Discourse Analysis of Commercial Advertising Language

科技信息人文社科Discourse Analysis of Commercial Advertising Language青島農業(yè)大學(xué)外國語(yǔ)學(xué)院杜瑞杰[Abstract ]There have been many researches on advertising language; however, few of them are conducted in the framework of discourseanalysis and take insights from sociolinguistics. In this paper I will analyze commercial advertising language, consumer ads in particular, beyondthe traditional way of description, but go a step further- to interpret advertsing and focus more atenion on the reflctivce and consicutivefuncions of commercial advertising language.[Keywords ]advertising language discourse analysis constitutive fiunction1.Introductionthe personal appearances we choose to ereate. When men and women appearThere have been many researches on advertising langunge; however, fewin ads together, the women are often depicted鶴weaker than the male, eitherof them are conducted in the framework of discourse analysis and take insightsthrough composition of the ad or particular situations in the scene. When fe -from sociolinguistics. Frthermore, linguiststputemales appearinads aoneweainnotehestreotypeofthefemnaleasexual,linguistic features of adverising languages, especially advertising English.Linguists have successfully analyzed the linguistic characteristics of the ad-Particular roles and gender constructs are also evident in male ads. Males arevertising language(C.lLech 1996;Vestergard&Schroder 1985;Guylook 1994;told to act tough, hide their emotions, and compete at alll costs (ThompsonTanaka 1994; Tan Weiguo 1994; Zhouxiao&Zhou Yi 1998; etc,). Though1993:146- -7). Nancy Chodorow argues that the atainment of masculinity is asome scholars mention that advertising has three functions (namely, the infor-problenatic ise for boys (1974:51), particularly as boys are taught to dffe-mative function, the persuasive function and reflective funetions, they onlyentiate themselves from others.provide an analysis of the informative function and persuasive function. In thisYou might also explore with your students the role advertisements play inpaper I will analyze commercial advertising language, consumer ads in partic-the development and perpetuation of gender-role stereotypes. Jones (1991)ular, beyond the traditional way of description, not to mention he social- -cul-noted that an analysis of advertisements by Goffman (1976) found numeroustural context of advertising, but goes a step further- to interpret adverising: funtionsofaisand focus more atention on the ellctive and constitutive()functional ranking -he tendency to depict men in executive rolesand as more functional when ollaborating with women;2.Functions of advertising language(2)relative size - the tendency to depiet men as taller and larger thanSome scholars mention that advertising has three functions (namely, thewomen, except when women are clearly superior in social status;informative function, the persuasive function and rflective functions, they on-(3)itualization of subordination一an overabundance of images of wonenly provide an analysis of the informative function and persuasive function. N.lying on foors and beds or as objects of men's mock assulus;Coupland and J.P.Gee have argued the necessity for discourse analysis to go(4)the feminine touch- the tendency to show women cradling and ca-from description to interpretation and have reminded us of pauing enough at-ressing the surface of objects with their fingers;tention to language' s relctive and constitutive functions. N.Fairelough call(5)family - - fathers depicted as physically distant from their families orthe part of analyzing linguistic foms國‘description' and the part, whichts relating primarily 10 sons, and mothers depicted as relating primarily todeals with analysis of discourse practice and social practice as。