言语行为理论视角下英语广告词中隐喻研究

A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective

of Speech Act Theory

Abstract

A successful advertising idea not only visually attracts people,but also deeply impresses

and attracts the audience with its unique language expression,stimulating their value identification or strong motivation to purchase.A good copy of advertising is often inseparable from the exquisite language expression.It is inseparable from the proper use of rhetorical devices.As a commonly used rhetorical device,metaphor plays an important role in the creation of advertising copy.However,metaphor usually expresses the meaning out of words,not the literal meaning.Therefore,how to interpret the meaning of words contained in metaphor also determines the effect of advertising persuasiveness.

The theory of indirect speech act proposed by Searle in1979solves the problem of the relationship between literal meaning and illocutionary meaning,and puts forward eight analysis principles for the interpretation of the meaning of metaphorical indirect speech act.

Therefore,this study attempts to use the eight metaphorical principles of Searle to analyze metaphorical phenomena in English advertisements from the perspective of the theory of indirect speech acts.The purpose of this study is to explore how metaphors express the meaning of words and expressions in a literal sense so as to understand the metaphorical expression in advertisements profoundly and understand the effect of“persuasion”in advertisements.

The sampling criteria and linguistic data analysis of this study were based on English magazines such as Fortune,Times,Forbes,Business Week,and Advertising Times,as well as the widely advertised advertisements on the Internet.And select a metaphorical sample of advertisements to try to answer the following research questions:

1.What are the manifestations of the metaphor of indirect speech acts in

advertisements?

2.How do metaphors in English advertisements convey the meaning of illocution

through literal meaning,so as to realize the effective transmission of information?

The study found that the metaphorical discourse in the advertising example would have certain illocutionary behavior.Advertisers use metaphors to create good advertisements and make use of the variability of language expressions to impress people and achieve “persuasion”.The reader can explain and understand metaphor through Searle’s eight principles of metaphor,and then understand the advertiser’s utterance meaning.

This study aims to analyze the metaphors in advertising from the perspective of speech act theory,by analyzing the application of metaphor in advertisements,the theory is applied to advertisements,providing an accurate and in-depth understanding of advertising language for

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advertising readers.Moreover,the application of speech act theory in advertising analysis is not only for readers,but also for advertisers and language learners.

Key words:Metaphor;Speech Act Theory;Advertisement

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

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Table of Contents

摘要.............................................................................................................................................I Abstract......................................................................................................................................II

1Introduction (1)

1.1Background of the Study (1)

1.2Purpose of the Study (2)

1.3Significance of the Study (3)

1.4Research Methodology (3)

1.5Overview of Thesis (5)

2Literature Review (7)

2.1Study of Metaphor in Advertising (7)

2.1.1Definition of Metaphor (7)

2.1.2Function of Metaphor (8)

2.1.3The Features of Metaphor in Advertising (11)

2.2Relevant Researches Abroad and at Home (12)

2.2.1Relevant Researches Abroad (12)

2.2.2Relevant Researches at Home (13)

3Theoretical Foundations (15)

3.1Speech Levels (15)

3.2Classification of Speech Acts (16)

3.3Sealre’s Eight Principles of Metaphor (17)

4Analysis of Metaphor from Perspective of Speech Act Theory (19)

4.1Regroup Searle’s Eight Principles...........................................................................194.1.1Similarity Principle.......................................................................................194.1.2Connection Principle.....................................................................................224.1.3Condition Principle.......................................................................................254.1.4Relation Principle..........................................................................................284.1.5Synecdoche &Metonymy.............................................................................314.2Purpose-oriented Speech Acts..................................................................................344.2.1Commissives...............................................................................................344.2.2Persuading by Dissuading...........................................................................355Conclusion .. (38)

5.1Major Findings (38)

5.2Implications (39)

5.3Limitations of the Study (39)

5.4Suggestions for the Further Study (39)

References (41)

Appendix...................................................................................................................................43Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................

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1Introduction

Advertising is very common in our daily life.It is as large as international commercial advertisements,and as small as our daily roadside leaflets are advertisements.Therefore,all subjects have been studying the theme of advertising.Advertising is such an application language.In most advertisements,language conveys vital information.Therefore,each advertisement is carefully written by the author.Therefore,advertisements play an important role in the process of advertising and promoting products to consumers and inpiduals.We can easily see this in commercial advertising,which includes so-called prestige or benevolent advertising and industrial or trade advertising.Although there are various types of advertisements,in this paper,commercial consumer advertisements and prestige advertisements are mainly described because they emphasize persuasiveness more than factual information.

1.1Background of Study

On the surface,advertisements are generally“non-interactive”words,but in reality advertisements are essentially conversational,that is,advertisements are dialogues between advertisers and potential buyers.“Advertising takes many forms,but in most of them language is of crucial importance.The wording of advertisements is,in most cases,carefully crafted to meet particular ends.Sometimes it is intended to inform,but more often,and more importantly,to persuade and influence”(Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schroder,1985: Preface).Advertising has an irreplaceable social pragmatic function,and advertising has become an important area of pragmatics research.In traditional rhetoric,metaphor has been effectively adopted by advertisers and contributors.Metaphorical expressions make a great contribution to the characteristics of advertising language.For most advertisements,spoken texts may have more meaning than words,so advertisements are taken for granted from different perspectives such as rhetoric,linguistics,culture,pragmatics,and psychology.

