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3091 PDF
3091 PDF
DIPLOMOV PRCA
JANA LAPANSK
tudijn odbor: U
itestvo veobecno-vzdelvacch predmetov
pecializcia: Anglick jazyk a literatra panielsky jazyk a literatra
Many thanks to my diploma supervisor PhDr. Radoslav Pavlk for his valuable advice
and professional help during elaboration the work. I also want to thank my friend
Marek Mrzik for his comments and his interest in the fascinating world of
advertising which influenced me to choose this theme.
Jana Lapansk
ABSTRAKT
Lapansk, Jana: The Language of Advertising with the Concentration on the
Linguistic Means and the Analysis of Advertising Slogans. Diplomov prca,
Univerzita Komenskho. Pedagogick fakulta, Katedra anglickho jazyka a literatry.
Vedci diplomovej prce: PhDr. Radoslav Pavlk. Bratislava: Pedagogick fakulta
UK, 2006. 82 s.
Prca poskytuje anal zu jazyka reklamy z lingvistickho hadiska a pecifikuje
jazykov prostriedky pouit v reklamn ch textoch. Prca prina poznatky o pouit
jazykov ch prostriedkov v reklame v tla
i. Analytickou metdou autor zistil mieru
pouitia jednotliv ch jazykov ch prostriedkov v reklamn ch sloganoch, aj vo vzahu
k produktovmu zameraniu.
k
ov slov: reklama, reklamn slogan, jazyk reklamy, komunikcia, jazykov
prostriedky.
ABSTRACT
Lapansk, Jana: The Language of Advertising with the Concentration on the
Linguistic Means and the Analysis of Advertising Slogans. Diploma thesis. Comenius
University. Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature.
Diploma thesis supervisor: PhDr. Radoslav Pavlk. Bratislava: Pedagogick fakulta
UK, 2006. 82 p.
The work provides the analysis of language of advertising from linguistic point of
view and specifies linguistic means used in advertising texts. The work brings
knowledge about the use of linguistic devices in print advertising. By analytical
method, author found out the use rate of individual linguistic means used in
advertising slogans, even in relation to product specialization.
PREFACE
In this diploma thesis, I will be concerned with the language of advertising. I
will scope my attention to the linguistic means used in advertising. The main reason to
choose this topic was my interest in English language and advertising, for the most
part from linguistic point of view. I find advertising language fascinating; therefore, I
want to discover its principles, strategies and anatomy of creative writing and
grammatical structures.
The objective of the work is to provide the analysis of language of advertising
from linguistic point of view and specify linguistic means used in advertising texts.
The practical research analyses the advertising slogans and determines the most
widely used linguistic means, even in relation to product specialization. The results of
the study and analysis are useful for familiarizing and understanding the main issues
connected with technique of writing advertising texts; the concrete statements and
data can provide information for those, who write advertising texts in English.
The diploma thesis is addressed to the students of English language for
Specific Purposes, teachers of English language for Specific Purposes, people
working in advertising sphere, copywriters and all people interested in language of
advertising.
I acquired the literature resources and magazines from the library of University
of Granada, the University Library in Bratislava and from British Council in
Bratislava.
CONTENTS
ABSTRAKT ............................................................................................................. 3
ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................. 4
PREFACE................................................................................................................. 5
CONTENTS.............................................................................................................. 6
LIST OF PICTURES AND GRAPHS ....................................................................... 8
LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................... 9
0
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................11
1.1
1.2
History of advertising................................................................................14
1.3
Types of advertising..................................................................................15
2.1
2.2
2.3
3.1
3.2
4.1
Phonological aspect...................................................................................27
4.1.1
Rhyme...............................................................................................27
4.1.2
Rhythm .............................................................................................27
4.1.3
Alliteration........................................................................................28
4.1.4
Assonance .........................................................................................28
4.1.5
4.1.6
Transliteration ...................................................................................29
4.1.7
Homophones .....................................................................................29
4.2
4.2.1
4.2.2
4.2.3
Adjectives .........................................................................................31
4.2.4
Numerals...........................................................................................32
4.2.5
4.2.6
Intertextuality....................................................................................32
4.2.7
4.2.8
4.2.9
Collocations ......................................................................................37
4.3
Syntactic aspect.........................................................................................37
4.3.1
Sentence types...................................................................................37
4.3.2
4.3.2.1
4.3.2.2
Ellipsis ..........................................................................................41
4.3.2.3
Incomplete sentences.....................................................................43
4.4
Semantic aspect.........................................................................................43
4.4.1
Personification ..................................................................................44
4.4.2
Simile................................................................................................45
4.4.3
Hyperbole .........................................................................................45
4.4.4
Metaphor...........................................................................................45
4.4.5
Metonymy.........................................................................................47
4.4.6
Antithesis ..........................................................................................47
4.4.7
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................77
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................79
SUPPLEMENT A Review of print advertisements
SUPPLEMENT B Table of attributes
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL - CD
10
INTRODUCTION
Advertising has become the part and parcel of present-day life. From
everywhere around us, advertisements of diverse types attack our privacy. In spite of
it, there is an attractive power, which is able to manipulate the consumer; an invisible
voice of advertisement advocates, encourages, asks, announces and deeply embeds
into peoples minds.
In last decades, the market glut of advertising caused the increased intention
and interest in linguistic aspect of advertising. Advertising has become a science.
People began to describe, analyze the linguistic means and evaluate the language
trying to find out the principles, create new kinds of relationship between elements of
language and improve the techniques, with the aim to be unique and maximize the
effect at full blast.
Who might be interested in advertising language? Advertising texts are of
great value for the analyses from linguistic, sociologist, sociolinguistic, psychological,
ethnologic and last but not least marketing point of view. Linguists are interested in
language of advertising because they want to know how particular language works in
this type of discourse, which linguistic means are used here and how advertising
language is changing in the course time. Sociologists may be interested in the fact,
how advertising influences the values, attitudes and behaviour of the society. On the
other hand, sociolinguists may study the effects of any aspect of society on the way
language is used in advertising in the course of time. Psychologists may try to
examine the effect of the advertising on human mind and motivation to fulfill material
and social needs. Ethnology may find in this field a good evidence of how the culture
of the nation has been developing. And marketing experts and advertising agencies
are interested in the language of advertising to find the tricks how to make advertising
more effective.
English advertising exploits from the high adaptability of the English
language. English enables the creators of advertisements to use word puns, figurative
language, and to mix individual styles and types of texts. Advertising unifies
language, pictures, music; it contains information, invokes emotions and
imaginations, it can capture all five senses and, besides it, it has social and practical
11
aim. As a genre, it seems very diversified. There is often an interference of styles and
registers; therefore, it is often very difficult to classify advertising stylistically. In the
diploma thesis, we will show various aspects and forms of advertising discourse.
The diploma thesis is divided into two parts: theoretical part and practical
research. The objective of the first part of the work is to provide the basic definitions
connected with the issue, the analysis of language of advertising from linguistic
aspect, especially phonological, lexical and morphological, syntactic and semantic
aspect, and to provide examples and describe the most commonly used linguistic
devices and figures of speech in advertising printed text. The second part of the work
is dedicated to the research and practical analysis of the advertising slogans. In fact,
the phenomena theoretically described in the first part served as a foundation for the
practical observation in the second part.
12
advertising is, how it was developed and which types of advertising exist. This part
brings basic definitions necessary for the reader to understand the whole issue.
Advertising is an inevitable part of our modern capitalist consumer society
whose outstanding feature is its competitive fight. advertising is not some external
curiosity which we examine, from which we are separate and superior, but something
of which we are part, and which is part of us (Cook 1996: 182). It is everywhere
around us: in newspapers, in magazines, on billboards along the streets, on television,
in radio, in means of public transport and any place the sponsor pays to distribute their
message. The effects of the advertising influence us whether we like it or not.
1.1
13
All these definitions have in common the fact, that advertising is a means of
promotion the product, idea, or organization on the market with the aim to give
information and to persuade people of the advantage of the product and induce them
to take and action (e.g. buy it).
(http://www.motto.com/glossary.html)
1.2
History of advertising
Advertising traces its history back to ancient times. Wikipedia says that the
first forms of advertising messages were transferred by word of mouth, however, in
the ruins of Pompeii commercial messages and election campaign displays have been
found. Egyptians used Papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters, while in
Greece and Rome lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common. Wall or rock
painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient media
14
advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa and South
America.
With the form of advertising, we could meet in the marketplaces, where the
sellers used to shout and extol their products. In the course of time, people more and
more tried to differentiate their products and began to find out new ways of
presenting. They started to accentuate the visual aspect of the advertisement. With the
expansion of colour printing and colourful posters the streets began to revel in
colours. These posters were ancestors to our modern billboards.
