广告英语的功能分析
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摘要
广告(Advertising)起源于拉丁文(Advertere)，其词义是吸引读者的注意力。在中世纪时期，广告由 ‘Advertere’ 演变为 ‘Advertise’，其词义是告知读者信息并吸引他们的注意力。随着商业的发展，直到17世纪末，广告(Advertising) 一词变得流行起来。它的词义是向读者传递商业信息。
作为现代经济社会发展的一种产物，广告已经吸引了越来越多学者的关注。它是“无处不在，无孔不入” 。广告在市场、交流、经济和社会等领域中都发挥着至关重要的作用。美国国家广告协会把广告的目的总结为：认知、了解、劝说和行动。所以广告主要为两个目的服务：一个是向读者传递商品信息；另一个就是劝导读者购买它所宣传的产品。广告最终的目的是劝导消费者购买他们所宣传的产品或服务。
语言是人们进行交流的工具，广告语言在广告交流中起着至关重要的作用。广告语言作为一种传递商品信息的方式，其作用是举足轻重的。它不仅是劝导人们进行购买的一种手段，而且也是社会文化交流领域中不可缺少的一部分。
学者们从不同的角度对广告英语进行了研究并且已经做出了重大的贡献。但是他们的研究存在着一些不足。大部分学者没有从功能的角度考虑广告英语在广告中所起的作用。虽然一些学者(Vestergaard and Schroder) 指出广告英语有告知功能，劝导功能和反映功能，但是他们没有对这些功能做出全面细致的分析。重要的是他们忽视了广告英语能够反映社会文化价值观念的功能。
本文在前人对广告英语研究结果的基础上，主要对广告英语的功能进行了分析。作者认为广告英语是一种复杂的语言现象，一种理论不能解释广告
英语所有的功能。所以本文的作者采取了以语义学和语用学为主的综合方法来分析广告英语的告知功能、劝导功能和反映功能。
本文共分四部分。文章的第一部分回顾了以往学者们对广告英语的研究并提出了本文的主题——广告英语的功能分析。
文章的第二部分分析了广告英语的语言特点。作为一种传达商品信息的手段，广告英语具有简洁、形象、吸引人等特点。为了让广告能够读起来、听起来更加自然、记起来更加容易，广告策划人在用词、用句、以及修辞手法的选择上都进行了精心的选择。这些语言策略的应用构成了广告英语独特的语言特点。
第三章是本文的主体部分。它集中分析了广告英语的功能。虽然向消费者传递商品信息是广告英语必不可少的功能，但是广告的最终目的是劝导消费者购买它所宣传的产品。所以劝导功能是广告英语最主要的功能。作者对劝导功能的分析涉及到心理学、语义学和语用学的理论。
正如Wells 所指出的那样：一则广告中所包含的信息必定能触动人们的情感或喜好。换句话说，广告语言不仅是向读者传递客观存在的商品信息的工具，还能将广告策划人主观上赋予产品的特点有效地传达给消费者。消费者对某种商品的情感或喜好对最终的购买有着直接的意义。因此，对广告心理的分析必不可少。广告包括了四个心理过程：感知、记忆、了解、劝说。
从语言学的角度分析，这四个过程可以分为两个阶段。第一个阶段主要是体现在广告英语的告知功能上，所以在这个阶段上篇章非常重要。为了有效地向读者传递商品信息，广告策划人总是利用非常有吸引力的文字或题目来吸引读者的注意力。第二个阶段主要是体现在广告英语的劝导功能上，所以在这个阶段上广告英语所传达的信息是否具有说服力起着至关重要的作用。这种信息的说服力经常体现在语义学和语用学上。
Leech 对词义的分类是在语义学基础上用来分析广告英语的理论基础。他把词义分为：概念意义，联想意义，社会意义，情感意义，反映意义，搭配意义，主题意义。其中联想意义包括社会意义，情感意义，反映意义和搭配意义。确切地说，联想意义是指那些具有综合词义的词语，其词义具有多样性和不确定性的特点。广告撰稿人总是充分地利用具有丰富联想意义的词语来达到广告的劝导目的。双关语是指具有两层含义的同一词语或句子。所以在本篇文章中，作者把广告英语中对双关语的利用也包含在语义学的范畴里。所以为了能够达到劝导更多消费者进行购买的目的，具有丰富联想意义的词语和双关语在广告中都有很高的使用频率。
从语用学的角度来看，因为广告英语中存在一些不便于直接表达的话题，而且消费者对广告有着不信任的心理，所以暗示是广告英语最为常用的劝导手段。Grice的合作原则是在语用学基础上用来分析广告英语的主要理论基础。通过分析可以看出广告英语是违反合作原则的一种语言现象。这一点也正体现了广告英语劝导功能的独特性。
语言是透视社会文化的一面镜子。Vestergaard 和Schroder 在《广告语言》一书的前言中指出‘广告语言能够反映出社会文化价值和社会结构的某些方面’。一方面，在广告中利用文化内容是广告策划人一个重要的广告策略；另一方面，广告策划人是在特定的社会文化背景下工作。他们所做的所有工作不可避免地受到社会文化背景的影响。这一切在广告语言中，都是以间接的方式反映出来的。所以，广告英语直接或间接地反映出这些社会文化特征。换句话说，广告英语是反映社会文化价值观念的一种特殊方式。
广告英语可以反映
The origin of the word ‘advertising’ is a Latin word ‘Advertere’, which means ‘to catch people’s attention’. During the medieval times, the word turned to ‘Advertise’, which means ‘to inform somebody something and catch his attention’. It was not until the end of 17th century that with the development of commerce the word ‘advertising’ became popular and obtained the meaning of ‘to spread commercial information’.
As a product of the modern society, advertising has drawn more and more attention. Four different roles have been identified for advertising: marketing role, communication role, economic role and social role. The ANNA (America National Association of Advertisement) summed up the purposes of advertising as: awareness, comprehension, conviction and action. So the advertising serves two important purposes: one is that it keeps consumers informed of their selection alternatives; and the other is that it allows companies to complete more effectively for consumer dollars. The ultimate goal of advertising is persuasion.
