英语文体学 Chapter 9 The English of Advertising.ppt

1、English Stylistics,Chapter 9 The English of Advertising,Contents,9.1 Advertising English as a Variety 9.2 Newspaper Advertising 9.3 Radio Advertising 9.4 Television Advertising,9.1.1 The Ubiquity of Advertising Newspapers, radio and TV, magazines, highway billboards, streamers, window shows, floor a

2、nd counter displays, transport decorations, fairs and exhibitions, telephones and direct mails, and even sandwichman indeed all the media, all usable spaces are employed to get all sorts of information to all people in all places.,9.1 Advertising English as a Variety,9.1.2 The Function of Advertisin

3、g,Advertising has consistently played a very important role in the development of capitalism. The vital role ads played in the settlement of the New World: Brochures published in England in the 17th century were full of hopeful overstatements, half truths, and downright lies, along with some facts,

4、by which the promoters for the American colonies enticed people to settle in there.,9.1.2 The Function of Advertising,The four basic roles in society 1) marketing role - helping companies sell their products or services 2) educational role - helping people learn about new products and services 3) ec

5、onomic role - encouraging competitors in product/service improvements and lower price 4) social role - helping increase productivity and raise the standard of living,9.1.3 The Language of Advertising,Advertising has resorted to all kinds of techniques - audial and visual, sound and light, display an

6、d acting, photographs and drawing, etc. But the most basic is the language - its mode being either written to be read or written to be spoken as if not written.,9.1.3 The Language of Advertising,According to the target audience (mainly two kinds: personal consumption and business), the functional te

7、nor of advertising language is mainly persuasive (as consumer advertising) or mainly informative (as business advertising). All advertising must have its appeal to the target people. This is especially true of the language of consumer advertising, which is targeted at the broad masses of people who

8、buy products and services of personal use.,9.1.3 The Language of Advertising,The personal tenor is reflected in its characteristic warm plain speech used in daily life and various language tricks to impress and move the audience. We shall focus on consumer advertising and also take a brief look at b

9、usiness-to-business advertising. And in terms of media, we shall first discuss newspaper advertising (including magazine).,9.2 Newspaper Advertising,9.2.1 display and classified advertising 9.2.2 sample for display advertising,9.2.1 display and classified advertising,Newspaper advertising is divided

10、 into two types: display and classified. The former ranges from inconspicuous one-inch notices to multiple-page advertisement in which advertisers present and promote their products and services. The classified advertisement are small-print, generally brief announcements packed closely together, dea

11、ling with diverse topics, such as help wanted, apartments for rent, film and theater, lost and found, and so on. Various magazines and billboards also have display advertisement. So we shall discuss display advertising, and point to the prominent features of classified later on.,9.2.2 Samples for di

12、splay advertising,Here we have the ad by the GM Corporation about the test drive to be conducted on May 1 and 2, 1992, which appeared in the Washington Post, May 1, 1992. Another is an ad about videowriter by NAP Consumer Electronics Corporation, which appeared in Campus Voice, 1987,9.2.3 Stylistic

13、Features of Display Advertising, Graphological features Grammatical features Lexical features, Graphological features,1. full use of graphological contrasts The design of ads has become an art. Most display ads have a well-thought-out manipulation of sharp graphological

14、 contrasts to achieve the best possible eye-catching effect. As the samples show, the headlines are either in heavy bold roman capitals, or in roman lettering. The body is set in different shapes of type: some lines for citation are italic lettering, some in roman lettering, with subtitles in 7mm hi

15、gh bold roman capitals., Graphological features,2. prominent use of pictures Nowadays the general practice is combining sharp graphological contrasts with a picture of the advertised product, or the potential customer, or the service being offered, which in many cases occupies half or even tw

16、o-thirds of the space., Graphological features,3. Clear identification of the advertiser The advertiser is conspicuously identified The sample makes GM very prominent. This is natural, if not, why advertise?, Grammatical features,1. preference for short sentences Most sentences in the

17、body are short, some composed of only two or three words. The longest sentence has 32 words, the average length of it is 12.4 words per sentence, which is a little more than that of conversation (with 8 words per sentence)., Grammatical features,1. preference for short sentences Worthy of our

18、 notice is the occurrence of verbless sentences, see the following example: For birthdays For special days. Forever. A diamond is forever., Grammatical features,2. Combined use of various types of sentences In advertising English various sentence types have their co-occurrence. Like the sampl

19、e, commands are used in a succession (see the paragraph under the subtitle “GO FOR A TEST DRIVE”). And in some, questions are used one after another. E.g. (p.141), Grammatical features,3.Use of simple verbal groups Like conversation, verbal groups are simple; but unlike conversation in which

20、all verb tenses may occur, advertising mostly uses the present tense The present tense used can at once indicate a present action ad hints at a permanent state., Grammatical features,3. Use of simple verbal groups Past tense is sometimes used (though not in the sample) only when referring to

21、the effort that was made in improving the product or services or to a past experience. For example, the all-new cabin of a Citation III plane (p.142), Grammatical features,3. Use of simple verbal groups Another ad asks a question concerning the poor food and uncomfortable seat offered by othe

22、r airlines: Remember the last time you were stuck in a small seat with a tray full of food you hated?, Grammatical features,3. Use of simple verbal groups The present perfect is sometimes used to emphasize the present state or the consistent quality of a product or service, as in Sample 1 (p.

