express ourselves. apparently it is more attractive and acceptable for advertisers to adopt this kind of lines. what is more, active and present voices send out a sense of reality. people can choose any time to see and buy it without a feeling of out-of-time. that also means the lines hint the nature of duration and permanence of the target product.2.2 characteristics on morphologymost people have been attracted to a product or ideal because of simple words. so it is easy to see descriptive adjectives, symbols and abbreviations been used everywhere.2.2.1 descriptive adjectivesas we know, copywriters usually use adjectives ads to make detail description and a judgment on the quality, feature, and effects of the products .for the consumers; it is difficult to differentiate between objective description and subjective judgments. based on the fuzziness of understanding, copywriters try every means to make exaggerated compliments in theirs products for the purpose of catering to peoples psychological needs, and stimulating great curiosity to make purchase. according to the statistics from geoffrey leech, the most frequently used 20 descriptive adjectives. (in order of their frequency) are: 1) new; 2) good; 3) free; 4) fresh; 5) delicious; 6) full; 7) sure; 8) clean; 9) wonderful; 10) special; 11) crisp; 12) fine; 13) big; 14) great; 15) real; 16) easy; 17) bright; 18) extra; 19) safe; 20) rich 13 these words tend to express indefinite extension, and the larger extension they have, the fuzzier they are. semantic fuzziness stimulates readers interest for ads, calling for immense imagination and association. some examples as follows:(1) a true collectors item. the only coin watches for the connoisseur.(2)take a new look at tudor(手表).(3) everything is extraordinary. everything tempts. (cartier饰品)(4) long shots. (飘逸风姿-连衣裙).(5) good to the last drop. (麦斯威尔咖啡)all adjectives above are laudatory fuzzy in meaning. in example 1, it is valuable and classical watch that attracts all collectors. the word only embodies the extraordinary quality. and example 2, using the word new confines peoples thinking and hinders peoples ability of differentiation, but arousing a sense of freshness and great surprise. example 3 the word extraordinary tells the unusual style is the charm of the ornament. examples 4 the expression long gives people a good sense of elegance and comfort. and in example 5, chinese meaning is “滴滴香浓，意犹未尽”,clever wording good seems to be diffusing thick aftertaste of coffee. finding unusual through comparison is the frequent means of for copywriters. in order to highlight the excellence of the products, copywriters often compare their products with other products. it is why so many adjective and adverbial comparatives and superlatives are widely used in ads. compared with the adjective and adverbial themselves, adjective and adverbial comparatives and superlatives own the larger extension, and the fuzzier meaning. meanwhile, the use of the adjective and adverbial comparatives and superlatives promotes elevation of meaning in ads. it should be noted that many comparatives and superlatives do not have an indicated target, which creates a fuzzy impression upon the viewers and leave room for imagination. some cases as follows:(1) tastes richer mellower more satisfying. (real 香烟)(2) so the best way well be yet to come.(3) car companies made lots of claims about their cars. at nissan, we do more-woffer proof.we have enough evidence to arrive at a conclusion: many manufacturers try every means to advertise their products top among their competitions, aiming at stimulating consumers needs of consumption.2.2.2 symbols and abbreviationsa special kind of fuzzy language is used in advertising english due to the particular features of the internet. netizens are always fond of using some symbols or abbreviations to substitute for certain words or phrases. for example, for “at”, n& for “and” .u for “you”, 4 for “for”, 2 for “to” or “too”, etc. these symbols and abbreviations, while called by some as internet gibberish, make the internet vocabulary cryptic and comedic. advertisers on the internet also employ these expressions to attract web visitors. for example: (1) love first web site (eye systems. com)(2) hidden errors result in refund2you. (r)(3) we make finding toys ez! (ez-toys)(4) spending too much $ on your software? pay nothing for name brand software. absolutely legal. (m)in example (1), “”is actually “at”. but which impresses consumers more? of course the former. by using internet gibberish, the advertisement not only gives the readers a kind of visual shock, but also implies that there are always bigger surprises waiting for them. we expect more “” eyec than “at” it. the use of number “2” as its homophone “to” in example (2) also results in great curiosity on the part of consumers. and in example (3) advertisers substitute “ez” for “easy” in the slogan and make the brand name “ez” distinguished and well remembered. though the pronunciation of the two is the same, the visual effects are very different. the impression “ez” renders is certainly stronger than the ordinary “easy”. the same reading. on the other hand, on seeing these symbols and abbreviations they often use in their communication on the net, netizens will naturally identify themselves with the advertisements in which the internet jargons are contained. the aim of the persuasive strategy here can be well achieved through the identification of consumers with the advertisements.2.3 characteristics on rhetorical deviceswhile in the rhetorical devices, punning, and metaphors which make language more vivid and create more boundless association and imagination are discussed.2.3.1 punningto pun is to play on words, or rather to play with the form and meaning of words, for a witty or humorous effect. based on the fact that many words in the english language look or sound alike, but different senses, or connotations, copywriters tactfully employ pun to the ads, aiming at creating an unexpected effect. for example:money doesnt grow on trees. but it blossoms at our branches.-lloyds bank (劳埃德斯银行) the ad is posted up outdoors signpost of lloyds bank. the word branches have double meaning. the surface meaning refers to “树枝”，which forms a contrast with the word trees .while the deep meaning refers to “分行结构”。in a sense, the ad aims at telling people to deposit money in this bank, and then the money will gradually increase. the copywriters tactfully use the word branches, and novel conception creates an unexpected effect. similar cases as follows:(1) the unique spirit of canada; we bottled it.（酒）(2) give your hair a touch