模棱两可—英语商业广告标题中的语用策略
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摘要
广告充斥着人们生活中的每一个角落,并时时刻刻影响着人们的社会生活。广告语言在广告的劝说性和有效性方面发挥着至关重要的作用。模糊语言作为一种语言策略是广告的一个重要特征,前人分别从文体学、符号学、话语分析法、社会语言学以及语义学等方面对其进行了分析研究。然而模棱两可作为模糊语言在交际中的语用运用在广告语言领域尚未引起学界的足够重视。鉴于此,本文试图从语用学角度出发,对英语商业广告语言中的模棱两可现象进行系统的分析研究,使其作为一种语用策略受到广告商和消费者双方的重视。
Grice的会话含义理论认为,话语交际双方都有相互合作求得交际成功的愿望。人们在话语交际中总是遵守真实、充分、关联、清楚的“合作原则”。如果在言语交际中说话一方的话语在表面上违反了合作原则,那么,会话含义便随之产生了。模棱两可无疑是通过违反“合作原则”产生会话含义的一种语言表达形式。在广告这种特殊的交际方式中,模棱两可的产生往往基于广告语言对“合作原则”四条准则的违反。因此,“合作原则”对英语广告语言中的模棱两可现象具有充分的阐释力。
为使此分析具有说服力,本文从最近几年最为流行的几种英文杂志和经典广告集中选取了22条典型的模棱两可的英语商业广告标题进行归类并逐一分析。经分析可知,模棱两可在英语商业广告标题中的运用主要通过四种特殊句式和三种修辞方法来实现。而礼貌、使广告更具趣味性、美感、节约篇幅以及为自身留退路则是广告商运用模棱两可这一策略的重要动机。
Advertising permeates our life and exerts a considerable influence on our society. The language of advertising is of decisive importance to the persuasiveness and effectiveness of advertising. Vagueness, a strategy often used in advertising, is a remarkable feature of advertising language. So far the study on it has been approached mainly from stylistic, semiotic, discoursal, sociolinguistic, and semantic perspectives. However, ambivalence, which is a special kind of vagueness, has not been paid much attention to as the pragmatic use of vague language in advertising. Enlightened by this gap, this thesis attempts to conduct a systematic analysis on the use of ambivalence in commercial English advertisements from a pragmatic perspective and tries to draw increasing attention to this pragmatic strategy from advertisers and consumers alike.
According to Grice's Cooperative Principle, both the speaker and the listener in communication are willing to be cooperative in order to achieve a successful communication. In the process of communication, people usually observe the four conversational maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation and Manner. When the four maxims are flouted, conversational implicature arises. The use of ambivalent expressions no doubt is one of the ways to flout the maxims, which leads to conversational implicatures. Thus, the theory of Conversational Implicature can appropriately be applied to explain the production and interpretation of the ambivalence in advertising.
In order to make this analysis more persuasive, 22 commercial English advertisement captions which contain ambivalence are selected from several most popular English magazines published in recent years or from some collections of advertisements and are analyzed one by one. The study shows that four particular sentence patterns and three kinds of figures of speech are employed in creating ambivalence in advertising. Furthermore, being polite, making the advertisement more interesting, being aesthetic, being economical, and providing a leeway for themselves are the major motivations for the advertiser employing ambivalence as a pragmatic strategy.
Grice的会话含义理论认为,话语交际双方都有相互合作求得交际成功的愿望。人们在话语交际中总是遵守真实、充分、关联、清楚的“合作原则”。如果在言语交际中说话一方的话语在表面上违反了合作原则,那么,会话含义便随之产生了。模棱两可无疑是通过违反“合作原则”产生会话含义的一种语言表达形式。在广告这种特殊的交际方式中,模棱两可的产生往往基于广告语言对“合作原则”四条准则的违反。因此,“合作原则”对英语广告语言中的模棱两可现象具有充分的阐释力。
为使此分析具有说服力,本文从最近几年最为流行的几种英文杂志和经典广告集中选取了22条典型的模棱两可的英语商业广告标题进行归类并逐一分析。经分析可知,模棱两可在英语商业广告标题中的运用主要通过四种特殊句式和三种修辞方法来实现。而礼貌、使广告更具趣味性、美感、节约篇幅以及为自身留退路则是广告商运用模棱两可这一策略的重要动机。
Advertising permeates our life and exerts a considerable influence on our society. The language of advertising is of decisive importance to the persuasiveness and effectiveness of advertising. Vagueness, a strategy often used in advertising, is a remarkable feature of advertising language. So far the study on it has been approached mainly from stylistic, semiotic, discoursal, sociolinguistic, and semantic perspectives. However, ambivalence, which is a special kind of vagueness, has not been paid much attention to as the pragmatic use of vague language in advertising. Enlightened by this gap, this thesis attempts to conduct a systematic analysis on the use of ambivalence in commercial English advertisements from a pragmatic perspective and tries to draw increasing attention to this pragmatic strategy from advertisers and consumers alike.