As the economy and the trade were expanding during the 19th century, the
need for advertising grew. Gradually, advertising transformed into a modern, more
scientific and sophisticated conception. New visual techniques have been launched.
Not only the content of the message is important, but also the form. The creativity of
copywriters, who are finding new ways, leads to the richness of various forms of
advertising.
1.3
Types of advertising
According to Geoffrey Leech (Leech 1972), most frequent and important type
of the advertising is commercial consumer advertising: advertising directed
towards a mass audience with the aim of promoting sales of a commercial product or
service. It is the kind which uses most money, professional skill, and advertising
space in this country. (this country, here: Great Britain). Example:
Plump it up. New volume boost liquid lip colour. Paints lips with a high shine
lacquer finish. Feel the tingling sensation as formula begins to work.
15
We can classify the types of advertising also according to the type of medium:
TV, radio, brochures, leaflets, magazines, newspapers and other printed material
advertising, the Internet and Direct Mail advertising, outdoor advertising, etc.
16
and communication: it enables us to think for ourselves and to cooperate with other
people in our community. (Widdowson 2000: 3). It follows that advertising is a kind
of communication between the creator of advertisement (in fact, the copywriter who
substitutes the producer/seller and transfers his ideas into advertisements), and the
consumer.
2.1
Now
we
will
describe
the
communication
process
in
general.
Communication is the process between at least two sides the addresser (transmitter
speaker or writer) and the addressee (receiver listener or reader). Between these two
participants, the coded meaning (information) is transmitted through the
communication channel. Each communication is proceeding in given context or
situation. The communication process is represented in the following picture:
Picture 1: the representation of communication process (Vestergaard and Schroder 1985: 16)
From this graphic representation we can clearly see that, in case of advertising,
the addresser is the copywriter, and the addressee is the reader, the meaning
transmitted is about the product (more specifically, an attempt to make the reader buy
the product), the code (in the case of press advertising) is language and some sort of
visual code, the channel consists of printed publications, and the context will include
such features as the readers total situation (does he have the product already? can he
afford it? etc.), the publication in which the advertisement appears, and last but not
17
least the knowledge that the text is and advert. (Leech 1974: 49, in: Vestergaard and
Schroder 1985: 15). From this we conclude that advertising is a kind of
communication with its own principles. The addresser is a producer a company that
tries to persuade the addressee a consumer - to buy a product. The code of the
language has to be known by all participants of the communication.
The information communicated by the advertisement is not discussing
everything about the product. It is incomplete because there is no space enough to
describe the product into details. The information only contains what the producer
thinks the consumer needs to know. It always contains the name of the product and
usually the information how it can benefit the customer.
Angela Goddard emphasizes the idea of narrator and narratees. She says
that the writer is the person who constructs the text in reality (in advertising texts, the
real writers are the copywriters and artists who work in an advertising agencys
creative department), while the narrator is the storyteller within the text. Copywriters
can construct all sorts of different narrators to convey to us the message, for example,
a female writer can construct a male narrator, or an adult writer can construct a child
narrator:
Shes got more than me, mum.
Narratees are, on the other hand, people who appear to being addressed. In fact, in
advertising communication a narratee is not a certain person, but at least a target
group, or a whole public.
The widest address forms to be given to a narratee in an advertisement are: a)
no address form at all (0) or b) you (or the possessive form, your). In both these
cases, any person reading the advert can feel addressed by it and not excluded from
the communication.
Im a big looser.
I am unique. Moissanite is me.
18
2.2
just found a fantastic washing powder and a mild voice of a young man in radio
advertising for an insurance company. A nice example of facial gestures expressing
1
2.3
20
which makes coherent sense in the context of its units. It may be spoken or written; it
may be as long as a book or as short as a cry for help. (Quirk et al. 1990: 434).
Advertising, if we mean the verbal one, is a type of text. We can find advertising texts
in printed materials or, in spoken form, broadcasted by radio or TV. In printed
advertising, the text may serve only for catching the readers attention, provide
information about the product or serve as an anchorage (the link between the image
and its context; some guidance to the reader) for the image.
3.1
To achieve the unity, continuity and fluency of the text, English sentences
can be linked in various ways, among which repetition of an element and back
reference by means of pronouns are among the more important. (Halliday and Hasan
1976, in: Vestergaard and Schroder 1985: 18). Other techniques are also used to join
sentences together, for example, we use synonymy, place and time relaters,
determiners, pro-forms (pronouns, pro-verbs, other pro-forms), ellipsis, enumeration,
parallelism (repetition of sentence structure), conjunctions and various transitions. All
these sentence signals refer back or forward to neighboring sentences. This principle
is called cohesion. Widdowson defines cohesion as the ties that connect up units of
language to form text. () The repeated pattern provides a kind of texture to the text,
sets up a kind of connection or cohesion across the sentences. (Widdowson 2000:
125, 38). Here we give an example of cohesion in advertising text:
The starting point of a great soup, casserole, or risotto is simple, well-made
stock. Knorr Simply Stock is just that. Made from natural ingredients, with no
artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, its a great way of enhancing the
flavour of your dishes.
We see here that the main subject that everything derives from is Knorr Simply Stock.
In the first sentence, it is expressed by the identification attribute simple, well-made
stock, in the second sentence by the pronoun that and in the last sentence by the
21
pronoun it. All are cohesion devices used for prevent unnecessary repetition in the
text. We can see in this advertisement also another feature typical for advertising, and
that is cataphora: first the description of the product, later on the name of the product
is mentioned. It is because the sellers want to induce the favourable impression that
the product is the solution for given situation.
We can observe cohesion not only at the level beyond sentences but also
within sentences. This is achieved by use of coordination and subordination of
clauses:
Peter is tired. He wants to sleep a lot.
We can connect these two clauses into one sentence:
Peter is tired, so he wants to sleep a lot.
Coordination is especially important cohesional factor in advertising language. There
are three types of coordination linking (use of coordinating conjunctions and, or,
so, but), parataxis (short, simple clauses, often without the use of conjunctions and
often sharing the same subject (http://www.wikipedia.org/); it is applying to the
omission of both coordinate and subordinate conjunctions, and to clauses and phrases
both.(https://lists.usm.maine.edu/) and apposition (two elements are placed side by
side, with the second element serving to define or modify the first.
(http://www.wikipedia.org/)). Leech says, that in some cases, copywriters show
tendencies to use
1. Coordination in places, where subordination would have made the relationship
between clauses more explicit, and
2. Non-linking coordination (parataxis and apposition) in preference to linking
coordination.
In press advertising, we can observe noun group parataxis for example in the listing of
the addresses of the advertising firm:
New York Paris London.
Parataxis of adjective groups is also common and serves the same kind of purpose as
the listing of pre-modifying adjectives in a noun group. (See Leech 1972: 147) (here:
noun/adjective group = noun/adjective phrase). Following example is a parataxis of
separate adjectives:
New. Better. Happier.
According to these examples we can suppose, that the headline
Thinking larger. Moving faster.
is the example of verb phrase parataxis.
The apposition of two noun groups is a construction highly represented in
advertisement language. Usually the product name precedes the noun group, which
describes it, but the reverse order also occurs:
Neotec. The only tripod with built-in zoom.
We can observe the tendency to cut up the sentences in places where linking
conjunctions, commas or dashes usually appear:
After 173 years, we know quite a bit about diamonds. But love is still a
complete mystery.
Its just another Renault. Reliable. Technically superior. Best in its class. Just
like every other Renault we make.
We could remake these two advertisements:
After 173 years, we know quite a bit about diamonds, but love is still a
complete mystery.
Its just another Renault reliable, technically superior and best in its class
just like every other Renault we make.
3.2
The textual structure can be studied not only from the point of view of the
connection of the sentences to make up a text, but we can also consider it from the
23
implication
that
there
may
be
jeans
that
do
not
fit
(well).
(http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_02/given-new.htm)
These advertisements reflect the quest to make the text more dynamic; the
utterances are organized into smaller units to underline the content of each. In each
group, there is new information, a new rheme, each containing its own nuclear accent.
Nowadays, copywriters still remain creating text with short sentences full of
important information about the product. However, many advertising texts are more
compact; the text is an integrated unit, ordinary connected whole rather then some
unnatural sequence of phrases. In the supplement A, we offer the reader an example
of an advertisement showing, how copywriters today compose the texts even into
2
short narrations ( ).
