Luận văn tiếng Anh: A study on mataphorical expressions in English advertising slogans from the semantic approach = Nghiên cứu các biểu thức ẩn dụ sử dụng trong các khẩu hiệu quảng cáo bằng tiếng Anh từ phương diện ngữ dụng học. M.A Thesis Linguistics: 60 22 15

Nhà xuất bản: ĐHNN

Ngày: 2010

Chủ đề: Ẩn dụ

Ngữ dụng học

Tiếng Anh

Miêu tả: 37 p. + CD-ROM

M.A Thesis. English Linguistics – University of Languages and International Studies. Vietnam National Universty, Hanoi, 2010

Electronic Resources

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY OF STUDY PROJECT REPORT ........................................ i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................ ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................................ ii

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES.............................................................................................. iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................v

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................... 1

1. Rationale ............................................................................................................................. 2

2. Research questions and aims of the study........................................................................... 2

3. Scope of the study............................................................................................................... 3

4. Research methodology........................................................................................................ 3

5. Design of the study ............................................................................................................. 4

CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: METAPHORS AND THE USE OF

METAPHORS IN ADVERTISING. ........................................................................................... 5

1. Definitions of metaphor and promotional metaphor........................................................... 5

2. Kinds of metaphors............................................................................................................. 6

3. Previous studies on Metaphor in Advertising..................................................................... 9

CHAPTER II. AN ANALYSIS ON METAPHOR EXPLOITATION IN ADVERTISING

SLOGANS ................................................................................................................................... 14

1. Advertising slogan: A crucial part of an advertisement.................................................... 14

2. The exploitation of metaphors in advertising slogans ...................................................... 16

3. Hypotheses........................................................................................................................ 18

4. Procedures......................................................................................................................... 19

5. The analysis ...................................................................................................................... 21

CHAPTER III. RESULTS AND FINDINGS........................................................................... 27

1. The result .......................................................................................................................... 27

2. Discussion and findings .................................................................................................... 30

3. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 33

CHAPTER IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ................................................................ 35

Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi1

INTRODUCTION

“Advertising, your right to choose!”

American Advertising Association-CNN

Despite the best-seller position of “The fall of advertising, the rise of PR” (Alries Rises & Laura

Rises), advertising has been remaining an integral part in the global economy. As an old slogan

has put it, “Advertising, your right to choose!” advertising has been always considered as one of

the most crucial tools in any marketing campaign. Advertising, through the process of informing

customers, spreading and enhancing brand awareness, helps offer consumers a freedom of choice

for various products. To fulfill these tasks, advertising needs the exploitation of language as the

foundation to realize all creative ideas. In fact, advertising‟s linguistic creativity is most

effectively expressed through advertising slogans, where its functions of spreading information

and enhancing brand awareness are well semantically served. The number of linguistic devices

exploited in advertising slogans has been truly increasing owing to the marketers‟ preference to

convey their product messages in an implicit, rather than explicit way.

Metaphor

“Let your fingers do the walking” (Yellow pages-1964)

Simile

“Sleeping on a Seely is like sleeping on a cloud” (Seely mattresses)

Contradiction

”Annoy the neighbors. Turn it down” (JFM Radio Station)

Imperatives

“Just do it!” (Nike)

Chiasmus

"I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid's stuck on me." (Band-Aid bandages)

"You like it. It likes you."

(Seven-Up soft drink)

In this implicit way of expressing ideas, the slogans‟ messages become more impressive and

persuasive. It really helps marketers assert their comparative advantages in comparison with both2

their direct competitors and new entrants in the industry. Among of different linguistic features

namely simile, metaphor, chiasmus, implicature or even presupposition, metaphor is preferably

used owing to its ability of generating belief, and enhancing products‟ and services‟ images from

Semantics perspective. Yet, quite little research on marketing literature and linguistic appliance

has discussed about the nature and effectiveness of metaphors in advertising in general and in

slogans in particular. This study, hence, is carried out to discuss the effectiveness of metaphor in

English advertising slogans and its comprehension in promotional context.

