PuninAdvertisingEnglish

1、Pun in Advertising English1. Introduction.12. Literature review of pun.32.1 The definition and general features of pun32.2 The pragmatic approach to advertising pun42.2.1 Grices four maximsof co-operation42.2.2 Leech s economy principle and clarity principle52.2.3 Sperber and Wilsons relevance theor

2、y63. Classification of pun.73.1 Homophonic pun.73.2 Semantic pun.93.3 Grammatical pun.103.4 Idiomatic pun.124. Functions of pun in advertisements.144.1 Information conveying.144.2 Attention attracting.144.3 Making advertisements brief.154.4 Making advertisements aesthetic.164.5 Making advertisements

3、 polite.175. Variation and derivation of advertising pun175.1 Classification of variation and derivative in advertising pun195.1.1 Embedding pun.195.1.2 Creating pun.205.1.3 Pun relating with parody.215.2 Effects of variation and derivative226. Translation of advertising pun.236.1 Literal translatio

4、n.236.2 Free translation.246.3 Combination of literal translation and free translation257. Conclusion.26References281. IntroductionWith the development of societyand economy, advertisementshave beeninfiltrating through every field of the society and have become one oftheessentialpartsinpeople slife.

5、No matteritisbusinessadvertisement or non-profit advertisement, advertisement making is acomprehensive art. This art needs much more skills and techniques thanotherartsdo,foritisthecombinationofsociology,aesthetics,psychology, marketing, acoustics, literature and linguistics.The goal of advertisemen

6、tsis to draw consumers attention andtoinspire their desireto consume. To get audiences attention to maketheirproductsbest-sellers,advertisersshouldwellequip theiradvertisinglanguage withmemoryvalue,attentionvalueand readability.To achieve the above values, different kinds of rhetorical methods areof

7、ten used in advertisingEnglish.With the use oftherhetoricaldevices,advertisementsaremorealive,aestheticandemotional.Pun istherhetorical device most often used in advertisements by advertisers.To get to know more about pun in advertising English, literaturereview and practical applicationareanalyzed

8、in the following. Thedefinition and the pragmatic approach are contained in the literaturereview. Differentlinguistshold differentopinionsaboutpragmaticapproachofadvertisingpun.Aftertheliteraturereview,theclassification is summarized. Generally speaking, advertising pun hasfour types: homophonic pun

9、, semantic pun, grammatical pun and idiomaticpun. Thenfunction,variation and derivative are analyzed after theclassification.Inaddition,translationis very necessarytoanalyzepuninadvertisements.Therearethreetranslatingmethods:literaltranslation,freetranslationand combinationof literaltranslationandfr

10、ee translation. According to its certain circumstance, different punsneed different methods.2. Literature review of pun2.1 The definition and general features of punAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, a pun is defined as theuse of word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or diff

11、erentassociations or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly thesame sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect(Murray:1928).Redfern an inaccuratebelieves that “pun, in but convenient tag fordeed, is a post a whole varietyrenaissance of rhetoricalword, anddeviceswhi

12、ch play on words” (1984:6). He also argues that puns do not have tobe funny,and the epithetsare “serious ” or “unicomic ”, and theyoften been applied to them.Althoughdifferentdictionariesanddifferentscholarshavemakedifferent definitions about pun, they have the same essence, that is, apun is a kind

13、of play on words.Pun has two features, which are ambiguity and a double context.Ambiguity is defined as a language item which may have two or more thantwo cognitive meanings (Leech: 1983). The first characteristic of a punis that the focus of its meaning lies in its ambiguity. No matter whatforms th

14、ey are, the speakers aim to achieve an ambiguity. A pun raisesthe awkward problem of the presence of an ambiguity in language. In thedaily communication, people try to avoid the presence of ambiguity, butas for puns, people deliberately create ambiguity. That is because theessence of a pun lies in i

15、ts ambiguity.It is important to keep in mind that the central and fundamentalphenomenon upon which pun operatesisambiguity. A pun deliberatelyemploys phonemic or semantic conditions to express one meaning on thesurface while hiding another.Another striking characteristic is that a pun contains adoub

16、lecontext.According to American professorArchibaldA. Hillin Austen TexasUniversity, there are three elements in analyzing and composing a pun:a double context, a hinge and a trigger. A hinge is the pun itself, anda trigger refers to the intention and background that lurk behind theexploitation of pu

17、n, which is often employed when we analyze pun.2.2 The pragmatic approach to advertising pun2.2.1Grice sfour maxims of co-operationSpeakers hold the wish to cooperate with others and to make theircommunication successful, so they need to agree upon certain principle,which is the Cooperation Theory (

18、Grice: 1989). Grice puts forward fourMaxims of Cooperation,which are QuantityMaxim, QualityMaxim, RelevantMaxim and Manner Maxim:Quantity Maxim: say no more than is necessary; say no more than isnecessary.Quality Maxim: do not say what you believe to be false; do not saythat for which you are lack o