25
Leech in his book (Leech 1972: 25) writes, that the language of advertising
belongs to so called loaded language. Wikipedia defines it as the writing or
speech, which implies an accusation of demagoguery or of pandering to the
audience. Leech says that loaded language has the aim to change the will, opinions,
or attitudes of its audience. He claims that advertising differs from other types of
loaded language (such as political journalism and religious oratory) in having a very
precise material goal changing the mental disposition to reach the desired kind of
behaviour buying a particular kind of product.
To persuade people to buy the product is the main purpose of the advertising.
Among such great competition, the producer wants to demonstrate the uniqueness of
his product. He wants to differentiate it from the rest. He is trying to find new
techniques of advertisement. Also, the advertisement texts must be more attractive
and more unexpected. They must catch the attention of the audience and then identify
the product. Copywriters create uncommon, surprising, interesting texts with catchy
slogans or phrases. The reader or listener must give it some thought and the result is
manipulation with him in order to buy the product. Leech sets following principles of
advertising texts: Attention value, Readability (by means of simple, personal, and
colloquial style), Memorability (most important in the process of advertising is to
remember the name of the product) and Selling power (Leech 1972: 27). The last
principle is crucial. David Ogilvy (Ogilvy 1985: 7) in his book says:
I do not regard advertising as entertainment or an art form, but as a medium of
information. When I write an advertisement, I dont want you to tell me that you find
it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.
26
that reason, in this work we will analyze the language of advertising from the
linguistic, especially phonological, lexical and morphological, syntactic and semantic
point of view. We will provide examples and describe the most commonly used
linguistic devices and figures of speech in advertising printed text.
4.1
Phonological aspect
Advertising language often uses the techniques similar to those in poetic texts.
The advantage of so-called mnemonic devices (rhyme, rhythm, alliteration and
assonance) is the mnemotechnical effect. It guarantees that the receiver of the
advertisement better remembers the text and recalls it at the right moment.
4.1.1 Rhyme
Rhyme is a pattern of identity of sound between words or verse-lines
extending from the end to the last fully accented vowel and not further. (Concise
Oxford English Dictionary 2004). Rhyme refers to sounds, not spelling. It is
commonly found in jingles, slogans and headlines, like in this one:
Eukanuba gives their teeth the strength they need.
4.1.2 Rhythm
The aim of advertising is to be catchy and easy to remember. One of the
devices how copywriters can reach it is to use prosodic features intonation, rhythm
and lexical stress - because they have a great emotional and mnemonic effect. Even
the scientists cannot explain why has rhythm and repetition so powerful attraction on
human mind. Some suggest that it recalls the regular sound of the mothers heartbeat
in the womb (Langer 1967: 324; Stetson 1951, in: Cook 1996: 120) or other compare
it to the dances of ritual magic (Olson, 1950, in: Cook 1996: 120), that they have an
enhancing effect on neuronal circuits in the brain (Newman 1986, in: Cook 1996:
120).
Copywriters often use language with rhythmical arrangement. The listener or
reader need not notice it and he perceives it only subconsciously. The result is, that
the text is memorable and linguistically neat. If the rhythm has some regularity, it is
called metre. Metre is a pattern composed of rhythm groups (feet) consisting of
27
/ x
/ x
4.1.3 Alliteration
Alliteration can be defined as literary technique, in which successive words
(more strictly, stressed syllables) begin with the same consonant sound or letter.
(http://www.wikipedia.org/). It is widely used in advertising slogans. There are 20
consonant sounds in English, but those that are made by stopping the air-stream
completely (p, b, m, n, t, d, k and g) are according to Greg Myers (Myers 1997) most
used, because stand out more than others.
Performance. Prestige. Passion for Innovation.
4.1.4 Assonance
Assonance is a linguistic device, in which the same vowel in successive
stressed syllables creates a vowel harmony. It is not so obvious type of scheme as
alliteration.
How much reality can you handle?
script, its colour, type and size is the inevitable part of making a good advertisement.
However, not only this may contribute to the final effect. The other possibilities are:
o Unpredictable spelling of words (Beanz Meanz Heinz, 4ever,
Bar B Q, sper, etc.)
o Higher
frequency
of
low-frequent
letters
that
produce
COLOR XXL
(
).
4.1.6 Transliteration
Using of transliteration in advertisement is not so frequent, but when occurred,
it makes a positive result. It definitely attracts readers attention. Transliteration
means the transformation of foreign words into English. Usually the spelling of the
foreign word is different but the pronunciation in these special cases is the same as
English:
BE COINTREAUVERSIAL.
alcoholic drink)
4.1.7 Homophones
In English, there are many words that sound the same but are spelled
differently. Linguists call them homophones. Copywriters use homophony to create
puns in advertising language. This kind of play works best in print. As the fantastic
example we show following example:
Sainsburys have discovered that the finest whisky is kept under loch and
quay. (Myers : 43).
29
Myers says: The spelling and pictures make us think of the relevant Scottish
meanings first, but we must also recall the idiomatic phrase that fits in the sentence,
lock and key. () Each of two interpretations as spelling or as sound has some
support.
4.2
This part of the work will be concerned with typical characteristics of the
vocabulary of advertising and most commonly used figures of speech.
30
modifying part, which is usually very complex and is characterized by certain unusual
structural features. The complexity of pre-modification is based on the effort to catch,
describe and specify the properties of the product in attractive way:
First automatic chronograph with a 72-hour power-reserve and patented
compression push-buttons. Mechanical automatic movement 751, made inhouse.
Here the only verb is the verb make in passive voice.
In many cases, whole advertising text does not contain any verb; it consists
only of noun phrases. Inside the noun phrase, clusters of two, three or more adjectives
are possible:
Gingery Fudgy Nutty Creamy Mischievous Mouthfuls.
A word fudgy is a neologism created by copywriters. Normally it is a noun and it
does not exist in form of an adjective.
High number of genitives occurs in names of manufacturer, names of time and
names of towns.
Bighams gourmet canaps
Britains No.1
4.2.3 Adjectives
While reading the advertisement, the reader may notice the hyperbolic
character of the language. This exaggeration causes increased number of
comparative and superlative adjectives. The product is better, nicer, newer, and
tighter and the customer is happier and more satisfied. The product offers more
information, more entertainment, more comfort, more than any other product. We
may observe in our list of advertisements that gradable adjectives (they describe
qualities that can be measured in degrees; they can be used in comparative or
superlative forms) outnumber non-gradable adjectives (they describe qualities that
are completely present or completely absent; they do not occur in comparative and
superlative forms, and cannot be used with adverbs such as very or extremely,
because we dont usually imagine degrees of more or less of the quality being
described.
(http://www.onestopenglish.com/teacher_support/ask/Grammar/grammar15.htm), e.g.
biological, school, telephonic.)
31
4.2.4 Numerals
In many advertisements, we can see the use of numerals. It is necessary if the
copywriters want to define the characteristics of the product exactly. Numerals are
used to define quantity of various aspects, for example percentage of some substance
in a product, number of years in connection to the length of the tradition of the
product, the number of satisfied customers, etc.
4.2.6 Intertextuality
Intertextuality is the way in which one text echoes or refers to another text. It
means that, for example an advertisement:
To be in Florida in winter, or not to be in Florida in winter
would contain an intertextual reference to a key speech in Shakespeares Hamlet.
Intertextuality can operate at many different levels of language, from phonological
and lexical references in titles and slogans to visual aspects such as layouts and
images. () Intertextuality can be an important component of and adverts meaning,
in that the original text being referred to establish a message, which the second text
can then use and elaborate on. () For intertextuality to work completely, readers
32
have to be able to remember the original advert and place the reference being
established. But if they dont, it doesnt matter too much, for the contemporary advert
will simply be enigmatic (Goddard 1998: 124)
In advertising, the intertextuality is used in such conditions, where there is
justifiable supposition that the original text is well-known among people. Tyto texty
(jsou-li krtk) nebo jejich prvky (v ppad vt
ch celk) se bu doslova cituj, aneb
astji se modifikuj. Pozmuj se ov
em tak, aby odkaz k pvodnmu textu
zstal zejm a aby se text a jeho kontext vnmateli vybavil. Na zklad tohoto
kritria se nkdy rozli
uje citt, kter je doslovnou reprodukc podkladovho textu
a bv, nikoli v
ak nutn, vyznaen v novm textu uvozovkami, a aluze (z latinskho
alludere = zahrvat si), kter je jen narkou, poukazem k njakmu podkladovmu
textu. (mejrkov 2000: 169-191).
