An Analysis of Metaphors in English Advertisement

1、an analysis of metaphors in english advertisement论 文 摘 要随着经济全球化的进一步加快，在商业社会中，广告已经深入到生活的各个角落。广告的传播效应离不开文字的作用,它是广告的灵魂,它对广告的成败起着关键性的作用。每一篇广告都是一个完整的语篇,每个语篇可以传达一些词语以外的信息。换而言之,广告在充分发挥其信息功能时,还有其特殊的劝说功能。传统的隐喻观念认为隐喻只是一种语言现象,而现代隐喻观认为隐喻更是一种认知现象,是一种思维方式。隐喻在英语广告中被广泛运用，它使广告更具创新性,帮助广告实现其目的。本文将首先对隐喻和广告进行了简单介绍；其次运用大

2、量的例子来洞悉隐喻在广告中的本质与作用，最终实现广告的目的；最后，为了更好地诠释英语广告中的隐喻，分析了人们在英语广告中对隐喻理解不一的两大原因。关键词：英语广告；隐喻；社会文化abstractwith the further acceleration of economic globalization, advertisement has gone deep into every aspect of life in the business world. the advetising language is the soul of a successful advertisement. ea

3、ch advertisement is a complete discourse conveying some information beyond words. in other words, advertisement not only provides information about the products or services, but also persuades its consumers to purchase them.metaphor, based on the contemporary theory, is widely used in our daily life

4、, which is not only a language phenomena, but also a cognitive phenomena and a mode of thinking. the utilization of metaphor is very frequent, which makes advertisement more creative, to help advertisers achieve their aims.in this paper, at first, it provides an introduction to the metaphor and adve

5、rtisement. then, it analyses the nature and functions of metaphor in advertisement by some examples, so as to help to achieve the purpose of advertisement. at last, in order to comprehend the metaphor in english advertisement better, two factors that affect the comprehesion on metaphor in english ad

6、vertisement are explicated.key words: english advertisement; metaphor; socio-culturetable of contentsabstract (chinese).abstract (english).1. introduction.12. metaphor.12.1 the development of metaphor.22.2 the definitions of metaphor.23. english advertisement33.1 the definitions of advertisement.43.

7、2the purposes of advertisement.43.3 the features of advertising language54. the analysis of metaphor in english advertisement.64.1 the functions of metaphor in english advertisement.64.1.1 the economic function.74.1.2 the effective function.84.1.3 the euphemistic function.94.1.4 the aesthetic functi

8、on.104.2 the factors of understanding on metaphor in english advertisement.11 4.2.1 the socio-cultural factor.11 4.2.2 the individual factor .125. conclusion.13references.14ackonwlwdgements.151. introductionin the modern world, advertisement can be seen everywhere. as a main method of promoting prod

9、ucts or service, advertisement plays a more and more important role in commercial world. it highlights the effect of the products and service on the consumers. metaphor, a traditional topic for poetry and literary studies, has recently attracted the increasing attention of philosophers, linguists, p

10、sychologists, and is generally regarded as a testing ground for theories of language comprehension. metaphor has been exploded as a topic of interest in the humanities and social sciences over the past twenty-five years. china has also attached great importance to metaphor, which is evidenced the pr

11、oliferation of publications of papers concerning metaphor studies in chinas major journals of foreign language research.advertising and metaphor, both are hot issues in the world. metaphor as an important rhetoric is widely applied to advertisement. there is a common viewpoint that only a few reader

12、s can pay enough attention to rhetoric, especially metaphor. therefore, it is possible to miss the point when readers have encountered some simply metaphor sentences. in this paper, the application of metaphor to the advertisement will be discussed by some english advertisement examples. at first, i

13、t provides an introduction to the metaphor and advertisement. then, it analyses the nature and functions of metaphor in advertisement by some examples, so as to help to achieve the purpose of advertisement. at last, in order to comprehend the metaphor in english advertisement better, two factors tha

14、t affect the comprehesion on metaphor in english advertisement are explicated.2. metaphorwe frequently speak of “the foot of mountain”, “the legs of a table” and “time is money” and so on. have we realized we are using metaphora figure of speech? metaphor is so pervasive in our daily life that we ar

15、e almost unaware of it. it is an important tool in language communication and a figurative phenomenon as well. with further study, people found metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon or a rhetorical device but also a reflection of culture and thinking.2.1 the development of metaphorin ancient

16、greece, aristotle defined metaphor as “the application of an alien name by transference either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or by analogy, that is proportion.” (shu dingfang, 2000:33). this account of metaphor is known as the comparison theory of metap

17、hor.in the 1880s, george lakoff, a linguist, and mark johnson, a philosopher (1980:2) suggested “that metaphor not only makes our thoughts more vivid and interesting but that it actually structures our perceptions and understanding.” this is what we called conceptual metaphor theory.contemporary met

