英语论文Consumer Behavior Enhancement through Vague Language in AdvertisingWord格式文档下载.docx
《英语论文Consumer Behavior Enhancement through Vague Language in AdvertisingWord格式文档下载.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《英语论文Consumer Behavior Enhancement through Vague Language in AdvertisingWord格式文档下载.docx(12页珍藏版)》请在冰豆网上搜索。
2.4.1Efficiency6
2.4.2Flexibility7
2.4.3Appropriateness8
2.4.4Persuasion9
3Consumerpsychologyandadvertising11
3.1Thecommunicationgoalofadvertising11
3.2Theroleofpsychologyincommunication11
3.3Thecommunicatorsinadvertisingcommunication12
4Vaguelanguageinadvertisingandconsumerpsychologyandconsumerbehavior13
4.1Consumerpsychologyandconsumerbehavior13
4.1.1Pursuingfreshness13
4.1.2Pursuingbrand14
4.1.3Curiosity14
4.1.4PsychologicalSynchronization14
4.1.5Pursuingforthebeauty15
4.1.6Seekingbargain15
4.2Vaguelanguageandconsumerpsychologyandbehavior16
4.2.1.Stimulatingconsumer’smotivation16
4.2.2.Stimulatingconsumer’spurchasedesire17
4.2.3.Changingtheconsumer’sattitudes18
4.2.4.Inspiringtheconsumer’simaginationandemotionalexperience.20
5Conclusion22
References22
1Introduction
SinceprofessorLofti.ZadehintheUnitedStatesputforwardthe“fuzzysets”theoryin1965,manystudieshavebeenconductedonthevaguenessandaseriesofrelevantfrontierbranchesofvaguenesshasemergedinsuccession.
Infact,theprocessofusinglanguageisanactiveprocessinwhichspeakersandhearersconstantlyhavetomakechoicesoutofvariables.Theuseofvaguelanguageinadvertisingiscloselyrelatedtopsychologicalfactorsthatinfluencethecommunicator,andthestudiesrelatedtoconsumerbehaviorindicatethatconsumer’spsychologydirectlyinfluencesconsumerbehavior.
Thewideuseofvaguelanguageinadvertisinghaspromptedavastmassofresearch,amongwhichmanyresearchershavestudiedthepragmaticfunctionsofvaguelanguageinadvertisingfromlanguagelevel.thesestudieshavemadegreatcontributiontotheresearchofvaguelanguageinadverting.However,theyoftenhaveneglectedoneimportantaspect----consumer’spsychology.
Basingonthisbackground,thisthesisistodemonstratetheuseofvaguelanguageinadvertisingandtheconsumerbehaviorenhancementthroughvaguelanguageinadvertising.
2Vaguelanguageandadvertising
2.1Briefintroductiontovagueness
Vaguenessisdefinedasanexpressionwhichhasmorethanonepossibleinterpretation(ZhangQiao,1998:
4).Forexample,theword“good”hasarangeofinterpretations:
good(fine)weather,good(hard-working)student,andgood(warm-hearted)people.
AccordingtoChannell(1994:
58),anexpressionorwordisvagueif:
a.Itcanbecontrastedwithanotherwordorexpressionwhichappearstorenderthesameproposition;
and/or
b.Itis‘purposelyandunabashedlyvague’.Althoughmuchworkhasbeendoneaboutvagueness,thereisaconsiderableconfusionbetweentheterms“vagueness”,“generality”and“ambiguity”.Thethreetermssharethecommoncharacteristicofconveyingimpreciseinformation,buttheydifferinthetypesofimprecisemeaningstheyreferto.
Astogenerality,ZhangQiao(1998:
86)maintains,“themeaningofanexpressionisgeneralinthesensethatitdoesnotspecifycertaindetails,i.e.generalityisamatterofunspecification.”Forexample,themeaningofcityisgeneralbecauseitdoesnotspecifywhetherofnotacityisbigorsmall,modernorancient.Myfriendisgeneral,asitcouldmeanafemalefriend,amalefriend,orafriendfromNewZealand.thefollowingsentencescanbetheexamples:
a.MarysawJohn.
b.Marychangedababy.
c.Maryreceivedadegree.
Themeaningofsentence(a)isgeneralbecauseitdoesnotspecifywhetherornotMarysawjohninashop,orinaschool,oranyotherplace.Insentence(b),Marycouldchangeherownbaby,orababybelongingtoherhusband’sex-wife,orababyshehaskidnapped.Thequestionof“whosebabyitis”isleftopen.Insentence(c),Marycouldhaveanartdegree,orasciencedegree;
aBAdegree,oraPHDdegree.Again,thesentencedoesnotspecifywhatkindofdegreeMaryreceived
Comparedwithothers,ambiguityhasamoreestablisheddefinition.Takingtruthconditionasthestandard,Kempson(1977:
128)regardsasentenceasambiguousifitistrueinquitedifferentcircumstances.Inotherwords,asentenceisambiguousifitissimultaneouslytrueandfalse,relativetothesamestateofaffairs.ZhangQiao(1998:
11)definesambiguityas“expressionwhichhavemorethanonesemanticallyunrelatedmeaning;
inotherwords,anexpressionisambiguousifithasseveralparaphrasesthatarenotparaphrasesofeachother”.Oneexampleoftenquotedis:
Flyingplanescanbedangerous.Thissentenceisambiguous,sincetheexpressionflyingplanesitselfhastwounrelatedmeanings:
planesthatflyandtheflyingofplanesbypeople.Thatis,flyingplaneshastwoparaphrasesthatarenotparaphrasesofeachother.Similarly,inChinese,Xinsheng(新生)means‘newstudent’or‘newlife’,thesetwomeaningsaresemanticallydistinct.Also,mi(米)hastwodifferentmeanings:
‘Rice’or‘meter’.