Previous researches on metaphor in rhetoric have already made achievements and have far-reaching effects.Therefore,it is a challenge to make a thorough breakthrough in rhetoric research methods.

Advertisements have similar features and functions as general language behaviors.

Speakers,that is,advertisers and manufacturers,basically use the advertisements for the purpose of realizing the actual effect of a language outside the advertising audience through advertisement speech.In the eyes of advertisers,every reader is a potential buyer.They either urge the reader to do something or discourage them from doing something.For the purpose of the former,the advertising writer may through a request to prompt the reader to generate a desire to purchase,become a true consumer,or achieve the purpose of selling a product or service by praising flattery;in short,the former is such as the reader being advertised.

Attraction leads to a change in consciousness and emotional state,and even to some kind of

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

behavioral action,such as purchasing this product or receiving it.For the latter,advertisers have left a deep impression on the language distribution by providing advice,promises, warnings,etc,which in turn generate a desire to purchase.

1.2Purposes of Study

Today’s advertisements are more widely available to the public and they come from more classes.The main purpose of the advertising language is to transmit advertising information and make people understand the advertising information.This role is indelible,so the advertising language plays a fundamental and unparalleled role.In the process of marketing a product or service,if there is no advertisement,or if the advertisement has no content or even makes people feel boring,this will not serve the purpose of attracting consumers’attention,and it will be even less able to realize the intention of publicity.As one of the modern marketing methods,advertising has infiltrated people’s daily life and work more and more.As we have mentioned,leaflets sent by roadsides,or small advertisements affixed on the walls,turn on television,walk on the street,etc.And so on,the signs of advertising can be seen everywhere.Advertisements are increasingly affecting people’s life concepts and consumer awareness.We all know that a good advertising language is enduring and language charm cannot be overlooked.It is a powerful language carrier for communicating product producers and users.Excellent advertising language is vivid, humorous,interesting,or has profound meaning,it is memorable,advertising with warm emotions packaged products or services it packaged goods,so that people unknowingly to focus,or let consumers have a feeling of being concerned.However,the similarity and bad advertising language will bring the contrary feeling.Such advertisements are mechanical, monotonous,repetitive and cumbersome in terms of vocabulary selection,and some advertisements are not real,exaggerating facts and misleading consumers.Therefore,the correct and reasonable creation of advertising language also requires careful consideration.

This creative process can also be arduous,but it is also amazing.A.Lerome Jewler and Bonnie L.Drewniany(Creative Strategy in Advertising1998:103-137)describe the magic of copy writing and artistic director’s creation of advertisements.“As you place other headlines in other rectangles,you’ll probably think of still more ideas for words and pictures.Good!

Don’t stop until you’ve exhausted your topic,even if some of the ideas seem bizarre or ridiculous”.

In advertising,words can be expressed clearly or implicitly.This tells us that the original advertisements is pided into two forms,express language and suggestive language.In the fascinating aspect,various forms of verbal content play a more important role than non-verbal content,especially print advertising,because it can withstand the reader’s careful scrutiny and research.Other elements in the ad may also have engaging features,such as pictures and illustrations that make the advertising theme more visual.However,this article does not

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involve advertisement means other than advertising discourse,such as color,picture,and so on.It only uses the speech act theory of Austin and Searle as the basis to discuss the expression and skill of the speech act of advertising,thus revealing how does speech in the advertising effect play an active role.Therefore,the purpose of this dissertation is to see how speech acts are used in advertisements in metaphorical discourse as a whole,and in what way advertising readers interpret advertising language.The purpose of the advertiser’s persuasion is how to use the linguistic behavior to apply the metaphor in the advertisement.

1.3Significance of Study

In recent years,metaphor has become a hot topic in many disciplines both at home and abroad.Especially the cognitive function of metaphor has attracted more and more attention.

Metaphorical research should not only be limited to the rhetorical level,but should also be viewed from other interdisciplinary perspectives.Metaphor for further study.As a cognitive phenomenon,metaphor has an extremely wide and profound impact on human thinking, artistic creation,and language use.The widespread application of metaphor in English advertisement is a unique language expression of cognitive linguistics,a way of thinking that embodies the cultural background and values of pragmatics.Advertising is a metaphorical way to integrate concepts under people’s daily thinking.Based on known information,it links together unknown information and reintegrates it to produce new information.This process does not reflect the cultural background,cultural connotations and cultural features of language users all the time.Advertising with metaphor as the main means of expression satisfies the consumer’s cognitive needs of the product,and the manufacturer also achieves the purpose of publicity and sales.The English advertisement highlights Western cultural values and it is a new cultural shock for our Chinese consumers.Metaphor as a linguistic phenomenon and cognitive behavior,English advertisements have been widely used in advertising because of their unique rhetorical and expressive effects.Therefore,the metaphor in the English advertisements for the expression of Western values also has a certain guiding significance for advertising production and understanding.By analyzing the application of metaphor in commercial advertisements,the theory is applied to commercial advertisements, which provides an accurate and in-depth understanding of advertising language for advertising readers.It shows that the use of advertisement language has a wide creative space and can leave enough room for readers to imagine.Moreover,the application of speech act theory in advertising analysis is not only for readers,but also for advertisers and language learners.