Svtla mejrkov further presents various ways how intertextuality can be
used in advertising. It can be based on:
o Fixed phrases, idioms and collocations (A SMOOTH MOVE
HAIR REMOVAL FROM HEAD-TO-TOE),
o Biblical sentences (Do unto you as you would have others do unto
you. Toyota. The original statement says: Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you),
o Quotation of famous people or employees of the company,
o Statements of historical persons (iThink, Therefore iMac. I am
is replaced by iMac. The original phrase is a philosophical
statement by Ren Descartes: I think, therefore I am.; a phrase
used by Julius Caesar Veni, vidi, video.)
o Proverbs and sayings,
o Names of literary works, films, or television programmes (Not
trying it would be a Greek tragedy),
o Quotations from songs and fairy tales,
o Mixing of various styles - e-mail, letter, interview, telephonic
conversation, recipe, etc. (Pleased to meet you).
As example of intertextuality in visual aspect, see the advertisement in the
8
33
34
lexical meaning of a word and only rarely word class. (Kvetko 2001: 38), e.g.
nonsmokers, dislike, rebuild, postwar, autobiography, antinuclear, hypersensitive.
The following examples show the creativity of advertising language: provodkative,
cookability (Cook 1996: 140), anti-aging, jewel-like, Casiology.
Shortening in general is a process in which part of the original word is taken
away. It expresses the trend of Modern English towards monosyllabism. (Kvetko
2001: 47). Shortening contains clipping, acronyms and initialisms. Clipping is a
reduction of a word to a shorter form. It is a cutting off one or more syllables of a
word. (Kvetko 2001: 47), e.g. fan (fanatic), gym (gymnastics), bus (omnibus), exam
(examination), taxi (taxicab), phone (telephone), mobile (mobile phone), fridge
(refrigerator), lab (laboratory), photo (photography). Acronyms are words formed
from the initials of expressions consisting one or more word and read as ordinary
words, e.g. NATO, UNESCO, AIDS. Initialisms are abbreviations with alphabetical
reading, e.g. VIP, XXL, TV, PC. We have already mentioned the possibility of taking
advantage of acronyms and initialisms in connection with the graphic layout (See p.
30 of the diploma thesis).
Blending is similar process to shortening, combined with fusing the elements
of two different words, e.g. smog (smoke + fog), vegeburger (vegetarian +
hamburger), motel (motorway + hotel), brunch (breakfast + lunch), tellyphone
(television + telephone).
The process of coining new words in a different part of speech without
adding any derivative elements is called conversion. (Kvetko 2001: 44) The two
words differ in meaning and syntactic function within the sentence. The major types
of conversion are: the formation of verbs from nouns: a call to call; nouns from
verbs: to walk a walk; adjectives from nouns: an orange orange and nouns from
phrasal verbs: to make up a make-up.
Conversion may be used not only with the association with brand names. Here is an
example of advertisement for Penguin books situated on railway platforms. (Myers
1997: 65):
Book at any station.
Book is both the verb (reserve a ticket) and the noun (a a written work published
and dedicated to reading.). The picture of the trademark Penguin at a station links the
two.
(Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary 2001), e.g.: Too many cooks spoil the broth. means
that if too many people are involved in something, it will not be well done.
Copywriters use idioms and proverbs in advertisements, because these
constructions are familiar to most potential customers in a society. The idiom or a
proverb in a text may be used without formal changes, or in a creative way, where an
element of a proverb or idiom is slightly changed or replaced by another word to
create a pun and, consequently, a connection with a product. If the picture
accompanies the text, the picture usually does not represent the figurative - and, of
course - correct and common meaning of the idiom, but it represents the image and
9
36
(Siemens
Financial Services)
An idiom a bigger slice of the cake means a share of the available money or benefits
that you believe you have a right to. A picture represents two happy young women
eating a cake.
4.2.9 Collocations
A collocation is a combination of words in a language, that happens very
often and more frequently than would happen by chance. (Oxford Advanced
Learners Dictionary 2001). Collocations are used in advertisements, however often
without any deviation or play on words and for the reader it is often imperceptible.
We offer here an example of and advertisement with the use of deviated collocation:
Do you believe in love at first touch?
The original collocation sounds love at first sight, but this advertisement emphasizes
a sleek stainless steel body of a mobile phone.
4.3
Syntactic aspect
37
between syntactic type and discourse function does not always match, as the
following case shows:
Give me a glass of water. is an imperative, a directive.
Could you give me a glass of water? is an interrogative, but semantically it
is a directive, more precisely an indirect command.
A statement can also function as an indirect command: Im thirsty.
So can exclamations: What a fresh cold water!
Because most advertisements approximate to every-day conversation, there is
relatively free selection of sentence types. Leech offers us the results of the research
dealt with the frequency of sentence types in English advertising: in the television
sample, over one in thirty major independent clauses were interrogative, and over one
in four major independent clauses were imperative.
Therefore, according to the results of the research, we can say, that the second most
widely used sentence type after declarative type are the imperative clauses.
However, this research does not say anything about the frequency of direct and
indirect commands. We cannot identify the imperative sentence type with discourse
function. Imperative is not the same as directive. We may say that the imperative is
always a directive but a directive need not necessarily be an imperative.
Copywriters use imperatives, because it creates a sense of one person is
talking to another () because all ads are urging us to some action. Leech
establishes certain groups of verbal items, which are especially frequent in imperative
clauses:
Items, which have to do with the acquisition of the product: get, buy, ask
for, choose, etc.
Items, which have to do with the consumption or use of the product: have,
try, use, enjoy, etc.
Items, which act as appeals for notice: look, see, watch, remember, make
sure, etc.
Prohibitive warnings are very infrequent. () Only about one imperative in fifty is
accompanied by a negative form. (Leech 1972: 111)
Myers accentuates the absence of please in imperative sentences and lack of
politeness. One explanation may be that in our culture we cut out the politeness
devices if we are asking somebody to do something that benefits the hearer, not the
speaker, like in phrase Take a seat. (Myers 1997: 48)
38
Why do advertisements use questions? It is for the same reason as why they
use commands: it evokes the sense of personal communication in the reader. It causes
that the reader cooperates with the text having his own individual situation in mind.
Although the copywriters cannot expect the direct answer and feedback (as we have
mentioned in section about public communication above), they expect the readers to
answer themselves silently. Another reason is the presupposition. Presuppositions
are present in any communication and many questions presuppose something. Here
comes an example of it:
Why do leading beauty experts and models use and recommend Perfectil?
In this case, we can deduce and belief from the content of this advertisement that
beauty experts and models use and recommend Perfectil.
In advertising language, presupposition is very frequent way of expressing the
content. Advertisers rather use presupposition than assertion because it is much easier
to deny an assertion than a presupposition:
The statement Leading beauty experts and models use and recommend
Perfectil. one may oppose: I dont believe. No way. But in question mentioned
above, the receiver is unconsciously led to believe that the content is truthful and that
there are no doubts about the fact that they use and recommend it. Another example of
presupposition is following:
Just the touch of the button gives you voice control of your music, climate
control and your Bluetooth hands-free phone.
It presupposes that the car will certainly have got a button, radio player, air-condition
and hands-free set and that everything will be able to be controlled by voice.
Angela Goddard writes that presupposition is all about reading between lines;
since this is, as it suggests, a hidden process, it is very interesting to advertisers, as we
can be taking in all sorts of assumptions without consciously paying attention to
them. (Goddard 1998: 125)
In advertisements, there are often cases where the question is stated as kind of a
problem and then the text offers an answer a solution for the problem:
Got wedding on the brain? Time to visit our new website.
Another typical type of question used in advertising is rhetorical question. It
assumes only one possible answer:
What more could anyone ask from a Clarins gift?
The implied answer to this is Of course, nothing.
39
In this part of the work, we shall focus our attention on the structure of sentences
in advertising language. We will mention the most important structural tendencies
used by copywriters.
Each clause has the same idea and structure beginning with verb in imperative
following by direct object. The typography and layout often contributes to the text; in
this case, each clause is printed in separate line. The last clause makes up a semantic
and formal parallel to first two clauses. Parallelism is often accompanied by
-
4.3.2.2 Ellipsis
Ellipsis belongs to cohesive devices and it is defined as the omission of part
of a structure. (Goddard 1998: 123). Ellipsis in advertising is used for many
purposes:
For economical reasons; to save space and money because words cost
money.
Guy Cook (Cook 1996: 170) gives following example of anaphoric textual ellipsis:
When Lisa made a surprise visit, you didnt have time to worry about spotted
glasses. Fortunately, you didnt have to. Cascade. Because you dont have
time for spots.
