On the Realization of Textual Function in Advertising English.doc

《On the Realization of Textual Function in Advertising English.doc》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《On the Realization of Textual Function in Advertising English.doc（26页珍藏版）》请在淘文阁 - 分享文档赚钱的网站上搜索。

1、毕业论文（设计）Lexical Features and the Realization of Textual Function in Advertising English1.Introduction12. Systemic functional grammar and Textual function32.1 Systemic functional grammar32.2 Textual function43. Lexical Features53.1Monosyllabic words53.2 Coinages，misspellings and abbreviations73.2.1Co

2、inages73.2.2 Misspellings103.2.3 Abbreviation113.3 Adjective and its comparative and superlative degree123. 4 Compound words143. 5 Foreign words173.5.1 French173. 5.2 Spanish194. Discourse analysis204.1 Context of culture204.3 Communication role225. Conclusion.23References241.IntroductionThe word ad

3、vertising, taking its origin from the Latin word Advertere which means to catch peoples attention, is the act to tell the public about a product or a service in order to encourage people to buy or to use it (夏政, 2003). The New Encyclopedia Britannica had defined it as “the techniques and practices u

4、sed to bring products, services, opinions, or causes to public notice for the purpose of persuading the public to respond in a certain way toward what is advertised” (vol.1, 1993:113) . Advertising is such a complex phenomenon and process that it is very difficult to define it. It was not until the

5、end of 17th century that with the development of commerce the word “advertising” became popular and obtained the meaning of “to spread commercial information”. Ablert Lasker，the father of modern advertising, said that advertising was “salesmanship in print”. American Marketing Association (AMA) defi

6、nes 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. (夏政, 2003). As a kind of English for Special Purpose, advertising English is a term often used to des

7、cribe a text related to sales promotion. However complex it is, advertising English belongs to the category of languages and makes no exception to those features that languages own, bearing its unique characteristics phonologically, rhetorically, syntactically, and lexically in especial. Advertising

8、 English constitutes a lively repository of vocabulary, ranging from the formation to the selection of words. In advertising English, a word that is of regular meaning may evoke a new amazing meaning when used in special context and for certain purpose. Advertising English serves to persuade the exi

9、stent and potential consumers to pay for the promoted products of certain brand or take the advertised services of some company. It gives information about the products to consumers, arouses their good feeling toward the brand of the company, and in the end motivates them to accept their products or

10、 choose their services. In order to achieve these goals, therefore, advertising English is supposed to be attractive either visually or acoustically and characterized with sophisticatedly-picked words or phrases. For instance, by breaking the spelling rules people are familiar with, in other words,

11、by creating words or phrases, misspelling and compounding, the adoption of lexical novelty provokes in consumers vivid and impressing image as well as melodious sounds. Psychologists point out that created words help the readers to appreciate the queer spellings and to spend more seconds to connect

12、them with the items being advertised, which in the end impresses the readers with the advertised brand. Moreover, the use of simple monosyllabic words makes it easier for consumers to read and to understand the language and the purposes it contains. 2. Systemic functional grammar and Textual functio

13、n Since the 1960s, Halliday, the professor of linguistics, has developed a systematic and comprehensive theory of language called “Systemic-Functional Grammar (SFG)”, and published his book “An Introduction to Functional Grammar”. Many scholars also published a number of books and papers on systemic

14、 grammar. The research of Systemic Functional Grammar began in 1970s and became popular in the late 1980s.2.1 Systemic functional grammarAccording to Halliday, “language had evolved to satisfy human needs; and the way it is organized is functional with respect to these needsit is not arbitrary.” “Th

15、e fundamental components of meaning in language are functional components.” SFG has two components: systemic grammar and functional grammar (Halliday, 2000:F39). In Hu Zhuanglins book “Linguistics. A course Book”, he holds that “Systemic grammar aims to explain the internal relations in language as

16、a system network, or meaning potential. And this network consists of subsystem from which language users make choices. Functional grammar aims to reveal that language is a mean of social interaction, based on the position that language system and the forms that make it up are inescapably determined

