论文总字数：31348字

摘 要

广告标语在当今社会几乎无处不在,为了在有限的时间或空间向标语受众传递更多更为有效的信息,标语策划者在其广告中大量运用隐喻这一手段。隐喻在人类认识世界的过程中发挥了重要作用,是意义与真理的基石。因此,任何一种隐喻意义都应与字面意义保持一致。事实上,隐喻中蕴藏着某种隐喻无法捕到的东西,而且我们是无法将隐喻中的情感、审美因素与描写、认知成分区分开的。同时,作为文学中的一种修辞方法,隐喻在广告英语中的功能最终是为了吸引公众的注意。除此,隐喻又是一种认知现象,与人的思维方式及思维发展过程密切相关。在这种情况下,本文从合作原则理论角度着手,总结出该理论对广告标语中的隐喻的指导意义,并致力于研究合作原则对隐喻性广告标语是如何作用的以及隐喻违反合作原则产生的效果,从而使观众捕获到标语的准确信息意图。

关键词: 合作原则 ；隐喻；广告标语；违反

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. On Metaphors in English Advertisement Slogans 2

2.1 Definition and Characteristics of Slogans 2

2.2 Metaphors in English Advertisement Slogans 3

3. Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle 5

3.1 Definition of the Cooperative Principle 5

3.2 Grice’s Maxims 5

3.3 On Conversational Implicature 7

4. Analysis of Metaphors in English Advertisement Slogans with CP 7

4.1 Functions and Application of Metaphors in Advertisement Slogans 8

4.2 The Significance of the CP to Metaphors in Advertisement Slogans 9

4.3 Effects of Metaphors’ Flouting the Maxim of Quality in Advertisements. 10

5. Conclusion 13

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

Originating from the Latin word advertere, advertisement (ad) aims to attract attention. Its basic function is to spread information. In the growing era of commodity economy, advertising as a business strategy, is playing an increasingly more important role in the world. As a result, advertising slogan as a commercial language has gradually formed its own unique style and characteristics. It depends on concise language, rich connotation, and appropriate rhetorical devices (rhetorical figures) to convey product information, establish brand image and stimulate people’s consumption desire. As far as rhetorical devices are concerned, metaphor is usually applied to create impressive slogans. And many scholars have studied the property of metaphor or formation of advertisement, English morphology and rhetorical devices in advertising. But few people know how the metaphor is used to form slogan and what theory it relies on. Thus, after we know that the metaphor in advertising slogans are produced by violating the Maxim of Quality of the Cooperative Principle, the most important thing is how the CP affects the metaphor in advertising slogans and what effects it will produce.

Based on the theory of the Cooperative Principle, this thesis mainly analyzes and discusses the metaphors in English advertising slogans. In the first part, the author explains the definition and characteristics of slogans and points out that metaphor acts as an important cognitive pattern, from which new senses spring up. The second part comes out with the Cooperative Principle and points out that the metaphor was applied to English advertising slogans by violating the Maxim of Quality. The third part is the main body of this thesis. It emphasizes analysis of metaphors in English advertising slogans with CP. In this part, by combining the CP with a great deal of classical cases, the author deeply explore the functions and application of metaphors, the significance of the CP to metaphors and the effects of metaphors’ flouting the Maxim of Quality in advertising slogans. The last part is the conclusion of this paper, summing up the points covered in the previous chapters and pointing out the research findings of this thesis.

2. On Metaphors in English Advertisement Slogans

2.1 Definition and Characteristics of Slogans

A slogan is a memorable phrase used in political or commercial context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. Slogans vary from the written and the visual, to the chanted and the vulgar. Often their simple, rhetorical nature leaves little room for detail, and as such serve perhaps more as a social expression of unified purpose, rather than a projection for an intended audience (Cuddon, 1998:663).

Marketing slogans are often called taglines in the United States or strap lines in the UK. Europeans use the terms baselines, signatures, claims or pay-offs. Normally, advertising slogans are formed by phrases or sentences used repeatedly in the advertising of a product or service that, through its repetition alone, eventually come to identify the product or service. Essentially, slogans serve one of two basic functions: either to communicate an idea that manufacturers want to be associated with the product or service, such as “The Science of Sound” by TECHNICS stereo equipment, or to retain continuity within an advertising campaign. A famous example of the latter is “Ask the man who owns one”, associated with the PACKARD automobile of the 1930s. This particular slogan has been remembered throughout the years, long past the life of the product, and is often used in other contexts.

Compared with other headlines, slogans have their own unique characteristics. Slogans, owing to the limitedness of space and time, prefer simple sentences than complex ones. Slogans call for immediate attention in no time. In other words, people in designing slogans comply with “Keep It Sweet and Simple”, referred to as KISS formula. This can be concluded as Briefness, specific to advertising slogans characteristics (Qi Yunfang, 2003:10).

The following are two advertising slogans, and then you will obviously find that the first one is more attractive to you. e.g.:

Winston cigarettes good like a cigarette should.

OR

Winston cigarettes taste exceedingly fine, the way every cigarette manufacturer wishes his cigarettes would taste.