The second orthographic sentence contains ellipsis:
Fortunately, you didnt have to
=
41
We recommend Cascade
To avoid drawing attention to features of the message which do not serve
the advertisers interest (Cook 1996: 169)
To create a sense of informality. Ellipsis is normally used in spoken
language, in face-to-face casual communication. Ellipsis in advertising
creates an effect of closeness with the reader and conversational tone;
sometimes suggests immediacy.
In advertising, we can find many examples of situational ellipsis of
interrogative clauses:
Expecting guests?
In this case, we can observe the omission of subject and operator:
= (Are you) expecting guests?
It creates proximity and intimacy. it is indicative of shared knowledge
and interests, () it suggests a trusting relationship, in which people
assume a desire to understand on the part of their interlocutor. (Cook
1996: 171). people who know each other well dont need to be all that
explicit about their meanings, because they know the other person will fill
in the gap as a result of shared knowledge and shared history. (Goddard
1998: 42):
Nespresso. What else?
This is the advertisement headline for a coffee. Everybody may recognize that the
person, who asks the question, is a waitress in a caf. The whole utterance may be
Youll take Nespresso. What else would you like to drink? It is clear to everybody
that What else means that they can order something more.
The intention to make short dynamic slogans leads to the tendency to use the
symbol of colon between two noun phrases:
Summer 2005: True Bronze.
We can complete the expression with deduced words:
In summer 2005, with Clinique cosmetics you may take pleasure in true
bronze skin.
42
It is accompanied not only by the picture, but also by the body copy explaining the
phrases above. We can supply more possibilities in the beginning of the phrases, for
example:
If you /For those who want/need a revolutionary lift of your skin and to see
revolutionary results, try/buy Revitalift Double Lifting Intense Re-Tightening
Gel and Anti-Wrinkle Treatment.
The effect is to suggest that we already have these desires, that they are completing
our own thoughts. (Myers 1997: 56)
4.4
Semantic aspect
Each linguistic expression has its literal meaning. Literal meaning denotes
what it means according to common or dictionary usage (or more exactly, what the
reader is most likely to assign to a word or phrase if he or she knows nothing about
the context in which it is to be used. (http://www.wikipedia.org/)). The same
linguistic expression, however, may have also its figurative meaning. It connotes
43
additional layers of meaning and evokes associations; for example, the word
professional has connotations of skill and excellence. It is not possible to give an
exhaustive account of the connotations of the expression, because connotative
meanings, which have been evoked in an individual, depend on peoples entire
previous experiences and on conventions of community. Therefore, the connotations
of the same expression will differ slightly from person to person. Furthermore, the
same denotations can have different connotations in different context. Vestergaard
and Schroder (Vestergaard and Schroder 1985) believe that in advertising language,
the most frequent word for acquisition of product is get, and not buy, because
buy has some unpleasant connotations, like money and the parting with it.
For people, associations are very powerful, so the advertisers pay attention to
this aspect of language. They play with colours, because colours may have various
positive or negative connotations: innocence / snow / ice / race, and others for white;
passion / blood / stop signal /fire for red; etc. They must be careful about the target
group, because each culture may have different connotations to the same expressions:
in Chinese and Indian tradition, white is the color of mourning, death, and ghosts. In
India, white also stands for peace and purity. Red colour in Eastern European
countries may have slightly negative connotation in relation to the identification of
communism with "socialist" red.
A trope is a word or phrase that is used in a way that is different from its
usual meaning in order to create a particular mental image or effect. (Oxford
Advanced Learners Dictionary 2001). It is a figurative expression. In this part, we
give a list of most important tropes used in advertising language: personification,
simile, hyperbole, metaphor and metonymy. In relation to semantic aspect of
language, we define also antithesis, polysemy, and homonymy.
4.4.1 Personification
Personification is a term used mainly in literature to name the figure of speech,
which involves directly speaking of an inanimate object, or an abstract concept, as if
it were a living entity, often one with specifically human attributes. These attributes
may include sensations, emotions, desires, physical gestures and expressions, and
powers of speech, among others. (http://www.wikipedia.org/). The readers of
advertisements usually do not register or realize that there is used personification in
the text. It is used very widely in all the expressions like (name of a facial
44
crme) gives you silky skin, (name of a product) fulfills your wishes or Dirty
kitchen? Nothing cleans it up like (name of a cleaner) are on the base of
personification of a brand name: a cleaner cleans, but even thought, cleaning is an
activity proper to human beings.
4.4.2 Simile
Simile is defined as a direct, expressed comparison between two things
essentially unlike each other, but resembling each other in at least one way.
(http://home.cfl.rr.com/eghsap/apterms.html).
Usually, similes are marked by use of the words like, than, as or as if.
We may also find comparative constructions used when comparing two things or two
situations: asas, soas.
Ibuleve gel as fast & effective as pills? Now theres clinical evidence.
Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.
(Myers
1997: 125)
4.4.3 Hyperbole
A hyperbole is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve
emphasis. Businessmen and manufacturers use the figure of speech to advertise their
goods in as attractive a way as possible.mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
(http://www.languageinindia.com/march2005/advertisingenglishhongkong1.html):
No other pain-relieving gel works like Deep Relief.
The best just got bigger!
The number one to Eastern Europe.
4.4.4 Metaphor
A metaphor is very difficult issue to define and there are many ways how to
define it. We shall introduce here a definition of metaphor from Oxford Advanced
Learners Dictionary: it is a word or phrase used in an imaginative way to describe
sb/sth else, in order to show that the two things have the same qualities and to make
the description more powerful. Lakoff and Johnson in their book (Lakoff and
Johnson 1980) define metaphor as statements and/or pictures which cause a receiver
to experience one thing in terms of another., for example:
Clearly, Mother Nature is a romantic.
45
46
product, as in the following advertisement for charm bracelet. Sasha Cohen, a famous
figure skater, represents the unstoppable quality and charm of the product:
UNSTOPPABLE Charm
Eco-Drive.
The simplest advertising phrase pattern is the pattern of a brand name (one element)
and the additional phrase in apposition (second element). It creates a metaphorical
parallelism between a product and a feature or quality to which is compared:
Infusium 23. A remedy for your hair.
4.4.5 Metonymy
A metonymy is the use of a single characteristic to identify a more complex
entity. () It is extremely common for people to take one well-understood or easy-toperceive aspect of something and use that aspect to stand either for the thing as a
whole or for some other aspect or part of it. (http://www.wikipedia.org/)
Wikipedia offers some clear, commonly used examples of metonymy: The
press for the news media, Wall Street for the American financial industry, The
Crown for the British monarchy. Among other examples belong following sentences:
He reads Shakespeare. (= his books), I drink Champagne (= a drink), etc.
In advertisements, an associated word often expresses the whole group: I like
Volvo (= Volvo cars), woman is an uncharted territory (= all the women), a
fragrance of Sabatiny (= perfumes made by Sabatiny).
4.4.6 Antithesis
Antithesis is a figure of speech, which uses the same or similar structure to
express two opposite ideas so as to achieve the effects of emphasizing the meaning
and the contrast. The figure has the characteristics of harmonious combination of
sound and rhyme, balanced syllables, sharp rhythm and compendiousness. The
combination of pleasant senses of vision and hearing often stimulates the good
feelings of readers and arouses consumers' buying desire.mmmmmmmmmmmm
(http://www.languageinindia.com/march2005/advertisingenglishhongkong1.html)
Antithesis relates to words, clauses or sentences. It is based on antonyms
(words of opposite meaning) or opposite ideas:
Talks inside. Shouts outside. New 2006 Fiesta.
Imagine a mini phone with maximum style and design.
47
48
RESEARCH PART
5.1
The aim of practical research analysis is to determine the use rate of linguistic
means used in advertising slogans, even in relation to product specialization.
5.2
1.
2.
3.
4.
On the basis of observation of the research sample, we suppose, that the most
widely used sentence type is the imperative sentence type and the second most widely
used is the declarative sentence type.
5.
On the basis of Leechs ideas (p. 30 of this work) we suppose, that the most
On the basis of Leechs ideas (p. 30 of this work) we suppose, that the
Because of the fact, that advertisements usually describe qualities that can be
basic form of adjectives (majority) the second most widely used form is comparative
form.
11.
12.
49
13.
On the basis of the fact that jewelry slogans put their attention to long-lasted
5.3
Research sample
We observed the slogans from 270 random advertisements from the sample of
48 different copies (25 titles) of English-writing magazines from UK, USA and
Slovakia. The sample did not contain newspapers. The magazines were of various
types: political, technical, business-oriented, nature-oriented, cooking-oriented,
women magazines, tabloids and scientific.
5.4
First we wrote out the advertising slogans and collected the research material.
