广告英语修辞AdvertisingEnglish

1、The Beauty of Rhetoric in Adverting EnglishAbstract In modern society, under the situation of economic globalization, the internationalization of advertising is becoming increasingly obvious. Advertising English, as an applied language, is fascinating and persuasive. It plays a significant role in c

2、ommunication and persuasion. In this thesis, it aims to probe into the the features and beauty of rhetoric in advertising English. Analysis of rhetoric in advertising English is completed by reading some documents and books, researching some corpus and establishing a new corpus, which is especially

3、prepared for advertising English. By this means, the features of rhetoric in advertising English can be grasped. In this thesis, the features and beauty of rhetoric in advertising English is tentatively discussed. The paper introduces some typical kinds of rhetoric devices in English adverting, such

4、 as analogy, personification, repetition and rhyme. Totally, there are four sections in this thesis: the first section is concerned about the definition and function of advertisements; the second one talks about the definition and function of rhetoric; the third part illustrates the definition

5、and function of rhetoric, and some basic rhetoric devices in advertising English; the last part makes a conclusion. Up to now, rhetoric in advertising English has enhanced the appeal of language and also promote economy. Key Words advertising English; rhetoric; feature论广告英语修辞之美摘 要 经济全球化使广告国际化愈发明显。广告

6、英语作为一种应用性语言充满魅力和说服力，起着交流和劝导的重要作用，本文旨在探讨广告英语的修辞特征及其艺术效果。广告英语的解析是通过阅读文献书籍，查询一些语料库后并建立一个新的语料库而完成的，并且这个新语料库专门是为广告英语而准备。通过这种方法，我们可以掌握广告英语的特征。 广告英语的修辞美及特征也将在本文初步讨论。本文还介绍了一些典型的修辞在英语广告,如比喻、拟人、重复、押韵。全篇可分为四个部分:第一部分讨论广告的定义和功能；第二部分讨论修辞的定义和功能；第三部分阐明了修辞的定义和功能,和一些基本的修辞在广告英语；最后一部分做出总结。目前为止,广告英语修辞增强了语言的感染力的同时,也促进了经济

7、的发展。关键词 广告英语；修辞；特点ContentsIntroduction1. Advertisements11.1 Definition of Advertisements11.2 Functions of Advertisements21.2.1 To provide information21.2.2 To attract customers21.2.3 To promote sales and profits21.3 Some studies on advertising English2. Rhetoric32.1 Definition of Rhetoric3

8、2.2 Functions of Rhetoric32.3 Requirements of Rhetoric42.4 Commonly used rhetoric in advertising English4.Classification of rhetorical devices43.1 Lexical Stylistic Devices 43.1.1 Pun Pun on Polysemy Pun on Homonymy Pun on Parody63.1.2 Simile73.1.3 Metaphor83.1.5 Hyperbo

9、le93.2 Syntactical Stylistic Devices9 Repetition93.2.2 Parallelism103.3 Phonetic Stylistic Devices 103.3.1 Alliteration 10 3.3.2 End rhyme11 Onomatopoeia11Conclusion12Bibliography14Acknowledgements15The Beauty of Rhetoric in Adverting EnglishIntroduction Language, as a main form of expression o

10、f art, its purpose lies in the aesthetic. It can touch people with noble taste and spiritual enjoyment. Advertising English which belongs to a kind of unique language, has its own characteristics. The purpose of advertising English not only expresses aesthetic, but also provides the information of p

11、roducts or service, arouses people's attention and stimulates consumption. To this extend, advertising English has dual property. On one hand, it is an applied language, on the other hand, it has aesthetic value. Leech (4) referred to it as "sub-literary genre. Therefore, advertising Englis

12、h changed the condition that consumers simply accept the information of commodity, it can also bring aesthetic experience to people, and evoke people's desire of consuming with beauty. With the rapid development of economy, advertising has an indispensable part in peoples daily life in many aspe

13、cts: the internet, books,newspaper, TV and together with films. Therefore, it makes up a large part in consumption. To catch peoples attention, rhetoric is a kind of strategy. Based on theme and situation, rhetoric expresses message via a variety of language materials and technique of expression. Rh

14、etoric makes adverting English vivid and colorful. In a common sense, Rhetoric ,that is ,rhetoric devices or kinds of figures of speech, combines words and sentences together with high efficiency. Thus, the expressions concerned with advertising can be catchy, heart-shaking and convincing. There are

15、 some typical kinds of rhetoric, such as personification, metaphor, pun, exaggeration, rhyme, etc. All of them enrich advertising English. Therefore, many advertisement prefer to add at least one kind of rhetoric in their advertisements. AdvertisementsAdvertisement has penetrates in peoples dai

16、ly life for many years. It has a long history. The word “advertise” ,stemming from Latin word “advertere”, refers to a way of attracting peoples interest and guiding people in a certain direction(Bovee 19). Later it evolved into the meaning that it can arouse attention or let people know something.

