广告英语的模糊性探析

【摘要】广告业被认为是一条通过耗尽人类智慧赚取钱财的科学之道。很明显，广告在今天的商业世界已发挥着举足轻重的作用。广告语言能否具有诱惑力和说服力已成为关注的焦点。因此对英语广告语言系统、全面地研究，可以提高对广告的理解，构想出成功的英语广告。在简短地对广告，广告语言，模糊性和模糊理论进行介绍之后，主要对以下两种模糊实现形式进行分析。

一、语义模糊。这一类广告通过使用模糊限制词、模糊数量词、模糊动词、修饰性形容词以及符号和缩略语等具备模糊性的语言来突破日常行为的规范，使词语在表达字面意义的同时又暗示其多重含义，形成词语含义的未定性，激发了读者的联想和想象，吸引他们的注意并提起他们的兴趣，从而对广告本身的说服力起增强作用。二、修辞格(双关、暗喻、委婉语)的使用，使广告语言更具生动，引发读者无限的想象和联想。最后结论部分中，论文对主要概念和内容做出了总结，提出了全文的局限性。

【关键字】广告英语;模糊性;语义和修辞分析

1. Introduction

With the rapid development of the world economy and globalization, advertising has played a vital role in promoting sales, providing services and building images. Based on the fact that China remains lagging behind the west in both physical attraction and persuasiveness in advertising, thorough and theoretical studies on the language of advertising have become an urgent need.

In our daily life, fuzzy language has been employed in communication on various occasions’ negotiation and public speaking. Though many linguists have been exploring fuzzy theory and fuzzy linguistics heavily, the understanding of fuzziness hasn’t been satisfactory and perfect. As a not well-established register, advertising English has its unique features compared with English for other purposes. Fuzziness function in advertising English plays a positive role in human communication.

Through linguistic realizations of fuzziness in advertising English from semantic angle to rhetorical devices in the text, the purpose of the paper is to make people equip with a better manipulation of fuzzy advertising, so as to prepare them for producing more successful advertisements, then arousing people’s interest in ads, stimulating people’s needs of consumption, and enticing people to make purchase in products.

2. General ideas of advertising and its language

What is advertising? What does advertising originate from? Why does it come into being? What is its language like? The following is going to explain them.

2.1 The definition and development of advertising

In etymological studies, the word “advertise” in Middle English is spelt as “advertisen” meaning “to notify” and in old French as “advertir” or “advertises”. We find two records have the same explanation of “to notice”. Further studies rooted out its origin in Latin as “advertere”, meaning “a means used to draw attention from the public to something and lead them to some direction”. [1] Nowadays, the scholars from different countries hold different opinions about the explanation of advertising, but remaining the similar meaning basically. An explanation is widely accepted by American Marketing Association as following:

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products, services or ideas through the various media. [2]

It is not difficult for us to find out four components of advertising from the explanation above.

First, advertising is directed to the general public rather than individuals.

Second, the information conveyed by advertising can be commercial or non-commercial. (Commercial advertising seeks profits, while noncommercial advertising sponsored by government or nonprofit organizations is used to publicize the organization, seek donations or call for some actions beneficial to society.)

Third, advertising reaches us through a channel of communication referred to as a medium, such as: TV, radio, newspapers, magazines and so on.

Fourth, any advertising is launched by identified sponsors or organizations with a given purpose, either commercial advertising or public interests advertising.

Indeed, advertising is the result of high degree of development of commodity economy. In order to make their goods sell well, tradesman and merchants tried every means to trigger the consumers to buy their products. Henry Sampson described the beginning of advertising in his work History of Advertising as below:

There is little about that the desire among tradesmen and merchants to make good their wares have an existence almost as long as the customs of buying and selling, and it is but natured to suppose that advertisements in some shape or form have existed not only from time immemorial, but almost for all time. [3]

Until now, with the rapid development of the world economy and the acceleration of globalization process, advertising has played a very important role in today’s business world. Advertising, with its persuasive function and taking action function, helps a business to create the products and corporate identities, not only realize the development of the business, but also increase the value of its goodwill, and win the confidence of the consumers.

2.2 Features of advertising language

Since the advertising aims at drawing attention from the public and leading them to some direction, and thus the language of advertising is language that is used in efforts to persuade or otherwise entice people to purchase products or services. Toffler in his Future Shock approaches the language of advertising as a language of finely engineered, ruthlessly, purposeful messages, intending to trigger a special response from the consumers. This point of view is echoed by linguist Peter Trudgill, who said, “The wording of advertisements is, in most cases, carefully crafted to meet particular ends. Sometimes it is intended to inform, but more often, and more importantly, to persuade and influence.” [4] David Ogilvy also said, “Every word in the copy must count, advertise what is unique.” [5]

In other words, the ultimate goal of advertising is to sell. Thus, advertisements must be presented with a type of language that is persuasive in nature, concise, vivid, visual, and with emotion and appeal, that is, the language of advertising conveys the most complicated meaning with the simplest language and is loaded with persuasive intentions for sales promotion or other purposes.

Look at an example: “Romantic, Mysterious, Italian”. Three adjectives are put together, concise and sprightly, giving expression to deep connotation. Another example “Big thrills, Small bills”. This is an advertisement sponsored by the taxi center. Anyone enjoys the excitement to the largest extent as long as paying the less money. The word “big” stands in total contrast to the word “small”, the end syllable of the word “thrills’ and “bills” remains same, which creates a sense of rhythm. The cases below also explain the ideas above well.

(1) Look again. A lifetime of perfect coordination. (CUSTOM EYES from Revlon)

(2) Let the New York Times find you.

(3) The benefit of foresight, the world in 1993.

(4) So much flavor that you’ll never miss your high “tar cigarette.”[6]