（英语语言文学专业论文）关联理论视角下的广告语创作研究.pdf

i关联理论视角下的广告语创作研究关联理论视角下的广告语创作研究 年级：2003 级 学科专业： 英语语言文学 研究方向：英语语言学 研究生：韦运会 导师：刘绍忠 教授（博士） 摘摘 要要 本文运用关联理论对广告语言创作进行阐释，着重探讨广告制作者如何根据不同的广告目标受众而采取不同的语言来吸引他们的注意力从而创作出富有创意性的广告。 在我们的生活中，不管是商业广告还是非商业广告，它们似乎像空气一样无所不在。我们在阅读一些广告时不免会发现这样的问题：为什么同一则广告一些人一看就明白其要传达的信息，而另一些人却一时不知其所云。比如“天高几许？问真龙。 ”此则广告对于吸烟者非吸烟者来说，明白程度显然不同。可以说这是由于不同的广告受众有不同的认知环境所造成的。认知环境是 dsperber 和 dwilson 所提出的关联理论的一个很重要的概念。这两位学者所提出的关联理论认为语言交际是一种明示推理过程。明示与推理是交际过程的两个方面，从说话人的角度来说，交际是一种明示过程，即把信息意图明白地展现出来；而从听话人的角度来说，交际又是一个推理过程，也就是听话人理解话语的过程，此过程是根据说话人的明示行为（比如话语） ，结合语境假设，求得语境效果，获知说话人的交际意图（何自然，冉永平 2001） 。关联理论还指出在语言交际中，对话语理解起主要作用的是构成听话人认知环境的一系列假设，一个人的认知环境由三种信息组成，即逻辑信息、百科信息和词语信息。认知环境不同，对同一话语的明白程度也有所差异。广告是一种语言交际（dyer 1982；torben vestergaard& kim schroder 1985, etc.） ，而且是一种目的性极强的交际。广告的本质决定了它的目的是要向广告受众表明其意图，即要让广告受众明白其要传递的信息。这说明广告交际也可以看作是一种明示交际。广告交际的双方分别是广告制作者与广告受众。众所周知，其目的是向广告受众传递一种信息及劝服广告目标受众购买产品或是促使他们采取某种行动。为实现其目的，广告制作者必须根据广告目标受众的认知环境使用对于他们来说明示的，容易被广告目标受众所理解、接受的语言，这样才能达到吸引他们的目的，从而创作出更好的广告。也就是说根据广告目标受众的认知环境进行创作的广告更具有创意，更具魅力。 本研究从书刊、报纸、杂志以及街巷中收集了二十多条广告，包括针对不同性别和年龄的商业广告和针对社会所有公民的非商业广告，运用关联理论对它们进行分析，发现这些广告大量地使用了对于它们的目标受众来说很容易明白的语言。比如说商业广告中针对女性的化妆品广告中频繁地使用了 “美白肌肤” 及类似意思的词语；而针对男性的则使用了“成功” “豪迈奔放”等类似的表现男子汉气概的语言；针对儿童的则使用了一些富于想象的语言；针对年轻人的则使用了敢于挑战、冒险的语言而针对老年人的广告使用了表示关怀的语言。而非商业广告中则使用了几乎对于所有人都容易理解，明白的语言。这些分别根据他们不同的认知环境进行创作的广告更能使它们的广告目标受众容易明白，接受，对广告目标受众具有很大的吸引力，更具创意性。同时还进一步阐释关联理论视角下对广告语创作的创意性，即为什么运用关联理论进行广告创作会使得广告创作更有创意性。 本研究成果将有助于人们更好地认识和构筑新的广告语创作的理念、原则和评价标准。 由于本研究只限于文字广告，且只涉及到性别年龄的广告，对于伴有声音图象的电视广告，或是针对不同职业，不同社会阶层的广告还有待于进一步研究。 关键词：关键词：广告制作者； 广告受众； 广告目标受众； 认知环境；关联理论 iicreativity in advertising: the relevance theory approach m.a. candidate: wei yunhui supervisor: professor liu shaozhong abstract based on sperber and wilsons relevance theory, this thesis investigates advertising creativity, focusing on how advertisers employ different language according to the target audience, which thus ensures effective advertising creativity. whether commercial or non-commercial, advertisements abound in our life. when we are reading advertisements, questions such as why the same ad becomes differently manifest to different people may arise. for example, this ad “天高几许？问真龙。” is understandably manifest to cigarette smokers, while not to others, which may be related to the cognitive environments of different people. cognitive environment is the central notion of d. sperber and d. wilsons relevance theory (rt), which views communication as an ostensive-inferential one. ostension and inference are two sides of the same coin. they refer respectively to the addressers production and the addressees interpretation of the same utterance. this process aims at achieving contextual effects which result in the addressers communicative intention resorting to ostension, combining the contextual assumptions (he ziran & ran yongping 2001). the rt argues that the cognitive environment of the addressee plays a vital role in understanding utterance in communication, and it consists of three kinds of information, namely, logical, encyclopaedic and lexical information. different cognitive environments may lead to different perceptions. advertising is a kind of communication (dyer 1982; t. vestergaard & k. schroder 1985, etc), which is audience-targeted. the nature of advertising shows that its purpose is to make the audiences notice its intention or information. that is to say, advertising is apparently an ostensive communication whose interlocutors are respectively the advertisers and the audiences. as is known, the purpose of advertising is to inform and persuade the audiences to buy products or to take certain actions intended by the advertisers. to fulfill their goals, advertisers use the manifest languages, easily understood by the target audience according to their cognitive environment. in this way advertisers can produce better ads that effectively accomplish their purpose. in other words, advertising anchored in the cognitive environments of the target audiences is more attractive and creative. with the help of the rt, this study analyzes more than 20 ads collected from books on advertising, newspapers, magazines and the street corners, consisting of commercial advertisements addressing people of different genders and ages, as well as non-commercial ones which address a far wider audience, and examines how the language in these advertisements is evidently manifest to the target audiences. for example, in cosmetics