Features of Diction, Syntactic Structure and Rhetoric in Commercial English Advertisement

Features of Diction, Syntactic Structure and Rhetoric in Commercial English AdvertisementAbstractIn modern society, with the rapid development of economy, modern commercial English advertisement has attracted and been favored by more and more enterprises and consumers. Gradually, it has been one of the main ways of accelerating export and exploiting overseas market. Morever, the English advertisement not only has implied huge commercial values, but also plentiful charm of the language art. Mastering the writing features of modern commercial English advertisement helps producing the appropriate commercial English advertisement, which can do a great favor for the advertising designers. And it has also caused profound interest of linguists, psychologists, sociologists, estheticians and information specialists, who have made significant contributions to English advertisement. However, there are few people knowing how to apply diction, syntactic structure and rhetoric approaches to commercial English advertisement. So this thesis analyzes the features of diction, syntactic structure and rhetoric in commercial English advertisement from the angle of linguistics. The ultimate aim is to analyze how English advertisement can be created from linguistic perspective, because these characteristics are necessary for designing English advertisement and enhancing its selling power. At the same time, it can arouse the great interest of the students in English major and help them to strengthen the ability of using language in daily life. This paper focuses on three aspects of linguistic-diction, syntactic structure and rhetoric to analyze English advertisement. And a great number of examples will be vividly shown before us after the analysis.Key words: English advertisement; features; diction; syntactic structure; rhetoricIntroductionNowadays, advertisement is almost everywhere and has become part of peoples daily life. It has also caused profound interest of linguists, psychologists, sociologists, estheticians and information specialists. Since 1960s, many foreign scholars have carried out a large amount of researches on the subject of English advertisement. In their researches, they have used all kinds of linguistic theories to explain and analyze English advertisement and written numerous instructive works and papers. The following monographs are relevant to the subject.English linguist Leech Goffrey in English in Advertising makes a research on the linguistic study of advertising in Great Britain. American linguist Vestergaard, Torben is also interested in this subject and published the book The Language of Advertising in 1985. Chinese scholars have started systemic research in this area since 1990s and made some profound achievements as well. For example, Zhao Jingo in English Advertising made a simple analysis on the linguistic features of English advertisements.From the writings mentioned above, it is clear that abundant researches in English advertisement have been done in the last decades. Undoubtedly, these contributions help people understand English advertisement much more deeply and thoroughly. However, few people apply diction, syntactic structure and rhetoric approaches to analyze commercial English advertisement. Therefore, the study which focus on the features of diction, syntactic and rhetoric can become richer and richer. And this will do great help to English learners by arousing their interest in using English in daily life and the people whose jobs are relevant to the advertisement. It can also meet the needs of the development of linguistics, which calls for fresh analysis that absorb latest achievements into English advertisement research. A Brief Overview of AdvertisingBefore we discuss the linguistic features of English advertisement, its very necessary for us to have some basic knowledge of advertising.2.1 Definitions of AdvertisingNowadays advertising has penetrated into every corner of our life as transmitting media in many forms: newspaper, magazine, TV, radio as well as network. And we can see numerous advertisement everywhere. But usually, we still dont know whats advertising after all. In English, the word “advertise” has its origin in “advertere” in Latin, meaning “to inform somebody of something”, “to bring into notice” or “to draw attention to something”, etc. In Chinese, the equivalent term “guanggao”(广告) means “widely announce”.At present, the definitions of advertising given by scholars from different countries are different in the words, but are the same in the basic meaning. The famous linguist Bolen defines advertising as a “Paid, non-personal communication through various mass media by business firms, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who are in some way identified in the message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience.” (1)American Marketing Association gives another definition of advertising, that is “advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media”. (2)The definitions of advertising from different English dictionaries, however, are not completely the same. In Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary it is defined as “the activity and industry of advertising things to people on television, in newspapers, etc.” (3) And the explanation in Brief Britain Encyclopedia is that “advertising is a way in communicating information, and its aim is to promote product and labor. It can influence public opinion and win the political support, then promote a kind of career.”