Pun in Advertising English.docx
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PuninAdvertisingEnglish
PuninAdvertisingEnglish
1.Introduction
Withthedevelopmentofsocietyandeconomy,advertisementshavebeeninfiltratingthrougheveryfieldofthesocietyandhavebecomeoneoftheessentialpartsinpeople’slife.Nomatteritisbusinessadvertisementornon-profitadvertisement,advertisementmakingisacomprehensiveart.Thisartneedsmuchmoreskillsandtechniquesthanotherartsdo,foritisthecombinationofsociology,aesthetics,psychology,marketing,acoustics,literatureandlinguistics.
Thegoalofadvertisementsistodrawconsumers’attentionandtoinspiretheirdesiretoconsume.Togetaudiences’attentiontomaketheirproductsbest-sellers,advertisersshouldwellequiptheiradvertisinglanguagewithmemoryvalue,attentionvalueandreadability.Toachievetheabovevalues,differentkindsofrhetoricalmethodsareoftenusedinadvertisingEnglish.Withtheuseoftherhetoricaldevices,advertisementsaremorealive,aestheticandemotional.Punistherhetoricaldevicemostoftenusedinadvertisementsbyadvertisers.
TogettoknowmoreaboutpuninadvertisingEnglish,literaturereviewandpracticalapplicationareanalyzedinthefollowing.Thedefinitionandthepragmaticapproacharecontainedintheliteraturereview.Differentlinguistsholddifferentopinionsaboutpragmaticapproachofadvertisingpun.Aftertheliteraturereview,theclassificationissummarized.Generallyspeaking,advertisingpunhasfourtypes:
homophonicpun,semanticpun,grammaticalpunandidiomaticpun.Thenfunction,variationandderivativeareanalyzedaftertheclassification.Inaddition,translationisverynecessarytoanalyzepuninadvertisements.Therearethreetranslatingmethods:
literaltranslation,freetranslationandcombinationofliteraltranslationandfreetranslation.Accordingtoitscertaincircumstance,differentpunsneeddifferentmethods.
2.Literaturereviewofpun
2.1Thedefinitionandgeneralfeaturesofpun
AccordingtotheOxfordEnglishDictionary,apunisdefinedastheuseofwordinsuchawayastosuggesttwoormoremeaningsordifferentassociationsortheuseoftwoormorewordsofthesameornearlythesamesoundwithdifferentmeanings,soastoproduceahumorouseffect(Murray:
1928).
Redfernbelievesthat“pun,indeed,isapostrenaissanceword,andaninaccuratebutconvenienttagforawholevarietyofrhetoricaldeviceswhichplayonwords”(1984:
6).Healsoarguesthatpunsdonothavetobefunny,andtheepithetsare“serious”or“unicomic”,andtheyhaveoftenbeenappliedtothem.
Althoughdifferentdictionariesanddifferentscholarsmakedifferentdefinitionsaboutpun,theyhavethesameessence,thatis,apunisakindofplayonwords.
Punhastwofeatures,whichareambiguityandadoublecontext.Ambiguityisdefinedasalanguageitemwhichmayhavetwoormorethantwocognitivemeanings(Leech:
1983).Thefirstcharacteristicofapunisthatthefocusofitsmeaningliesinitsambiguity.Nomatterwhatformstheyare,thespeakersaimtoachieveanambiguity.Apunraisestheawkwardproblemofthepresenceofanambiguityinlanguage.Inthedailycommunication,peopletrytoavoidthepresenceofambiguity,butasforpuns,peopledeliberatelycreateambiguity.Thatisbecausetheessenceofapunliesinitsambiguity.
Itisimportanttokeepinmindthatthecentralandfundamentalphenomenonuponwhichpunoperatesisambiguity.Apundeliberatelyemploysphonemicorsemanticconditionstoexpressonemeaningonthesurfacewhilehidinganother.
Anotherstrikingcharacteristicisthatapuncontainsadoublecontext.AccordingtoAmericanprofessorArchibaldA.HillinAustenTexasUniversity,therearethreeelementsinanalyzingandcomposingapun:
adoublecontext,ahingeandatrigger.Ahingeisthepunitself,andatriggerreferstotheintentionandbackgroundthatlurkbehindtheexploitationofpun,whichisoftenemployedwhenweanalyzepun.
2.2Thepragmaticapproachtoadvertisingpun
2.2.1Grice’sfourmaximsofco-operation
Speakersholdthewishtocooperatewithothersandtomaketheircommunicationsuccessful,sotheyneedtoagreeuponcertainprinciple,whichistheCooperationTheory(Grice:
1989).GriceputsforwardfourMaximsofCooperation,whichareQuantityMaxim,QualityMaxim,RelevantMaximandMannerMaxim:
QuantityMaxim:
saynomorethanisnecessary;saynomorethanisnecessary.
QualityMaxim:
donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse;donotsaythatforwhichyouarelackofadequateevidence.
RelevantMaxim:
berelevant.
MannerMaxim:
avoidambiguityofexpression;avoidobscurityofexpression;bebrief,beclear.
However,insomeinformationcommunications,speakerscouldbreakaboverules.Theiraimistoexpresssomeimpliedmeanings.Itiswhatadvertisingpundoesinadvertisements.Becauseadvertisinglanguage