广告英语中的模糊现象分析(1)(3)
2014-12-01 01:15
导读：2.2Features 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
2.2Features 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]
（科教作文网 zw.nseac.com整理） 3. Fuzziness
From the advertisements in section 2.2,we can easily find that some unclear and vague expressions exist in the language of advertising. And the following is going to make a brief introduction about fuzziness.
In our daily life, how many hairs must a man lose before he is determined to be bald? How many seconds make up a “moment”? How much money do you have to earn to be “rich”? When is a pile of sand a heap? We all agree that one grain of sand is not a heap but that a million grains is a heap. Somewhere in between the pile must change from “non-heap” to “heap”. These indeterminate concepts are hard to logically define, and usually are changed, as the variation of time, place and people groups. For example, “ She is a pretty girl.” Maybe we need not to know how beautiful she is, just in order to convey useful information “She is pretty.” Thus, vague statements are provided where a more precise statement is called for sometimes. Most importantly, humans seem to be able to communicate quite well using vague terms.