19、f adequate evidence.Relevant Maxim: be relevant.Manner Maxim: avoidambiguityofexpression;avoidobscurityofexpression; be brief, be clear.However, in some information communications, speakers could breakabove rules. Their aim is to express some implied meanings. It is whatadvertising pun does in adver

20、tisements. Because advertising language isdifferentfromdailylanguage,advertisersusuallyconveymeaningindirectly through deliberately employing pun, because the first andperhaps the most important requirement of advertisements is that theyshouldattractandholdtheaudiences attention.I nthiscase,advertis

21、ements could be most effective only when advertising languagedeliberately break the Manner Maxim.2.2.2Leechs economy principleand clarityprincipleAccording to Leech, advertising English should conform to EconomyPrincipleand ClarityPrinciple.Firstof all,EconomyPrinciplerequiresbriefness. He holds the

22、 opinion that the course of audiences encodingand decodingwillbetime-savingandlabor-savingwhen themessageconveyed is not only short and pithy, but also complete and unabridged(1983).However, because the principle has a disadvantage oflimiting theamountofinformationwhichprobablycausesambiguity,advert

23、isinglanguage should conform to Clarity Principle. It happens often that twoprinciples conflict with each other. Therefore, it is necessary to makea balance between the principles in different cases.Advertising language is the unity of two principles, sometimes evenEconomy Principle is more emphasiz

24、ed. In modern society, due to theaccelerationoflivingpaceandincreaseof psychologicalpressure,audiencesaregettingmoreandmoretiredoflongliterarypiece.Generally, only the brief ones are welcome.2.2.3 Sperber and Wilsons relevance theoryAccordingtoSperber andWilson sRelevanceTheory,languag ecommunicatio

25、n is a course of signal and inference. Relevance Theory isthat people s cognitiveactivitiesare based on Maximal Relevance, whilelanguage communication isbased on OptimalRelevance (1986). Hearerstryto acquirethe most contextualeffects withthe minimum cognitiveefforts,which isawaytoassumethespeakers i

26、ntention.Therefore,tounderstandisnotjusttodistinguishitsovert assumption,buttounderstandthe significanceof contextualeffects and thegreatrole whichcognitive factors play in utterance interpretation.As a special means to communicate, it is beyond all doubt that punis very eye-attracting.Seen from Rel

27、evance Theory,advertisersmake gooduse of pun s character to offer audiences two or more explanations.Generally speaking, in the course of decoding, pun needs more time andlabor thanotherdirectexpressingways. However, itiswhat advertiserstend to do. Besides attractingand maintainingthe attention of a

28、udiences,employingpuncan alsomakethemfallintotheenchantment ofadvertisements.3. Classification of pun3.1 Homophonic punThis form is advertisers favorite. It is the use of words with the same pronunciations but different spellings and meanings. In modern English, there exists a large of number of wor

29、ds that happen to share the samepronunciations with different meanings. Advertisers are intended to use this form, because it is a style of humor, interest and fun, canstrengthenthe advertisements persuasionand affection,leavingand deep impression to the consumers. For example:(1)Make your every hel

30、lo a real good-buy. (Advertisement for Telephone)a goodHere“buy”provokesreaders associationof“buy”and“good- buy” and stirs up the association of“good-bye”. The maker ofthe advertisementintend s to attractreaders attentionand ensures thatthe purchase of their telephone is a good and worthwhile deal.(

31、2)More sun and air for your son and Heir. (Advertisement for Beach)There are two pairs of homophone forms here:“sun” and “son”;“air ” and “heir ” . Advertiserstend to convey the message thatsun andair in the beachare healthyfor the consumers families. The employ ofhomophonic pun makes the advertisem

32、entnot only sound smoothly,but alsofunny and humorous.(3)Everybody kneads it. (Advertisement for Pillsbury Wheat Flour)In the advertisement,“kneads” has the same pronunciation with“needs”. Then it is very easy to understand as“everyone needsPillsbury Wheat Flour”. It is impressive because it is very

33、 brief.(4)WEAR-EVER introduces a new concept in glass oven ware: CLEANABLITY.(Advertisement for WEAR-EVER Glass Oven Wear)“WEAR-EVER” is the trademark of the product.Advertisersemploy punon “WEAR-EVER”: on the one hand, itemphasizes the product s trademarkas “WEAR-EVER”; on the other hand, itemphasi

34、zes itsgood quality“wearforever ” and it is popular“wherever ”.3.2 Semantic punSemanticpunisformedinaspecificatmospherebyusingthepolysemous characteristicof vocabularyand sentence.The pun is also usedwith the same function of the homophonic pun. For example:(1) I m more satisfied! (Advertisement for

