Figures of Speech in Advertising English广告英语中的修辞格.docx

Figures of Speech in Advertising English广告英语中的修辞格.docx

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FiguresofSpeechinAdvertisingEnglish广告英语中的修辞格

FiguresofSpeechinAdvertisingEnglish

广告英语中的修辞格

Abstract

Nowadays,weareendlesslybombardedwithallkindsofadvertisementsthroughvariousmediasuchasmagazine,newspaper,TV,radio,posterandinternet,etc.Advertisementsplaymoreandmoreimportantrole,especiallyinimportandexportbusiness.Advertisementtakesanimportantpartinmodernlife,withitsspecialmagicpower,promptingsocialandeconomicdevelopment.AdvertisingEnglishismainlycharacterizedbyitsoriginality,flexibilityoflanguageusageandthediversityoftheforms.Apartfromthedistinguishingfeaturesatlexicalandsyntacticlevels,rhetoricalvehicles,asdecorativedevicesoflanguage,arefrequentlyemployedinadvertisingEnglish.Themostfrequentlyusedfiguresofspeechare:

personification,simile,pun,parallelismandsoon.Theapplicationofthesefiguresofspeechcanmakeproductsorserviceslively,interesting,visualized,andlifelike,alsoendowtheadvertisingEnglishwiththebeautyofrhythmandEnglishlanguage.Personificationmakesproductslivelyandlifelike;similemakeproductsbrilliantontheirfeatures;parallelismmakeslanguagetonemorestrong.Figuresofspeechcanbringadvertisingagoodeffectandmakereadersimpressiveonbothproductsandlanguageifit'susedproperly.Thepragmaticapplicationoffiguresofspeechinadvertisingisafrequentlyusedstrategy.Fromafairlywiderangeoftypicaladvertisementdata,wehavemadeanattempttoanalyzethedeliberateapplicationofseveralfiguresofspeechincommon.

KeyWords:

Figuresofspeech;Advertising;Application

摘要

当今，广告以多种媒体形式如杂志、报纸、电视、广播、海报、因特网等多种形式出现在我们日常生活中。

尤其在商品进出口中，广告充当着越来越重要的角色。

广告作为现代生活的重要组成部分有着独特魅力，它对社会经济的发展起着推动作用。

广告英语的独特性在于其新颖、灵活的语言及其形式的多样化，除了在词汇和句法方面别具一格外，修辞手法也被广泛地运用来润色广告语言。

广告英语中频繁使用的修辞手法有：

拟人、比喻、双关、排比等。

这些修辞格的运用能使英语广告中的产品或服务生动有趣、形象传神，同时赋予广告语言美、音律美。

例如：

拟人使产品形象生动；比喻使产品特点鲜明；排比使语言增强语势。

不管是对产品还是对语言本身，修辞格在广告英语中合理运用都能给广告带来良好的效果，继而给读者留下深刻印象。

修辞格的应用是广告英语中的一种常用策略，本文选取一些有代表性的广告案例，在此基础上着重分析了几种常见修辞格的应用及其产生的广告效果。

关键词：

修辞格;广告英语;应用

TableofContents

1Introduction1

1.1AbouttheAdvertisingEnglish1

1.2AbouttheFiguresofSpeech1

1.3TheMotivationoftheStudy1

2TheApplicationofFiguresofSpeechinAdvertisingEnglish3

2.1Simile3

2.2Metaphor4

2.3Personification4

2.4Parallelism5

2.5Repetition6

2.6Irony7

2.7Pun7

2.7.1HomophonicPuns7

2.7.2SemanticPuns8

2.7.3SyntaxPuns8

2.7.4IdiomorVulgarism9

2.8Parody9

2.9Alliteration10

2.10Antithesis10

3TheInfluenceofFiguresofSpeechonAdvertisingEnglish12

3.1InAdvertisingLanguage12

3.2InForeignTrade12

4Conclusion14

4.1Majorfindings14

4.2Limitations14

References15

Acknowledgements16

1Introduction

1.1AbouttheAdvertisingEnglish

Asapracticalstyle,advertisingEnglishhasitsuniquestylisticcharacteristicsandobviousaims.AmericanMarketingAssociation（AMA）definesAdvertisementsas“thenon-personalcommunicationofinformationusuallypaidforandusuallypersuasiveinnatureaboutproducts,servicesorideasbyidentifiedsponsorsthroughthevariousmedia.”Withtimegoingon,advertisingaredevelopingfasterandfaster.Advertisementsaregettingtheirwayintopeople’sdailylife.theymaysmiletopeoplefromthetelevisionscreen,shouttopeoplefromtheradioloudspeakers,waveinvitinglytopeoplefromeverypageofthenewspaperandmagazine,pluckattheirsleevesonthebuses,signaltopeoplefromroadsidebillboards,andflashtopeopleontheInternet.However,whateverthepromotivestrategiesadvertisingtakes,languageisthemaincarrierofmessageallalong,asthebookTheLanguageofAdvertisingbyVestergardandSchrodersays,“Advertisingtakesmanyforms,butinmostofthemlanguageisofcrucialimportance.”Inordertoenhancetheappealofanadvertisement,advertiserspaymuchattentionnotonlytothechoiceofwordsorphrasess,butalsotouchexpressivedevicesasplates,colorandthelayoutofaprintedpigeon,tomakeanadvertisementbeautifulandattractive.Atthesametime,asapopularlanguage,Englishiswidelyusedthroughouttheworldandhasbecomeaninternationallanguageincommunication.Eachday,quitealotofEnglishwordscomeintopeople’sdailylife.ThusitisnecessarytocombineEnglishandadvertisementforthecommunicationandtradeamongcountries.