17、Presently, although the experts with different nationalities has various views on the advertising elaboration, advertising elaboration are essentially the same.1.1 Definition of Advertisements The American Marketing Association has defined as follows: “advertisement is the non-personal communication

18、 of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media ”(zhao 3). This definition highlights the communicative and persuasive characteristics of advertising. Advertisements have taken many different ki

19、nds of forms from ancient times. Advertisement devices include many kinds, such as banners at sporting events, billboards, and Internet Web sites, logos on clothing, magazines, newspapers, radio spots, and television commercials. In the daily life, people are overwhelmed by a lot of advertisements.

20、It is said that the individuals can expect to be exposed to more than 1,200 different advertisement messages each day(Li 54). Therefore, advertisements are popular in peoples daily life.1.2 Functions of Advertisements1.2.1 To provide information Business advertising is intended to products or servic

21、es and differentiate products from others. Advertisements tell consumers the information about a specific product, brand or service. Thus, deepening the understanding of the product can arouse the customers purchase interest and desire to buy. It is bound to focus on advertising their products or se

22、rvices. For example, the advertisement of computers may express the information of computer as following: the operating performance of its security and stability, or the exquisite and meticulous process, or ornate style is unique, or the enhanced level of service, too much aspect to mention. At the

23、same time，trade information will be in advertising, so that consumers can know where to purchase this product or enjoy this service.1.2.2 To attract customers Advertisements can induce new customers and gain repeated customer. New advertisements can touch the heart of customers. It seems that once p

24、urchased, the body and mind can suddenly relax times, which is the charm of advertising. Moreover, advertisements can also refresh the memory of customers, constant innovation, and they may frequently carry out the most intimate contact.1.2.3 To promote sales and profitsAfter attracting customers to

25、 purchase the products, the markets of the product can be expanded., sales and profits can be promoted. In addition, they can also improve people's cultural life and spread information which promotes the prosperity of society.1.3 Some studies on advertising English As a kind of applied language,

26、 advertising English has its special functions. It quite differs from general English in its diction. For a Long time, studies have been made on this type of language through different approaches, which can be summarized into the following types: (1)studies on the characteristics and functions of ad

27、vertising English and its translation; (2)comparative studies on language between English advertisements and Chinese ones; (3)studies on the strategies or criteria for the translation of advertising English; (4)the application of rhetoric in advertising English. Apparently, most of the previous stud

28、ies laid stress on practicality but few of them study advertising English from the aspect of aesthetic or beauty. Historically, aesthetic research has been confined to literary translation, whereas this kind of study on advertising English has been much neglected and findings in this field are limit

29、ed, and have not developed comprehensively, scientifically and systematically. The purpose of advertising is to introduce the beautiful qualities of products or service and leave beautiful images of enterprises to the customers and thus urge them to pursue the products or enjoy the service. And it r

30、equires that the advertising in itself should be a beautiful work that is attractive. Therefore, there exist certain aesthetic values in advertising English. In this sense, advertising English is a kind of art. This thesis deals with the beauty of rhetoric in advertising English. Rhetoric Rheto

31、ric can be found in any forms of writingpoetry, prose, drama, fictional and non-fictional writing, and advertisements. The understanding about the definition and function of rhetoric is helpful and instructive for the use of rhetorical devices.2.1 Definition of Rhetoric Aristotle was one of the most

32、 famous thinkers and orators in Greek. In his famous book Rhetoric, rhetoric was defined as “the art of persuasion”(Aristotle 3). While John Locke, the noted English philosopher of the latter part of the 17th century, said that rhetoric was the science of oratory, the art of speaking with

33、elegance, and force(Fower 17). At present, the meaning of rhetoric has been extended. It features in the elaborate application of language, the high-efficiency and persuasion of the function and the clarity of its expression.2.2 Functions of RhetoricRhetorical devices are variations of literal

34、or ordinary forms of expressions. It aims to make the thought more striking and effective. The successful rhetorical device creates splendid and abundant imagination, makes the speech or writing vivid, impressive and interesting.      Rhetorical devices can make language mor

35、e vivid by using the simple words to express complex meanings. Via the application of rhetoric, even abstract ideas can become concrete. Rhetoric can make the modified subjects more prominent, distinctive, and specific. The language can give people more space to imagine. Meanwhile, to explore obviou

36、s effect of aesthetic rhetorical, the author make a tentative attempt to elaborates on the aesthetic rhetoric in advertising language. 2.3 Requirements of Rhetoric The essential point of rhetoric is how to explore an effective approach to express an idea in a known situation, in addition, how to be

37、consistent with various situations. To this extend, rhetoric is quite practical. Consequently, the following requirements for rhetoric must be met. The first one is appropriateness. Rhetorical language ought to suit the communication occasion. Particularly, the words and patterns of the sentences th

38、at one chooses should be consistent with one's age, profession, position and education. In addition, when employing such rhetorical devices, the advertiser should always take the audience's background into account. The second one is clarity. In fact, clarity is the primary concern of grammar

39、. If the words or sentences which are chosen fail to make their meaning clear, which may lead to ambiguity and misunderstanding, so how can we get ourselves across expressively and eloquently? The last one is effectiveness. Generally speaking, effectiveness is the final requirement of rhetoric. It c