35、 More Cigarette)Here“more”isthetrademarkofcigarette,andthemark ofadjectives comparativeas well.Itmeans“further”. The advertisementisthesuccessfulmodelofsemanticpunandisalwaysquotedbyadvertisers.(2)The label of achievementsBlack label commands more respects. (Advertisement for whisky)Semantic pun can

36、 always be seen in brand names. In the advertisement,“label ” has two meanings: “label ” and “Black Label ” the trademark of the whisky. Because of semantic puns, it is easy to have associationof drinking while thinkingof success. In themeantime, it isuseful forattracting consumers and impressing th

37、em on the brand name.(3)Spoilyourselfand not your figure.(AdvertisementforWeight-WatcherIce Cream)The advertisedice cream is madefor dieters.“Spoil yourself” means“enjoyyourselftotakesomething ”,while“spoilonesfigure ”refersto “destroyones good shape”. Therefore,the advertiserstendto say “justcomean

38、d enjoy the ice cream, because thisof ice cream wouldnot destroyyour shape”. Semantic pun here makes the dietersaccept theproduct with no worry and inspire their purchase desire.(4) Money doesnt grow on trees. But it blossoms at our branches. (Advertisement for Bank)“Branches” here has two meanings:

39、 in the one hand,“one part oftree ”, which correspond to“tree ”; in the other hand,“one part ofgroups or organizations”. So the meaning of the advertisementis obvious:“why not save your money in our bank? The value of your money will beincreased here”.(5)A deal with us means a good deal to you.“A go

40、od deal ” refers to“much” when it is in common use, but inthis advertisement, advertisers interpret it as“a good business ”.(6)The unique spiritof Canada: we bottledit.(Advertisementfor Whisky)It is the advertisement of whisky Lord Calvert Canadian. Here, twopairs of puns are used.“Spirit” means “ty

41、pical quality”, and alsorefers to“alcohol ”.“Bottle ” could mean“put wine into bottles”,and could also m ean “put the unique spirit of Canadian together”. Dueto the employ of pun, the advertisement becomes more meaningful andimaginative.3.3 Grammatical punEnglish is an analytic language: some part o

42、f a sentence can play arole ofa grammatical component. Wecan have differentunderstandingsindifferentcontexts.Grammatical pun is pun because ofthe grammatical use,such as omission ofsome structures,some words or phrases. For example:(1)Which lager can claim to be truly German?This can. (Advertisement

43、 for Beer)A bottleof beer isdrawn besidetheadvertisement. “Can” couldbeused as a modal verb. When it is a modal verb, it means“be able to”.Besides,itcouldalsobe used asa noun,whichmeans “tin ”.Thesentences make sense when “can” is a modal ve rb or a noun. With thedrawing of a beer, consumers underst

44、and that“can” here means more“beer ”. The playof “can” has an effectofhumor and a deep impressionon consumers. In Americas market, there are different kinds of beers,many of which come from othercountriesand very competitive.Therefore,the advertisement emphasizes the Germany taste of the beer.It is

45、not unique that“can” is used by above advertisement.(2)Coke refreshes you like no other can. (Advertisement for Coke)Like the above advertisement, “Can” is used as a modal verb and anoun, which respectively refers to“be able to” and “tin ”. So theadvertisement could be understood as“coke refreshes y

46、ou like no other(can: tin, drink) can(refresh you)”. Forconsumers, it isvery easy toremember that product because of the use of“can”.3.4 Idiomatic punAdvertising language often adopts some idioms and slangs that arefamiliartotheaudiences.These advertisementsareoftenbased onpeople s knowledge of the

47、society and culture. The uniqueand lightlanguage forms of pun, strengthening the advertisement appealing andartisticqualityto the advertisinglanguage,make advertisementhave anovertone to the audiences. For example:(1) A mars a day keeps you work, rest and play. (Advertisement for Mars Chocolate)Read

48、ing the advertisement will remind consumers of two familiaridioms:“an apple a day keeps the doctors away” and “all work and noplay make Jack a dull boy”. The advertisement not only uses the form ofthe idioms,but also quotes the contextsof them. The consumers get a newconclusion from their familiar i

49、dioms: Mars can not only keep peoplehealthy, but also make them enjoy work and rest.(2) When you make a great beer, you dont have to make a great fuss.(Advertisement for Heineken Beer)Here the idiom “make a great fuss ” means“make over nervous ”. Theadvertisersmake use of the structureof the idiom a

50、nd create a new phrase“make a great beer ”. The new phrase makes a contrastwith “make a greatfuss ”, making the quality of the beer outstanding.(3) Twobeerornottwobeer,that saquestion Shakesbeer.(Advertisement for Beer)While readingit,“to be not to be, thatis a question ” in“Hamlet”will come to consumers mind.“Two” and“to ”,“beer ” and“be”,“Shakesbeer” and“Shakespeare” havesimilaroreventhesamepronunciations.Besideshomophonicpun,theadvertisementemploysidiomatic pun too. The refreshing feeling makes consumers remember thebrand na