23、142) Like in conversation, contractions are common, Grammatical features,4. Use of heavily modified nominal groups In order to pack more information into a limited space, many ads have heavily modified nominal groups. an honestly American sport coupe with outstanding style, attractive potenti

24、al and no pretention., Grammatical features,4. Use of heavily modified nominal groups An ads about MAZDA MX-3 GS: The only 1.8L, 24-valve in its class. Plus wheel independent suspension and disc brakes (ABC optional). And a 36-month/50000-mile limited warranty with non-reducible, “bumper-to-b

25、umper” protection. See your dealer for details. Call 1-800-639-1000. E.g. (p.143), Lexical features,1. wide use of affirmative and commendatory words and expressions The purpose of ads is to impress the potential customer with the quality of a product or service, so it often uses affirmative

26、and commendatory words and expressions in describing the commodity. In the sample, we have a pleasure to drive, a truly great car, automobile of the year, the new commitment to quality, Detroits magic touch, an honestly American sport coupe, outstanding style, attractive potential, a perfect world,

27、runs with the best., Lexical features,Comparisons are many in ads, usually to affirm the improvement made to a product or service. The comparisons with another object are not many because it is against the law to build up ones commodity image by condemning other brands. That is why vague and

28、subtle comparisons are often used in ads. E.g Of Americas best-tasting gums, Trident is sugar-free., Lexical features,Actually many positive-sounding words and expressions are non-specific in meaning; there is hardly any objective standard to measure them by. For example, the word enriched is

29、 often found in describing bread. Maybe the manufacturer will put a couple of drops of vitamins into the bread, then it is “enriched”!, Lexical features,Much ad-language makes as many positive claims as possible for the products or services without actually making them Presupposition: what is

30、 often thought of as true, sth. that is assumed to be the case Expectation: what is easily taken to be true, sth. that is thought to be the case E.g. (p.145), Lexical features,Other such repeatedly used ad-language is: Helps (keep you young), cleans (like a white tornado), virtually (trouble-

31、free), can be (of significant value when used), refreshes, comforts, fights, the feel of (real leather), looks like (a real oil painting), flavor (every supermarket has advertised the most flavorful meat)., Lexical features,Most prominent is the use of a large number of adjectives. The custom

32、ers eyes, ears, mind and soul are often attracted by easy, great, wonderful, fantastic, fresh, stylish, beautiful, handsome, elegant, exclusive, roomy, smooth, exciting, fuel-efficient, all-new., Lexical features,2. Frequent use of personal pronouns Use of personal pronouns is extremely commo

33、n, especially you and we, obviously to make the language more warm and friendly in tone and strengthen its appeal to the reader. Example of GM ad (p.146), Lexical features,Sometimes she or he is used to refer to your loved one; as in an ad for ring: Real gold. Slip it on her fingers and shell

34、 know whats in your heart. Nothing else feels like real gold. And also: Give him a diamond, the gift hell never forget., Lexical features,3. Extensive use of neologisms Coffee nerves; athletes foot; jock strap itch; body odor Numerous other terms were coined. From “boutique” comes bootique, f

35、rom “hamburger” comes cheeseburger, fishburger. From “clean excellently” comes klenex. From “sun” and “sensitive” comes sunsitive. Extremely common are words with a new spelling, such as foto (photo), foncard (phone card), Semantic features,1. heavy reliance on overall layout 5 parts of newsp

36、aper ad: Headline, body, illustration, signature line, epigrammatic slogan Each part contributes to the organic whole of the ad rendering it more eye catching and impressive, Semantic features,2. high attention to positioning and theme Ad language is often directed to one or more segments of

37、the broad market so as to set the advertised product or service apart from the competition without making any change in the product or service. This process is known as “positioning”. For example, in a soft drink market dominated by colas, Seven-Up successfully competed by positioning itself as the

38、“uncola”. Bain de Soleil, Semantic features,After the positioning, an overall idea or theme must be formed. In the early 1980s, for example, Delta Airlines had positioned itself as an airline catering to the needs of business traveler. But what specific item should be stressed in Deltas ad: f

39、ood? Courteous service? Extensive routes? Research revealed that the most important factor to the business flyer was convenience, so Deltas agency came up with the theme: “Delta is ready when you are.” Canon (p.149), Semantic features,3. use of rhetorical devices (p. 149) Repetition Parallel structure Metaphorical use of language Allusion and pun Alliteration,9.2.4 Features of business-to-business advertising,Business-to-business ad is designed to sell products and services not to general consumers but to other busine