1.4Research Methodology

3.In general,the purpose of this dissertation is to observe how metaphorical discourse is

used in commercial advertisements,and in what way advertisement readers interpret the advertisement language.The purpose of the persuasion of the advertiser is how to achieve the

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

metaphorical language behavior in advertisements.This thesis attempts to analyze the metaphors in the English commercial advertisements using the concept of the eight principles of metaphorical theory,and to understand whether the metaphors in the advertisements have systematic correspondence.In order to achieve the research goal,this study sets up the following research questions:1.What are the manifestations of the metaphor of indirect speech acts in advertisements?2.How do metaphors in English advertisements convey the meaning of illocution through literal meaning,so as to realize the effective transmission of information?

With regard to sample selection,this study chose magazine ads and newspaper advertisements.There are two reasons for this exclusive choice.First of all,print advertisements are easier to store than TV advertisements are easier to study.Second,because TV commercials use the combined effects of sound and pictures,the effect of this is incompletely copied and studied in articles of limited length,and printed text advertisements can be duplicated as a whole.For the advertising sample,the sample survey method was selected.Samples were collected from commercial magazines with metaphorical discourses from Fortune,Forbes,Business Week,Time,Advertising Age,and others were selected from the internet.The rationale for the selection is that they have a high volume of sales worldwide,

a broad readership,and can,to a certain extent,serve as exemplary advertisements for

advertising research.As mentioned above,these samples from magazines were selected from the library of Liaoning Normal University and formed a language database.And the author screened out the final sample according to the eight principles of Metaphor’s metaphor,of which about127advertisements were selected using metaphor.When the advertising sample analysis started,the representative advertising was selected for analysis.Several of these ads were used to analyze more than one metaphorical speech act.

This study intends to conduct a qualitative analysis based on speech act theory.Through examining the selected advertisements,this study tries to explore metaphorical languages, especially how English promotes advertisers and writers to influence the effect of advertising readers from the perspective of speech act theory.According to Searle’s eight principles,the advertisements are classified according to his description of“The Expression and Significance:A Study of Speech Act Theory”.The original theory was modified slightly,and the first six principles were regrouped according to the degree of similarity and pided into three groups.The seventh principle was a group of inpiduals,and synecdoche and metonymy were grouped together.In each set of examples,the metaphors in the slogan will be analyzed in detail and help the reader to understand and analyze the connotation of the advertisements so that the advertisement analysis will be more applicable to related ideas and viewpoints.

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1.5Overview of Thesis

The first chapter mainly introduces the background of study,purposes of study, significance of study and overview of thesis.And outlines the research design scheme,points out the research methods,the advertising sampling standards,and the basis for language data analysis.The advertisements used were from the English magazine Fortune,Time,Forbes, Business Week,and Advertising Age.The rationale for the selection is that they have a high volume of sales worldwide,a broad readership,and can,to a certain extent,serve as exemplary advertisements for advertising research.

The second chapter introduced metaphor,metaphor,as a linguistic phenomenon or a cognitive behavior,is widely used in slogans because of its unique rhetorical functions and expression effects.The use of metaphor not only makes the advertisements concise,lively, novel and enlightening,but also expands the discourse,expands the association,makes the discourse more appealing and expressive,reinforces the artistic charm of the slogan,and achieves the function of“persuasion”.The analysis of metaphorical rhetoric concept by Searle in1979using speech act theory has given it a new meaning.

The third chapter makes a brief review of the study of speech act theory,and can make appropriate adjustments and supplements to the structure of the sub-lingual behaviors(acts, propositional actions,and behavioral/external behaviors).A simple analysis of Searle’s metaphorical analysis of eight principles,to prepare for the classification of advertising examples in the fourth chapter.

The fourth chapter analyzes and explains the relevant data of metaphors in advertisements.Focus on advertising instance analysis.Searle’s level of speech acts has been increased and enriched in metaphor analysis.Mainly for the basic content of the eight principles of Searle’s metaphor theory and the function of context in metaphor comprehension, it simply expounds,analyzes and evaluates.The writer regrouped the eight principles.Some of the advertising examples have been fully analyzed as examples.It is the purpose of all advertisers how to make advertising readers understand,understand,and understand the advertising language.Providing a way to identify and parse metaphorical languages is an important way to help it.It also mentioned that metonymy and synecdoche are two special types of metaphors.There are four phenomena in the existing advertising example:partial substitution in the whole,abstraction and substitution in between concrete and replacing feature owners with typical features.Based on the three most important dimensions applied to distinguish one speech act from another,Searle’s taxonomy includes five general categories.

Five classes of illocutionary acts under Searle’s classification,assertives,directives, commissives,expressives and declaratives contribute to the metaphorical interpretation of advertising in very different ways.A quite big number of assertives are applied in metaphorical utterances,and some perform directive acts.Searle’s characterization of assertives that they should be either true or false has to be modified because the writer boasts

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

in a certain degree in advertising language.Directives and commissives are popularly applied.

Implied directives are found in assertions,and implied commissives in assertions and directions.The implied commissives,either in assertions or directions,are found in metaphorical utterances under the guide of persuading purpose of advertising.The intention of persuading can also be achieved through dissuading in“don’t”or“isn’t”sentences, reminding and warning of“wrong”doings.

The fifth chapter summarizes the full text,answers the research questions,and puts forward the limitations of this paper.

