从文化角度研究图式差异在中英文广告语篇中的体现

1、从文化角度研究图式差异在中英文广告语篇中的体现 硕士学位论文 THESIS OF MASTER DEGREE论文题目:从文化角度研究图式差异在中英文 广告语篇中的体现 (英文):A study on Schemata Reflected in English and Chinese Advertisements from Cultural Perspective作 者: 王丹指导教师: 毕 玉 玲 2006年5月28日论文题目:(中文) 从文化角度研究图式 差异在中英文广告语篇中的体现(外文) A Study on Schemata Reflected in English and Chine

2、se Advertisements From Cultural Perspective所在院、系、所 :外国语学院英语系专专业、名、称 : 英语语言文学指专导专教专师姓专名、职专称 :毕玉玲副教授论文主题词: 文化;图式;广告;语篇分析学专习专期专限 : 2004 年 9 月至 2006 年 7 月论文提交时间:2006 年 5 月 独 创 性 声 明本人郑重声明:所呈交的论文是我个人在导师指导下进行的研究工作及取得的研究成果。尽我所知,除了文中特别加以标注和致谢的地方外,论文中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写的研究成果,也不包含为获得中国人民大学或其他教育机构的学位或证书所使用过的材料。 与我一同

3、工作的同志对本研究所做的任何贡献已在论文中作了明确地说明并表示了谢意。签名:王丹 日期: 2006.5.28 关于论文使用授权的说明本人完全了解中国人民大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定,即:学校有权保留送交论文的复印件,允许论文被查阅和借阅;学校可以公布论文的全部或部分内容,可以采用影印、缩印或其他复制手段保存论文。签名:王丹 导师签名: 毕玉玲 日期:2006.5.28 A STUDY OF SCHEMATA REFLECTED IN ADVERTISINGDISCOURSE FROM CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE_A Masters Thesis Presented to Th

4、e School of Foreign Languages Renmin University of China _In Partial FulfillmentOf the Requirements for the Master of Arts Degree _by Wang DanMay 2006论文摘要近年来,心理语言学与社会语言学的日益发展成熟,使得图式理论也越来越多地得到学者们的关注。图式论是认知心理学家们用以解释理解心理过程的一种理论。它的主要论点是,人们在理解新事物的时候,需要将新事物与已知的概念、过去的经历即背景知识联系起来。对新事物的理解和解释取决于头脑中已经存在的图式,输入的

5、信息必须与这些图式相吻合。 随着经济的全球化,跨文化交际活动越来越频繁。在与不同文化背景的人交往的过程中,人们认识到文化对交际的影响是微妙而深远的。不同文化背景的人在交际中对于同一种情形或同一段语篇有着不同的心理图式。引起这一不同的根源是其深层文化结构的巨大差异。本论文将试从文化的角度分析图式的差异在广告语篇中的体现。广告的艺术性决定了它具有强烈的民族特征。现代营销的市场定位又使广告必须适合目标市场消费者的民族文化口味,在这种形势下,广告的民族特征就更加显得突出,因此我们有必要对其进行分析研究。 第一章简要介绍了该论文的主题、文献综述及写作目的。作者在第二章中阐述了文化的基本概念、基本功能以及

6、文化与语言的关系,引入了图式这一核心概念,并综述了语篇分析被应用的情况并探讨了广告语篇作为文本分析的可操作性。系统功能语法的创始人韩礼德曾明确指出,他建构的功能语法的目的是为语篇分析提供一个理论框架,这个框架可以用来分析英语中任何口头语或书面语篇,因此作者将主要运用系统功能语法作为理论指导来分析英文广告语篇。 第三章具体分析了图式的差异在广告语篇中的体现。作者收集了大量的中英文广告语篇,按照时间和类别对其进行了详细的分类,包括:食品广告、服装广告、日用品广告、汽车广告以及公益广告这一较少被语言分析者注意的语篇形式。文章主要运用系统功能语法的分析方法对这五大类、近 60 例中英文广告进行了细致的