1. Rationale

Advertising slogans have proven their importance in both generating sales volume and creating a

great impression on customers‟ mind. In any companies-whether they are of small, or medium

size, and any industries-service or trade, advertising slogans turns out to be the very first thing to

add further values to the products.

To create an understandable, meaningful and useful slogan, the exploitation of most fields in

language is involved. These include pragmatics, lexicology, phonology, syntax...and so on. The

linguistic features Giúp transmit the message in an implicit way, avoiding the violation of the

Law of Truth.

Based on the acknowledgement of all linguistic devices exploited in slogans, the study is

conducted to investigate the employment of metaphors in advertising slogans from a Semantic

approach.

2. Research questions and aims of the study

2.1 Research questions

Dealing with the study of different kinds of metaphor, the researcher has established several

research questions to ensure the orientation of the roadmap. In fact, based on the business

context, studying advertising slogans requires quite specific research questions as well as clear

study aims. With the foundation of all the literature review studied and the samples collected,

three research questions have been established:

1. What kind of metaphor represents the most frequently chosen by advertisers and marketers?

2. What are the strengths (or weaknesses, if any) of each kind of metaphor exploited in

advertising slogans?

Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi3

3. What kind of metaphor represents the wisest choice for the slogans in specific classified

groups?

2.2 Aims of the study

The study deals with the employment of different metaphor types based on Lakeoff and

Johnson‟s theory (1980). In this work, a classification of metaphors is presented, and then is

applied in the study of a collection of 40 advertising slogans from English-speaking countries or

global brands. To find out the answer for the research questions proposed, the study specifically

aims at:

(i) quantitatively identifying the frequency of different metaphor types exploited in slogans to

find out which kind is most favored by advertisers and marketers.

(ii) investigating the target domain, source domain and metaphor concepts in each slogans to

discover the strengths (or weaknesses, if any) of each metaphor type when applied in advertising.

(iii) placing the analysis of each metaphorical slogan in its group context to see which type

represent the smartest choice for each classification of products.

3. Scope of the study

In this study, the analysis is (i) a semantic analysis which bases itself on a semantic approach and

Lakeoff and Johnson‟s theory of metaphors and (ii) a hypothesis-testing analysis on each type of

metaphors used in international advertising slogans. For this reason, the study primarily deals

with researching matters from a semantic approach. Furthermore, since the study takes

hypothesis testing as one of the two main methods, it is somehow deductive and subjective.

Nevertheless, all the predictions and inferences are made based on the theory and previous

studies of linguistics and advertising.

As the exploitation of linguistic features in advertising slogans is quite huge and diversified, and

the number of slogans has been increasing year after year, the analysis is supposed to be

selective rather than comprehensive in three senses: (i) only four groups of products and services

are chosen, (ii) only 10 slogans of each group are selected as typical samples and (iii) in each

group, just some cases are picked up for a further in-depth study.

4. Research methodology

The research is based on the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The

choice originates from the fact that the use of quantitative method helps us to build up a general4

picture over all the selected cases and the exploitation of qualitative analysis allows us to

painstakingly research each specific case. Hence, a quantification to synthesize all metaphor

patterns in each case. In fact, it really helps us to fulfill the task of defining frequencies of each

type of metaphor in use.

After using quantification and classification to identify the frequencies and divide selected

slogans into groups of types and sub-types, three predictions would be made and proven later

based on the result of the classification.

5. Design of the study

Apart from the Introduction and Conclusion to begin and conclude the study, the thesis

comprises three chapters, each of which is supposed to serve a specific function.

The Introduction serves as an explanation for the reason why the study is conducted, and worth

being carried out. In addition, the thesis also states the aims and objectives of the study, as well

as the research questions and the scope of the study, which are considered as a significant

roadmap for the research.

Chapter one will begin by stating the definition of metaphors and promotional metaphor. In

addition, the typical classification of metaphors by Lakeoff and Johnson is asserted as a theory

base for the specific classification of metaphor types exploited in 40 selected slogans. This

chapter also reflects different previous studies on advertising and advertisements, in which the

linguistic devices receive the greatest attention.