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2Literature Review

2.1Study of Metaphor in Advertising

2.1.1Definition of Metaphor

With the continuous development of the commodity economy,commercial advertisements are increasing day by day,and there is a trend of persification and persification of commercial advertisements.A better understanding of the advertising law and a better understanding and use of implied language in advertisements will not only help the smooth progress of commodity trading,but also help avoid losses and reduce disputes.

Austin’s speech act theory plays a non-negligible role in understanding and interpreting implied language.

The implied language in advertising is the promotion and application of Austin’s speech act theory.It is an outstanding manifestation of this theory in Chinese commercial language.

Speech act theory is the basis of linguistic and theoretical foundation for understanding implied language.

In English,metaphor is different from similes,not represented by like or as,but is a rhetorical device that performs hidden comparisons.From the perspective of etymology.In English,the word metaphor comes from Greek,meta contains across,and phor expresses carry.Therefore,the original meaning of metaphor is a movement of“there and the other”,a kind of transformation.The metaphors and metaphors in rhetoric have gradually been fixed and become regular meanings.Since Aristotle,the concept of“metaphor is not explicitly stated,simile is an illustrated metaphor”has been generally accepted and advocated,and expressions often use the word“is”to bring out metaphor and use“like”characters to bring out similes.

Metaphor is the perception,experience,imagination,understanding,and talking about the psychological behaviors,linguistic behaviors,and cultural behaviors of such things under the cues of those things.Regarding metaphor,Webster B New World Dictionary makes the explanation:“a figure of speech containing an implied comparison in which a wont or phrase ordinarily and premier used for one thing is applied to another”.This explanation is concise, that is,metaphor is a rhetoric that implies metaphor.Metaphor is firstly a kind of behavior and thought,and then it is expressed in the form of language.It is generally believed that metaphor is to put together two different conceptual domains of things,using the similarities between the two to allow the reader to understand the more difficult one through a relatively easy to understand conceptual domain.However,the creative characteristics of metaphor indicate that it does not simply depend on the objective similarities between the originating model and the objective model.The only similarity with metaphor is the people’s life experience,not the objective similarity existing between the objects.

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The theory of speech act is the basis of Searle’s eight metaphor principles analysis.The study of metaphor has a long history of research on speech act theory,and studies based on speech act theory should not be attributed to any inpidual of metaphor scholars or pragmatists.Early practical research on metaphor can be traced back to H.P.Grice,who believed that metaphor,like satire and exaggeration,violated the quality principle in the cooperative principle and tried to solve the problem that causes metaphor comprehension.But Grice did not elaborate on the issue of metaphor when he elaborated the principle of cooperation.J.R.Searle tried to explain Grice’s metaphor theory and made a systematic study of metaphor using speech act theory.Searle learned from the inquiry and discussion of the speech act of J.L.Austin observed and studied the metaphor from the perspective of speech act, and modified and corrected Austin’s rhetoric and amendment.On the basis of pointing out the mistakes and irrational facts of comparative theory and interactive theory,he pointed out that metaphor was one of the special circumstances in which there is a breakthrough between“the speaker's utterance meaning”and“literal expression”.Metaphorical meaning is always the speaker’s utterance meaning.Trying to figure out“How do metaphors work?”and“How do we express meaning from words to metaphoric words?”,Searle proposed three steps the listener must go through.“First,he must have some strategy to decide if he One must first look for a metaphorical explanation of the discourse.Second,when he decides to look for a metaphorical explanation,he must have some strategy or principle to calculate the possible value of R.Third,he must have a set of strategies or principles to limit the scope of R.R decide which R may be the speaker’s claim S to identify metaphors”(Searle1979:105).P is sentence meaning,literal meaning;R is utterance meaning;S is object.Searle opened the discussion of the relationship between“literal meaning”and“discourse meaning of intentional speakers”.These relationships were systematic,not random.It was pointed out that metaphor was one of the special cases in which there was a disagreement between the speaker’s utterance meaning and its literal meaning(Searle1979:105-106).Metaphor is not a single speech act;metaphorical meaning is always the speaker’s utterance meaning.

Persuasion means that inpiduals(or groups)use certain strategies to influence the ideas and behaviors of others(or groups)through the transmission of information symbols so as to achieve the intended purpose.Metaphor,as a special expression of information symbols,of course,can also realize persuasive functions.Persuasion usually means some change in attitude,sometimes it also means that the original attitude is strengthened.Attitude is the tendency to affirm or negatively reflect on something.The reason why the attitude changes, according to the theory of information integration is because attitude-information system (attitude-information system)is affected by the information it absorbs,and all information has the potential to affect attitudes.

2.1.2Function of Metaphor

Aristotle believes there are three forms of persuasion:ethos,pathos,and logos.The

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appeal of character depends on the character of the speaker.If we want to persuade someone, we can only persuade the other person if we say something that makes us believe that we are trustworthy people.Aristotle said:“Good people are more willing to believe good people than others.”The second means of persuasion is emotional recourse,which is to achieve the purpose of persuasion by mobilizing the emotions of others.When we feel a feeling,this feeling is clear and specific.It is related to something.Emotions are about the emotions of a certain object,so emotions reflect judgments.Emotional recourse depends on the introduction of the listener into a particular mood.“When we are happy and friendly,our judgments are not the same as when we feel miserable and hostile.”If someone’s feelings are excited in a certain direction,it’s easy.Persuaded.The reason appeal depends on the appropriate argumentation form used by the speaker in a particular case to explain the reasoning.It emphasizes logical analysis,factual presentation,and reasoning.Representative Kenneth Burke,the famous rhetorician of contemporary American“new rhetoric”,believes that through“the same”,one can obtain a change in attitude or attitude.Burke’s“same”concept is synonymous with“consub-stantiation”.The“substance”shared by people forms the“same”

basis between them.“To make A and B the same,is to make A and B the same body.”“Same”

can be conscious or unconscious.The same is the condition and reason for persuasion.