advertisements addressing women, similar words and phrases to “美白肌肤” have been employed; the ones addressing men use such words or phrases as “成功”, “豪迈奔放” which acknowledge mens characteristics of masculinity; and the ones addressing children, the young, and the elderly have respectively employed language that is full of imagination, that infers challenging and adventures, and that shows care and consideration. in non-commercial ads, however, the advertisers employ language that is perceptible and manifest to the general public. these ads created according to the cognitive, perceptive and inferential abilities of the target audiences, i.e. their cognitive iiienvironments are more attractive and creative. in the meantime, this thesis further substantiates why the rt approach in advertising creativity is more attractive and creative. the findings of the study might offer a new perspective for advertising creativity and be of help to people who wish to better understand and enjoy the advertising they encounter in their daily lives. this thesis has only focused on the creativity of commercial advertisements in print addressing people of different genders and ages, leaving tv ads and others addressing people of different professions, social strata and even nationalities and the like untouched, and it is hoped that people who are interested in this field may continue this research. key words: advertisers; audience; target audience; cognitive environment; relevance theory acknowledgements first of all, i would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my considerate, warm-hearted and learned supervisor, professor liu shaozhong, whose invaluable instruction, creative advice and patient revising of the draft have greatly contributed to the completion of this thesis. without his generosity, my thesis would be much less complete. my sincere thanks also go to all those who have taught me courses in the college of foreign studies of guangxi normal university. i have benefited a lot from their work and spirit. special thanks are extended to prof. li xiao, prof. wei han, prof. chen jitang, prof. he ruiyong, prof. xu jiwang, and prof.tang gaoyuan. each of them has assisted my thesis greatly. my special gratitude goes to my dear friend, nick turnbull, a foreign teacher in guilin for his kind help and pro. pan zhengqin at guilin university of electronics and technology. i also want to express my appreciation to my dear fellow classmates and friends who have contributed much to the fruitfulness and colorfulness of my life at guangxi normal university with their generous help and friendship. last but not the least, i thank my wife for her love and support and my mother for taking good care of my lovely baby daughter. 1chapter i introduction based on the relevance theory, this thesis explores how the advertisers produce the creative advertisements according to the different target audiences. in contemporary society, advertising is everywhere. it seems that no matter where we go, it is always with us. but what is advertising? advertising means different things to different people. its a business, an art, an institution, and a cultural phenomenon. to the ceo of a multinational corporation, advertising is an essential marketing tool that helps create brand awareness and loyalty and stimulates demand. to the art director in an advertising agency, advertising is the creative expression of concept. to a media planner, advertising is the way a firm uses the mass media to communicate to current and potential customers. advertising means something different to all these people. thomas c. o guinn, chris t. allen and richard j. semenik (1998) offer a definition: advertising is a paid, mass-mediated attempt to persuade. in their definition, these authors focus on three aspects of advertising: first, they argue that advertising is paid communication by a company or organization that wants its information disseminated, and that if advertising is not paid for, it is not advertising. for this reason, public service announcements are not advertising. obviously, this definition excludes another kind of advertising, non-commercial advertising. second, they think advertising is mass mediated. this means it is delivered through a communication medium designed to reach more than one person, typically a large number or mass of people. advertising is widely disseminated