inteprela-daughters.tion'. (1992).In my paper I will mainly focus on the analysis of the fourth point, that is,the role of the women in the advertising.Although advertising is usually defined by making relerence to its pre- -(1)Some ads tend to has discrimination on women. Aggressive men aredominant function, the conative or persuasive function, which urgrs people toviewed a more powerful in our sociely, while women are viewed submissive tobuy a product, diferent authors have made reference to the crucial mle playedmen. As is listed in the folowing.by other functions, but the basic function of advertising is the infomative1)The happiness of women depends on the appearance pprciation fromfunction, beeause it is the prime function of advertising at the stage of intro-men;ducing a new product. Thus, Cook (1992: 5) argues that advertising also pre-2)The social value of women exists in the family domain;sents functions such as amusing. informing, pleading, waming, ete.3)Great women should be behind men and feel honor for the success of2.2 The reflective funetiontheir husband;Vestergard &Schroder argue in the foreword of their'The Language of4)Many w4)Many women accept the idea that womnen are subrisive to men andAdrertising' (1985) that‘ ad relets certain aspects of that society's valuesshould be ready to sacrifice for their husband.and that society' s structure. Some scholar says that the best way to discoverthe lfestyles of young people in Taiwan is to read several commreial adswhose target consumers are the youth. Vestegard &Schroder (1985) haveKOFsuch an idea as mentioned above, and they only ollcted many examples andfailed to provide detailed analyses. Guy Cook (1994) emphasizes on demon-strating the advertising language”s particular influence on human minds andchanges people' s mental representation of resarch on‘ Relevance Theory'and wants to points our how the readers understand the ads. None of themgave a detailed analysis of the relationship between ads and social context. Inmy paper fllowing I will put emphasis on this part.2.3 The constitive functionportrayed a confident, dominant, and determined to get their way. ThoughThe constitutive function means that how advertising language helpsmore and more ads are showing men half-elothed and sexy, this does not takeconstruct the social gender reality. The following critical analysis will revealaway from the overall view that men are on top in this world, and the more ag-the previously overlooked and underestimated depth of cultural meaning be-gressive, the better. For example the ads of logo: The male model for Kool, ishind contemporary cormercial advertising. Diane Barthel in his book‘ Putingstandingeld u holding his cigarette,on Appearance , focusing mainly on ads for beauty products direted at wom-leaning中國煤化工d ua Hs goen, she demonstrates how stereotypical gender idenities are emphasized andure isounterpart who is relaxing,how advertising itself creates a gendered relationship with the consumer. Sheperched:MYHCN M.H Gair. AS her hans are etgexplores psychological, sociological, and cultural messages in advetising toon her knee and ankle with the cigarette in a low position, his hands are inshow howIting orAppearances is anything but a purely personal matter,more active positions, one upright holding the eigarettand how the social realities in which we are forced to live are conditioned by on his hip with his elbow pointing outwards. His entire ( 下轉第191頁(yè))- 189-科技信息人文社科號即單詞的輸人,忽略了語(yǔ)義和句法信息。而好的閱讀者只是有選擇的讀者對文章整體思路的領(lǐng)會(huì );不區分文章中的關(guān)鍵詞和關(guān)聯(lián)符號是指處理了那些重要的單詞,就可以得出足夠的信息判斷語(yǔ)盲的結構,理解學(xué)生對每個(gè)詞句都- -樣對待,這樣就只見(jiàn)樹(shù)木不見(jiàn)森林,由于過(guò)于注重句子的意思，因為單詞并不能給句子賦子意義而是從句子的語(yǔ)境中得細節而拖累了閱讀速度的加快和對文章中心思想的領(lǐng)悟。所以,在ESP到意義，它必須與句子成為- -體。 因此，單詞的積累要伴隨著(zhù)大量的閱讀教學(xué)中要幫助學(xué)生解決其閱讀問(wèn)題,加強學(xué)生閱讀微技能的培養，ESP泛讀訓練，使學(xué)生融入到廣泛的目標語(yǔ)境中以提高其閱讀理解能并提高其理解與記憶所讀的內容。督促學(xué)生合理使用略讀和尋讀的激力。情,復習先前閱讀的筆記、注釋,積極閱讀找出文章主題并快速做出筆最后,提高學(xué)生的閱讀速度和理解力。許多人認為慢速閱讀可以讓記綜上所述,由于社會(huì )對大學(xué)生的專(zhuān)業(yè)英語(yǔ)應用能力要求的提高,加他們理解得更好,實(shí)際上,閱讀速度越慢,讀者容易很快變得厭煩失去閱讀的興趣，理解得少而忘記得多。Nttall 在1996年提出閱讀者的閱強大學(xué)ESP閱讀課程的教學(xué)，提高學(xué)生的ESP閱讀能力是非常必要讀速度在閱讀學(xué)習中的重要性,圖1和圖2所示，“當閱讀者讀得很慢、的。加強這部分的教學(xué)，首先要選用適合學(xué)生專(zhuān)業(yè)水平的ESP閱讀材閱讀量就少，從而理解得少,最后導致不喜歡閱讀.閱讀速度就慢,這樣料。其次,要處理好單詞的教學(xué)和讀者理解力之間的關(guān)系。最后,提高學(xué)就形成了差閱讀者在閱讀上的惡性循環(huán)。而好的閱讀者是喜歡閱讀,讀生的閱讀速度和理解力,幫助學(xué)生解決其閱讀中的不良習慣,從而促使得就快、閱讀量就多、理解得多從而更喜歡閱讀形成了閱讀的良性循其ESP閱讀能力的提高。環(huán)”。如圖所示,讀者的閱讀量.