17、by the uses or functions which they serve.”(2001:409) SFG has classified the language functions into three general functions: Ideational function, Interpersonal function and Textual function2.2 Textual functionTextual Function mainly refers to how people organize language and express the connection

18、between information when they adopt certain language. Besides, textual function can show the relation between the transmission of information and the context where the person giving the information. (江淑娟 戴卫平，2006). “The TEXTUAL FUNCTION refers to the fact that language has mechanisms to make any str

19、etch of spoken or written discourse into a coherent and unified text and make a living passage different from a random lost of sentences.” “The textual function fulfils the requirement that language should be operationally relevant, having texture in a real context of situation that distinguishes a

20、living passage” (胡壮麟, 2001:420)3. Lexical Features The textual function of advertising English is to equip the customers with the information (the features, benefits, functions, and value of the products, ect.) they need to make purchase decisions. Advertising aims to differentiate products from oth

21、ers, convey information, induce new customers, gain repeated customers, stimulate the distribution and build brand preference and loyalty (夏政, 2003). In order to achieve these aims, copywriters try every effort to make the advertisement appealing by using sophisticated lexical devices, such as emplo

22、ying monosyllabic and simple colloquial words, creating words or phrases, misspelling and compounding.3.1Monosyllabic wordsIn advertising English, it is highly appreciated in the text of advertising to establish close and interactive relation with readers. (王树槐 王群, 2006). Thus, brief words, like mon

23、osyllabic words, can produce great effects. Rather than “attempt”, “purchase”, “peruse” or “employ”, copywriters prefer to choose “try”, “buy”, “read” or “use” to promptly express the ultimate information rather than hinting simply by using flattering words if they are not attempt to make those eleg

24、ant advertisements as incarnating their wonderful products or services. Monosyllabic words are words having only one syllable, which are easy to read and to remember. For example:(1) The world of MusicThe world of ArtThe world of TheatreThe world of SightThis is a travel advertisement of a city. The

25、 city is compared to “Music” “Art” “Theatre” and “Sight”. We can see the copywriter appropriately adopts monosyllabic words, repeats the monosyllabic word “world” to impress the readers and plants in mind a seductive picture. By employing monosyllabic words, the copywriter produces a rhymed and stri

26、king text, inducing new comers.(2) Ever wonder why most guys in pants ads are standing up?This is an advertisement for trousers. The copywriter uses “guys” “pants” and “ads” instead of “men” “trousers” and “advertisement”, in that the former ones are much easier to catch than the latter ones, bringi

27、ng a feeling of closeness to the readers and creating in mind an image of casualness and handsomeness with the pants.Example (1) and (2) illustrate the textual function of employing monosyllabic words in advertising English. Words of one syllable are easily understandable and memorable, as well as c

28、reating an effect of rhyme and vividness. Whats more, monosyllabic verbs in advertising English can save time and space but never lose the power to attract readers. Monosyllabic verbs or verbs of short spelling are quite popular in advertising English, such as “give”, “make”, “try”, “come”, “go”, “s

29、ee”, “have”, “get”, “keep”, “use” and so on. In short, as for the quality of being easily memorable and understandable, monosyllabic words serve to realize the ultimate purpose, that is, to capture the would-be customers and to persuade them to purchase the products or make use of a certain kind of

30、service. 3.2 Coinages，misspellings and abbreviationsAs English is a language made up by spelling, in advertising English, copywriters can make good use of the spelling features to endue the advertisements with creativity and then appeals. They follow such rule as “to limitlessly apply limited source

31、s”, to cater for the psychological needs of customers. Thus, coinages, misspellings and abbreviations are among the priorities when it comes to the wording.3.2.1CoinagesCoinage is a process of inventing a word or phrase. “It is a remarking feature of advertising English, which means little according

32、 to regular grammar but is known for the novelty and compact formation”(刘霁, 2007) . For instance:(3) Merry x-masMerry XL-masMerry XXL-masExample (3) is an advertisement of chocolate candies. Merry x-mas is an anagrammatic spelling which implies that this product being advertised is a Christmas gift.

