认知语言学-结构性隐喻广告

1、摘要: 当今社会中，广告已经和我们的生活息息相关，密不可分。广告作为现代传播信息的一种媒介和商品销售的方式正日益发展并繁荣。广告商大都认为，隐喻性广告能帮助劝说消费者青睐其商品，并购买其商品。近几十年来，人们对隐喻的研究取得了极大的进步。Lakoff 等人提出的概念隐喻理论获得了众多学者和语言学家的认可。根据概念隐喻理论，隐喻的定义是用一领域的事物或经验来表达另一领域范围的事物或经验。从认知角度讲，隐喻可以分成三种：结构隐喻，方位隐喻及实体隐喻。这为我们重新研究广告中的隐喻提供了新的方向和方法。本论文从LakoffJohnson认知角度的经验观出发，对英文广告语言中的结构性隐喻进行分析，讨论它

2、们的基础以及它们在广告中的功能，以期望对广告中隐喻的运用和理解提出新的认知角度的见解，同时也为认知语言学提供隐喻在广告应用中的真实语料，为其对结构性隐喻从认知方面的阐释提供广告中的论据。本文重点分析了英文广告实例中的结构性隐喻及它们在广告中的认知功能。目的是通过这些研究说明在英文广告中概念隐喻是如何向消费者传达主要的销售观念的，从而帮助提高英语学习者对英文广告的理解。关键词：认知，隐喻，结构性隐喻，英文广告Abstract: Nowadays, advertising has been flourished every corner. As a media of communicating i

3、nformation and a tool of promoting goods, advertising has fully developed and is growing prosperously. It is generally thought by the advertisers that metaphorical advertising will help convince the consumers to have a good impression on the goods and help to arouse their desire to buy the goods. In

4、 recent years, it testified a great interest in the research of the metaphor. Linguist George Lakoff with philosopher Mark Jonson (1980) first put forward the key features of metaphor. In a cognitive view, metaphor can be divided into three types: structural metaphor, orientational metaphor and onto

5、logical metaphor. According to the cognitive approach of Lakoff and Jonson experiential view, this paper analyze the structural metaphors in advertising and study their bodily experiential basis and their functions in advertising. It is very important for them, especially for the English learners to

6、 learn and fully comprehend English advertisements. Thus the author hopes that this thesis will be helpful for people to comprehend various ads.Keywords: cognitive; metaphor; structural metaphor; English advertisements1. IntroductionNowadays, advertising has been following us here and there. Adverti

7、sement is a pervasive phenomenon and there have already been a lot of literatures about the language of advertising approached from a wide range of disciplines, such as sociology, linguistics, literary criticism, and media studies. Though, few studies have been touched on metaphor used in advertisin

8、g, nearly all researchers in the field consider metaphor as a persuasive and effective means exploited by advertisers. Metaphor only used to be regarded as a figure of speech in literature.Metaphors have been being studied since the age of Aristotle. Aristotle believes that metaphors exists everywhe

9、re anytime inhuman beings life. However, we must know that metaphors call help human beings better understand the new things, categories and concepts. In 1980, scholars George Lakoff and Mark Johnson published the book Metaphors We Live By. It is claimed that metaphor is one of our most important to

10、ols for attempting to understand partially what cannot be comprehended totally. Lakoff and Johnson first put forward conceptual metaphor theory in this book, and try to study human metaphor from the view of human cognition. This paper will focus on studying conceptual metaphor in English advertising

11、 in the cognitive linguistic framework.In order to achieve the goal of persuasion, it is generally believed that some unreal or exaggerated claims through the conceptual metaphor will be made by the advertiser. The conceptual metaphors involved in English advertising are quite different from the met

12、aphors studied in traditional theory. The cognitive system of conceptual metaphor is unintentional and automatic. Each metaphor is grounded on the correspondences in our real experiences. Conceptual metaphor is more creative and powerful. The goal of this thesis is to tell how conceptual metaphors a

13、re applied in English advertisements as a powerful way to arouse consumers attention and leadthem to remember and cognize.2. Literature Review2. 1 The Cognitive Study of MetaphorThe cognitive status of metaphor has been pointed out by many a researcher. Lakoff and Johnson argue that the language of

14、the imagination, especially metaphor is the most significant aspect of our experience as it transcends rationality and objectivity. Thus, meaning is the sum of objective and subjective personal experience with categories, which makes the study of figurative language insightful and enriching.The crea

15、tive nature of metaphor suggests that metaphor making is not reliant on existing objective similarity between a source domain and a target domain. “The only similarities relevant to metaphors are similarities as experienced by people”, not objective similarities (Ibid: 154). Lakoff and Johnson propo

16、se that metaphors can be based on similarities, though in many cases these similarities are themselves based on conventional metaphors that are not based on similarities. Similarities based on conventional metaphors are nonetheless real in our culture, since conventional metaphors partly define that

17、 we find real.The cognitive linguistics are excessively concerned with the role of metaphor in cognition, instead of trying to explain how metaphor really works, which has aroused criticisms from other linguistics. In fact, metaphor is presented as a cognitive operation, and its import cannot be com