Once completed the list of slogans, we made a linguistic analysis of them and
determined the linguistic means used in each of them (p. 51 71). We made an
overall observation and stated questions and hypotheses. Then we produced a table of
attributes for exact enumeration of linguistic means (supplement B). This table was
the basis for the measurable evidence. From the table we could make the general
statistics and consequently generate graphs and interpret data. The interpretations and
explanations of graphs are on pages 72 76.
50
Photography
1.
5.
6.
2.
3.
4.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15. 15
16.
51
Olympus camera
Pentax camera
Panasonic
Lowepro bags
Photobox online
laboratory
Photobox online
laboratory
Photospeed
Interfit
Sekonic
elinchrom
Canon
JESSOPS
Imajet paper
NEOTEC
Fujifilm
Fujifilm
Good Food
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
52
Ryvita
Solgar
Waitrose
champagne
Bigham
Knorr
IKEA
IKEA
Peugeot
Burgundy wine
Jus-Rol ready
pastry sheets
WYKE FARMS
Arniston Bay
wine
29.
Arniston Bay
wine
Num; Nph
SPANISH CLEMENTINES ARE NATURES SWEETS.
ALL THE GOODNESS OF THE SPANISH SUN IN ITS OWN
PHONE LITTLE WRAPPER.
Dec.; finV; present; active; non-grad Adj; 2x metaphor; genitive;
epithet; grad Adj in basic form; ellipsis of verb of the Spanish sun is
in; clipping
31. 1 AROMA GENEROSO
Nph; foreign word; epithet
32.
Talks inside. Shouts outside. New 2006 Fiesta.
2x Dec.; parataxis; parallelism; antithesis; ellipsis It talks; 2x
finV; 2x active; 2x present; grad Adj. in basic form; Num
33.
Oh! thats smart! Oh! thats delicious! Oh! thats quick!
6x exclamation.; 3x finV; 3x present; 3x active; 3x grad Adj in basic
form; parallelism, anaphora
34.
Get juicing with the Magimix Le duo
Imp.; conversion: juice (N) new word to juice (V)
35.
Potty about food?
30.
36.
37.
38.
39.
Bertolli sauce
Ford
Samsung oven
Magimix juicer
a Gastronaut
book
Campbells
G chocolate
puds
Liebherr fridge
Mornflake
Computer act!ve
40.
41.
42.
53
MESH computers
STRATO
webmaster
AV home cinema
43.
44.
45. 16
Sony
dabs.com
Canon
Gardeners World
46. 14 To tackle weeds permanently you have to get to the Root of the
problem.
non-finV; Dec.; AuxV; poysemy root; collocation get to the root of
the problem; metaphor problem = weeds
47.
The Iron Rose
connotation iron = very strong and resistant like if it were from
iron; Nph
48.
Gladiators of the garden, advance and choose your weapons.
addressing; metaphor gladiators are brushcutters; 2x Imp.;
metaphor weapons = good knives, for example
49.
Professional results start with STIHL.
Dec.; finV; present; active; grad Adj in basic form
50.
The complete range of versatile master gardeners
Nph; 3x grad Adj in basic form; metaphor gardener = tractor
51. 17 Looks different works better. Viking 6 series. Easy start, quick
finish.
Dec.; ellipsis It looks and works; parataxis; 2x finV; present;
active; 2x parallelism; antithesis; 3x Nph; 3x grad Adj in basic form;
grad Adj in comparative form; visual metaphor: a goat with a missile
on its back
52.
Not trying it would be a Greek tragedy.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
54
Bayer Garden
Bayer Garden
Efco brushcutter
STIHL
tractors
Viking mower
CARTE DOR
icecream
CARTE DOR
Deep Relief
John Deere
mower
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
Copella Apple
juice
eve
64.
Vitabiotics
We know its the best. But dont just take our word for it.
Dec.; 1 st Pl narr.; 2x finV; present; active; grad Adj in superlative
form; a dot where comma would be more appropriate; collocation
take our word for it = believe us; negat. Imp.; 2x present;2x active
Shes got more than me, mum.
Aunt Bessies Crispy Roast Potatoes.
intertextuality dialogue of mother and child; 1st Sg narr.; genitive; 2x
grad Adj in basic form; Nph; crispy (approving)
Not sure how to help build your babys natural defenses if youre not
breast feeding?
Int.; ellipsis Are you; genitive; compound Adj; non-finV; finV;
present; active
Gingery Fudgy nutty creamy mischievous mouthfuls.
Nph; parataxis; fudgy neologism; 5x epithet; 5x grad Adj in basic
form
Obeys when spoken to (unlike most blokes). New 2006 Fiesta.
Dec.; ellipsis It obeys; finV; present; active; bloke a man
(informal); Nph; personification a car obeys; Num; epithet
In their eyes, they can tug forever. Eukanuba gives their teeth the
strength they need.
2x Dec.; AuxV; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x active; rhyme teeth need;
rhythm; collocation in their eyes = to see the situation from their
point of view; personification Eukanuba gives; they need a) they
= dogs b) they = teeth
Nivea visage
Reveal
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
55
Aunt Bessie
Cow&Gate milk
for babies
chocolate
Ford
Eukanuba
71.
Anchor
Spreadable
73. 19
74.
75.
76.
VOGUE
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
56
Lancme
Clinique
Cartier
Olay
Chevrolet
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
Imp.; epithet; grad Adj in basic form; a dot used where a dash would
be appropriate
89.
The curls of your dreams. Now available when youre awake.
Nph; ellipsis of verb dreams are now; grad Adj in basic form;
finV; present; active; unconventional collocation the curls are
available
90.
IN CASE OF FIRE STOP, DROP & ROLL AROUND. fire spicy
cinnamon chewing gum
3x Imp.; PhrV roll around = to be laughing so much that you can
hardly control yourself.; Nph; 2x grad Adj in basic form; non-grad
Adj; Picture shows two people rolling on the floor.
91.
Discover the secret for truly radiant skin.
Imp.; metaphor: secret = Aveeno; grad Adj in basic form; epithet
92.
Cure for the wintertime blues.
metaphor; Nph; non-grad Adj
93.
Mountains have crumbled. Glaciers have melted. Continents have
drifted. Diamonds remain the same. Clearly, Mother Nature is a
romantic.
5x Dec.; parallelism; 3x pres. perf.; active; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x
active; parataxis; metaphor
94.
Celebrate your past, present & future with one thing on Earth as
timeless as love.
Imp.; simile; metaphor: one thing is a diamond jewel; Num
95. 6 Navigating the LAND OF CREDIT with Citi Simplicity. ITS
SIMPLY THE CARD THAT TREATS YOU RIGHT.
non-finV; rhyme city simplicity; 2x Dec.; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x
active; rhyme card right; rhythm; personification a card treats;
picture of the land of credit
96.
The Address.
97.
Nph
New level of radiance, revealed.
Dec.; ellipsis radiance of the skin is/has been revealed; non-finV;
epithet
57
GREY GOOSE
vodka
EA anti-aging
treatment
Pantene
Pantene
LIPFUSION XL
Guitay body
optimizer
OUIDAD
Dentyne
Aveeno
essie nail polish
jewelry
A DIAMOND IS
FOREVER
credit card
Armani Hotel
Dubai
Clinique
98.
99.
100.
101. 20
102.
103.
104.
winter rescue
Nph; metaphor; non-grad Adj
Gorgeous makes EFFORT look effortless.
Dec.; finV; present; active; non-finV; epithet; 2x grad Adj in basic
form
The new rush.
Nph; metaphor; epithet; grad Adj in basic form; polysemy: rush =
a) fast movement b) sudden demand for goods
THE FEMINE MYSTIINT. STILL UNCHARTED TERRITORY.
2x Nph; ellipsis mystique is still; non-grad Adj; metaphor:
femine mystique = uncharted territory
Redken reinvents hairspray.
Dec.; finV; present; active; affixation; assonance of /e/;
personification Redken reinvents
Ever think youd see beautiful and heels in the same sentence?
Moisturizer actually heals dry skin so even your roughest parts get
noticed.
Int.; ellipsis Do you ever; grammar deviation; AuxV;
personification moisturizer heals; Dec.; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x
active; homonymy: heel + heal; metaphor: roughest parts =
heels; 2x grad Adj in basic form; grad Adj in superlative form
Euphoria. Live the dream.
107.
108.
109.
105.
106.
58
Pantene
Jaguar
Land Rover
ROLEX
Redken
Jergens
Calvin Klein
fragrance
Maybelline
make-up
Boots online
cosmetics
Cointreau
alcoholic drink
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.