Language is the most important vehicle of communication and advertising language has been proved to play a vital role in advertising communication. Advertising language is the language used in advertisements that is a vehicle of elaborately planned messages loaded with persuasive intentions for sales promotion or other purposes.
As a way of propagating and transmitting information, advertising English can not be underestimated because it is not only an artful technique in persuading
people to buy, but also gradually has become a must for social communication which in turn reflects the development of society and economy.
Scholars have studied advertising English from different angles. They have made great contributions in the study of advertising English. But their studies have some demerits. They have not considered the functions of advertising English in the performing of advertising. Though some scholars (Vestergaard & Schroder) pointed out that advertising English have three functions, that is, informative function, persuasive function and reflective function, they did not give an adequate analysis of them. And also they neglected that advertising English reflected some social cultural values, that is, the reflective function of advertising English.
Guided by the accomplishments made in advertising English, this paper is devoted to the functional analysis of advertising English. The author holds a view that advertising English is such a complicated phenomenon that people cannot use one theory to explain all the functions of it. So the author adopts a comprehensive approach with the semantic and pragmatic approaches as the main theoretical framework.
Chapter one is the introduction part of the thesis. It reviews the researches done on advertising English and puts forward the theme---functional analysis of advertising English.
Chapter two concentrates on linguistic analysis of advertising English. As a method of conveying information, advertising English has its own linguistic features, such as brief, vivid, concise and attractive. In order to make advertisements read, heard and remembered easily and naturally, copywriters often use some linguistic strategies, such as, the elaborate choices of words,
the selection of sentence structures, and the employment of rhetoric devices to realize the goal of informing.
Chapter three is the main part of the thesis which concentrates on functional analysis of advertising English. It is obvious that no one will buy a product unless he knows something about it and the product seems to be of use value to him. Therefore, the prime function of advertising English, at the stage of introducing a new product, is the informative function. Since information is subordinate to persuasion, the author puts emphasis on the persuasive function and reflective function. The analysis of persuasive function touches not just one discipline, but multi-disciplines including psychology, semantics and pragmatics.