Chapter two centers on the slogans‟ significance to advertising and to the producers‟ reputation.

Also, in this chapter, an analysis of 40 slogans selected from four fields is conducted. As it is

carried out in the form of a hypothesis-testing research, some predictions are proposed

beforehand and latter on, are proved through the classification.

Finally, chapter three presents all the results and findings, which have been proved and obtained

from the analysis conducted in chapter two. This chapter plays the role of a harvest for all what

have been achieved.

The last part Conclusion provides a full summary of all what have been gained through the study

and suggest some prospects for future researches. The study is covered by a list of advertising

slogans that are selected for study and a table analyzing the target domain, source domain and

typical metaphor concepts of conceptual/conventional metaphor-the type of the most frequent

use.

Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi5

CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND: METAPHORS AND THE USE OF

METAPHORS IN ADVERTISING.

1. Definitions of metaphor and promotional metaphor

Metaphor expressions abound in most aspects of life: in daily conversations, in literature, and

even in other fields. In fact, according to Lakeoff and Johnson, “metaphor is pervasive in

everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action.” (1980:3). Owing to its mass

appearance in different fields, the study of metaphor has long been of great interest to other

disciplines. These prominently include philosophy (for a review of historical and recent

perspectives see Johnson 1981), psychology (for reviews see Billow 1977, Ortony 1979), or

linguistics (e.g., see Lakeoff and Johnson 1980).

In general, metaphor is a figure of speech concisely expressed by an implied analogy between

two objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of a word instead of another. Or, stated in a “working

definition”, metaphor in Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon‟s eyes is viewed as “the use of

language to refer to something other than what it was originally applied to, or what it „literally‟

means, in order to suggest some resemblance or make a connection between the two things”.

Usually, three components are included in a metaphor: the tenor (or object), the vehicle (or

image), and the ground (or sense). Let‟s analyze the following example to further understand

how these components work. In accordance with I. A. Richards‟example, these components are

more clearly understood:

All the world‟s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances; — William Shakespeare, As You Like It

In this metaphoric example, "the world" is compared to a stage, describing it with the attributes

of “the stage”; hence, "the world" is the tenor, and "a stage" is the vehicle; "men and women" is

a secondary tenor, "players" is the secondary vehicle. In George Herbet‟s poetic sentence: “Hope

is the poor man's bread.”, “hope” is the tenor, “bread” is the vehicle and the ground is “the

necessity of poor man”.

As a socio-economic facet, advertising also exploits this figure of speech to the full for its

purpose of informing and persuading customers in the process of selecting products. In fact, this

is quite understandable since the "Truth in advertising" laws make it highly desirable for

advertisers to avoid making explicit statements that could be judged true or false; therefore6

metaphors (and apparently other devices) are chosen to convey the manufacturers‟ messages. In

advertising, promotional metaphor is divided into visual metaphor (or pictorial metaphor) and

textual metaphor. In advertising, the latter, which is also my study‟s focus, in

, is defined as “a metaphor used to associate a product with a

semantic domain which has positive connotations.”

2. Kinds of metaphors

Ways to classify metaphors vary greatly based on different approaches. From Semantic

approach, I do think it‟s better to comprehend metaphors in Lakoff and Johnson‟s classification.

2.1 Conceptual/Conventional metaphors

Conceptual Metaphor Theory, sometimes called Cognitive Metaphor Theory, was developed by

researchers within the field of cognitive linguists. It became widely known with the publication

of Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson, in 1980. Conceptual metaphor theory has

since been developed and elaborated. According to this theory, conceptual metaphor is perceived

as a figurative comparison in which one idea (or conceptual domain) is understood in terms of

another. The fundamental basis of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor operates at the

level of thinking. Conceptual metaphors link two conceptual domains, the „source‟ domain and

the „target‟ domain. The source domain consists of a set of literal entities, attributes, processes

and relationships, linked semantically and apparently stored together in the mind. The „target‟

domain tends to be abstract, and takes its structure from the source domain, through the

metaphorical link, or „conceptual metaphor‟. Target domains are therefore believed to have

relationships between entities, attributes and processes which mirror those found in the source

domain. At the level of language, entities, attributes and processes in the target domain are

lexicalized using words and expressions from the source domain. In the example: “Time is