18、municated otherwise. One of the most recent developments in metaphor study has appeared within the framework of the conceptual metaphor theory.2. 2 An Overview on Advertising2. 2. 1 Definition of AdvertisingThroughout the history of advertising, the word “advertise” derives from Latin word “adverter

19、e”. Its original meaning is “to inform somebody of something”. “to bring into notice” or “draw attention to something”, etc. As language changes with the development of the society, the meaning of “advertise” has extended to “arisepeoples attention to certain article”. A wide quoted working definiti

20、on of advertising was put forward by Courtland LBovee and William F Arens (1984): “Advertising is the non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods or services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media.”2. 2. 2 Functi

21、ons of AdvertisingAfter a brief introduction of the definitions of advertising, we now come to the functions of advertising. The primary goal of advertisers is to persuade or influence the audience to buy the product or service advertised.Crystal and Davy (1975: 222) state that there are two main fu

22、nctions of advertising: informing and persuading. These two functions, however, are not of equal importance, in that information is subordinated to persuasion (Tanaka, 1994). The advertiser does not inform for the sake of expanding the ads readers knowledge of the world, but only to promote the prod

23、uct advertised. His task is to persuade or influence the audience to buy his product. In this regard, therefore, advertisings central function is to create desires that previously did not exist. That is to say, advertising arouses our interests and emotions in favor of goods and more goods, and ther

24、eby actually creates the desires it seeks to speech act theory. Thus, with variety of advertising styles, the advertisers task is to try to persuade rather than inform.In other words, the advertiser designs messages to inform target audience about products or services with the ultimate goal of selli

25、ng products or services. The main purpose of advertising is to persuade audience to follow advertisers idea and finally buy the promoted products or services, So that advertisers and companies can increase profits3. Structural Metaphors Applied in English AdvertisementsConceptual metaphor is so popu

26、lar and persuasive in English advertisements, it lets the advertisements easy to remember and powerful to transmit among theconsumers. While in this chapter, a detailed analysis of the three types of conceptual metaphors applied in specific advertisements will be illustrated. This section will illus

27、trate one kind of conceptual metaphors, that is, structural metaphors.Structural metaphors partially structure our every concept and that this structure is reflected in our literal language (Lakoff&Johnson. 1980: 46). We will study some structural metaphors and their functions in English adverti

28、sements.3.1 Structural Metaphor in Solely Verbal AdvertisementsFirst, we will refer to the structural metaphor in solely verbal advertisements. Solely verbal metaphor is the metaphor which only uses words as its medium to transfer a range of intended information. The following examples will show how

29、 the addressee can realize the conceptual metaphor used in the advertisements and how hecan get the main selling ideas from the advertisement.Example 1: Introducing a Sedan with the Heart of a Lion.The understanding of this example is mainly due to the interpretation of the word “heart. “For the add

30、ressee, it is not hard to see that the word is not used literally for it is impossible for a sedan to have a heart. Therefore, the word “heart” should be used interpretively, not descriptively. Then the addressee will find in his encyclopedic entry for assumptions linked to the concept “heart” and t

31、he activated assumptions may contain the one that a heart is an important part without which life will be impossible. And then he processes Example 1 into this context and thus gets the conclusion that the important part for a car is probably its engine. Therefore, he can have the conceptual metapho

32、r “ENGINE IS HEART”. This way of comprehending is partly approved by the body copy of the same advertisement:THE BEAST THAT LURKS WITHINAt the heart ofthe Cressida surges a 3 liter,6 cylinder,24 valve engineA potent horsepower that ranks as the highest in its classAccording to this body copy of the

33、advertisement, the addressee call has the hinted meaning of the headline: the heart is to the lion what the engine is to the car promoted, the Toyota Cressida. Perhaps the resemblance between “the heart is to alion” and “the engine is to a car” is never perceived by an addressee before. but here he

34、is forced to see some resemblances between them. Therefore, the addressee will link the lions heart to the engine in question and have the implicatures that the advertiser wants to show the engines strength and endurance. Now the unfamiliar Cressida concept is structured in terms of lion metaphorica

35、lly. Consequently we will conclude another conceptual metaphor “THE CRES SIDA IS A LION”. Then the addressee can further get the following assumptions:(1) a. The Toyota Cressida is powerful.b. The Toyota Cressida is very enduring.These implicatures are strongly supported by the advertiser for the re

36、ason that these are the first things which come to the addressees mind and are the daily experience of heart and lion. In our mind, lion is so powerful and enduring. Now, the Toyota Cressida has been the symbol of lion in our mind. For the sake of searching more contextual effects to balance his eff

37、ort in the processing of the metaphor, the hearer is therefore encouraged to find more implicatures: the advertiser wants to reveal that the Toyota Car Can run fast whether the road is good or bad that the Toyota car is the, most powerful car in the world. Here, we just use the dail3experience we ar