According to Grice's Cooperative Principle, both the speaker and the listener in communication are willing to be cooperative in order to achieve a successful communication. In the process of communication, people usually observe the four conversational maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation and Manner. When the four maxims are flouted, conversational implicature arises. The use of ambivalent expressions no doubt is one of the ways to flout the maxims, which leads to conversational implicatures. Thus, the theory of Conversational Implicature can appropriately be applied to explain the production and interpretation of the ambivalence in advertising.
In order to make this analysis more persuasive, 22 commercial English advertisement captions which contain ambivalence are selected from several most popular English magazines published in recent years or from some collections of advertisements and are analyzed one by one. The study shows that four particular sentence patterns and three kinds of figures of speech are employed in creating ambivalence in advertising. Furthermore, being polite, making the advertisement more interesting, being aesthetic, being economical, and providing a leeway for themselves are the major motivations for the advertiser employing ambivalence as a pragmatic strategy.
引文
铩顰rens,W.F.2002.Contemporary Advertising.8~(th)ed.Boston:McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Brown,P.and S.Levinson.1978.Politeness:Some Universals in Language Usage.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Channell,J.2000.Vague Language.Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language EducationPress.
Cook,G.2001.The Discourse of Advertising.2~(nd)ed.London:Routledge.
Crook,J.2004.On Covert Communication in Advertising.Journal of Pragmatic,36:715-738.
Crystal,D.and D.Davy.1975.Advanced Conversational English.London:Longman.
Crystal,D.1991.A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics.Oxford:Blackwell.
Fredsted,E.1998.On Semantic and Pragmatic Ambiguity.Journal of Pragmatics,30:527-541.
Fuertes-Olivera,P.A.et al.2001.Persusion and Advertising English:Metadiscoursein Slogans and Headlines.Journal of Pragmatics,33:1291-1307.
Gardner,R.and Luchtenberg,S.2000.Reference,Image,Text in German andAustralian Advertising Posters.Journal of Pragmatics,32:1807-1821.
Geis,M.1982.The Language of Television Advertising.New York:Academic Press.
Goddard,A.2001.The Language of Advertising.London:Routledge.
Grice,P.2002.Studies in the Way of Words.Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching andResearch Press.
Gruber,H.1993.Political Language and Textual Vagueness.Pragmatics,13:1-28.
Grundy,P.2000.Doing Pragmatics.2~(nd)ed.London:Arnold.
Hyland,K.1998.Hedging in Scientific Research Articles.Amsterdam andPhiladephia,PA:John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Jaszczolt,K.M.2005.Semantics and Pragmatics:Meaning in Language andDiscourse.Beijing:Beijing University Press.
Jewler,A.J.and B.L.Drewniany.1998.Creative Strategy in Advertising.Dalian: Dongbei University of Finance & Economics Press.
Jones, J. P. 1995. When Ads Work New Proof That Advertising Triggers Sales. New York: Lexigton Books.
Jucker, A. H., S. W. Smith, and T. Lüdge. 2003. Interactive Aspects of Vagueness in Conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 35: 1737-1769.
Keefe, R. 2000. Theories of Vagueness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kempson, R. M. 1977. Semantic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G. 1972. Hedges: A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts. In Chicago Linguistic Society Papers. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Leech, G. N. 1966. English in Advertising: A Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain. London: Longman.
Leech, G N. 1977. Language and Tact. Linguistic Agency, University of Trier.