Persuasion is the same result.People can achieve the same in terms of property,and they can also achieve the same ideas.When we persuade a person,we can persuade him only if we speak in his language,use the same gestures,have the same ideas or opinions.

Advertising is both an art and a science.Art comes from its writing,design,and fascinating information expression;science comes from its strategic thinking.Advertising information is not an arbitrary momentary inspiration;information is expressed in order to achieve specific goals.Therefore,there are specific advertising strategies to achieve the advertising goals of each advertisement.Metaphor,as a way of cognition and thinking,is applied to slogans.It can invisibly shorten the distance between goods and advertising audiences,make strange information become inexplicable,and reduce deliberate indoctrination or forcible feelings.It is easy for people to accept.The abnormal collocation in metaphorical expression can not only evoke normal associations and corresponding images, but also induce advertising audiences to imagine the images formed by new collocations.

Therefore,metaphorical expression is an important means of advertising strategies.

Commercial advertising belongs to a special style or style.Its creation is influenced and contained by the elements that make up the context and communicative context.In this communicative activity,the speaker is the advertiser,the receiver is the majority of potential consumers,and the purpose of the communication is that the advertiser wants to attract consumers to purchase their goods or services.Then how do the three abstract concepts of advertisers,consumers,and products/services in the cognitive system of people are reflected in the concrete discourse?What kind of metaphor will be formed?Are these metaphors

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systematic?With these issues,after collecting and analyzing advertisement discourses in foreign English magazines,we found that the metaphor of commercial organizations that play the roles of advertisers,that is,“Commercial Organizations Are People”are embodied in many expressions and can form a system.

Advertisers are generally commercial companies.For the metaphor of the concept of a commercial company institution,similar metaphors have been summarized in previous studies of other corpus.For example,Huang Hua analyzes conceptual metaphors in business discourse.The corpus is Chinese.In the form of a questionnaire survey,she came up with business concept metaphors about trading activities,commercial activities,markets,and companies,and analyzed them.In his questionnaire,the metaphor of“company is man”was widely recognized by professional managers,but the study did not provide a detailed analysis of this metaphorical system.In other studies of English monolingual corpus,there is also the concept metaphorical system of“ORGANIZATIONS ARE PEOPLE”.It can be seen that the metaphor of“Commercial Organizations Are People”“business organizations are people”

has certain typicality.

Metaphor has been widely used in advertising discourse.It can not only express the affair clearly,vividly and vividly,but also communicate with advertising authors and advertising audiences to lay the foundation for persuasion.It can also induce and even drive the audience to“submit”.It can be said that metaphors in advertisements can persuade advertising audiences to adopt the desired actions of advertisements through character appeal, emotional appeal,and rational appeal.

Example1

Can Bon,release the man’s“tiger”.(An advertisement for a health care product that has been broadcast on media many times)

In this example,the word“tiger”used by the advertising author is an explicit stimulus, which should be associated with the context and attract the attention of the audience.The advertising audience must work hard to deal with the possible hypothesis expressed by this word:“Tiger”is a fierce,cruel animal;it is a carnivore;it is known as“the king of the forest”

and so on.If these assumptions are placed in the current context,contradictions will arise because the audience clearly finds that the advertising authors are not talking about such quadrupeds,so continue to reason about the meaning of the“tiger”.In the end,it will be discovered that the word may reveal the essential abstract feature of“vigorous life”and transfer this feature to men.This understanding is related to the context.In this sentence, words other than“tiger”are easy to understand,so it can be said that the audience has already found the relevant assumptions of this sentence.In addition,this assumption strengthens the current context.In this way,the audience achieves effective contextual effects through relevant information processing and establishes the best relevance.

Of course,the advertising author introduces the unique advantages of the product to the

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advertising audience through metaphor.People are easily tempted about this kind of product.

From the point of view of rational appeal,this advertising information is highly logical, highlights the health care features of products,and has the effect of persuasion.From the emotional appeal point of view,although the metaphor here is not the instigation of the naked feelings,the feelings such as“belief”and“want”can still be inspired.“belief”is due to the use of metaphor to embody the effect of the product;“want”is because once you take this product,you can have extraordinary vitality.It is not difficult to find here that it is a metaphor that connects the advertising bridge between the author and the audience.It has played an unusual role in the persuasive function.

Example2

When he was young,he wrote hope;when he was middle-aged,he wrote hard work;

when he was old,he wrote valuable experiences.(a pen advertisement)

In this advertisement,the words used by advertising writers are still expressly stimulating,so it is easy to attract the attention of the audience.As long as the effort is exerted, the audience can infer the intention of the advertising author.In the current context,“hope”

refers metaphorically to the young people’s optimistic thoughts about their future;“hard work”refers to the hardships that the middle-aged people themselves make during the fight;

“valuable experience”Metaphor for all kinds of valuable knowledge,skills,or feelings that seniors acquire during their life journey.