2.2Advertisingaslinguisticcommunication
Nowadays,therearemanytechniquesthatadvertisingcanmakeuseof,forinstance,illustration,pictures,sounds,etc.However,languagestillplaysanimportantroleinmakingtheproductwell-knownandremembered.Thereforeitstillcanbeplacedunderthecategoryoflinguisticcommunication.Itisoneofthespecialcasesoflinguisticcommunication,inwhichnoactualcommunicationtakesplaceattheverytimeoflinguisticproduction.However,thatdoesnotdiminishthecommunicativenessofthiskindoflanguageuse.Onthecontrary,onceithasaccesstotheaudience,itwillbeperceivedandinterpreted,eitherpassivelyoractively.
2.3Advertisingaslinguisticchoice
Asadvertisingbelongstothecategoryoflanguageuse,aseriesoflinguisticchoicesshouldbemadeinbothadvertisingproductionandinterpretation.However,advertisingproductionisthefocusofthepresentresearch,soitwillbesolelyreferredto.
Becauseofthegreatdegreeofdirectednessofadvertisinglanguage,theadvertisermustbehighlyconsciousofthelinguisticchoices.Furthermore,hedoesnotonlychoosecommunicationstrategieseitherlinguisticandextra-linguisticones,or,inotherwords,language-internalandlanguage-externalones.Finally,choicesarenotequivalent.Thoughallsortsofchoicesareavailable,notallofthemarepreferred.Forinstance,commendatoryexpressionsaremorefrequentlychosen.
2.4Vaguelanguageinadvertising
Inordertoachievethegoal,theadvertisermustmakelinguisticchoicesinadvertisingproductiontoadapttothepsychologyoftheconsumer.Withthedevelopmentofadvertisingproduction,moreadvertisersemployvaguetermsinadvertisingproductiontoadapttothepsychologyoftheconsumermoreeffectively.Thereasonwhytheadvertiseremploysvaguelanguageinadvertisingproductionismainlybecauseofitsfunctions.
2.4.1Efficiency
Efficiencyisthefirstdistinctfunctionofvaguelanguage.Inmodernsociety,vastcolorfulinformationofpermeatesourdailylives,andourliferhythmisbecomingfasterandfaster.Customerstendtojustquicklytakeabrieflookatsomething.Anadvertisementtodaymustbeshortandsimple,otherwiseitwouldbeverycostly.Thustheadvertiserhastomanagetoconveyasmanymessagesaspossiblewithinthelimitedspaceortimetocutdowntheadvertisingcost.Moreover,thelongeranadvertisementis,theeasiertheconsumermaybeirritated.Readersdonothaveenoughtimetoreadwhattheythinkistheboringanduselessthing,soifthesalesmenintendtocatchthesebusypeople’sattention,theymustfocusandoccupyaslittleoftheirtimeandenergyaspossible.What’smore,accordingtosomeresearch,thelengthofasentenceshouldnotbelongerthantwelvewordsifonewantshisinformationtobecorrectlyremembered.(J.Channell,2000:
188)
Takingthesetwofactorsintoconsideration,moreandmoreadvertisersemployvaguetermsduringtheprocessofadvertisingprocessofadvertisingproduction.Usingvaguenessinadvertisementisnotalwaysnegative,butpositivesometimes.Vaguenessinadvertisementusuallyplaysapositiveroleinconveyingfreescopetoimaginationandinterpretation.Herearetwoexamples.
“Koca-Cola,addsyourlife.”(Koca-Cola)
“Tooconvenient.”(PolaroidCamera)
Inthesetwoadvertisements,thewords“adds”and“convenient”arevagueterms.Containingabundantmeanings,theyhavebroadenedtheinterpretativerangeoftheadvertisement,thusleftmuchroomfortheconsumertoimagine.
Therefore,it’sawisechoicefortheadvertisertoemploysimplebutrich-contentedvagueexpressiontopublicizetheproduct.Atthispointofview,theskillfulchoiceofvaguelanguagecanmakeanadvertisementsuccinctandeconomicalandcutdowntheadvertisingcostaswell.
2.4.2Flexibility
Aprinciplefeatureofvaguenessisindeterminacy,thatistosay,vaguenessisrelativelyelasticandflexible.Vaguenesscanbeemployedtominimizecategoricalcommitments.Advertisersoftenresorttovaguelanguagetoachievetheirpurposivecommunicationinavoidanceofcategoricalcommitments.J.Channell(2000:
188)arguesthat“vaguenessmaybeusedasasafeguardagainstbeinglatershowntobewrong”.Thereisanexamplebelow.
“Listerinefightsbadbreath.”(ListerineCollutory)
Inthisadvertisement,“fights”isavagueexpressionofgreatflexibility.“Fights”isusedinsteadof“stops”,asitisnotacategoricalcommitmentanddoesn’tindicateadefinitewarranty.Iftheconsumermisunderstandsthemeaningoff