(4) According to the above definitions of advertising, the activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media, seems to be the essence of the definition of advertising.2.2 Classifications of AdvertisingBecause of diverse modern advertisement, various ways can be used to classify it. Advertising may be classified by medium (newspaper、magazine、radio、television), by target audience (consumer、industrial、business), by geography (international、national、regional、local), or by its function or purpose (product or non-product、commercial or noncommercial、primary demand or selective demand、direct or indirect action).Because it is difficult for the author to gain access to enough data for English commercial ads on radio or TV, thus, the subject of this paper will mainly focus on the print advertising.2.3 Functions of Advertising If the definitions of advertising are too vague and abstract to comprehend, a few words of its function would be helpful to clarify this crucial term.Advertising has five functions: Information Function, Demand Function, Creation Function, Persuasive Function, Getting Action Function and Goodwill Establishment Function.To sum up, we would get the idea that firstly advertising is a communication process. Secondly, at least one medium is used. Thirdly, this communication process has a definite purpose to convince the target audience. The above three characteristics suggest that advertising is closely connected with the society, employing its media, interconnecting with its people, and guiding their buying habit. Also in achieving the advertising effect, the advertising language should be vivid and attractive, whose linguistic characteristics would be covered in the next part. Linguistic Features in English Advertisement English advertisement has been developing for a long time and formed its own styles and features. Exotic vocabulary or simple sentence with strong inducement is often used in English advertisement. Supposing without the wonderful language and appearance of the picture, how do the advertisement attract and move peoples sense-organs and stimulate them to strongly believe its promotion so that they have an impulse to buy, and put it into practice? Obviously, researching the linguistic features of advertising English is very necessary. The following sections focus on the features of advertising English mainly from three aspects: Diction, Syntactic Structure and Rhetoric.3.1 Features of DictionIn order to make the information of the advertisement easily and effectively accepted by the consumers, the diction of English advertisement should consider not only the features of the advertising language, but also the mental characteristic of the consumers. Generally speaking, the followings are the common features of Diction in English advertisement:3.1.1 NeologySome advertising designers would like to use the misspelling on purpose to make some new words. Though the forms are different from the original ones, their meanings are still kept the same. Neology could make the consumers unconsciously think the unique features of the products. It also can greatly strengthen the novelty and increase the fascination. For example:(1) We Know Eggsactly How to Sell Eggs.In this sentence, “exactly” has been transfigured to “Eggsactly”, which is corresponded with “egg” in the form. And this use of new word has a unique and creative style, which undoubtedly gives a deep impression on consumers and strengthens the promotive effect of the ads.(2) TWOGETHER The Ultimate All Inclusive One Brice Sunkisssed holidayThis is a piece of advertisement to offer tourism for a couple. In fact, “together” is transfigured to “Together”; but here, instead of “to”, “two” points out the happiness for a couple to enjoy the holiday together.3.1.2 Exotic VocabularyExotic vocabulary is frequently used in English advertisement. French has a close relationship with English because of their history, so most exotic vocabulary originated from French. Some designers would like to insert French in advertisement or directly use some French words in order to arouse certain imagination and acquire satisfactory results. Take the following ad for example:Fine Champagne Cognac Only RemyThe worlds favorite VSOP (Remy is the only best brandy champagne and the most popular VSOP in the world)“Remy” originates from French. After first seeing or hearing this word, a sense runs into peoples mind that this kind of wine is made in French. Once it is added up exquisite pictures, everyone who sees it cant help themselves tasting a mouthful of this wine. Thats the great effect by using exotic vocabulary, since different language stands for different cultural epitome and cultural poetic tone.3.1.3 Adjective and its Comparative Degree or Superlative DegreeAs we all know, the function of advertising is to describe the characteristics of a product and promote the product, so the use of adjectives plays an important role in English advertisement especially the evaluative adjectives. Because the advertising English is inclined to beautify the products on the aspect of the diction, plenty of evaluative adjectives frequently appear in ads to strengthen the description and attraction. Here are some examples:(1)Famous world-wide gourmet cuisine. Excellent daily specials and mouthwatering desserts.(世界有名的美食烹调。精美的每日特色饭菜和令人垂涎的点心。)This is an advertisement for a restaurant and half of it are adjectives, which has complete temptation(2)Tender tailoring. Feminine but far from frillygentle on your budget, too.This is an advertisement for feminine clothing. It uses “tender”, “feminine”, “frilly” and “gentle” to describe the products, which can cater to the taste of the feminine readers. 3.1.4 Colloquial VocabularyIf the advertising language is too profound, maybe consumers will have trouble in understanding the meaning so that the effect will be weakened too. So designers would like to choose colloquial vocabulary than professional ones. For example:(1)My goodness! My Guinness! (Guinness啤酒广告)(2)Youre gotta try it! I love it! (微波炉广告)“My goodness” in the first example means quite surprise and makes “My Guinness” easier to memorize; the second one is a piece of advertisement of microwave oven, which uses simple and colloquial vocabulary and slang gotta(got to). It is in close touch with daily life and increases the truth by putting the goal of gaining the profit into the colloquial advertisement.3.1.5 Personal PronounIn order to enhance consumers sense of participation, personal pronouns often appear in English advertisement, usually, the first person is used to refer to the advertising company; the second person refers to the consumers; and the third person often refers to some people to whom readers are familiar. Here are two examples:(1) Improved Nescafe Gold gives you an excellent cup of coffee.(咖啡广告)(2)We made this watch for you-to be part of your life.