We believe that this advertisement is successful.It introduces the advertising audience into the thinking of the three processes of life.The audience can easily empathize with one of the stages and their current situation,so that the contents of the advertisement To meet the emotional needs of consumers,it is easy to reach an emotional resonance.While feeling attentive,the trust in advertising arises in the heart.It can be said that the means of emotional recourse is well understood through metaphor.

In the article above,we analyzed how advertising writers used metaphors to successfully implement their persuasive functions in advertising.Of course,resorting to various means of exploitation,the advertising writer will appropriately select one or several means according to the performance of advertising products and the position of advertising creativity,so as to achieve the result of persuading consumers to purchase their products.

2.1.3The Features of Metaphor in Advertising

One of the major features of the human mindset is ambiguity.The so-called“sounds outside of the string”,“meaning outside the word”,“only knowing what to say,and not being able to express”are just the special experiences of our language.Although the advertising language is required to be concise and easy to understand at first,the vagueness and conciliatory nature of the advertising language can make the advertising language rich in association,greatly increasing the artistic appeal of advertising.Because metaphor is to recognize another field through the cognitive of a certain field,each person’s understanding

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and understanding of a certain field is not the same,that is,each person’s cognitive structure and knowledge are illustrated differently,and because of a certain metaphor The effect of personal effects is not the same.If it is reflected in two cultural groups,then the gap is even greater.Therefore,the“other field”conveyed by the metaphor in cosmetics has a certain difference for everyone.For example,Petal-drops:for the girl who wants a petal-soft skin.

But what is petal-soft skin?It will affect females’pursuit of beauty,and it will make women more persistent with this intriguing beauty.

Metaphors highlight certain features of the source domain and the target domain during application,hiding other features.This is because in the process of understanding,people’s thinking is caused by contextual restrictions.In the process of understanding discourse,we will exclude some factors that are not related to context,and then focus on the metaphorical features that have the greatest relevance to the context.For example,it is said that the Prince awakened the sleeping beauty.In fact,it was Clairol.The prince could discover this secret?

(Clairol shampoo).The story of the Prince and Sleeping Beauty in this advertisement was familiar to everyone,but here it is.Are you telling a story?No,here’s just borrowing these two characters to suggest that your prince can find“Clairol”to make you a Sleeping Beauty.

This characteristic feature of cosmetics is self-evident,allowing the reader to follow the advertiser’s intentions,understand his expectations,and then generate the desire to buy.

Concreteness is another big thinking feature of the peoples of the world.People are accustomed to image thinking and like specific,visual,and intuitive languages.The advertising language is full of metaphor,which will make it vivid.For example,The most sensational place to wear satin is on your lips.The image of“satin”is vivid.After you use this lipstick,the effect is vivid.

The ambiguity and metaphor of metaphor are not contradictory.It is the unity of contradiction.Metaphor is the process by which two concepts seek to unify.In this context, two concepts,the concept of the source domain and the target domain,are unified in the listener’s or reader’s mind,while others are not.And unity are their concreteness;if agreement is not reached,only fuzzy curve interpretations are ambiguous,and this process includes prominence,some features are highlighted,and some are concealed.They are all achieved under the context of specific contexts.

2.2Relevant Researches Abroad and at Home

2.2.1Relevant Researches Abroad

In the book Metaphors in Advertising writen by Charles Forceville,the author selected Britain,France,and Germany.The different types of advertisements in countries like Denmark and Denmark are analyzed,so research is relatively objective.The author of the article mainly uses the relevance theory as a basis to classify the metaphors in advertisements and analyzes in detail how metaphors in advertisements are used as a tool to accomplish its

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辽宁师范大学硕士学位论文

communicative functions.Walter Nash wrote a book entitled“Persuasive Wit”,although he did indulge in graphics frameworks and terminology.Torben Vestergaard and Kim Schroder analyzed the role of advertising in the buying and selling activities of the capitalist economy.

They think that advertising can satisfy both material needs and social needs.No one wants to buy a product unless it is useful to him or her.Once an advertiser wants to apply for any social use value for his product,he/she will definitely leave the information field and enter the persuasion area.Dr.Navin Mathur released a perfect list of advertising languages.He said that the job of advertisers is to make advertising effective.In addition to choosing the right advertising media,writing effective copies is crucial.Advertising copies must be attractive, suggestive,memorable,trustworthy,emotionally instinctive,and of course persuasive.

2.2.2Relevant Researches at Home

Li Zhonghang is more concerned with language manipulation in advertisements.He believes that the main purpose of advertising is to attract advertising readers into the advertising world,while the visualized language serves advertising content and promotion purposes.He believes that advertisers’jobs are both difficult and creative.They are ambitious, but they must also be sensitive.To draw attention to memory that is persistent and readable, some grammar frameworks will be broken and words will not play properly.Zhang Henan’s Conceptual Integration Perspective of Metaphor in English Advertising provides a detailed explanation of the construction of metaphorical meaning in English advertisements,again confirming the powerful explanatory power of conceptual integration theory for reconstructing meaning.The author points out that applying this research result to English teaching and metaphor translation practice can help students better understand metaphor and metaphor translation,which has certain implications for our future metaphor teaching and metaphor translation.