33、 In the picture beside the print, the sizes of the three beautifully packed boxes become bigger, which in turn help people associate with the size expression X, XL, XXL. XL means extra large and XXL means extra extra large, which also produce visual freshness. As a letter, X is very remarkable in it

34、s capitalized form, and its pronunciation is /eks/, which is exactly the same to that of “ex”. Moreover, “ex” usually has the association with “excellent” or “surpass”, thus XL-mas and XXL-mas may implies that it is better in quality than other Christmas gift and it will give the customers much more

35、 pleasure and bigger surprise.(4) First of all, because now Yoplait is thicker.Second of all, because its creamer.Third of all, because its still 100% natural and really very good for you.Fourth of all, because to me Yoplait tastes better than all the other yogurts.Example (4) is an advertisement of

36、 the yogurt. In this text, the copywriter realizes the textual function by making up completely new phrases “second of all”, “third of all”, and “fourth of all”, which do provoke the visual impact on customers. Although these three phrases are grammatically meaningless, the effect is clearfluent and

37、 natural, able to highlight the priority of the product. (5) When you have been voted best airport in the world two years in a row, what do you do for an encore? Create an Airtropolis.This is an advertisement of an airport. The elite of the text lies in the word “Airtropolis”, which equals to air pl

38、us metropolis. Metropolis means a large important city (often the capital city of a country or region). Here it is associated with air, implying that the airport being advertised is an airport with various scheduled flights, numerous flight courses and best facilitation. In other words, the airport

39、being advertised is a “downtown” for the airplanes.In addition, there is still another way of coinage, that is, creating a word that pronounces similarly or nearly similarly to the original word to arouse a feeling of foregrounding. In this case, the original word and the coined one sound almost the

40、 same but are of different spellings (穆念伟 邓海棠, 2005). For example:(6) We know eggsactly how to sell eggs. In this advertisement, “eggsactly” is a homophone of “exactly”. “Ex” is replaced by “eggs”, which is fresh and humorous. It influences the readers to focus on the product and establish a good fe

41、eling of it. This text succeeds in differentiating the product being advertised from others, equipping the readers with information of their being professional, and inducing new customers.(7) Swing into McDonalds andSwing out with that Treeeeat!(8) Wwwhats newww? At , the answer isa lot. - So, wwwha

42、t are you wwwaiting for?Instance (7) is an advertisement of McDonald and the quintessence of it is the special word “treeeeat”, which looks and sounds delicious and makes people feel like eating. Instance (8) is an advertisement of a website and its quintessence is the tripling letters “www”. As is

43、known to all, “www.” is short for “world wide web” which is a symbol of website. Thus, the tripling letters “www” can show the novelty of the copywriter and make the text brand-new, and is in accord with the theme of the advertisementan advertisement for website. This text realized differentiating i

44、ts way of advertising from others, conveying information that the website being promoted is a website of capacity and efficiency, and enhancing its reputation. In general, the lexis discussed above is more explicitly making the distinction. It is novel and flexible, and produces an interesting sound

45、 being quite memorable. Thus, coined words will appeal to a wide reader and it is acceptable and reasonable for the readers to puzzle or intrigue in the advertisements, which in the end better realizes the ultimate aim of advertising.3.2.2 MisspellingsDeliberately misspelling is another effective wa

46、y to enhance the attraction of advertisements. Copywriters misspell some certain words that people are familiar with on purpose to assist the comprehension and intensify impression on customers. The strength of misspelling can be shown as following:(9) Powe to influenceInstance (9) is an advertiseme

47、nt of clothes. It indicates that when wearing Powes clothes one can get the power to influence others. The elite of this text is the word “Powe”. The copywriter takes an “r” off “power” on purpose to attract readers. “Powe” pronounces almost the same as “power” and helps readers to associate the for

48、mer one with the latter one, which in fact intensifies the brand power. (10) Surefit Shoe Ltd.This is a shoe brand, which may brings in ones mind that the shoes of this brand “Surefit” are surely to fit and that this brand must be very comfortable. This advertisement in fact has both promoted its br

49、and and its products simply by playing the game of wording. All in all, advertising is highly derivative and imitative in its wording. With the technique of uttering misspelling, the advertisers are able to adapt it so that it carries exactly the suggestion they wish to make to the readers - it should have no prior negative connotations. The uniqueness claim is suppo