张明明
西安外国语大学商学院陕西西安710128
Abstract：WiththeaccelerationofinternationalizationofChina,lotsofinternationalbrandscomeintoChinesemarket.Wecanseemanydifferentkindsofadvertisementseverywhereinourdailylife,suchasonTV,radio,newspaper,theinternetandsoon.Therefore,itisverynecessarytoexploreEnglishadvertisements.Thisessaywillanalyzesadvertisinglanguagefromtheperspectiveofpresupposition.
Keywords：Englishadvertisements；presupposition
1.ABriefIntroductiontoPresupposition
“Apresuppositionissomethingthespeakerassumestobethecasepriortomakinganutterance.”(Yule157).ItisputforwardasaphilosophicallogictermbyafamousGermanphilosopherFregein1892.Untilthenineteensixties,presuppositionbegantobecomethelinguists’focusofstudy.Intheseventies,somelinguistscombineitwithcontext.Intheeighties,itisintegratedintothetheoreticalframeworkofcognitivelinguistics.
2.TheCharacteristicsofEnglishadvertisements
2.1lexicalcharacteristicsofEnglishadvertisements
(1)usinglotsofcomparativeandsuperlativeadjectives.
Tobeautytheirproducts,itisverynaturaltousealotofadjectives(suchasbeautiful,good,new,fresh,bigandsoon).Forexample,
Theclearlook:it’sfresh,naturallookofcleanmake-up.
ThisadvertisementisfromAmericancosmeticcompany,CoverGirl.Inthissentence,therearefouradjectives,takingnaturalandcleanasthetheme,whichmakeproductmoreeasy-going.
(2)theuseofcompounds
InEnglishadvertisements,compoundsareusedcommonly,whichmainlycontainfollowingkinds:
adj+noun(thesetwentytop-qualitybulbs,high-fashionknitwear)
adj+v-ing(thebest-lookingsmallcarintheworld)
adv.+v-ing(best-sellingsofttoilettissue)
2.2syntacticconstruction
InEnglishadvertisements,Imperativeandassertivesentencesarethemostpopularamongthem.However,toomuchassertivesentenceswillmakeadvertisementsplainbutimperativeandquestionscanfreereadersfrompassivesituations.Hereisanexample,
WhyisitmorefuntogotoCaliforniaontheSunsetLimited?
2.3Rhetoricaldevices
(1)Pun
Apunisaplayonwords,eitherondifferentsenseofthesamewordoronthesimilarsenseofsoundofdifferentwords.Forexample:
IamMoresatisfied.
Inthissentence,punisusedtoexpresstwomeanings,andMoreisnotonlythelogoofcigarette,butalsoasamodifier.
(2)Alliteration
Alliterationcanbeseenasakindofrhyme.Itisrepetitionofthesameinntialconsonantsoundwithinalineoragroupofwords.Forinstance:
GoforGold
Thisadvertisementnotonlymakesfulluseofthemeaningof“gold”,butalsoletreadersthinkthatthewinehasthequalityasgoodasgold.
3.PresuppositioninEnglishAdvertisements
3.1lexicalpresuppositioninEnglishAdvertisements
(1)simplewords
Wordsappearinginadvertisementsarealmostverysimple,buttheyaresopowerful.Forexample,
Allyouneedisatasteforadventure.
Inthissentence,allwordsareverysimple,and“atasteforadventure”isthepresupposition.
(2)Informalwords
Advertisinglanguageisnotformal,soitneednotbeformal.Besides,itiseasyforthemtounderstand.
Keepthefrogoutofyourthroat.
Thissentenceisfromakindofmedicine,“Frog”isthepresuppositionoftheadvertisement.
(3)Pun
SomeEnglishwordshavethesamepronunciation,buttheirmeaningaretotallydifferent.Hereisanexample,
OIC
ItisthenameofanAmericanglassesshop.OICisthepresuppositionintheadvertisement.OICsoundslikethesentence“oh,Isee”.
3.2SententialpresuppositioninEnglishadvertisements
(1)Questions
Usingquestionscanmakereadersthinkabouttheanswerstothequestion.Letusseeasimpleexample,
Ifyouhavethissafety,won’tyoubeafraidagain?
Thisadvertisementisfromakindofpickproofsafety.Thepresuppositioninthissentenceis:thereisnodoubtthatthecustomersareafraidofbeingrobbedbyburglarsbeforebuyingthispickproofsafety.
(2)Imperative
ImperativesentencearecommonlyusedinEnglishadvertisements.Forexample,
Neverspendunnecessarymoneyfromnowon.
ItisfromakindofChinesedigitalmachine.Inthissentence,thepresuppositionisthatconsumershavespentalotunnecessarymoneyonotherdigitalmachinebeforetheybuythisdigitalmachine.
Conclusion
Advertisementcanbeseenasaverysimplelanguage,whichalwaysexpresssomethinginfewwords.Advertisingwritersusuallyuseseveralwordsandconcisegrammarstructures.
Reference
[1]Levinson,S.C.J.Pragmatics.Beijing:ForeignLanguageTeachingandResearchPress,2001.
[2]Yule,G.(2000).Pragmatics.Shanghai:ShanghaiForeignLanguagesEducationPress.
[3]曹红霞.论广告语中的预设[J].湘潭师范学院学报，2005(1):123-26.
作者简介：张明明1993年6月5号，女，汉族，现就读于西安外国语大学商学院2016级商务英语专业。主要研究方向：企业伦理，跨文化研究。