Liang Yuanbing’s research on the English-language business weekly magazine’s advertising in the article“From the Cognitive Perspective of the Metaphor in Advertising”has drawn a conceptual metaphor ordination map based on concrete corpus.He found that the frequently occurring source domains in the print advertisement corpora were:life,journey, construction,sports,war,or struggle.The article also draws the following conclusions:(1) The foundation of conceptual metaphor is experiential.The perception and experience of people’s contact with the outside world has a crucial role in understanding advertising metaphors;(2)conceptual metaphors are systematically projected,and the source domain maintains the internal image schema structure;(3)in the journey An in-depth study of the source domain reveals that advertisers have a clear bias towards the selection of source domain features;(4)Even if they share the same source domains,such as journey and living organisms,different conceptual metaphors project from the source domain to The choice of characteristics of the target domain is also clearly biased.As the author of the article said,the article once again confirms the correctness and scientificity of conceptual metaphors.

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

2.3Summary

The theory of speech act of linguistics is improving day by day and its position in linguistics plays a decisive role.This theory has penetrated into every aspect of our lives, greatly facilitated our lifestyle,and involved sociolinguistics,applied linguistics,and even other non-linguistic fields.Austin’s speech act theory is not only the basic linguistics of the implied language in the Advertising Law,but also the powerful evidence for the judicial interpretation of the implied language in the Advertising Law.It affects and restricts the Advertising Law.The existence,growth and application of implied language in Chinese.As we all know,advertising information is not only a reflection of the actual value of objects,but also more abstract meanings.Therefore,the quality of advertisements determines the quality of advertisements.I believe that in the near future,Austin’s speech act theory will also develop along with the continuous improvement of commercial advertising,so as to better guide business practices.A successful advertisement always makes a deep impression on the audience under the action of the advertising speech act,which has a strong impact.This thesis starts with Austin's speech act theory and Searle’s indirect speech act theory,and analyzes the two ways in which advertisers achieve their propaganda and promotion purposes through advertising language,including direct speech act and indirect speech act.With the development of the times,the second approach has become increasingly popular among advertisers,vendors,and audiences.

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辽宁师范大学硕士学位论文

3Theoretical Foundations

3.1Speech Levels

When it comes to speech act theory,it must be mentioned that Austin and Searle,Austin introduced linguistic theory in about the1960s,which is about how to use language theory.

Once the theory was put forward,it attracted the attention of linguists.Austin’s speech act theory covers two aspects.The first aspect involves the linguistic unit and the intentional function it brings.From this point of view,sentences are pided into acts and expressions.In the second aspect,he pides the theory of linguistic acts into intra-and extra-indicative acts.

And after-behavioral behavior.Intra-lingual behavior refers to the whole process of using sound to speak all meaningful discourses and refers to narrative behaviors.The act of illocutioning refers to the intention expressed by the acts within the verb.These intentions are often implicit and indirect,indicating why the narrator must say so.He needs the listener to judge and reason on his own.In this sense,illocutionary behavior has the meaning of “meaning outside of words”and is also a part that uses metaphor.Post-behavioral refers to the effect or influence of discourse on the listener,such as making him happy,cheering,and making him angry.For example,according to Austin’s speech act theory,when in a room with open window,one person said:I am a bit cold.The in-line behavior of this sentence is to speak out the pronunciation of the four words,and to convey his thoughts through these pronunciations;the outside of the action is to make people know that he is a bit cold,please close the window,of course,she does not say this intention directly;the act of speech is other people close the window or explain the reason why not to close the window after hearing this sentence.

Austin’s student,Searle systematically developed Austin’s speech act thoughts,revealed the useful preconditions for realizing various speech acts,elaborated the principles and classification criteria of speech acts,and proposed the extraordinary theory of indirect speech act theory.There are two problems to be solved in the theory of indirect speech act:(1)how the writer uses the surface text to express the indirect“meaning outside of the word”;(2)how the listener expresses its indirect“intentional meaning”from the surface text of the writer.

The components that influence the understanding of indirect speech acts are multifaceted, depending on the wording structure and genre of the wording,as well as the common sense framework,identity background,and deductive reasoning of the hearers.

Compared with general speech acts,the most prominent feature of slogans is that they have more prominent persuasive tendencies and clearer intentions than ordinary languages, which is the purpose of persuasion we mentioned.Advertisements are actually intended to persuade advertising audiences to buy their own products.According to Austin’s speech act theory and Searle’s theory of indirect speech act,the speech acts in advertisements are also pided into two categories.One is the use of internal acts to directly express the intention of

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

speech or the power beyond words.It is expressed in the advertising language.The most straightforward words of the advertising business express their intention to promote their products or services.The biggest feature of such advertising language is often to place the advertising audience in the second person.The language is friendly and easy to understand.

For example,Things go better with Coco-Cola.(Coco-Cola)drink Coca-Cola,and everything goes well.(Coca-Cola)This advertisement is a direct indication of the intention of promoting a product or service.It expresses the verbal behavior directly through logical semantics and highlights the refreshing experience of drinking Coca-Cola.Another example is that Smart people have always held gold.A Parker75ball pen in precious metal is dramatic in hand,decisive on paper.This advertisement is also the application of words within the act, reflecting the Parker pen gold noble.