38、e familiar with to process the unknown object Toyota Cressida in our cognitive system. Because in our conceptual system, there is a basic concept “The lion is the King of the animal”. No doubt, Toyota Cressida is the king of the car world. Therefore, the still and motionless Toyota Cressida is activ

39、ated and become dynamic in our mind. The addresser just reached their selling idea successfully.3.2 Structural Metaphor in Verbal Advertisement Assisted by PictureAfter the discussion of structural metaphor in solely verbal English advertisement, structural metaphor also plays important parts in ano

40、ther kind of English advertisements-verbal advertisement assisted by picture. The difference between this kind of metaphor and what we elaborated in the last section is that this kind of metaphor is assisted by some visual elements, while the metaphor itself only contains verbal information. Without

41、 the visual parts, it is still a metaphor used to advertise the target product or service. The pictures here have two functions: to attractthe audiences attention and confirm the information conveyed by the verbal elements in the advertising. It is generally regarded that visual information can attr

42、act more attention than verbal information. One reason for the salience of pictures in advertising is due to peoples intuitive, and as an advertising professional Ogilvy points out, “Readers look first at the illustration (picture), then at the headline, then at the copy”(Lars Hermer6n, 1999: 72). A

43、nother reason is that people tend to pay· attention to things which require less effort to process and easy to understand pictures in the metaphors we are discussing can suit this need perfectly. The second function of pictures in the kind of metaphor we will deal with in this section is especi

44、ally useful in helping the addressee to get weak implicatures. This point will be specifically discussed with examples in this section.The examples we use to elaborate metaphors are a little bit more creative than the examples we used to elaborate solely verbal metaphors.The following is all adverti

45、sement appearing in Tanaka r2001: No 29)It is all advertisement about an attorneys officeExample 2: Free-the 1/2 hour that could save you thousands.Conceptual Metaphor in this paper can all be changed into the “A is B” concept in which A and B are both nouns. It is not difficult for the readers to u

46、nderstand that “thousand” in this example means “thousands of money”, so this example can be easily changed into the “T1ME IS MONRY” concept, because everybody in the modern informational world is quietly familiar with this concept. Also this concept can be developed into “TIME IS A LIMITED RESOURCE

47、” and “TIME 1S AVALUABLE COMMODITY” concepts “TIME IS MONRY” this concept has deeply rooted in everyones mind, especially in the highly developed industrialization western world Lakoff and Johnson regarded that the modernization process of developing countries is carrying out and accepting the conce

48、ptual metaphor “TIMEISMONEY”. And this conceptual belongs to the structural metaphor.So, the customers are inducted to see a similarity between the utterance and the thought expressed by the picture They may recover some of the following assumptions:(2) a. The first 1/2 hour in Cunningharn, Stein &a

49、mp; Walsh, E C. is free.b. In this 1/2 hour we can get a lot of professional consultation fromCunningham, Stein & Walsh, E C. about our problem.c. The first 1/2 hour can save us a lot of money.These three points and the utterance itself serve together to help the readers get the same concept, th

50、at is “TIME IS MONEY”. Being illustrated by the clock picture, the reader can easily comprehend this advertisement and remember it. So this advertisement gets its purpose by verbal utterance and the picture alongside. The utterance and the picture in this example serve as ostensive stimuli to attrac

51、t the readers attention and make the reader to process the advertisement in the way which is planned by the advertiser.From the analysis above, we call get the conclusion that the recovery of their pictures in (2) is due largely to the picture. Without such picture in this advertisement, the audienc

52、e may still be able to get the assumptions in (2) by the words themselves in Example 2. But the effect of conveying the selling idea will be even much weaker. This conforms to what we have stated before. that is. the appearance of the picture in the verbal metaphor makes some of the implicatures der

53、ived from the metaphor more justifiable.3.3 Structural Metaphor Presented Term Advertisement with One PictoriallyIn the last two parts, we used many examples to analyze structural metaphors in verbal advertisements used by advertisers. Then in this section, we will emphasize our attention on structu

54、ral metaphor in pictorial advertisements.Example 3:In this picture, the left side shows a big shoe put in the position of a tie and the right side is dominated by three shoes, a brand name and some other words. This picture will attract the readers attention at first sight for it is very odd to peop

55、les general knowledge It is our common sense that a suit always goes with a tie and shoes always go with feet or shoeboxes. However, in this picture a shoe is situated on the place where a tie should ordinarily be expected. The audiences are eager to know why the shoe is put on the place of a tie. S

56、ince this is a carefully designed ad. so it isimpossible for the advertiser to make mistake by putting a shoe there Bearing this in mind and reading the verbal information “Regardez mes chaussures (Look at these shoes!)” and “La ehaussure en beaute” (the beautiful shoes) it is easy for the audience

57、to find that this is a力advertisement for the Clerget shoes Then the audience call draw the conclusion that in this pictorial metaphor-SHOES ARE TIES This conceptual metaphor is rather creative. for we usually do not associate shoes with ties To ordinary people, shoes and ties are totally two different kinds of things Generally we believe that a tie is usually a symbol of beauty and formality. In this case the concept is reinforced by the verbal info