40、an be deduced on the basis of the former requirement. Thus, one can employ all the best possible means to convey his or her thought with persuasiveness and artistic appeal and to effectively accomplish the objective of communication2.4 Commonly used rhetoric in advertising English In the new corpus,

41、 it can be found that the copy-writers have preferences for some typical rhetoric in advertising English. They are pun, metaphor, simile and parallelism. Each of them has its own features. In the following, they are discussed and analyzed in detail.Classification of rhetorical devices3.1 Lexical Sty

42、listic Devices Lexical stylistic devices include the pun, simile, metaphor, metonymy, personification, irony, hyperbole, understatement, euphemism, contrast, oxymoron, transferred epithet, syllepsis, zeugma, parody, paradox etc. In the following part, some typical kinds of lexical stylistic devices

43、are abstracted.3.1.1 PunThe pun, also called paranomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. (1) the beauty of pun in adve

44、rting English The pun plays an important part in English advertising. A large number of advertisers like to make it an advertising gimmick. Pun, the game of words, can strike readers if it is used properly. It embodies the beauty of connotation by its readability, wit, and humor. (2) the classificat

45、ion of pun：pun includes polysemy, homonym and parody. Pun on Polysemy Polysemy is the capacity for a sign (such as a word, phrase, orsymbol) to have multiple meanings（that is, multiple semes or sememes and thus multiple senses), usually relate

46、d by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field. On the whole, Polysemy can get across with the change and alternation in the implied meaning of the word. Pun on polysemy is greatly popular with the title of the commodity. (1) For example: From sharp minds. Come sharp products. (Sh

47、arp copier)The example is an advertisement for the Sharp copier. The word “sharp” not only think highly of the consumers wisdom, but also advertise the good quality of the copier. The advertisement speak well of the consumers who are sharp to try this sharp product in high performance. As a result,

48、the vanity in the consumers can be piqued and many people will have a try. (2) For example: Money doesnt grow on the trees. But it blossoms at our branches. (Lioyd Bank) It is an ad from Lioyd Bank. The word “branch” refers to “ the offshoot of trees ”, but in this ad, it means the bank affilia

49、tes of Lioyd bank. The ad inspires people to deposit money in this bank, and their money can develop like the growth of the tree. After understanding its meaning, readers will figure it out in mind that their money will increase daily and daily, just like the leaves in spring. Pun on Homonymy

50、 Homonymy implies the phenomenon that words which has dissimilar meanings keep identical form; dissimilar words consist with sound or spelling, or both（Long 2）. If two words are in line with sound, they are homophones. If the words are identical in spelling, they are homographs. If these words consi

51、st with both spelling and sound, in certain,they belong to complete homonyms. The follow instances will explain that: (1) For example: Trust us. Over 5000 ears of experience. It is an ad of audiphone. The literal meaning can be paraphrased like this: believe in us. This audiphone operates well

52、after more than 5000 ears of inspection, with its 5000 years of experience. Conclusions can be drawn: “ears” and “years” are a pair of homophone. Therefore, it implies that the product has a long history and has high quality. (2) For example: More sun and air for your sun and heir.This slogon is mad

53、e by a bathing beach. In this slogon, homophone is tactfully applied like this: sun vs. Son; and similarly air vs. heir. The ad depicts a scene that parents together with their son and heir go to the beach to have a trip to bath bright sunshine and breath fresh air. Nowadays, people work at such a h

54、igh pace that most of them Yearn for leisure time of happiness and health. Pun does resonate with persuasion and temptation. Pun on Parody Parody is a common, clever and interesting figure of speech in advertisingEnglish. It is characterized by the way it expresses. It intentionally imitate t

55、he familiar or commonly known language materials,such as idioms, proverbs, sayings and aphorisms to create new words or sentences. In this way, language is lively, irony or humorous. English has a lot of famous phrases, idioms and sayings. They are essential part of everyday language spoken, and hav

56、e become one of the perspectives of the English culture. The copy-writers of ads are so keen-witted and imaginative that they bring fresh ideas into these expressions to achieve sensational success. Through these changes, the traditional sayings or idioms are transferred into innovative adverti

57、sements, which can easily persuade people. Therefore, pun on parody prevails in advertisement. (1) For example: Try our sweet corn, youll smile from ear to ear.(Li 49)    It is taken from the advertisement for a kind of sweet corn. “Ear”contains two implications. For one thing, it ref

58、ers to an organ which works to listen. For another, it represents a seed of a corn. The idiom “ from ear to ear” also is a pun. One meaning is that people are satisfied with the product. The other one is that the consumers eat one ear by another. Thus, the ad praise the delicious taste of the sweet

59、corn, and people can not stop eating just one. How can people refuse such delicious food? (2) For example: All is well that ends well.    Originally, it is a popular idiom. However, in this example, it is an advertisement of a cigarette. “End”, as a verb, means “finish”; while, as a noun, it means “cigarette butt”(Li 50). The sentence means that if the cigarette e