As Wells (1995:27
作为现代经济社会发展的一种产物，广告已经吸引了越来越多学者的关注。它是“无处不在，无孔不入” 。广告在市场、交流、经济和社会等领域中都发挥着至关重要的作用。美国国家广告协会把广告的目的总结为：认知、了解、劝说和行动。所以广告主要为两个目的服务：一个是向读者传递商品信息；另一个就是劝导读者购买它所宣传的产品。广告最终的目的是劝导消费者购买他们所宣传的产品或服务。
语言是人们进行交流的工具，广告语言在广告交流中起着至关重要的作用。广告语言作为一种传递商品信息的方式，其作用是举足轻重的。它不仅是劝导人们进行购买的一种手段，而且也是社会文化交流领域中不可缺少的一部分。
学者们从不同的角度对广告英语进行了研究并且已经做出了重大的贡献。但是他们的研究存在着一些不足。大部分学者没有从功能的角度考虑广告英语在广告中所起的作用。虽然一些学者(Vestergaard and Schroder) 指出广告英语有告知功能，劝导功能和反映功能，但是他们没有对这些功能做出全面细致的分析。重要的是他们忽视了广告英语能够反映社会文化价值观念的功能。
本文在前人对广告英语研究结果的基础上，主要对广告英语的功能进行了分析。作者认为广告英语是一种复杂的语言现象，一种理论不能解释广告
英语所有的功能。所以本文的作者采取了以语义学和语用学为主的综合方法来分析广告英语的告知功能、劝导功能和反映功能。
本文共分四部分。文章的第一部分回顾了以往学者们对广告英语的研究并提出了本文的主题——广告英语的功能分析。
文章的第二部分分析了广告英语的语言特点。作为一种传达商品信息的手段，广告英语具有简洁、形象、吸引人等特点。为了让广告能够读起来、听起来更加自然、记起来更加容易，广告策划人在用词、用句、以及修辞手法的选择上都进行了精心的选择。这些语言策略的应用构成了广告英语独特的语言特点。
第三章是本文的主体部分。它集中分析了广告英语的功能。虽然向消费者传递商品信息是广告英语必不可少的功能，但是广告的最终目的是劝导消费者购买它所宣传的产品。所以劝导功能是广告英语最主要的功能。作者对劝导功能的分析涉及到心理学、语义学和语用学的理论。
正如Wells 所指出的那样：一则广告中所包含的信息必定能触动人们的情感或喜好。换句话说，广告语言不仅是向读者传递客观存在的商品信息的工具，还能将广告策划人主观上赋予产品的特点有效地传达给消费者。消费者对某种商品的情感或喜好对最终的购买有着直接的意义。因此，对广告心理的分析必不可少。广告包括了四个心理过程：感知、记忆、了解、劝说。
从语言学的角度分析，这四个过程可以分为两个阶段。第一个阶段主要是体现在广告英语的告知功能上，所以在这个阶段上篇章非常重要。为了有效地向读者传递商品信息，广告策划人总是利用非常有吸引力的文字或题目来吸引读者的注意力。第二个阶段主要是体现在广告英语的劝导功能上，所以在这个阶段上广告英语所传达的信息是否具有说服力起着至关重要的作用。这种信息的说服力经常体现在语义学和语用学上。
Leech 对词义的分类是在语义学基础上用来分析广告英语的理论基础。他把词义分为：概念意义，联想意义，社会意义，情感意义，反映意义，搭配意义，主题意义。其中联想意义包括社会意义，情感意义，反映意义和搭配意义。确切地说，联想意义是指那些具有综合词义的词语，其词义具有多样性和不确定性的特点。广告撰稿人总是充分地利用具有丰富联想意义的词语来达到广告的劝导目的。双关语是指具有两层含义的同一词语或句子。所以在本篇文章中，作者把广告英语中对双关语的利用也包含在语义学的范畴里。所以为了能够达到劝导更多消费者进行购买的目的，具有丰富联想意义的词语和双关语在广告中都有很高的使用频率。
从语用学的角度来看，因为广告英语中存在一些不便于直接表达的话题，而且消费者对广告有着不信任的心理，所以暗示是广告英语最为常用的劝导手段。Grice的合作原则是在语用学基础上用来分析广告英语的主要理论基础。通过分析可以看出广告英语是违反合作原则的一种语言现象。这一点也正体现了广告英语劝导功能的独特性。
语言是透视社会文化的一面镜子。Vestergaard 和Schroder 在《广告语言》一书的前言中指出‘广告语言能够反映出社会文化价值和社会结构的某些方面’。一方面，在广告中利用文化内容是广告策划人一个重要的广告策略；另一方面，广告策划人是在特定的社会文化背景下工作。他们所做的所有工作不可避免地受到社会文化背景的影响。这一切在广告语言中，都是以间接的方式反映出来的。所以，广告英语直接或间接地反映出这些社会文化特征。换句话说，广告英语是反映社会文化价值观念的一种特殊方式。
广告英语可以反映
The origin of the word ‘advertising’ is a Latin word ‘Advertere’, which means ‘to catch people’s attention’. During the medieval times, the word turned to ‘Advertise’, which means ‘to inform somebody something and catch his attention’. It was not until the end of 17th century that with the development of commerce the word ‘advertising’ became popular and obtained the meaning of ‘to spread commercial information’.
As a product of the modern society, advertising has drawn more and more attention. Four different roles have been identified for advertising: marketing role, communication role, economic role and social role. The ANNA (America National Association of Advertisement) summed up the purposes of advertising as: awareness, comprehension, conviction and action. So the advertising serves two important purposes: one is that it keeps consumers informed of their selection alternatives; and the other is that it allows companies to complete more effectively for consumer dollars. The ultimate goal of advertising is persuasion.