Money”, the metaphor uses everyday experience with money-the source domain to conceptualize

time, an abstract entity, and herein, recognized as the target domain. However, since the link

between the target and the source is the metaphorical conceptualization, it is not always

necessary to conceptualize time as money since according to many cultures‟ and societies‟ other

concepts, time is not merely or priorly money and vice versus, money is not often metaphorically

linked with time, but with other entities, as affirmed by Murray Knowles and Rosamund Moon,

“Conceptual metaphors may be culture-specific”.

Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi7

In the 1980 edition of Metaphors we Live by, Lakoff and Johnson identify three categories of

conceptual metaphors: ontological, structural and orientational. Belonging to the structural

metaphors group, ontological metaphor is perceived as a metaphor in which “an abstraction, such

as an activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as something concrete, such as an object,

substance, container, or person” such as in:

I put a lot of energy into washing the windows.

I get a lot of satisfaction out of washing windows.

In a detailed manner, this metaphor is further classified into container metaphor, where one

concept is represented as having an inside and outside, and capable of holding something else

and entity metaphor, in which an abstraction is represented as a concrete physical object, or

maybe a person (personification). Another kind of ontological metaphor is substance metaphor

via the use of which, an abstract entity such as idea, emotion, event or activity is represented as a

solid material. As seen in the following examples from “Metaphor we live by”, three kinds of

ontological metaphors are quite clearly illustrated:

Life is empty for him. (container metaphor)

Her ego is very fragile. (entity metaphor)

Inflation is eating up our profits. (personification)

There was a lot of good running in the race. (substance metaphor)

As stated, structural metaphors, in their view, are considered as “cases where one concept is

metaphorically structured in terms of another”. Structural metaphors allow us to do much more

than just orient concepts, refer to them, quantify them, etc., as we do with simple orientational

and onto-logical metaphors; they allow us, in addition, to use one highly structured and clearly

delineated concept to structure another. This metaphor allows us to conceptualize what a rational

argument is in terms of something that we understand more readily, namely, physical conflict. In

fact, as Lakoff and Johnson analyzed, “The point here is that not only our conception of an

argument but the way we carry it out is grounded in our knowledge and experience of physical

combat. Even if you have never fought a fistfight in you life, much less a war, but have been

arguing from the time you began to talk, you still conceive of arguments, and execute them,

according to the ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor because the metaphor is built into the

conceptual system of the culture in which you live.” There is also another kind-orientational

metaphor which “organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another” since “most8

of them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow,

central-peripheral”. Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation; as in “Happy is

up”.

2.2 Mixed metaphors

Mixed metaphors can be understood as different metaphors occurring in the same utterance, or

the same sentence, to express the same concept. Mixed metaphors is divided into impermissible

mixed metaphor-metaphors that conflict because they serve different purposes and permissible

mixed metaphor which not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose, and/or

exhibit a correlation with each other. This classification may have sprung from the possibility to

lead to a conflict of concepts. In the following sentences a mixture of the argument-as-journey

and argument-as-container metaphors is presented. The first two sentences are acceptable;

however, the last two are marginally acceptable.

1. At this point our argument doesn‟t have much content.

2. If we keep going the way we‟re going, we‟ll fit all the facts in.

3. We can now follow the path of the core of the argument.

4. The content of the argument proceeds as follows…

Here we can see the argument-as-container metaphor is decisively presented in the first two

examples, however in the following illustrations there exist an overlap between the argument-ascontainer metaphor “the core of the argument”, “the content of the argument” and the argumentas-journey metaphor-“the path of…” or “proceed”.