The other category is the use of illocutionary behaviors,where speech acts are performed on the basis of appropriate indirect speech acts and are expressed in slogans.Their language is expressed in an implicit way,using metaphorical expressions.Advertising language is artistic.

It is difficult for advertising audiences to think of the purpose and intention of the promotion at a glance.It will only be understood after careful consideration,but it will leave a deeper impression.This is why metaphor is widely used in modern commercial advertising.

For example,Anything is possible.There is no impossible thing.(Toshiba Electronics) Take TOSHIBA,take the world.Toshiba has the world.(Toshiba Electronics)Let's make things better.Let us do better.(Philips Electric)

This Toshiba Electronics ad makes people feel the power of their electronic products,as long as you have Toshib’s electronic products,you can understand the world of events.Philips Electronics is focused on excellence and reassure consumers that it is also respectful of its dedication.

3.2Classification of Speech Acts

Austin’s five classes are:Verdictives,the giving of a verdict;Exercitives,the exercising of powers,rights,or influence;Commissives,promising or undertaking;Behabitives,to do with attitudes and social behavior;Expositives,making plain how our utterances fit into the course of an argument or conversation.

Based on the three most important dimensions applied to distinguish one speech act from another,Searle’s taxonomy includes five general categories.Five classes of illocutionary acts under Searle’s classification,assertives,directives,commissives,expressives and declaratives contribute to the metaphorical interpretation of advertising in very different ways.No advertising utterances have declarative speech acts.Ads have the unique character of open perlocutionary effect on readers in a public,one-way communication;while declarative acts are of both words-to-world and world-to-words directions of fit.The inevitable exaggeration in advertising metaphors owns low degree of validity.Secondly,there are not the expressives

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辽宁师范大学硕士学位论文

purely stating psychological state with words like“thank”,or“apologize”and etc.Thirdly,a quite big number of assertives are applied in metaphorical utterances,and some perform directive acts.Searle’s characterization of assertives that they should be either true or false has to be modified because the writer boasts in a certain degree in advertising language.Fourthly, directives and commissives are popularly applied.Implied directives are found in assertions, and implied commissives in assertions and directions.The implied commissives,either in assertions or directions,are found in metaphorical utterances under the guide of persuading purpose of advertising.The intention of persuading can also be achieved through dissuading in“don’t”or“isn’t”sentences,reminding and warning of“wrong”doings.

3.3Sealre’s Eight Principles of Metaphor

Searle agreed to use“is”and“like”to distinguish between metaphor and simile,but did not agree that simile was an illustrative metaphor.Searle provided a formula for metaphor: The speaker says that S is P,meaning that S is R.Searle separated the meaning of the speaker from the meaning of the statement or the meaning of the statement and the meaning of the statement.In the case of P given,Searle introduced the following eight principles of calculating R to explain metaphors.

Principle1:P things are R by definition.In general,if the metaphor works,R will be a prominent defining feature of P.For example,Mary is a Venus and will be understood as Mary is beautiful and intelligent,because beautiful and intelligent is the characteristic of Venus.

Principle2:P things are R accidentally.If the metaphor works,the property R should be

a prominent or well-known property of the food P.For example,when it is having a meal,

someone said:Bill is a pig,and it will be understood that Bill is greedy and untidy.At this meal,Bill eats a lot and gorges.

Principle3:P Things are often said or believed to be R,even though both the speaker and the listener may know that R is false for P.For example,bill is a fox and it can be understood that bill is awkward,smart,or clever,etc.

Principle4:P things are not R,they are neither like R things,nor are they believed to be R.However,one fact about our emotions is that,out of cultural or natural determinism,we do realize a connection that makes that P has to say in our mind that it is related to the nature of R.For example,Sally is a big piece of ice,I am blue,Mary is sweet,and John is black.These statements can be understood as Sally is indifferent,I am sad,Mary is grace,kind,or beautiful,John is frustrated and angry.

Principle5:P things are not like R things,and they are not believed to be like R things.

However,the state of P is similar to that of R.For example,you have become a big man.The meaning here does not mean that this person has really become the nobleman’s top ten person, but his new status or status is like the status or status of a big man or a nobleman.

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A Study on Metaphors in English Advertisements from the Perspective of Speech Act Theory

Principle6:In some cases,P and R are the same or similar in meaning,but in these cases, one of them,usually P,is limited in its use and is not literally suitable for R.For example,“corruption”literally applies only to foods such as eggs,but we can metaphorically say that the corruption of the Congress means that the government has a problem,or that his brain is corrupt,that this person is doing something wrong or I think there are some problems with him.

Principle7:This is not an independent principle,but a way to apply the original one to the principle six in a simple case.These simple cases are not the form of“S is P”but the metaphor of relations and other syntactic forms such as those metaphors which involve verbs and predicate adjectives.For example,Bill eats books and ships to the sea.Washington is the father of his country.The task of the listener here is not from“S is P”to“S is R”.Instead,go from“SP-Relationship S”to“SR-Relationship S”.

Principle8:Treating synecdoche and metonymy as two metaphorical special cases.

When people say that“S is P”and“S is R”,the relationship between P and R may be associated by such relations as the part-whole relation,the container-contained relation,or even the clothing and wearer relation.For example,by using the system’s associative principle,the British monarch is called the“crown”and the US government’s administrative department is called the“White House”.

The writer regrouped these eight principles into four groups,it will be introduced in details in Chapter four.

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