AStudyonRhetoricalDevicesinEnglishAdvertisement-精品文档

1、A Study on Rhetorical Devices in English Advertisement The master of advertising ，RaymondR ubicam，once said ： “The best signs of the best ads are that it not only makes the audience eager to purchase its product ，but also let both audiences and publicity field regard it as a masterpiece and forever

2、remember it”.That is to say ， advertisement is a combination of both content and style.The rhetorical devices play an important role in showing ads charm.Different rhetorical devices make the ads concise ， vivid ，striking and humorous. The use of some skills and translation strategies can make the a

3、ds more creative.However ，misuse of rhetorical devices will lead the audiences to the opposite way and affect sales.Therefore ，it s nec essary to make an analysis and study on this subject. 1 Phonological rhetorical devices 1.1 Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the use of words that imitate the sounds as

4、sociated with the objects or actions they refer to. For example ： Deck the halls With plop plop plop ， fizz ， plop FallalalalalalaAhhh！ (Alkaseltzer pain-killer) This is an ad for pain- killer.This ad uses “plop ” for four times to tell people that they are decorating the house.Then they crack a bot

5、tle and the drink fizzes.It produces a lot of little bubbles of gas and makes a sound like a long “s”.Fallalalalalal is the sound.At last， they laugh happily and sing songs.The ad doesnt use any description about the curative effect of this medicine.But it uses lots of onomatopoeia to represent the

6、scene that someone takes Alkaseltzer pain-killer and then he enjoys Christmas. 1.2 Alliteration Alliteration is a figure of speech in which the same sound or sounds appear at the beginning of two or more words that are next to or close to each other.Alliteration emphasizes meaning ，emotions and desc

7、riptions. For example ： Form Follows Function.(BMW) The repetition of consonant “f” in this piece of ads leaves a deep impression on the audiences mind， and as a result ，effectively drawsthe audiences attention to the advertised products or service.It will arouse customer s strong urge to buy. 2 Syn

8、tactical rhetorical devices 2.1 Parallelism In parallelism ， several sentences or parts of a sentence are repeated or expressed in a similar way. For example： Sometimes you forget the milk ，sometimes you forget the bread，sometimes you forget the chore altogether. This is a car advertisement.This ad

9、uses the rhetorical device of parallelism.It doesnt say a word about this kind of car.But it tells customers that when you drive our cars ，you will forget trivia matters.Parallelism establishes a balanced and rhythmic structure and makes the writing more effective and impressive. 2.2 Rhetorical ques

10、tion Rhetorical question is a question to which the answer is obvious or immediately provided by the questioner.As it forces the audiences to think about the answer， it can intensify the wanted effect. For example：Are you going gray too early ？ ( Black Hair Grease) This is an advertisement for black

11、 hair grease.When people see an ad like this ，they will stop and think it for a while and then have a answer in their hearts.By the use of rhetorical question ，the tone of this ad is easy to accept by customers and rouses consumers interest of buying it. 3 Semantic rhetorical devices 3.1 Simile “Sim

12、ile is a way of comparing one thing with another of explaining what one thing is like by showing how it is similar to another thing and it signals itself in a text with the words as or like. ”( Hu Zhuanglin ，P286，2001) For example：Like a good neighbor ，State Farm is there. (State Farm ) This is an a

13、dvertisement for insurance company.By using simile ，the ad makes this insurance company more vivid and makes customer feel trustful and secure. 3.2 Personification By giving lifeto product ，it can effectively shorten the distance between the advertisement composer and customers. For example ： Unlike

14、 me ，my Rolex never needs a rest. (Rolex watches ) This is a piece of advertisement for watches.It can be easily found that the watch is personified in this piece of ad.In this ad，Rolex watch is like a person.It never needs a rest ， that is to say， the watch have high quality and it will never break

15、 down.Thus， the product could have human emotions and looks amicable to customers. 3.3 Hyperbole Hyperbole is the deliberate use of overstatement or exaggeration to achieve emphasis.Its not the same as telling lies.With Hyperbole ， there is no intent to deceive the audience.In fact，in the speaker s

16、min d he is truly describing his intense feeling at the time. For example ： Making a big world smaller.(Lufthansa ) This is an advertisementfor aviation.This ad informs customer that their company s plane is very fast and you can reach your destination in a shorter time.Hyperbole can show the charac

17、teristics of its product or service to a large extent.Therefore， the proper use of hyperbole is beneficial for the achievement of ads function.But the company needs to handle appropriately.Otherwise it s easy to self-defeating. 3.4 Pun Pun includes the homonymy ，homophone and polysemy.It is filled w

18、ith wit and humor and helps advertising products win favor from readers. For example ： Oh，I see. ( OIC glasses ) This is a piece of advertisement for the glasses of OIC.In this ad ， I see not only means you can see the world when you wear OIC glasses ，but also have the same sound with its brand -OIC.By using pun， advertisement can be