7、分析和探究。通过研究发现,广告中所反映出的中西方图式确实存在巨大差异。 第四章从文化行为的根源上探讨图式差异的深层结构,包括世界观(宗教)、家庭结构、历史和社会结构。这几种社会力量共同创造、传递、维护和强化一切文化中的基本要素,是造成图式差异的根源所在。此外,本文还对全球化环境下图式及文化的发展变化做出概括性的阐释。 第五章是对全文的总结,这里作者重申了图式差异在中英文广告语篇中的体现以及文化的深层结构对图式差异的影响,并就分析过程中发掘的新问题做出简要总结。 本文尝试对语篇分析在图式理论中的运用进行分析实践,由于语篇分析是一门年轻的学科,我国对外语语篇分析的研究起步较晚,其理论与方法有待于进

8、一步充实和探讨。希望本文对中西方图式差异的分析以及文化深层结构的剖析可以为困惑于跨文化交际中的人们带来一些启示,并希望通过本文的分析验证图式理论与语篇分析相结合的可行性。 关键词:文化;图式;广告;语篇分析Abstract The theory of schema has drawn the increasing attention of psycholinguistics and sociolinguisticsWhen people encounter new situations, there should be some sort of organization of the info

9、rmation which could help people to recall the relevant information from memory and that is called schemaDifferent cultures have different schemata towards the same event because people from a particular culture hold their unique philosophy in understanding the world and hence influence their way of

10、thinking and expressionThe underlying cause lies in the fact that the cultural and historical backgrounds of people differ dramatically The authors endeavor in this paper is to clarify the definition of the term “schema” and analyze Chinese and English advertisements to characterize the cultural imp

11、act on schemata in advertising discourseAltogether about 60 samples of English and Chinese advertisements have been collected including both commercial ads and public service announcementsThe author tries to make a comparison of the schemata between China and Western countries via application of the

12、 methodology in discourse analysisFurthermore, this paper also makes an attempt to go beneath the surface and explore the deep structure of culture from such perspectives as world view and social structure in order to account for those differences in schemataA closer examination reveals that along w

13、ith the development of society and the trend of cultural globalization, any culture is constantly changing and meanwhile the schemata of a people have been always changingThe study is worth undertaking in terms of practical as well as theoretical importance such as helping people understand cultural

14、 differences between Western countries and China, and hence help them to communicate with people from other cultures effectivelyKey words: culture; schemata; advertisements; discourse analysisAcknowledgementsI would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Bi Yuling, who has

15、 spent tremendous amount of time and energy on my thesis, for her constant encouragement and unflagging willingness to give me innumerable pieces of advice, and for lending me books, articles and other materialsHer patience and help have impressed me most profoundlyMy special thanks should go to Pro

16、f. Guo QingminIt was in one of his lectures that I knew about schema and discourse analysisHe has kindly raised suggestions which enlightened me a lot and has offered much valuable advice on possible ways of improving this thesisI am also very grateful to all the professors who have never spared the

17、ir efforts to help and encourage me over the past two years of study in Renmin UniversityThey are professors Zhang Yongxian, Diao Keli, Zhang Weiping, Li Shoujing, Sun Hong and Wang WeidongFinally, I would like to thank all my family members for their great support and deep concern for my life and s

18、tudyTable of ContentsPage Acknowledgements.viChapter 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Subject of This Study 11 1.2 Literature Review and the Writing Purpose12Chapter 2 Culture and Schema 15 2.1 Basic Concepts of Culture15 2.1.1 Definitions and Functions of Culture16 2.1.2 The Relationship between Language and

19、Culture. 18 2.2 The Definition of Schema20 2.3 Application of Advertising Discourse Analysis in Schemata 25 2.3.1 Discourse Analysis 25 2.3.2 Advertising Discourse. 26Chapter 3 An Analysis of Schemata Used in Chinese and English Ads 29 3.1 Methodology Applied in this Thesis. 29 3.2 Analysis of the A