Leech, G. N. 1981. Semantics. England: Peguin Books Led..
Leech, G. N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Levinson, S. C. 2001. Pragmatics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Mey, J. L. 2001. Pragmatics: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Nerlich, B. and D. D. Clarke. 2001. Ambiguities We Live by: Towards a Pragmatics of Polysemy. Journal of Pragmatics, 33: 1-20.
O'Guinn, T. C, C. T. Allen, and R. J. Semenik. 2004. Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. 3rd ed. Dalian: Dongbei University of Finance and Economics Press.
Peccei, J. S. 2000. Pragmatics. Bejing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Prince, E. F., J. Frader, and C. Bosk. 1982. On Hedging in Physician-Physician Discourse. In Di Pietro, R.J.(ed.) Linguistics and the Professions. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Rush, S. 1998. The Noun Phrase in Advertising English. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 155-171.
Russell, B. 1923. Vagueness. The Australasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy, 1:85-92.
Russell, J. 1993. Thomas, Kleppner's Advertising Procedure. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Simpson, P. 2001. 'Reason' and 'Tickle' as Pragmatic Constructs in the Discourse of Advertising. Journal of Pragmatics, 33: 589-607.
Sperber, D. and D. Wilson. 2001. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Thomas, J. 1995. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Tanaka, K. 1994. Advertising Language: A Pragmatic Approach to Advertisements in Britain and Japan. London and New York: Routledge.
Ullmann, S. 1962. Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Velasco-Sacristan, M. et al. 2006. Towards a Critical Cognitive-Pragmatic Approach to Gender Metaphors in Advertising English. Journal of Pragmatics, 38: 1982-2002.
Verschueren, J. 2000. Understanding Pragmatics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Vestergaard, T. and K. Schr(?)der. 1985. The Language of Advertising. London: Basil Blackwell.
Wajnryb, R. 1998. Telling It Like It isn't—Exploring an Instance of Pragmatic Ambivalence in Supervisory Discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 531 -544.
Wells, W, J. Burnett, and S. E. Moriarty. 2005. Advertising: Principles and Practice. 6~(th) ed. Beijing: China Renmin University Press.
Wu, Yaxin. 2002. Pragmatic Vagueness as a Strategy in Chinese Verbal Communication. Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
Zhang, Qiao. 1998. Fuzziness-Vagueness-Generality-Ambiguity. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 13-31.
铩颶hang,Xiuguo.2005.English Rhetoric.Beijing:Tsinghua University Press;BeijingJiaotong University Press.
艾奇逊.2005.卓越广告:如何创造最优秀的平面广告.张红霞译.北京:北京大学出版社.
陈治安,et al.1997.模糊语言学概论.重庆:西南师范大学出版社.
丁建民,严爽.2002.〈红楼梦〉对话之语用模糊分析.外语与外语教学,3:14-15.
丁晓君.1999.〈围城〉对话的语用模糊现象.浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版),5:139-42.
范亚刚.2000.广告语言与讯息.北京:军事宜文出版社.
郭晓辉.2006.广告的语义传递和创造过程.解主军外国语学院学报,4:15-18.
何兆熊.(eds.)2000.新编语用学概要.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
何兆熊.(eds.)2003.语用学文献选读.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
何自然.1990.浅论语用含糊.外国语,3:28-32.
何自然.2000.再论语用含糊.外国语,1:7-13.
何自然.2003.语用学讲稿.南京:南京师范大学出版社.
洪岗.1997.“会话原则”与模糊语言的语用功能.浙江师大学报(社会科学版),6:75-78.
黄国文.2001.语篇分析的理论与实践:广告语篇研究.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
姜望琪.2003.当代语用学.北京:北京大学出版社.
姜望琪.2003.语用学--理论及应用,北京:北京大学出版社.
李秋梅.2003.关于语用模糊的再思考.山东外语教学,1:65-68.
彭桂芝.2006.从语用学的角度看广告语言的模糊现象.武汉工业学院学报,4:103-105.
戚云芳.2003.广告与广告英语.杭州:浙江大学出版社.
孙然.2004.公益广告语篇特征分析.山东外语教学,6:59-61.
谭卫国.2000.英语广告句式及其功能.外语与外语教学,2:35-37.
