AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE FEATURESIN ENGLISH ADVERTISEMENTS.docx

AN ANALYSIS OF LANGUAGE FEATURESIN ENGLISH ADVERTISEMENTS.docx

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ANANALYSISOFLANGUAGEFEATURESINENGLISHADVERTISEMENTS

ANANALYSISOFLANGUAGEFEATURESINENGLISHADVERTISEMENTS

ThesisStatement:

Withtherapidincreaseonadvertisements,thefastchangesinlanguageusagearealsoobviousandinfluential.Inthispaper,hereispresentedandanalyzedsomeofthesechangesinthreelevelsrespectively.Thoughdetailedsurveyofthreetypesofadvertisements,thesimilaritiesanddifferencesinadvertisinglanguagefeatureshavebeensummarizedandexplainedindifferentdimensions.

Abstract：

ThispaperpresentsananalyticalstudyofthelanguagefeaturesofEnglishadvertisementsatlexical,syntacticalanddiscourselevels.Threetypesofadvertisementshavebeensurveyed:

namely,dailyconsumergoodsads,technicalequipmentads,serviceads.Similaritiesanddifferencesbeconcludedandpossiblereasonswillbegiveninthelightofmeaningandfunctionoflanguage.

Thispaperwillbepresentedinfiveparts.Thefirstpartistheintroductionandthelastconclusion.Thefocusofthepaperislaidonthethreemiddleparts,whichrespectivelyanalyzelanguagefeaturesatlexical,syntacticalanddiscourselevels.Figures,tablesandgraphswillbealsoprovidedtomakethepaperpersuasiveandunderstandable.

KeyWords:

Lexical,Syntactic,Discourse,Differences

摘要：

本文通过对书面英语广告的语言分析总结出广告英语在词汇﹑句法﹑篇章上的语言特点。

通过对日用品广告﹑科技设备广告﹑服务业广告的深入细致的定量和定性分析，总结出广告英语在此三类广告中的相同点与不同点，并且根据语言的意义，风格及功能解释广告英语的共性以及广告英语在不同类型广告中的特殊性。

本文共分五个部分，第一部分和第五部分分别为介绍与总结，中间三个部分为本文核心，分别展开广告英语在词汇﹑句法﹑篇章三个层面的分析。

数据，表格和图表的提供更具有说服力。

关键词:

词汇，句法，篇章,不同点

AnAnalysisofLanguageFeaturesinEnglishAdvertisements

1.Introduction

Weliveinaworldofadvertising.Aspotentialconsumers,weareendlesslybombardedwithallkindsofproductsorserviceinformationfromvariousmediaincludingnewspapers,magazines,televisions,radio,postersandInternet,etc.Advertisingprovidesavaluableservicetosocietyanditsmembers,becauseitdefinesforconsumerthemeaningandtheroleofproducts,services,andinstitutions.Itindicatesthedifferencethatexistsbetweenbrandsofproductsandaltersnativeservices,aswellasthedistinguishingcharacteristicsofcompaniesandinstitutions.Advertisingalsotellstheconsumerwhataspecificproduct,brandorserviceshoulddowhenitisusedandthushelpshimorhertounderstandandevaluateexperiencewiththeproductsandservicesthatheorsheuses.Ontheotherhand,bymakingpeopleawareofproducts,servicesandideas,advertisingpromotessalesandprofits.Finally,advertisingisoneofthemajorforcesthatarehelpingimprovethestandardoflivingaroundtheworld.Combinedwithallthesecommunicational,marketingandsocialfunctions.Advertisingbecomesindispensableinthemodernworld.

Usually,advertisingcommunicatesinformationinthreetypes:

audio,visual,andlanguage.Inradioadvertisements,musicisalwaysaccompaniedbylanguage;onTVandmotionpictures,musicandlanguageillustrationaremixedwitheachother.Inmagazinesandnewspapers,advertisementsareacombinationofpicturesandlanguageofwritteninformation.Althoughmusicandpicturescanprovidesomehints,orcreateakindofatmosphere,theinformationabouttheproductsislimited.Evenworse,itmayleadtomisunderstanding.Thus,languageinawayprovidesmoreexact,detailedanddependableinformationwhereasmusicandpicturesonlyactasasupplementarymeansinadvertising.Advertisinglanguage,playingaroleofcommunicationandpersuasion,hasdevelopeditsownfeatures.

ThispaperwillfocusonthelanguagefeaturesofEnglishadvertisementsatlexical,syntacticalanddiscourselevels.Itishoped,byacontrastivestudyofadvertisementsonthreetypesofproducts（dailyconsumergoods,technicalequipmentandservice）,similaritiesanddifferencesofthethreetypesofadvertisementswillbesummarizedandpossiblereasonswillbegiveninthelightofthemeaning,andfunctionoflanguage.