20、dverting Discourse?Commercial Advertisements32 3.2.1 Discourse Analysis of Food Ads 32 3.2.2 Discourse Analysis of Clothing Ads. 38 3.2.3 Discourse Analysis of Ads of Daily Articles 44 3.2.4 Discourse Analysis of Cars Ads. 51 3.3 Analysis of Public Service Advertisements 56Chapter 4 Differences in S

21、chemata from Cultural Perspectives 61 4.1 Cultural Impact on Schemata Reflected in Advertising Discourse 61 4.1.1 From the Perspective of World View?Religious Orientation 61 4.1.2 From the Perspective of Family Structure. 65 4.1.3 From the Perspectives of Historical Influence and Social Structure 67

22、 4.2 The Application of the Cultural Schemata in International Advertisements 68Chapter 5 Conclusion72Bibliography 74Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Subject of This Study We live in an age when changes in technology, travel, economic and political systems have created a world in which we increasingly int

23、eract with people from different culturesAnd whether we like it or not, those interactions will continue to grow in both frequency and intensityPeople now know that culture affects communication in subtle and profound waysOur cultural backgrounds and experiences help determine how the world looks to

24、 us and how we interact in that worldIn the course of Discourse Analysis, this author came across the term “schema”When people encounter new situations, there should be some sort of organization of the information which could help people to recall the relevant information from memory and that is cal

25、led schemaIt is vital in communication, because if someone tells you a story about eating in a restaurant, he does not have to provide all the details such as being seated at the table, giving their order to the waiter or waitress, paying the bill at the end, as your schema for the restaurant experi

26、ence can fill in these missing detailsHowever, we find that, different cultures have different schemata towards the same event because people from a particular culture hold their unique philosophy in understanding the world and hence influence their way of thinking and expressionFor instance, in a r

27、estaurant, a Chinese customer seldom leaves any tips to the waiter or waitressHowever, this is not the case in USA, because in United States, waiters and waitresses live on customers tips instead of the salary given by managers as in ChinaThe underlying cause lies in the fact that the cultural and h

28、istorical backgrounds of people in America and China differ dramaticallyThis is what this author would like to unfold in this thesisAnalyzing by comparison and contrast, this paper will take Chinese and English advertisements as examples to study the cultural impact on schemata in advertising discou

29、rseThe study is worth undertaking in terms of practical as well as theoretical importance such as helping people understand cultural differences between Western countries and China, and hence help them to communicate with people from other cultures effectivelyDiscourse analysis should be added in th

30、e thesis since mere theoretical demonstration could not perfectly support these viewpointsThereupon this paper will select some dozens of advertisements since whenever we watch TV programs or read magazines, various kinds of advertising discourse could be picked up1.2 Literature Review and the Writi

31、ng PurposeWith the general growth of work on intercultural communication in many academic fields, it is hardly surprising that comparative cultural studies have attracted considerable attention in recent yearsIn A Comparative Study of Western and Chinese Cultures, Zhang Congyi is aiming at enabling

32、readers to gain a general idea of Western and Chinese arts and cultures in their various aspects as well as a better understanding of the history, development, present state, character, style and distinctive features of each cultural stage Qu Yanping in his Intercourse?a Step beyond Interlanguage st

33、ates that his dissertation is dedicated to a proposal for a comprehensive approach to cross-cultural discourse analysisSupported by sociolinguistic, cognitive and applied linguistic theories, he makes an attempt to explore the differences in pragmatic failure in the use of English by native speakers

34、 of ChineseThe written data include the invitation cards, aspects of business correspondence, envelope address and advertisementsM.A.K. Halliday, the initiator of functional grammar, points out clearly in An Introduction to Functional Grammar that he aims to offer a theoretical system for analyzing

35、any form of discourse in EnglishAs proved by the practice, functional grammar is the most suited way in analyzing discourseIn Theory and Practice of Discourse Analysis: a Study in Advertising Discourse, a piece of work wrote by Professor Huang Guowen, functional grammar is applied to analyze discour

36、se in an all-round wayProfessor Huang puts the focus on analyzing the advertising discourse in this research workA good number of advertisements are collected and analyzed in detail in this book, including some excellent commercial ads as well as a lot of public service adsThe application of functio