（手表广告）Using of personal pronouns in the two pieces of advertisements seem like a direct conversation between the company and consumers, which shows a feeling of experiencing personally and increases the reliability.3.2 Features of Syntactic StructureComparing to others English styles, the sentence structures in English advertisement are required simplicity and rich imagination. More simple sentences than complex ones are in it.3.2.1 Using more Simple Sentence than Complex SentenceTo reduce the costs, its necessary to minimize the advertising space. So an advertisement should usually use the least pages and the most refined language but transmits the most information. It is one of the most important features in English advertisement to use simple sentences frequently. For example:(1) Lets make things better. (Philips电子公司广告)(2) Impossible made possible. (Canon打印机广告)(3) Got milk? (Acme超市广告)(4) Coca-Cola is it. 还是可口可乐好！（可口可乐广告）These sentences are all short and simple. Moreover, a piece of principle called “KISS” for making the advertisement is widely accepted, thats “Keep it short and sweet”.(5) Oh, I see! (OH, 我看见了!)This is a piece of advertisement for a glass company in America, whose trade mark is”OIC”. In it, the simple and humorous language can make people easy to accept this brand and can initially know the feature of improving the eyesight.3.2.2 Coordinative Construction English advertisement are always simple and easy to understand. So it is another important feature to use more coordinative construction than subordinate construction. For instance: (1) Easy to shoot. Easy to share. Share moments. Share life.(柯达数码相机广告)(2) To laugh. To love. To understand each other.(娱乐世界广告)(3) I click. I shop. I find the clothes I love.(网上购物广告)(4) No business too small, no problem too big.( IBM公司广告)These four pieces of advertisements are all expressed with the coordinative construction, which has left a profound impression on the consumers. 3.2.3 Interrogative Sentence and Imperative SentenceUsing interrogative sentence is to arouse the customers curiosity and enhance their desire to buy the products. And the imperative sentence can play a role in persuading and instigating the consumers, so using imperative sentence can strengthen the ability to persuade and persuasive ads. For example: (1) Doesnt the watch with the claws deserve a set of matching jewels? (手表广告)(2) Become a woman of the world with OLAY. (OLAY护肤油广告)The first example is a title of the advertisement. In the commercial advertisement, the tittles always use the interrogative to cause the thoughts of the readers for being easy to understand and remember. And the second one uses the imperative sentence to make people accept the product.3.2.4 Active Voice and Simple Present TenseAdvertising designers also would like to use active voice and simple present tense to give people a kind of direct feeling and suggest the products durability and eternity. For example:(1) Harmony of style and performance set this new 626 apart. Qualities are at the heart of every Mazda.(2) M&M smelt in your mouth, not in your hands.(M&M-chocolate)The first example uses the active voice instead of passive voice, which will not make the customers feel passive. And the second one is a piece of chocolate advertisement. It states a fact and feature that the chocolate can melt in your mouth, not in your hands. This beauty sense is what just the consumers need.3.3 Features of RhetoricIn English advertisments, large quantities of rhetoric are used to strengthen the language expression effect, making the language vivid and producing associations. It not only can promote the features of the products, but also can communicate the information of them, bringing the improvement of the product grade and attraction. So the designers not only pay attention to the beauty of diction and sentence structures, but also to the using of rhetoric.3.3.1 Simile and MetaphorSimile is a figure of speech in which two essentially unlike things are compared, often in a phrase introduced by like or as.(5) The designers often use simile in ads for the reason that it can state some abstract and complex concepts with simple or specific description. While metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily designates one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison. It can compare the abstractive, complex and strange things with the simple, lively and familiar ones, which can get a deeper and more expressive effect. For example: (1) Light as Breeze, Soft as Cloud.(轻得像微风，柔得似浮云)(2) Fly smooth as silk and enjoy award winning food and service.(3) All of New York is a stage.(4) EBEL, the architects of the time.(EBEL-watch)The first one is an advertisement for clothes and two similes are used to express the soft clothes, which makes the readers cant help buying one. And the last one is a piece of advertisement for Swiss watch. Needless to say, the quality of this kind of watch is specified and its excellent quality is fully presented.3.3.2 PersonificationPersonification is a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or represented as possessed human form. By definition, personification is something that gives human form or feelings to animals, or life and personal attributes to inanimate objects or to ideas and abstractions (6). The using of personification in advertisement can shift the lifeless products to flesh and palpable kinds. For example: (1) Oscar de La Ranta know what makes a woman beautiful.(Oscar de La Ranta深知女人的美丽之道)Oscar de La Ranta is the name of a brand of perfume. Using personification here has a richer implication, and it is better to please the women who love beauty than to directly explain the merits of the product. (2) Ebel-the architects of time. (EBEL-时间的设计师)In this example, EBEL is the name of a brand of watch and here is personified as the architects, which states the high quality and delicate structure of this kind of watch.3.3.3 PunAccording to the Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, pun is the clever or humorous use of a word that has more than one meaning, or of words that have different meanings but sound the same. To pun is to play on words, or rather to play with the form and meaning of words. There are two types of puns, one is homograph, and the other is homophone. In English advertisement, correct using pun not only can make the language humorous, lively, and increase the endless joy, but also can present the designers having a special inventive mind and thus get an unexpected effect. Take some ads for example:(1) Trust us Over 5000 ears of experienceThis is a piece of hearing aid ads. Seen from the words, it just says this product has been accepted by many consumers tests, but at the same time, “ears” has the harmonic tone with the years, which suggests that it has a long history.(2) Coke refreshes you like no other can (coke - cola). (没有什么别的罐装饮料能够像罐装可乐那