18、aphor researchers differ greatly in their perspectives of metaphor studies. some of them are interested in the theoretical explorations of metaphor, focusing on such issues as metaphor identification, categorization of metaphor types, and interpretation of metaphor in discourse. other researchers ar

19、e inclined to investigate the processes of metaphor production and structuring of conceptual domains through metaphor. these scholars contribute to metaphor studies from different perspectives.2.2 the definition of metaphorthe word “metaphor” comes from the ancient greek “meta” and “pherein”, which

20、respectively means “across” and “change”. therefore, the basic function of metaphor is to transform something from one place to another. people define metaphor differently from different angles. i. a. richards (1986:44-63) gave metaphor such a definition: “it is the use of one reference to a group o

21、f things that are related in a particular way in order to discover a similar relation in another group.” some other definitions are quoted below:grammar dictionary said that “metaphor is the comparison of one thing to another without the use of like or as.” (shu dingfang, 2001:43)lakoff and johnson

22、(1980:4) hold a viewpoint that “metaphor is understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of anthor.” britannica book of english usage defined it “metaphor is the most important figure of speech, which points out resemblance but with no acknowledge word.” (li xinhua, 2000:46)in the above definit

23、ions, we can draw the following conclusions: in the traditional rhetoric, metaphor is only a figure of speech or a way of expression, while in the caomporary views, metaphor is a mode of thinking, as well as a way of speaking.from semantic view (semantics: study of relationships between signs and sy

24、mbols and what they represent), there are three basic factors composing a metaphor: the tenor, the vehicle and the ground, not all of which need to be presented in a metaphor, that is to say, some of them may be hidden. in other words, a metaphor contains three parts:tenor (the subject for the compa

25、rison)vehicle (what the subject is compared to)ground (what the subject and the vehicle have in common)metaphor is similar to simile but different in the following way:simile: a is like b. e.g. the man is like a fox. a is as x as b. e.g. the man is as sly/cunning as a fox.in this sentence, the man i

26、s the tenor, fox is the vehicle. tenor is like vehiclemetaphor: a is b.e.g. the man is a sly/cunning a fox. in this sentence, the man is the tenor, fox is the vehicle, and sly/cunning is the ground. so tenor is vehicle.3. english advertisement no other statement could have summed up the charm of adv

27、ertisement than what chui gang (1993:98) has commented. as he said: “as a literary form, advertisement is the most exciting, the most arduous literary form of all, and the most pregnant in curious possibilities.” in his comment, he asserted that advertisement is a literary form and the copywriting p

28、rocess is a delightful and salubrious exercise for the mind. but all in all, what is advertisement, and what makes it unique? 3.1 definition of advertisementadvertisement is a type of publicity to draw public attention to something, for its latin origin “advertere” means “to inform somebody of somet

29、hing” or “to draw attention to something”. today, a widely quoted working definition of advertisemet was put forward by courtland l. bovee and william f. arens, “advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods or s

30、ervices) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media(eg. newspapers, magzines, televisions or stations) .” (cook, 1992:31)rossiter and percy (1997:20) hold a viewpoint that: “advertising is often regarded as a process of relatively indirect persuasion, based on information about benefits o

31、f products or services, which is designed to create favorable mental impression that turns the mind toward purchase.” in the above definitions, we can draw the following conclusions: first of all ,the words “public”, “nonpersonal communication” and “indirect persuasion” indicate that the target of a

32、dvertisement is public not personal, and the way of promoting is indirect. then the aims of advertisement are to inform, persuade and remind consumers to purchase. finally, advertisement must adopt certain media, such as newspapers, magzines, televisions or stations, ect. 3.2 the purposes of english

33、 advertisementfrom the definitions mentioned above, we can learn the purposes of advertisement. its ultimate purpose is to persuade consumers to buy a certain product or accept some kind of services. more specifically, it is to present some information about goods, services or ideas to the public to

34、 influence or persuade them to make choices.the first thing an advertisement tries to do is to grab its audiences attention and make sure that it is noticed. this is one of the keys to make a successful advertisementin modern commodity society. however, it is not sufficient to do so for a short time

35、. once the audience attention has been captured, the advertisement must hold their attention and convince them that the subject of this particular advertisement is of interest to them.by attracting and holding the audiences attention, a successful advertisement should develop the audiences desire to

36、 buy the advertised product and convince them that the product satisfies some need or provides a need that they have not felt before, and it is better than other competitive products. in all, it must achieve the goal of stimulating a desire in the audience to purchase the advertised product.finally,