Language is the most important vehicle of communication and advertising language has been proved to play a vital role in advertising communication. Advertising language is the language used in advertisements that is a vehicle of elaborately planned messages loaded with persuasive intentions for sales promotion or other purposes.
As a way of propagating and transmitting information, advertising English can not be underestimated because it is not only an artful technique in persuading
people to buy, but also gradually has become a must for social communication which in turn reflects the development of society and economy.
Scholars have studied advertising English from different angles. They have made great contributions in the study of advertising English. But their studies have some demerits. They have not considered the functions of advertising English in the performing of advertising. Though some scholars (Vestergaard & Schroder) pointed out that advertising English have three functions, that is, informative function, persuasive function and reflective function, they did not give an adequate analysis of them. And also they neglected that advertising English reflected some social cultural values, that is, the reflective function of advertising English.
Guided by the accomplishments made in advertising English, this paper is devoted to the functional analysis of advertising English. The author holds a view that advertising English is such a complicated phenomenon that people cannot use one theory to explain all the functions of it. So the author adopts a comprehensive approach with the semantic and pragmatic approaches as the main theoretical framework.
Chapter one is the introduction part of the thesis. It reviews the researches done on advertising English and puts forward the theme---functional analysis of advertising English.
Chapter two concentrates on linguistic analysis of advertising English. As a method of conveying information, advertising English has its own linguistic features, such as brief, vivid, concise and attractive. In order to make advertisements read, heard and remembered easily and naturally, copywriters often use some linguistic strategies, such as, the elaborate choices of words,
the selection of sentence structures, and the employment of rhetoric devices to realize the goal of informing.
Chapter three is the main part of the thesis which concentrates on functional analysis of advertising English. It is obvious that no one will buy a product unless he knows something about it and the product seems to be of use value to him. Therefore, the prime function of advertising English, at the stage of introducing a new product, is the informative function. Since information is subordinate to persuasion, the author puts emphasis on the persuasive function and reflective function. The analysis of persuasive function touches not just one discipline, but multi-disciplines including psychology, semantics and pragmatics.
As Wells (1995:27
引文
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