37、nal grammar in analyzing advertising discourse proposed by this book offered the methodological frame of this thesis Up to now, there has been little comprehensive study in the differences of schemata reflected in advertisements through analyzing advertising discourseTherefore, this paper makes an a

38、ttempt to fill in the gap by characterizing the intercultural differences reflected in schemata by means of analyzing the texts of advertisementsThe objective of the proposed study of the differences between Western and Chinese cultures will be to illustrate the differences of schemata reflected in

39、the advertisementsThis will be achieved by making a detailed analysis of dozens of English and Chinese advertising discourse Chapter 2 Culture and Schema 2.1 Basic Concepts of Culture Some people in Korea and Japan put dogs in their ovens, but people in the United States put them on their couches an

40、d bedsWhyPeople in Tehran sit on the floor and pray five times each day, but people in Las Vegas stand up all night in 1front of slot machinesWhySome people speak Tagalog ; others speak EnglishWhySome people talk to God, but others say there is no GodWhyThe general answer to these questions is the s

41、ame“People learn to think, feel, believe, and act as they do because of the messages that have been communicated to them and those messages all bear the stamp of culture” Samovar & Porter, 2004: 81Based on this omnipresent quality of culture, Hall gives us a conclusion that “there is not one asp

42、ect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture” E. T. Hall, 1959In many ways, Hall is correct: culture is everything and everywhereAnd more important, culture governs and defines the conditions and circumstances under which various messages may or may not be sent, noticed, or interpret

43、edWe do not arrive in this world knowing how to dress, what toys to play with, what to eat, which gods to worship, what to strive for, or how to spend our money and our timeCulture is an ancient yet young termIt is something that originated with the emergence of manThe origin of Western culture?acco

44、rding to textual criticism in philosophy, the English word culture came from the Latin word cultura, whose 1This is a language of people who are native to the Philippines and inhabiting Manila and its adjacent provinces earliest basic meaning was “cultivation, planting and crop”That was how ancient

45、Romans understand cultureCicero, who inherited this spirit of ancient Greek culture, came up with the term “culture mentis” mental cultivation, thus developing the spiritual aspect of the Greeks concept of cultureThe origin of Chinese culture?according to textual criticism in philology, the characte

46、r “文”, in bone-and-tortoise-shell inscriptions and bronze inscriptions, whose basic structure was the interpretation of four linesSo the original meaning of “文” was “crisscross”, implying that longitude, latitude, heaven, earth and nature crossed each otherSo the idea of “文” in ancient China, like t

47、hat of culture in ancient Greece, encompassed the two aspects of the natural world and mans cognition of it Zhang Congyi, 20042.1.1 Definitions and Functions of Culture Culture is difficult to define because it is a large and inclusive conceptCulture can be found in the local street, in our own city

48、 and country, as well as on the other side of the worldSmall children, teenagers, adults and older people all have their own cultures and meanwhile they may also share a culture There are hundreds of definitions of culture in the published worksThese definitions form a culture by themselvesOne of th

49、e authoritative definitions was given by the nineteenth-century anthropologist Taylor 1871: “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”Taylors definition of culture, however, seems to st

50、ress spiritual cultureSo some scholars from Japan, Britain and Russia put forward the view that culture is the sum total of the spiritual and material wealth of human society Baldwin, 2005Similarly, a Chinese scholar says, “Culture is a phenomenon peculiar to human society, a system that contains pe

51、oples modes of action and the material and spiritual products created by mans action.”Hall mentions that “Culture is those deep, common, unstated experiences which members of a given culture share, which they communicate without knowing, and which form the backdrop against which all other events are

52、 judged” Hall, 1966Hence, most of culture is taken for granted and below the conscious levelLearning about culture can therefore be a stimulating awakening as we give meaning to our actions and the actions of others The definition of culture maintains that culture consists of three chief elements Zhang Congyi, 2004: 6: a. Symbols, meanings and values?the means by which to interpret reality and standards by which to judge what is good and bad and what is right and wrong;b. Norms and rules?in