37、 the audience will take action and buy the advertised product. although the process from being attracted to being persuaded might happen in a few minutes while the prospective consumer are considering the advertisement, and his final decision to buy the product may take place some time later, even a

38、 few years later. the more successful the advertisement is, the more possible the prospective consumer will be convinced to purchase the advertised product.in summary, advertisement is a very practical type of writing with high commercial value. its ultimate purpose is to promote sales. all advertis

39、ements contain at least two functions: to inform and to persuade, of which the informative function is subordinated to the persuasive function.3.3 features of advertising languageaccording to the language system, language consists of spoken language and written language. written language can be more

40、 precise than the spoken language.written words can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate and lengthy.the writer can write and rewrite at great length, a span of time which in some cases can be measured in years.simila

41、rly, the reader can read quickly or slowly, or even stop to think about what he or she has just read.a spoken language is a human natural language in which the words are uttered through the mouth. spoken language can also be precise and indeed they ought to be. once spoken, words cannot be retracted

42、, although one can apologize for a mistake and improvise a clarification or qualification. so precision in oral communication comes only with a great deal of preparation and compression.the wide use of advertisement has created a special style of englishadvertising english. its unique features, simp

43、le language and immense attraction make it differ from other kinds of language. in the development of advertising english, this kind of language has formed its own features in several aspects, which are related to spoken language and written language.(1). simple and informalthe purpose of advertisem

44、ent is to provide information, promise the quality, attract consumers and exploit markets, and. therefore, admen must pay attention to the impelling language of advertisement, so the first step is to use popular and spoken language to make it easy to understand and memorize.(2). sophisticate and del

45、iberatebecause of the nonpersonal features of advertisement, the dissemination and operation of it should be restricted by the law of a country or the moral standards. advertising language must be deliberate and sophisticate to avoid trivial faults. if occur, enterprises have no choice but to apolog

46、ize for a mistake and suffer a huge loss. 4. the analysis of metaphor in english advertisement as a main way of promoting products or services, advertisement plays a more and more important role in the commercial society. and metaphor maks admen to fulfill its purpose and function.from the view of c

47、ognition (cognition: that which comes to be known, as through perception, reasoning, intuition or knowledge), metaphor is a mode of thinking, as well as a way of speaking. naomi quinn (1996), pointed out that the presence of metaphor in linguistic expressions reflects not only the operation of indiv

48、idual metal structures, but also the working of different cultural models. so, socio-culture and individuals konwledge are important to the metaphor understanding in english advertisements.4.1 the functions of metaphor in english advertisement metaphor plays a quite important role in advertisement,

49、to some extent, it helps advertising admen communicate with the consumers more effectively. general speaking, the functions of metaphor in english advertisement include: economy, efficiency, euphemism and aesthetics. the following text, some advertising examples will be taken to demonstrate how meta

50、phor applies in english advertisement.4.1.1 the economic functionfrom the view of linguistics (linguistics: the study of the nature, structure, and variation of language), economy refers to the phenomenon that a simple, concise and economic form of expression is always preferred over a complicated,

51、lengthy and prolix form in language use. it reflects such a tendency that people will say no more than necessary in their communications with others. as a result of this, people will use a variety of ways to economize their speech, while ensuring the accuracy and clarity in communications. economy i

52、s essential to advertisement for its space is costly. the most distinct feature of metaphor is brief, because a word or phase can imply much information and evoke audience to image the whole happening. many idioms are used in advertisements. admen take advantage of the characteristics of the idioms,

53、 which have their stability and fixed nature, and greatly shorten the psychological distance between senders and receivers. example 1:a mars a day keeps you work, rest and play. (advertisement for chocolate)this advertisement contains two idioms. the structure of this sentence evokes readers to asso

54、ciate it with “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. the words “rest” and “play” are used together, which associates with another idiom we all known, “all work no play makes jack a dull boy”. admen not only make use of the structure of idioms, but also quote the content of the idioms. it looks as i

55、f eating a mar a day not only keeps people healthy, but also makes them active when they work, while relax when they rest.example 2:the prose without the con. (advertisement for watch named time)this advertisement originates from the idiom. the words “pros” and “cons” mean the arguments for and agai

56、nst something. “pro” is a noun, which means an opinion in favor of something; “con” means an opinion against something. meanwhile, according to the similarities in pronunciation and form, “prose” replaces “pros”. moreover, “con” have another meaning: cheating. making reference to the origin meaning

57、of idiom, people can find metaphorical meaning that time wont confuse and cheat readers.4.1.2 the effective functionpeople are bombarded by 1,600 commercial messages a day, of which 80 are constantly noticed and about 12 provoke some reaction. thus, admen must design the message that is easy for consumers to memorize. philip ward burton and scott c. purvis (2002:7