2.3 New metaphors

Not all metaphors belong to the existing concepts; some are outside the conventional conceptual

system, that‟s why new metaphors are perceived as “imaginative and creative”. In Lakeoff and

Johnson‟s affirmation, “such metaphors are capable of giving a new understanding of

experience. Thus, they can give new meaning to our pasts, to our daily activity, and to what we

know and believe.” The creation of novel and unconventional metaphors requires the

employment of some devices, including extending, elaboration, questioning and combining

(Kovecses 2002: 47). However, in terms of the frequency and favoritism towards new

metaphors‟ sub-types exploited in advertising slogans, the thesis just mentions extended new

metaphor and elaborated new metaphor.

Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi Ket-noi.com kho tai lieu mien phi9

2.3.1. Extending

The employment of extending is recognized when a new conceptual element is introduced in the

source domain to an already existing conventional metaphor and the ordinary conceptual

metaphor is expressed with new metaphorical expression. The examples stated by Kovecses

(2002:47) can illustrate this tactic.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference.

It is not very difficult to acknowledge the conventional metaphor “Life is a Journey” employed

in the poem. The novelty added is in this case, despite the very same destination both roads lead

to, there is one road less or more traveled than the other.

2.3.2. Elaborating

Quite different from extension, in elaboration, an existing element of the source is elaborated in

an unusual way. Elaboration captures the source in a novel and strange way, rather than adding a

new expression to the source domain. According to Lakeoff and Turner (1989), Horace used the

metaphorical expression “eternal exile of the raft” to refer the death. The conventional metaphor

“Death is Departure” is captured right in the words. Nevertheless, it is also further elaborated

when described in detailed definition “exile” and “raft”. The two words employed provoke the

understanding that death is a forceful departure and the means of transportation-“raft” can not

take them to the destination.

3. Previous studies on Metaphor in Advertising

Due to the interdisciplinary nature and the massive exploitation of metaphors in advertising,

quite a vast amount of research has been so far carried out. However, I have no intention of

making this overview effortlessly lengthy and exhaustive. Hence, since this paper bases itself on

the Semantics approach, it will be an insightful view on studies relevant to the present one. It is

also noted that in studying metaphors in advertising, not many researchers have seen metaphors

studied in Semantics and in general linguistics as clear-cut. This also means for many studies

selected to be herein reviewed, there will be a painstaking selection of viewpoints compatibly

related to the chosen approach.10

3.1 Meaning of Metaphors: Denotation and Connotation

Discussing about the use of metaphors in advertising, the first and foremost to notice is the

meaning. In this aspect, Roland Barthes (1988) paid a great attention to the hidden meaning

expressed in advertisements. It was also him who adopted from Louis Hjelmslev the notion that

there are different orders of signification (Barthes 1957; Hjelmslev 1961). The first order of

signification is that of denotation: at this level there is a sign consisting of a signifier and a

signified. Connotation is a second-order of signification which uses the denotative sign (signifier

and signified) as its signifier and attaches to it an additional signified. This study seems to be too

semiotics-oriented rather than semantics even though studying the signifier and the signified

leads to his conclusion that the sign (which is the advertisement in his “Advertising message”,

The Semiotic Challenge) has loaded multiple meanings. In fact, in his research, the close

connection between the meaning and the advertisements is undeniable.

The term denotation, according to Gillian Dyer (1988), refers to “the literal meaning of the

advertisement, to what is „objectively‟ present and easily recognized or identified”. Connotation,



Link Download bản DOC
Do Drive thay đổi chính sách, nên một số link cũ yêu cầu duyệt download. các bạn chỉ cần làm theo hướng dẫn.
Password giải nén nếu cần: ket-noi.com | Bấm trực tiếp vào Link để tải:



 
Last edited by a moderator:

kungfupanda12

New Member
dạ anh chị cho em xem lại giúp em đường link của "A study on mataphorical expressions in English advertising slogans from the semantic approach" được không ạ vì link em bấm vào bị lỗi. Em Thank ạ
 

adminxen

Administrator
Staff member
dạ anh chị cho em xem lại giúp em đường link của "A study on mataphorical expressions in English advertising slogans from the semantic approach" được không ạ vì link em bấm vào bị lỗi. Em Thank ạ
Link mới update, mời bạn xem lại bài đầu
 

Các chủ đề có liên quan khác

Top