英语专业论文On the Realization of Textual Function in Advertising English.docx
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英语专业论文OntheRealizationofTextualFunctioninAdvertisingEnglish
LexicalFeaturesandtheRealizationofTextualFunctioninAdvertisingEnglish
1.Introduction1
2.SystemicfunctionalgrammarandTextualfunction3
2.1Systemicfunctionalgrammar3
2.2Textualfunction4
3.LexicalFeatures5
3.1Monosyllabicwords5
3.2Coinages,misspellingsandabbreviations7
3.2.1Coinages7
3.2.2Misspellings10
3.2.3Abbreviation11
3.3Adjectiveanditscomparativeandsuperlativedegree12
3.4Compoundwords14
3.5Foreignwords17
3.5.1French17
3.5.2Spanish19
4.Discourseanalysis20
4.1Contextofculture20
4.3Communicationrole22
5.Conclusion.23
References24
1.Introduction
Theword‘advertising’,takingitsoriginfromtheLatinword‘Advertere’whichmeans‘tocatchpeople’sattention’,istheacttotellthepublicaboutaproductoraserviceinordertoencouragepeopletobuyortouseit(夏政,2003).TheNewEncyclopediaBritannicahaddefineditas“thetechniquesandpracticesusedtobringproducts,services,opinions,orcausestopublicnoticeforthepurposeofpersuadingthepublictorespondinacertainwaytowardwhatisadvertised”(vol.1,1993:
113).Advertisingissuchacomplexphenomenonandprocessthatitisverydifficulttodefineit.Itwasnotuntiltheendof17thcenturythatwiththedevelopmentofcommercetheword“advertising”becamepopularandobtainedthemeaningof“tospreadcommercialinformation”.AblertLasker,thefatherofmodernadvertising,saidthatadvertisingwas“salesmanshipinprint”.AmericanMarketingAssociation(AMA)definesadvertisingasthenon-personalcommunicationofinformationusuallypaidforandusuallypersuasiveinnatureaboutproducts,servicesorideasbyidentifiedsponsorsthroughthevariousmedia.(夏政,2003).
AsakindofEnglishforSpecialPurpose,advertisingEnglishisatermoftenusedtodescribeatextrelatedtosalespromotion.Howevercomplexitis,advertisingEnglishbelongstothecategoryoflanguagesandmakesnoexceptiontothosefeaturesthatlanguagesown,bearingitsuniquecharacteristicsphonologically,rhetorically,syntactically,andlexicallyinespecial.AdvertisingEnglishconstitutesalivelyrepositoryofvocabulary,rangingfromtheformationtotheselectionofwords.InadvertisingEnglish,awordthatisofregularmeaningmayevokeanewamazingmeaningwhenusedinspecialcontextandforcertainpurpose.
AdvertisingEnglishservestopersuadetheexistentandpotentialconsumerstopayforthepromotedproductsofcertainbrandortaketheadvertisedservicesofsomecompany.Itgivesinformationabouttheproductstoconsumers,arousestheirgoodfeelingtowardthebrandofthecompany,andintheendmotivatesthemtoaccepttheirproductsorchoosetheirservices.Inordertoachievethesegoals,therefore,advertisingEnglishissupposedtobeattractiveeithervisuallyoracousticallyandcharacterizedwithsophisticatedly-pickedwordsorphrases.Forinstance,bybreakingthespellingrulespeoplearefamiliarwith,inotherwords,bycreatingwordsorphrases,misspellingandcompounding,theadoptionoflexicalnoveltyprovokesinconsumersvividandimpressingimageaswellasmelodioussounds.Psychologistspointoutthatcreatedwordshelpthereaderstoappreciatethequeerspellingsandtospendmoresecondstoconnectthemwiththeitemsbeingadvertised,whichintheendimpressesthereaderswiththeadvertisedbrand.Moreover,theuseofsimplemonosyllabicwordsmakesiteasierforconsumerstoreadandtounderstandthelanguageandthepurposesitcontains.
2.SystemicfunctionalgrammarandTextualfunction
Sincethe1960s,Halliday,theprofessoroflinguistics,hasdevelopedasystematicandcomprehensivetheoryoflanguagecalled“Systemic-FunctionalGrammar(SFG)”,andpublishedhisbook“AnIntroductiontoFunctionalGrammar”.Manyscholarsalsopublishedanumberofbooksandpapersonsystemicgrammar.TheresearchofSystemicFunctionalGrammarbeganin1970sandbecamepopularinthelate1980s.