王燕希.2004.广告英语一本通.北京:对外经济贸易大学出版社.
韦汉.2001.会话合作原则与广告隐涵.外语与外语教学,6:35-37.
铩镂饪嗣?胡志伟.1999.英语广告词精品.北京:北京大学出版社.
吴晓岚,简庆闽.2007.广告英语比喻类修辞格初探.外语与外语教学,5:10-13.
伍铁平.2002.模糊语言学.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
薛冰,李悦娥.2000.广告双关语的语用观和美学观.外语与外语教学,6:35-36.
俞东明.1997.语法歧义和语用模糊对比研究.外国语,6:29-35.
张乔.1997.模糊语言学论集.大连:大连出版社.
赵静.1992.广告英语.北京:外语教育与研究出版社.
赵硕,et al.现代广告用语的语用研究.西安外国语学院学报,2:18-20.
钟守满,王凌.2000.广告英语模糊现象探析.山东外语教学,3:23-26.
周晓,周怡.1998.现代英语广告.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
Brown,P.and S.Levinson.1978.Politeness:Some Universals in Language Usage.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
Channell,J.2000.Vague Language.Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language EducationPress.
Cook,G.2001.The Discourse of Advertising.2~(nd)ed.London:Routledge.
Crook,J.2004.On Covert Communication in Advertising.Journal of Pragmatic,36:715-738.
Crystal,D.and D.Davy.1975.Advanced Conversational English.London:Longman.
Crystal,D.1991.A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics.Oxford:Blackwell.
Fredsted,E.1998.On Semantic and Pragmatic Ambiguity.Journal of Pragmatics,30:527-541.
Fuertes-Olivera,P.A.et al.2001.Persusion and Advertising English:Metadiscoursein Slogans and Headlines.Journal of Pragmatics,33:1291-1307.
Gardner,R.and Luchtenberg,S.2000.Reference,Image,Text in German andAustralian Advertising Posters.Journal of Pragmatics,32:1807-1821.
Geis,M.1982.The Language of Television Advertising.New York:Academic Press.
Goddard,A.2001.The Language of Advertising.London:Routledge.
Grice,P.2002.Studies in the Way of Words.Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching andResearch Press.
Gruber,H.1993.Political Language and Textual Vagueness.Pragmatics,13:1-28.
Grundy,P.2000.Doing Pragmatics.2~(nd)ed.London:Arnold.
Hyland,K.1998.Hedging in Scientific Research Articles.Amsterdam andPhiladephia,PA:John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Jaszczolt,K.M.2005.Semantics and Pragmatics:Meaning in Language andDiscourse.Beijing:Beijing University Press.
Jewler,A.J.and B.L.Drewniany.1998.Creative Strategy in Advertising.Dalian: Dongbei University of Finance & Economics Press.
Jones, J. P. 1995. When Ads Work New Proof That Advertising Triggers Sales. New York: Lexigton Books.
Jucker, A. H., S. W. Smith, and T. Lüdge. 2003. Interactive Aspects of Vagueness in Conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 35: 1737-1769.
Keefe, R. 2000. Theories of Vagueness. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kempson, R. M. 1977. Semantic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G. 1972. Hedges: A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts. In Chicago Linguistic Society Papers. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Leech, G. N. 1966. English in Advertising: A Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain. London: Longman.
Leech, G N. 1977. Language and Tact. Linguistic Agency, University of Trier.
Leech, G. N. 1981. Semantics. England: Peguin Books Led..
Leech, G. N. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Levinson, S. C. 2001. Pragmatics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Mey, J. L. 2001. Pragmatics: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Nerlich, B. and D. D. Clarke. 2001. Ambiguities We Live by: Towards a Pragmatics of Polysemy. Journal of Pragmatics, 33: 1-20.
O'Guinn, T. C, C. T. Allen, and R. J. Semenik. 2004. Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. 3rd ed. Dalian: Dongbei University of Finance and Economics Press.
Peccei, J. S. 2000. Pragmatics. Bejing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Prince, E. F., J. Frader, and C. Bosk. 1982. On Hedging in Physician-Physician Discourse. In Di Pietro, R.J.(ed.) Linguistics and the Professions. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Rush, S. 1998. The Noun Phrase in Advertising English. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 155-171.