1.2AbouttheFiguresofSpeech

InthepracticeoftheadvertisingEnglish,peoplepaymoreattentiontofiguresofspeechtomaketheadvertisementsuccinct,accurateandvividandtoproviderichimaginationandplentifulassociationsforreaderssoastostimulatetheirdesire.ThefrequentandwideuseoffiguresofspeechisanimportantcharacteristicofadvertisingEnglish,whichisaneffectivewaytomaketheadvertisementattractive.

1.3TheMotivationoftheStudy

Itisknowntoallthatwiththeinfluenceofglobalization,alargequantityofproductsandideasaresoldinothercountries.Inordertoattractconsumerswhospeakdifferentlanguages,producerswillbringtheirwonderfuladvertisementstoforeignmarketeither.However,becauseofdifferentculturesandlanguagebackgrounds,whenalargenumberofmarvelousadvertisementsfloodintoanothernation,theirrenditionscouldnotalwaysbeaswonderfulastheoriginaland,therefore,mightfailtoproducesimilareffectsonthetargetaudience.Thus,translatinganadvertisementwiselyisimportanttoguaranteethattheproductsandideascansellaswellinforeignlandsasintheirmotherlands.Advertisingresearchersappeartohavenoticedthatadvertisingcopyisfilledwithrhetoricalfiguresofspeech,suchasSimileandpun.WardandGaudi’snotethatmorepeopleareexposedtofiguresofspeechthroughadvertisingthanthroughothermediasuchaspoetry,andthatconsumershavecometoexpectcolorfulfiguresofspeechasanadvertisingconvention.AcontentanalysisofcurrentmagazineadvertisementsbyLeighfoundthat74%ofalladswithheadlinescontainatleastonefigureofspeech.

2TheApplicationofFiguresofSpeechinAdvertisingEnglish

AfigureofspeechisarhetoricaldevicethatachievesaspecialeffectbyusingwordsindistinctivewaysTheyarewaysofmakingourlanguagefigurative.Whenpeopleusewordsinotherthantheirordinaryorliteralsensetolendforcetoanidea,toheighteneffect,ortocreatesuggestiveimagery,theyaresaidtobespeakingorwritingfiguratively.

2.1Simile

Asimileisafigureofspeechwhichmakesacomparisonbetweentwounlikeelementshavingatleastonequalityorcharacteristicincommon，anditexplicitlysignalsitselfinanadvertisement,withthewordsasorlike..Itisadirect,expressedcomparisonbetweentwothingsessentiallyunlike,butresemblingeachotherinatleastoneaspect.Itisadevicebothofartandexplanation,comparingtheunfamiliarthingtobeexplainedtosomefamiliarthingknowntothereader.Asimileisanexpressionmakingacomparisonintheimaginationbetweentwothingsthatareessentiallyunlike,yetarealikeinacertainrespect.Asimileismadeupofthreeparts,namely:

a）thetenor（thethingdescribed）b）thevehicle（thethingcomparedto）,andc）wordssuchas“as”,“like”,“asif/asthough”,“and”andthestructure“of+noun.”Usedtoshowtherelationshipofcomparison.Thesimilehelpstocreatetheclearimage,mucheasierforreaderstoaccept.Forexample:

⑴AssoftasMother’shands（Theadvertisementofkidshoes）Intheadvertisementabove,onesimileisused,whichembodyvividlythesoftnessandcomfortoftheshoes．Afterreadingtheadvertisement，parentswillassociatewithsuchkindofcomfortablefeelingaftertheirchildrenwearingthatbrandofshoes,andnobodycanresistthetemptation.⑵Breakfastwithoutorangejuiceislikeadaywithoutsunshine.（advertisementofonekindoforange）.Usingthesefreshorangescanmakedeliciousjuice,andpeoplecanbefullofenergy.Everymorinig,peopledrinkoneglassofsuchfreshjuice,theywillhavethefeelingsassunshine,andtheyalsowillhavegoodmoodintheallday.Theconsumorscanhardlyresisttemptation.⑶LikeagoodNeighbor,StateFarmisthere.（StateFarminsuranceagent）Here,advertisertakesStateFarmasagoodneighbor,drivingbywhichreaderswillarousecordialsensesafterreadingtheadvertisementandproducethedesiretobuyinsurance,justastheirneighborshelpthemandconsiderthemsincerely.[4]Itgivesmyhairsupershine,superbody,andleavesitsmellingfreshasameadow.（Hairlotionadvertisement）Thishairlotionadvertisementusesrhetorictacticsofsimile,andthisadvertisementdisplaystheresultofthislotionimageveryconcrete,whichmakespeopleproduceabundantassociationanddesireofpurchase.

2.2Metaphor

Metaphorafigureofspeechinwhichawordorphraseliterallydenotingonekindofobject/ideaisusedinplaceofanotherdissimilarobject/ideatosuggestalikeness;ascribingtothefirstsomeofthequalitiesofthesecond.Unlikeasimileoranalogy,metaphorassertsthatonethingisanotherthing,notjustthatoneislikeanother.Itisanotherlinguisticprocessusedtomakecomparisonsbetweentheattributesofonethingandsomethingelse.Itislikeasimile,alsomakesacomparisonbetweentwounlikeelements,butunlikeasimile,thiscomparisonisimpliedratherthanstated.Thereisaformaldifferencebetweensimileandmetaphor,inwhichthewords“like”and“as”donotappear.Forinstance:

⑴Timeiswhatyoumakeofit.（Swatch）Herethispieceofadvertisementembodythequalityofthewatchvividlyandalsodrawpeople’sheartatthesametime,becauseitmeetpeople’svaluetotime.[2]Themostsensationalplacetowearsatinonyourlips.（Lipstick）Inthispieceofadv