115.
116.
117.
118.
Vogue
ROC
Lancme
Estee Lauder
Lancme lipstick
Clinique
Lancme
LOreal
120.
121.
122.
59
shopvogue.com
Maybelline
mascara
Noxzema cleaner
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134.
135.
136.
137.
Pantene
OLAY eye lifting
serum
Surgi Wax
Hylexin
hair treatment
Acura car
Rembrandt tooth
paste
Nicoderm CQ
plaster
Toyota
Max Factor
Tacori jewelry
The Concord
Saratoga watch
60
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
61
Evian
Relpax
Nivea
Frs Vodka
Bacardi Limn
hot. diamonds
Orbit
Apple
Redken
Slim Fast
Veet.
Bailey Banks &
Biddle jewelry
jewelry
OLAY
Brides
153.
154.
John Frieda
online advice
service
Dec.; finV; present; active; grad Adj in basic form; non-grad Adj; to
blot = to make spots easy to spot = to notice; visual metaphor: a
ladybird.
62
BIORAD protein
blotting
equipment
Scientific American
165.
166.
HAMAMATSU
HAMAMATSU
168.
169.
170.
171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
63
The Economist
176.
177.
178.
179.
verizon business
CARDIF
insurance
company
DigitAll
180.
181.
182.
183.
184.
185.
Samsung phone
Samsung mp3
player
Samsung
Samsung phone
with music
Imp.; PhrV rock on does not exist, but the preposition on evokes
the idea that sth starts or continues, similarly like go on, switch on
Rock on = homonymy/ polysemy 1. start to dance to rock music
2. shock sb 3. move gently from side to side
The right thing says everything.
Samsung phone
intertextuality evokes the saying; Dec.; finV; present; active;
personification: Thing says; epiphora thing (every)thing; visual
metaphor: right thing = Samsung mobile phone
The worlds fastest-moving brand is still on the move.
Samsung
Dec.; finV; present; active; genitive; compound Adj; grad Adj in
superlative form; idiom be on the move = 1. be travelling between
one place and another (figurative: Samsung products are distributed to
whole world); 2. to be going somewhere (figurative: Samsung
develops) 3. to become active
Nature
186.
All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point
is to discover them. Galileo Galilee
intertextuality quotation of famous scientist
64
Shimadzu
187.
188.
189.
190.
191.
Newsweek
192.
193.
194.
195.
196.
How can we produce more energy but lower carbon emissions? Livio Shell
Accattatis has an answer.
Int.; AuxV; 1st Pl narr.; antithesis; grad Adj in comparative form; nongrad Adj.; metonymy: a name of a person from Shell company
represents the whole company; finV; present; active
Simplicity is making hospitals feel less like hospitals.
Philips
equipment
Dec.; finV; present; active; figurative: simplicity is making;
personification: hospitals feel themselves like hospitals; grad Adj in
comparative form; simile
profession: pilot
career: actor
Breitling
navitimer
4x Nph; parataxis; use of colons; ellipsis His profession is pilot and
his career is actor; picture of John Travolta wearing Breitling watch
a famous person represents the brand logical implication: only
famous people wear Breitling watch, so if you wear Breitling watch,
you will certainly be/you certainly are famous, too
Heavy industries
Hyundai
Happy industries
2x Nph; parataxis; 2x grad Adj in basic form; parallelism; epiphora
Make the right connections
Telecom
Imp.; grad Adj in basic form; poysemy: connection = 1. literal: a
point, especially in an electrical system (here: telegraphing system)
where two parts connect 2. figurative: a person or an organization that
you know and that can help or advise you in your social or
professional life
65
197.
198.
199.
200.
201.
202.
203.
204.
205.
206.
207. 22
208.
209.
210.
66
TOTAL
Iberia
Philips
Nokia
Toshiba TV
Hiseoul
TOTAL
Xerox
Breitling watch
coffee
Thai airway
Breguet watch
Breguet watch
Nokia phone
211.
212.
213.
Geographical
214.
215.
216.
217.
national
mountain center
plas y brenin
Fujifilm
Nissan New
Patrol
SIGMA
More
218.
219.
220.
221.
222.
67
Boots
GARNIER
Hair cosmetic
Schwartzkopf
New!
223. 23 Spring water with a splash of fruit.
Nph; non-grad Adj; layout: splash of water in shape of face with
fruit eyes
224. 24 Theres only one naughty thing in Dolmio and thatsa Papa!
Robinsons
DOLMIO
Bolognese
Dec.; finV; present; active; Num; grad Adj in basic form; dialect;
familiar words; visual metaphor: a man has his finger in a pot with
Dolmio sauce, trying it his finger = only naughty thing; Dolmio is
without any harmful substances
ES magazine
225.
226.
227.
228.
229.
230.
Turismo Madrid
ORIS watch
watch
KINGSMILL
Gold bread
SEIKO
ELLE
231.
232.
233. 25
234.
235.
68
LOREAL
OLAY
OLAY
RIMMEL
lipstick
236.
237.
238.
239.
240.
241.
242. 26
After 173 years, we know quite a bit about diamonds. But love is
still a complete mystery.
2x Dec.; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x active; Num; 1st Pl narr.; metaphor:
love is mystery
Your shade. Your finish. Your match.
3x Nph; parallelism; anaphora; parataxis
thats why I bluefly.com
Dec.; finV; present; active; 1st Sg narr.; rhythm I (blue)fly;
graphics; neologism: conversion verb is replaced by brand name
New LAYS Dips (Finally, dips worthy of LAYS chips)
Nph; 2x genitive; epithet; 2x grad Adj in basic form; rhythm dips
chips; ellipsis dips are worthy of
Do you believe in love at first touch?
Int.; finV; present; active; collocation love at first sight is deviated
to make the relation with the material of the product; metaphor:
Nokia phone is love at first sight (touch)
Real People. Real Jewelry.
2x Nph; anaphora; parallelism; 2x grad Adj in basic form
You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it
for the next generation.
2x Dec.; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x active; metonymy: Patek Philippe
= watch Patek Philippe; PhrV look after = to take care of sth; next
generation = your children
Estee Lauder
bluefly.com
online shop
LAYS Dips
Nokia
Danecraft
Patek Philippe
watch
you magazine
243.
244.
245.
246.
The digital camera that takes pictures as easily as it takes the plunge. PENTAX
Nph; non-grad Adj; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x active; simile; figurative:
camera takes pictures; collocation: to take pictures = to
photograph; idiom take the plunge = to decide to do sth important or
difficult, especially after thinking about it for a longer time;
personification: camera takes the plunge
YOU MAKE UP YOUR EYES, MAKE UP YOUR LIPS, NOW
IMEDEEN
MAKE UP YOUR AGE
2x Dec.; Imp.; parallelism; 3x PhrV make up = homonym: 1. to put
cosmetics on sbs face, 2. to form sth
Summer 2005: True Bronze.
CLINIQUE
bronzing gel
2x Nph; Num; grad Adj in basic form; ellipsis In summer 2005 you
may have with Clinique cosmetics true bronze skin
Best before: 1908
food
grad Adj in superlative form; Num; ellipsis
heat
247.
tellyphone
Nokia TV in
mobile phone
248.
69
hp
249.
CASIOLOGY
Nph; affixation, neologism: Casiology = brand name + suffix logy
(a science or subject of study)
CASIO
WALLPAPER
250.
251.
252.
253.
254.
255.
Instead if moving the furniture around, why not move around the
furniture?
Int.; 2x non-finV; antimetabole
A bank of ideas
Nph; metaphor: Investec is a bank of ideas; a bank provides money,
Investec provides services
First Class ESPRESSO EXPERIENCE.
Nph; 2x non-grad Adj; sound of /s/; metaphor: Lavazza is first class
experience
IO, COMANDANTE DEL TEMPO
Nph; apposition; intertextuality quotation; foreign words; 1st Sg narr.
For inside. For outside. For ever.
Dyson vacuum
cleaner
Investec
LAVAZZA
Panerai watch
SSS SIEDLE
door
communication
TIME
256.
257.
258.
Your boss changed the meeting. Your client changed the deadline.
Your wife changed her mind.
Now change to an airline with more departures.
3x Dec.; Imp.; parallelism; anaphora; 3x finV; past; active; idiom
change sbs mind = change the decision or opinion; metaphor:
boss, client; wife = your everyday life; airline = at least one good
thing, escape from problems
We cannot hang up on the world Kathryn Walker
intertextuality quotation of employee she represents the thoughts
of whole company
Kediaman Kedua-ku The Malaysian phrase for My Second Home
Scandinavian
Airlines
hp
Tourism
Malaysia
70
262.