through familiar means: television, radio, newspapers, and magazines, and other media like direct mail, billboards, online services, and videocassettes. even the simple posters placed around college campuses are designed to be seen by more than one person, making posters a medium for advertising. the mass-mediated nature of advertising creates a communication environment where the message is not delivered in a face-to-face manner. third, all advertising includes an attempt to persuade. to put it bluntly, advertisements are communication designed to get someone to do something. the advertisement informs the consumer for a purpose, and that purpose is to get the consumer to like the brand and to eventually buy the brand. without the persuasive intent, a communication would not be advertising, but might be news. these authors conclude that if a communication is advertising, it must satisfy the three essential criteria: (i) the communication must be paid for; (ii) the communication must be delivered to an audience via mass media; (iii)the communication must be attempting persuasion. 2another definition from frank jefkins (1992:4) states that: “advertising is the means by which we make known what we have to sell or what we want to buy”. this definition seems excessively simple, being merely concerned with the processes of selling and buying, and not the nature of advertising, which is essentially informative and persuasive. the institute of practioners in advertising, the trade association of british advertising agencies defines advertising as: “advertising presents the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects for the product or service at the lowest possible cost”. obviously, its statement is biased and in effect is promoting advertising activity. the american marketing association gives a relatively more comprehensive definition: “advertising is 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”. this definition at least indicates: (i) advertising is a kind of communication which is non-personal; (ii) advertising is a paid form of communication; (iii) advertising is persuasive about products, service or ideas; (iv) the sponsor is identified; (v) advertising conveys message through various types of media. the definitions above are merely confined to commercial advertising. however, according to vestergaard and schroder, advertising can be divided into commercial and non-commercial both of which, in this thesis, will be dealt with. zhao jing (1992:4) in the book advertising in english, defines non-commercial advertising as “publication of notice, announcement, and ideas, including the advertisement of seeking marriage, looking for lost persons for the religious groups, charity institutions and government departments” and commercial advertising as “promoting sales for the profit-making organizations.” government advertising, which is usually public service information and charity advertising intending to give publicity to the needs and objectives of an association or organization conducted for charitable or benevolent purposes usually belongs to the non-commercial, while consumer advertising, trade advertising and corporate advertising belong to the commercial. vestergaard and schroder (1985) point out that commercial advertising covers two categories. the first is the so-called prestige or good-will advertising, where firms advertise not a commodity or a service, but rather a name or an image. the only purpose of these advertisements must be to remind people of the existence of the firm and to leave a generally favorable impression. the second is consumer advertising, where the advertiser is a firm appealing individual private consumers to actively respond to the advertised products or services. this thesis is more concerned with this classification and will deal with these two types of advertising. today, with the development of technology and the diversification of mass media, advertising influences us pervasively in our daily lives. however, whatever the promotive 3strategies advertising takes, language is the main carrier of message all along, as the language of advertising, by vestergaard & schroder (1985:1), 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 part with some of your money. according to different sorting criteria, there are many kinds of advertising, yet my thesis only involves commercial and