Russell, B. 1923. Vagueness. The Australasian Journal of Psychology and Philosophy, 1:85-92.
Russell, J. 1993. Thomas, Kleppner's Advertising Procedure. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Simpson, P. 2001. 'Reason' and 'Tickle' as Pragmatic Constructs in the Discourse of Advertising. Journal of Pragmatics, 33: 589-607.
Sperber, D. and D. Wilson. 2001. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Thomas, J. 1995. Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Tanaka, K. 1994. Advertising Language: A Pragmatic Approach to Advertisements in Britain and Japan. London and New York: Routledge.
Ullmann, S. 1962. Semantics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Velasco-Sacristan, M. et al. 2006. Towards a Critical Cognitive-Pragmatic Approach to Gender Metaphors in Advertising English. Journal of Pragmatics, 38: 1982-2002.
Verschueren, J. 2000. Understanding Pragmatics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Vestergaard, T. and K. Schr(?)der. 1985. The Language of Advertising. London: Basil Blackwell.
Wajnryb, R. 1998. Telling It Like It isn't—Exploring an Instance of Pragmatic Ambivalence in Supervisory Discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 531 -544.
Wells, W, J. Burnett, and S. E. Moriarty. 2005. Advertising: Principles and Practice. 6~(th) ed. Beijing: China Renmin University Press.
Wu, Yaxin. 2002. Pragmatic Vagueness as a Strategy in Chinese Verbal Communication. Unpublished Ph. D. Dissertation. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
Zhang, Qiao. 1998. Fuzziness-Vagueness-Generality-Ambiguity. Journal of Pragmatics, 29: 13-31.
铩颶hang,Xiuguo.2005.English Rhetoric.Beijing:Tsinghua University Press;BeijingJiaotong University Press.
艾奇逊.2005.卓越广告:如何创造最优秀的平面广告.张红霞译.北京:北京大学出版社.
陈治安,et al.1997.模糊语言学概论.重庆:西南师范大学出版社.
丁建民,严爽.2002.〈红楼梦〉对话之语用模糊分析.外语与外语教学,3:14-15.
丁晓君.1999.〈围城〉对话的语用模糊现象.浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版),5:139-42.
范亚刚.2000.广告语言与讯息.北京:军事宜文出版社.
郭晓辉.2006.广告的语义传递和创造过程.解主军外国语学院学报,4:15-18.
何兆熊.(eds.)2000.新编语用学概要.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
何兆熊.(eds.)2003.语用学文献选读.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
何自然.1990.浅论语用含糊.外国语,3:28-32.
何自然.2000.再论语用含糊.外国语,1:7-13.
何自然.2003.语用学讲稿.南京:南京师范大学出版社.
洪岗.1997.“会话原则”与模糊语言的语用功能.浙江师大学报(社会科学版),6:75-78.
黄国文.2001.语篇分析的理论与实践:广告语篇研究.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
姜望琪.2003.当代语用学.北京:北京大学出版社.
姜望琪.2003.语用学--理论及应用,北京:北京大学出版社.
李秋梅.2003.关于语用模糊的再思考.山东外语教学,1:65-68.
彭桂芝.2006.从语用学的角度看广告语言的模糊现象.武汉工业学院学报,4:103-105.
戚云芳.2003.广告与广告英语.杭州:浙江大学出版社.
孙然.2004.公益广告语篇特征分析.山东外语教学,6:59-61.
谭卫国.2000.英语广告句式及其功能.外语与外语教学,2:35-37.
王燕希.2004.广告英语一本通.北京:对外经济贸易大学出版社.
韦汉.2001.会话合作原则与广告隐涵.外语与外语教学,6:35-37.
铩镂饪嗣?胡志伟.1999.英语广告词精品.北京:北京大学出版社.
吴晓岚,简庆闽.2007.广告英语比喻类修辞格初探.外语与外语教学,5:10-13.
伍铁平.2002.模糊语言学.上海:上海外语教育出版社.
薛冰,李悦娥.2000.广告双关语的语用观和美学观.外语与外语教学,6:35-36.
俞东明.1997.语法歧义和语用模糊对比研究.外国语,6:29-35.
张乔.1997.模糊语言学论集.大连:大连出版社.
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