2.1Systemicfunctionalgrammar
AccordingtoHalliday,“languagehadevolvedtosatisfyhumanneeds;andthewayitisorganizedisfunctionalwithrespecttotheseneeds—itisnotarbitrary.”“Thefundamentalcomponentsofmeaninginlanguagearefunctionalcomponents.”SFGhastwocomponents:
systemicgrammarandfunctionalgrammar(Halliday,2000:
F39).InHuZhuanglin’sbook“Linguistics.AcourseBook”,heholdsthat“Systemicgrammaraimstoexplaintheinternalrelationsinlanguageasasystemnetwork,ormeaningpotential.Andthisnetworkconsistsofsubsystemfromwhichlanguageusersmakechoices.Functionalgrammaraimstorevealthatlanguageisameanofsocialinteraction,basedonthepositionthatlanguagesystemandtheformsthatmakeitupareinescapablydeterminedbytheusesorfunctionswhichtheyserve.”(2001:
409)SFGhasclassifiedthelanguagefunctionsintothreegeneralfunctions:
Ideationalfunction,InterpersonalfunctionandTextualfunction
2.2Textualfunction
TextualFunctionmainlyreferstohowpeopleorganizelanguageandexpresstheconnectionbetweeninformationwhentheyadoptcertainlanguage.Besides,textualfunctioncanshowtherelationbetweenthetransmissionofinformationandthecontextwherethepersongivingtheinformation.(江淑娟戴卫平,2006).“TheTEXTUALFUNCTIONreferstothefactthatlanguagehasmechanismstomakeanystretchofspokenorwrittendiscourseintoacoherentandunifiedtextandmakealivingpassagedifferentfromarandomlostofsentences.”“Thetextualfunctionfulfilstherequirementthatlanguageshouldbeoperationallyrelevant,havingtextureinarealcontextofsituationthatdistinguishesalivingpassage[…]”(胡壮麟,2001:
420)
3.LexicalFeatures
ThetextualfunctionofadvertisingEnglishistoequipthecustomerswiththeinformation(thefeatures,benefits,functions,andvalueoftheproducts,ect.)theyneedtomakepurchasedecisions.Advertisingaimstodifferentiateproductsfromothers,conveyinformation,inducenewcustomers,gainrepeatedcustomers,stimulatethedistributionandbuildbrandpreferenceandloyalty(夏政,2003).Inordertoachievetheseaims,copywriterstryeveryefforttomaketheadvertisementappealingbyusingsophisticatedlexicaldevices,suchasemployingmonosyllabicandsimplecolloquialwords,creatingwordsorphrases,misspellingandcompounding.
3.1Monosyllabicwords
InadvertisingEnglish,itishighlyappreciatedinthetextofadvertisingtoestablishcloseandinteractiverelationwithreaders.(王树槐王群,2006).Thus,briefwords,likemonosyllabicwords,canproducegreateffects.Ratherthan“attempt”,“purchase”,“peruse”or“employ”,copywritersprefertochoose“try”,“buy”,“read”or“use”topromptlyexpresstheultimateinformationratherthanhintingsimplybyusingflatteringwordsiftheyarenotattempttomakethoseelegantadvertisementsasincarnatingtheirwonderfulproductsorservices.Monosyllabicwordsarewordshavingonlyonesyllable,whichareeasytoreadandtoremember.Forexample:
(1)TheworldofMusic
TheworldofArt
TheworldofTheatre
TheworldofSight
Thisisatraveladvertisementofacity.Thecityiscomparedto“Music”“Art”“Theatre”and“Sight”.Wecanseethecopywriterappropriatelyadoptsmonosyllabicwords,repeatsthemonosyllabicword“world”toimpressthereadersandplantsinmindaseductivepicture.Byemployingmonosyllabicwords,thecopywriterproducesarhymedandstrikingtext,inducingnewcomers.
(2)Everwonderwhymostguysinpantsadsarestandingup?
Thisisanadvertisementfortrousers.Thecopywriteruses“guys”“pants”and“ads”insteadof“men”“trousers”and“advertisement”,inthattheformeronesaremucheasiertocatchthanthelatterones,bringingafeelingofclosenesstothereadersandcreatinginmindanimageofcasualnessandhandsomenesswiththepants.
Example
(1)and
(2)illustratethetextualfunctionofemployingmonosyllabicwordsinadvertisingEnglish.Wordsofonesyllableareeasilyunderstandableandmemorable,aswellascreatinganeffectofrhymeandvividness.
What’smore,monosyllabicverbsinadvertisingEnglishcansavetimeandspacebutneverlosethepowertoattractreaders.MonosyllabicverbsorverbsofshortspellingarequitepopularinadvertisingEnglish,suchas“give”,“make”,“try”,“come”,“go”,“see”,“have”,“get”,“keep”,“use”andsoon.
Inshort,asforthequalityofbeingeasilymemorableandunderstandable,monosyllabicwordsservetorealizetheultimatepurpose,thatis,tocapturethewould-becustomersandtopersuadethemtopurchasetheproductsormakeuseofacertainkindofservice.
3.2Coinages,misspellingsandabbreviations
AsEnglishisalanguagemadeupbyspelling,inadvertisingEnglish,copywriterscanmakegooduseofthespellingfeaturestoenduetheadvertisementswithcreativityandthenappeals.Theyfollowsuchruleas“tolimitlesslyapplylimitedsources”,tocaterforthepsychologicalneedsofcustomers.Thus,coinages,misspellingsandabbreviationsareamongtheprioritieswhenitcomestothewording.
3.2.1Coinages
Coinageisaprocessofinventingawordorphrase.“ItisaremarkingfeatureofadvertisingEnglish,whichmeanslittleaccordingtoregulargrammarbutisknownforthenoveltyandcompactformation”(刘霁,2007).Forinstance:
(3)Merryx-mas
MerryXL-mas
MerryXXL-mas
Example(3)isanadvertisementofchocolatecandies.Merryx-masisananagrammaticspellingwhichimpliesthatthisproductbeingadvertisedisaChristmasgift.Inthepicturebesidetheprint,thesizesofthethreebeautifullypackedboxesbecomebigger,whichinturnhelppeopleassociatewiththesizeexpressionX,XL,XXL.XLmeansextralargeandXXLm