non-commercial ads. concerning whether or not the advertisers aim at seeking profits, we can divide advertising into commercial and non-commercial. commercial advertising includes consumer advertising, trade advertising and corporate advertising, the last of which covers the so-called prestige or goodwill advertising and aims at creating long-term goodwill with the public rather than at an immediate increase in sales, while non-commercial advertising includes communication from government agencies to citizens, or appeals from various associations and societies, whether their purposes are charity or political propaganda (vestergaard 1985:1). but here this thesis concerns both the type which leech (1966:25) describes as commercial consumer advertising, because this is indeed the most frequent type, the type on which most money and effort is spent, and the type which affects us most deeply, also some non-commercial advertising i.e. public benefit advertising is dealt with in my thesis. whether it is commercial and non-commercial advertising, we can say that advertising is a kind of public communication which focuses on the side of the audience. or we say the advertising creativity focuses on the audience because its purpose is to persuade and inform, and its nature is dictated by the characteristics of the target group. these points will be expounded in this thesis. sperber and wilsons relevance theory (1986/1995) is the basis of contemporary explanation for communication. according to the relevance theory, communication is ostensive-inferential, while ostension and inference are two sides of the same coin, that is, ostension from the communicator who displays ostensive stimuli in the utterances according to the cognitive environments of the audience, and inference from the audience who interprets the utterances by inferring according to their cognitive environments, too. cognitive environments are a set of assumptions which consist of logical, encyclopedic and lexical information, all of which are essential to reach mutual manifestness. cognitive environments and mutual manifestness are indispensable to achieve relevance in the communication. a lot of studies have been carried out on the relevance theory, nevertheless very few studies with the relevance theory touch the issue of advertising creativity. advertising is communication with evident purposes and a target audience. ubiquitous in 4our daily lives, advertising has become a popular subject of study, approached from a wide range of disciplines, such as anthropology, linguistics, literary criticism, and media studies, but it seems that very few documents on the study of advertising creativity are found from the perspective of the relevance theory, which is a powerful mean of accounting for advertising creativity. why do we say that the relevance theory is a powerful mean of explaining advertising creativity? or how can advertisers produce advertisements specific to the cognitive environments of the audience? let us look at the following advertisement: “中国人的生活， 中国人的美菱”. this is an advertisement for the “美菱” brand of refrigerator, which targets people who are choosing a brand. surely the merits of the refrigerator should be the deciding factor. but what does “中国人的生活” mean to the audience? and what are chinese peoples lives like? this advertisement seems to convey little information and be irrelevant to the audience. this advertisement for the same product, however, “新鲜的，美菱的” is more attractive to the audience, which caters the audiences very typological cognition that the refrigerator should have the function of keeping food fresh because the utterance “新鲜的” fits the cognitive environments of the audience. as previously mentioned, advertising abounds in our lives, and therefore we are exposed to various ways of transmitting advertising. television, usually combining sound and picture, is an extremely important advertising medium, but this thesis will deal exclusively with press or print advertising. for one thing, printed advertising is easier to store and easier to study than tv ads. for another, tv commercials involve complicated visual and audio effects which are impossible to reproduce or explain fully with the written word alone, whereas a printed ad can be reproduced as a whole. meanwhile this concentration on press advertising will not be a very great disadvantage, since there is no