英语论文Consumer Behavior Enhancement through Vague Language in Advertising.docx

英语论文Consumer Behavior Enhancement through Vague Language in Advertising.docx

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英语论文ConsumerBehaviorEnhancementthroughVagueLanguageinAdvertising

ConsumerBehaviorEnhancementthroughVagueLanguageinAdvertising

1Introduction1

2Vaguelanguageandadvertising2

2.1Briefintroductiontovagueness2

2.2Advertisingaslinguisticcommunication4

2.3Advertisingaslinguisticchoice5

2.4Vaguelanguageinadvertising5

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