The briefness in structure one helps the reader more easily get the information at the first glance. Many a world-renowned slogan achieves success by briefness, namely:

Enjoy coca-cola. (可口可乐)

Drives wanted. (大众汽车)

Let us make things better. (菲利普电器)

Nothing is impossible. (艾迪达斯)

Just do it. (耐克)

Besides briefness, creativity also counts. In modern times, driven by economic factors, creativity keeps emerging in an increasing number in design of slogans, for the creativity could help to put slogans receptors closer to the real intent hidden in an advertisement (Qi Yunfang, 2003:10). e.g.:

DRINKA PINTA MILDA DAY.

This instance is an advertising slogan for promoting sales of milk. This advertising slogan arouses much interest in involuntary admiration for its novelty and originality since its existence. It actually means “Drink a point of mild a day”.

The other example intends to equip a sort of top-grade orange drink with prominence by combining “most” and “est” with orange to bring about orange most est. e.g.:.

THE ORAGNEMOSTEST DRINK IN THE WORLD.

From what we have talked about above, it is self-evident that slogans are always ready to impress the reader with individuality of the language. To be different is a way to successful slogans. Only in this way can it draw the attention of the interest of readers in the product or event.

2.2 Metaphors in English Advertisement Slogans

Linguistically, a metaphor is a figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object (Wang Yulong, Zhang Yu and Zhang Deyu, 2006:27). Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile (Shu Dingfang, 2000:20). In simpler terms, the most striking property of metaphor is that a metaphor compares two objects or things without using the words “like” or “as”. Metaphor is pregnant with poetry and it is also the most common and most elegant rhetoric. Many new words in English advertising are formed by this means (Qi Yunfang, 2003:135). For example:

Soft, enchanting, smiling color—that’s the gift. Focus your hair.

This is a shampooing advertisement. The invisible signified is the shampooing and the signifier is the gift. By using metaphor, the slogan will be more likely to persuade the slogan receptors to buy this product.

Actually, as a rhetorical means, metaphor appears in advertising English in various forms. Advertising slogans often adopt the rhetoric of metaphor, which uses a popular thing to symbolize a product being promoted in order to enhance the aesthetic perception of the language and lead the readers to broaden their imagination as well as make them impressed, for only by properly using the metaphor can they create a contrast between two different things in order to achieve the intended promoting goals. Also for example, the ad of EBEL watches in Switzerland, in the advertising slogan, “EBEL, the architects of time.” the watch is hailed as the founder of time, highlighting perfect quality of the watches, stimulating consumption desires. As a core of advertising, slogans is able to remind and help readers to keep the characteristics or features of the product in mind. Namely, when the advertising slogan has been polished by the rhetoric of metaphor, it will impress people deeply and then make great significance to the product promoting. Another example, “You’re better off under the Umbrella”, it is an insurance company advertising slogan. The insurance company is hailed as umbrella (Umbrella capable of avoiding any risks), which achieves a good publicity (Rong Hailong, 2007:120-21), for it compares the insurance with the umbrella, an article for daily use which is familiar to people and necessary.

3. Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle

As a philosopher and logician, H. P. Grice took great interest in the way conversations is carried out, especially how implied meaning is generated and understood. Grice specified two kinds of implied meanings or implicature: conventional implicature and non-conventional implicature. Conventional implicature is based on the conventional meaning of certain words in the language. Therefore, Grice proposed that to converse with each other, the conversational participants must first of all be willing to cooperate; otherwise, it would not be possible for them to carry out the talk. This general principle is called the Cooperative Principle (Dai Weidong amp; He Zhaoxiong, 2010:86-87).

3.1 Definition of the Cooperative Principle

In 1967, the Oxford philosopher H. P. Grice delivered his William James Lectures at Harvard University. In his second lecture titled “Logic and Conversation”, which was published in Syntax and Semantics, Vol.3: Speech Acts in 1975, Grice proposed the Cooperative Principle and Conversational Implicature. It states, “Make your contribution such as it is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.”(Grice, 1975:47).Though phrased as a prescriptive command, the principle is intended as a description of how people normally behave in conversation. Listeners and speakers must speak cooperatively and mutually accept one another to be understood in a particular way. The Cooperative Principle describes how effective communication in conversation is achieved in common social situations.

3.2 Grice’s Maxims

Actually Grice noticed that in daily conversations people do not usually say things directly but tend to imply them. And in his view of some regularity in conversation it shows that people’s talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did.

To specify the Cooperative Principle further, Grice introduced four categories of maxims as follows (Dai Weidong amp; He Zhaoxiong, 2010:87).

The Maxim of Quantity:

Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).

Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.

It means that in a dialogue, the information would be given to make our contribution that is true (Grice, 1975: 47-48).

The Maxim of Quality:

Try to make your contribution one that is true, specifically:

Do not say what you believe to be false.

Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

It means that in a dialogue, the information would be given to make our contribution as much as desired (Grice, 1975:47-48). For example, the following is a cigarette advertising slogan.

Smoking is hazardous to one’s health.

From this example the speaker expresses his own opinion and believes what he has said is true. He does not tell a lie or he has the evidence to prove his idea. Its deep meaning is that the speaker believes that smoking is hazardous to one’s health.

The Maxim of Relevance:

Be relevant.

It means that in a dialogue, the information would be given to make our contribution relevant to the exchange (Grice, 1975: 47-48).

The Maxim of Manner:

Avoid obscurity of expression.

Avoid ambiguity.

Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).

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