2.LexicalFeaturesofEnglishLanguageinAds

2.1ClassificationofAdvertisinganditsAudience

Generallyspeaking,advertisementscanbedividedintotwotypes:

publicrelationadsandcommercialads.Theformertriestoadvocatereputationforasocialgroup,whosepurposeistoleaveafavorableimpressionuponthepotentialaudience.Thelatterleadstotheactofpurchasingtheproductsorusingtherecommendedservice.Commercialadsaremuchmorepresentedthroughmassmediaforthereasonthatmanufacturersandcompaniesarewillingtospendalargesumofmoneymakeacertainproductknownortoboosttheimageofacertainbrand.Insomecases,competitors,likeCoca-colaandPepsi,evensparenoexpensetolaunchadvertisingcampaignstowinoverthemarketshare.Commercialadvertisingcanalsobedividedaccordingtothetargetaudienceintotwogroups:

consumeradvertisingandbusinessadvertising.Mostoftheadsinthemassmediaareconsumeradvertisements.Theyaretypicallydirectedatconsumers.Bycontrast,businessadvertisingtendstobeconcentratedinspecializedbusinesspublications,professionaljournals;tradeshowstargetingatacertaingroupofpeopleinvolvedinsomebusiness.Sinceconsumeradvertisingismostaccessibletocommonpeople,thepresentstudywillfocusonconsumersadvertising.Theclassificationofadvertisingisclearlyshowninthefollowinggraph:

Graph1Classificationofadvertisements

　Publicads

Advertising｛

Commercialads｛Serviceads

Businessads｛Dailyconsumergoods

Technicalequipmentads

（Jenkins,FrankWilliam,1985）

Dailyconsumergoodsarenecessitiesofdailylife,suchasfood,detergent,hygiene,etc.Technicalequipmentistechnicaltoysandelectricequipmentsuchascamera,vehicle,hi-fi,etc.Servicecoversbank,insurance,fund,etc.

Actually,advertisingworkseffectivelysomeofthetimeanddoesnotworkothertimes.Thesinglecrucialreasonthatadvertisingdoesnotworkisthatinspecificinstancestheinformationitconveysneverreachestheconsumeratall,orisjudgedbytheconsumertoberedundant,meaningless,orirrelevant.Forexample,amotorbikeadvertisementwillprobablybeinvisibletohousewivesonthelookoutfornewcutlery.Socialstatusandindividualinterestdecidethatconsumergoodsadsaremainlytargetingatwomenwhiletechnicalequipmentadsarelargelyaimingatmen.Theamountofsharedknowledgebetweentheadvertiserandtheaudiencetogetherwiththethinkinghabitoftheaudiencedirectlyinfluencestheadvertisinglanguage.Sinceproductsandaudiencechangeineveryadvertisementinordertoachievehighadvertisingeffectiveness,languageuseddiffersindifferenttypesofadvertisements.Thus,thispaperdiscussesnotonlythesimilaritiesoflanguagesharedbyalltypesofadvertisementsbutalsodifferencesoflanguageusedindifferentkindsofadvertisements.

2.2SimilaritiesattheLexicalLevel

Inordertomaketheinformationaccessibletoaudienceeffectively,thechoiceofwordsinadvertisingisverycautiousandskillful.Theaimoftheadvertiserisquitespecific.Hewishestocapturetheattentionofthemembersofamassaudienceandbymeansofimpressivewordstopersuadethemtobuyaproductorbehaveinaparticularway,suchasgoingtoHawaiiforalltheirholidayneeds.Bothlinguisticandpsychologicalaspectsaretakenintoconsiderationinthechoiceofwords.Sharingthesamepurposeofadvertisingtofamiliarizeorremindconsumersofthebenefitsofparticularproductsinthehopeofincreasingsales,thetechniquesusedatthelexicallevelbyadvertisersdonotvarymarkedly.Thefollowingpointsaresomeprominentsimilarities.

2.2.1Frequently-usedVerbs

G.N.Leech,Englishlinguist,lists20mostusedverbsinhisEnglishInAdvertising:

LinguisticstudyofAdvertisingInGreatBritain.Theyare:

make,get,give,have,see,buy,come,go,know,keep,look,need,love,use,feel,like,choose,take,start,taste.

Youwilloftenreadsuchsentencesinanadvertisement:

Buyx.Useit.Wemake…Xwillgiveyouwhatyouneed.You’lllovex.Getx.For

example:

We’llmakethisquick.（HertzCarReturn）

Getgreatcoveragethat’ssoweightlessandwater-fresh.（ALMAY）

Allyouneedisatasteforadventure.（MillstoneCoffee）

You’llloveitevenmorewiththe2.1megapixelC-2000ZOOM.（OlympusCamera）

Don’thavemuchofapersonality?

Buyone.（HondaMotor）

AllthesefrequentlyusedverbsaremonosyllabicandmostofthemhaveAnglo-SaxonoriginthatisthecommoncoreofEnglishvocabulary.LinguisticstudyshowsEnglishnativespeakerstendtousewordsofAnglo-Saxonorigin,becausenativewordshavecomparablystablemeaning.Inadvertising,thesesimplewordscanwintheconsumersbytheirexact,effectiveexpressionandakindofcloseness.Etymologicalstudiesshowthatthe20verbslistedbefore,exceptuseandtaste,whicharefromancientFrench,allareAnglo-Saxonorigin.EventhetwowordsuseandtastehavelongbecomeindispensablelexicalitemsinthestockofcommoncorevocabularyoftheEnglishpeople,developingtheirstablemeaningandusage.

2.2.2UseofEmotiveWords

Aclosescrutinyofrecentadvertisementssuggeststhatthesoft-selltechniqueisnowpopular.Bysoft-selltechniqueshatfavorsamoreemotiveandlessdirectiveapproachtopromoteaproducts,mainlyfocusingonthebuildingofbrandimage.Asaresult,emotivewords,mostofwhicharepleasantadjectives,aregreatlyencouragedtouse.

Datashowsthatthemostfrequentlyusedadjectivesareasfollows:

new,good/better/best,fresh,free,delicious,sure,full,clean,wonderful,special,crisp,real,fine,great,safe,andrich.

Theseadjectiveshelptobuildapleasantpictureinreaders’mindsandmanagetocreateabeliefinthepotential