263.
264.
265.
266.
267.
268.
269.
270.
The better the competition. The better the tyre. The better for you.
idiom thethe is deviated in a way that three, not two elements
are in relation; parataxis; parallelism; 3x grad Adj in comparative
form
aim: zero emissions
2x Nph; ellipsis: the aim is zero emissions; colon; Num
When we look into the future, we have hers in mind.
Dec.; 1 st Pl narr.; 2x finV; 2x present; 2x active; idiom in mind = to
be thinking of
This time the marathon will end in the place where it all started.
Dec.; AuxV; finV; past; active; antithesis
3 years of preparation 550 experts 36 nationalities 17 races 17
precious lessons ONE AIM
6x Nph; Num; parallelism; grad Adj in basic form; parataxis; 6x
metaphor: Toyota = 3 years of prep.; Toyota = 550 experts; etc.
networks shaping cities
networks shaping events
network shaping deals
one network connects them all
3x Dec.; 3x non-finV; finV; present; active; Num; ellipsis of verb
networks are shaping; anaphora
Watch us.
Imp.; idiom Watch it = used as a warning to sb to be careful, here:
deviated to watch us = Be careful of us; 1st Pl narr.
FLAGS-A-WAVING. PEOPLE-A-DANCING. ITS GOING TO BE
SOME BIRTHDAY PARTY.
unpredictable spelling: Flags are waving; parataxis; 2x Dec.; 2x
finV; 2x present; 2x active; non-grad Adj; intention to imitate
informal language
Small seeds generate big ideas.
Dec.; antithesis; 2x grad Adj in basic form; metaphor: seeds =
attempts, ideas
71
Bridgestone
TOYOTA
Siemens
Athens 2004
Toyota
Orange
Toyota
Tourism
Malaysia
CNN
5.5
1.
Our assumption was not correct. The most widely used sentence type is not the
imperative one, as we supposed, but the declarative one (120/227). The second are
imperatives (85/227), then interrogatives (22/227). There were 130 noun phrases in
research sample. Exclamative sentences did not occur in the sample, although
exclamations occurred.
sentence types
10%
Declaratives
53%
37%
Imperatives
Interrogatives
5.
Our assumption was correct. The most widely auxiliary verbs are can (11/23)
and will (6/23). The following are would (4/23), should (1/23) and negative form
of should (1/23).
auxiliary verbs
1
1
can
w ill
11
w ould
should
should not
72
6.
Our assumption was correct. The majority of verbs is finite (114/163), the rest
is non-finite (49/163).
finiteness of verbs
30%
finite verbs
non-finite verbs
70%
7.
Our assumption was correct. The majority of finite verbs are in present simple
form; the second most widely used are future forms will, then past simple, present
perfect and one case of past perfect.
1%
tense/aspect
4%
4%
present simple
5%
8.
Our assumption was correct. The majority of slogans are of omniscient 3rd
person narrator (249/270), then 1st person plural narrator (13/270) and 1st person
singular narrator (9/270).
narrator
5%
3%
Graph 5: narrator
73
9.
24%
gradable adjectives
non-gradable
adjectives
76%
10.
basic form (104/140), the second group are adjectives in comparative form (26/140)
and the third group are superlative adjectives (10/140).
form of adjectives
7%
19%
basic form
comparative form
superlative form
74%
11.
specialization (16/26).
com parative adjectives - distribution
10
technique
16
other
74
12.
Superlative adjectives are mostly used by slogans for food (3/10) and cosmetic
1
3
1
1
cosmetics
online shops
pharmacy
services
1
1
technique
automobile
13.
Our assumption was not correct. The majority of numerals are not used by
slogans for jewelry product specialization, but by slogans for automobiles. Numerals
indicate parameters of the vehicles and years of production.
technique
0,40
cosmetics
0,30
food
0,20
services
0,10
jew elry
automobiles
0,00
metaphor
idiom
personification polys/homon
Num
75
14.
From the graph 10 and 11 we can see that in advertising the most widely used
metaphor
0,40
idiom
0,30
personification
0,20
polys/homon
0,10
Num
0,00
technique
cosmetics
food
services
jew elry
automobiles
76
CONCLUSION
In the theoretical part, we approached advertising as a type of communication
between producer and consumer of the product. We analyzed and described basic
principles of advertising printed texts. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis
provided an analysis of language of advertising and served as a basis for the research
part. To be able to make analysis of slogans in such extent, we had to include all the
aspects of language from phonological to semantic aspect.
The most widely used auxiliary verbs are can and will.
The majority of finite verbs are in present simple form (86 %).
77
Personification
is
mostly
used
by
automobile
slogans;
By the research we also discovered that the writers of advertising texts often
use words like new (+ words containing new: anew, renew) (16 times/sample),
just (12), perfect (+ perfection, perfectly) (8), real (+ really) (8), better (7),
best (7), first (7), right (6), only (5), complete (+ completely) (5).
The values, which express the use of pronoun you (27 times) and possessive
form your (57 times) in research sample confirm the intention of the copywriters to
come closer to the consumer and evoke the feeling of intimacy.
The correctness of the theory of Vestergaard and Schroder (p. 44) has been in
our research certified. We have found 11 cases of using the verb get, but any case of
a verb buy.
We observed that the informal style of advertising language predominates over
the formal style. We found the formal style of writing only in scientific and business
types of magazines. In scientific magazines, there occurred advertisements for a
specific group of people scientists, doctors, physicists; the vocabulary was technical
and incomprehensible for common people. The linguistic means were the same in all
types of magazines.
We hope that the diploma thesis will contribute to the present knowledge
about advertising language and will introduce new facts, findings and observations on
such creative and extremely interesting discourse. We believe that it will be useful
and contributing for all who are interested in English language and its multiplicity.
78
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MONOGRAPHS:
COOK, Guy. 1996 [1992]. The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge
LAKOFF, George, JOHNSON, Mark. 1980. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: The
University of Chicago.
79
MAGAZINES:
BBC Gardeners World Magazine. June 2006. UK
Business Journal Slovakia. February 2006, June 2006, July August 2006. Slovak
Republic
DigitAll. fall 2003, spring 2005, summer 2005, winter 2005. Samsung brand magazine
80
Newsweek. February 2006, March 2006, May 2006, June 2006, July 2006. USA
81
Vogue. January 2004, January 2005, February 2005, March 2005, May 2006, June
2006. UK
http://mktg-sun.wharton.upenn.edu/advertising/dictionary/h.htm
http://www.investorwords.com/129/advertising.html
http://www.languageinindia.com/march2005/advertisingenglishhongkong1.html
http://www.motto.com/glossary.html
http://www.onestopenglish.com/teacher_support/ask/Grammar/grammar15.htm
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOflinguisticTerms/Index.htm
http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/Unit_02/given-new.htm
http://www.thefreedictionary.com
http://www.wikipedia.org/
https://lists.usm.maine.edu/
82
SUPPLEMENT A
Review of print advertisements
1 (see: p. 20)
2 (see: p. 25)
3 (see: p. 29)
4 (see: p. 29)
5 (see: p. 29)
6 (see: p. 29)
7 (see: p. 29)
8 (see: p. 33)
9 (see: p. 36)
SUPPLEMENT B
Table of attributes
T
T
Cl
idiom
polys/homon
metaphor
personification
compound
parallelism
Num
superlat.
comparat.
non-grad
Adj.
Adj grad form
grad
AuxV
PhrV
ellipsis
Nph
1st Pl
1st Sg
non-finV
finV
finiteness narrator
Int.
Imp.
Dec.
slogan type
No. of slogan
1
2
No. of
slogan
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
1
2
1
2
1
2
3
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
42
43
44
3
2
45
46
Ph
47
Ph
48
49
50
51
52
2
1
3
2
1
2
1
1
53
54
Ph
55
56
57
58
59
Ph
60
Ph
61
Ph
62
63
64
Ph
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
5
1
1
1
2
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
83
84
85
86
87
1
2
2
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
A
A
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
C
A
99
133
100
132 Ph
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
134
135
136
137
138
139 Ph
1
1
141
142
143
144
T
C
147 Ph
1
1
146
3
1
140
145
1
1
1
2
148
149
150
151
152
1
1
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
2
1
2
2
162 Ph
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
2
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
1
1
1
1
1
1
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
255
256
1
1
238
254
237
253
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
257
258
259
260 To
1
1
1
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
S 1
0 120 85 22 114 49
1
1
6
1
2
261
1
2
1
1
2
1
13 130 54 18 24 140 45 26 10 32 29 16 24 75 9 27