理解力閱讀態(tài)度、和閱讀速度之間是相輔相成的關(guān)系，只有在整體上協(xié)調它們之間的關(guān)系使之處于- -個(gè)良性參考文獻的循環(huán)狀態(tài),才能真正提高學(xué)生的專(zhuān)業(yè)閱讀能力。所以,在教學(xué)中要注[1]Betts, EA.Foundaions of Reading Instruction[ A ].In A.Melnik and重學(xué)生閱讀速度的針對性教學(xué),加強其泛讀的能力,促使其閱讀技能進(jìn)J.Merrit, eds. The Reading Curiculum.L ondon: Univesity of London Press,人一個(gè)良性循環(huán)當中。1957.[2 ]Dudley-Evans, Tony & Maggie Jo St John.Developments in ESP:A muli-disciplinary approach[M ].London: Cambridge University Press,1998.[3 ]lis,s Rod.Task- Based Language Leamning and Teaching[M].Ox-ford: Oxford Univesity Press, 2003.不喜歡閱讀不理解.喜歡調謔理解得好[4 ]Goodman, K.S.Reading: A psycholinguistice Guesing Game [J]Joumal of the Reading Specialit, 1967, (6): 168.[5 ]Nation, L.S.P.Teaching and learming vocabulary [M ].New York:圖1差閱讀者閱讀上的惡性循環(huán)圖2好閱讀者閱讀上的良性循環(huán)Newbury House.1990.同時(shí),指導學(xué)生培養良好的閱讀習慣。許多學(xué)生到了高年級才發(fā)現[ 6 ]Ntll, Christine. (1996).Teaching Reading Skills in a Forcign自己缺乏良好的ESP閱讀技巧,這種缺乏妨礙了他們英語(yǔ)的應用能力Language[ M ].Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Educaton Press, 2007.的發(fā)展,例如,他們無(wú)法看懂專(zhuān)業(yè)的英文期刊、參考資料等。學(xué)生通常的[7 ]Strevens, P Special-Purpose Langunge Lerming A Perpective in閱讀問(wèn)題有反復回看、緩慢的眼睛掃視、唇讀、停下來(lái)查詞不區分文章language teaching & linguistics: surveys [M ].Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-中的關(guān)鍵詞和關(guān)聯(lián)符號。這些閱讀問(wèn)題都需要教師的專(zhuān)業(yè)指導,才能讓versity Press, 1988.學(xué)生有意識的再閱讀中監控自己的不良習慣，以逐步改進(jìn),從而達到提[8]蔡基剛. ESP與我國大學(xué)葵語(yǔ)教學(xué)發(fā)展方向[].外語(yǔ)界, 200(2) .高閱讀速度和理解力的目的。反復回看是讀者養成了復讀短語(yǔ)或句子22- -28.的習慣,會(huì )導致閱讀速度下降,打斷了閱讀的思路;緩慢的眼睛掃視是[9]劉潤清21世紀的英語(yǔ)教學(xué)--記英 國的一項調查[J].外語(yǔ)教指讀者的視幅不能抓住- -組詞并快速切換到下一組詞，這樣眼睛的看學(xué)與研究.1996.(2).不能與大腦的思維并用致使閱讀理解力下降。唇讀是讀者為了不落下[10]束定芳.外語(yǔ)教學(xué)改革:問(wèn)題與對策[M].上海:上海外語(yǔ)教育每個(gè)詞語(yǔ),而用嘴唇-個(gè)-個(gè)詞來(lái)念。唇讀的最高閱讀速度是150 -175出版社,2004.字1分鐘,但它還是屬于慢連閱讀的速度;停下來(lái)查詞是許多學(xué)生遇到[11 ]張堯學(xué)加強實(shí)用性英語(yǔ)教學(xué)提高大學(xué)生英語(yǔ)綜合能力[J].中陌生的詞匯時(shí)采用的常用方式，但這樣會(huì )打斷閱讀的進(jìn)程并且不利于國高等教育2002.(8.(上接第189頁(yè))posture is more open and inviting, practically confidentmeasure the development of the society? The most important measure shouldand agressive. Hers is more reserved and sill, except for the motion of herbe the degree of the soul civilization of women, the equality of men and womenhair, and she is presented more doll like. Perhaps this reading is also what Iand the constructive complementary between the genders. It is not right to putbring to it as the viewer because of social inluence.(Ravi Singh).sole emphuasis on men, but it is also not a reasonable choice to strengthen the(2)The images ol the women in ads are mainly classified into the followingsocial role of women. We should pay atention to both ol them.categories.1)beautiful girs:2)able and virtuous housewife;3)benevolent mother.3.ConclusionIn ads a girl usually appearances as the person a boy likes in his heart. Alanguages, especially advertising English. Linguists have sucessfully ana-mother usually appears in the household apparatus to present the image of alyzed the linguistic characteristics of the advertising language. And somevirtuous housewife.scholars have analyzed the first three functions of the advertising language; fewIn contrast, the images of men in ads are professional men. They are cool,of them have pay enough attention to the constitutive function of the advertis-in west suit, with necktie, a cell phone in hand and going anywhere in the ear.ing language. In my paper put emphasis on the analysis of its constitutiveIt seems that itis‘ a world of men' and implies that in the social structure offunetion and try to reveal the social structure in modern society through adver-the society, men are dominant at job while women at home.tising language.In the present society, in fact, the employing opportunities of men andwomen are more and more equal, but the ads tell the information of the greatReferencessoeial position gap between women and men, which relects the social strata.[1 ]Jaworski, A. and Coupland, N.The Discourse Reader. Routledge:The thriving of the ads represents the high development of the social e-conomy. The ulimate objective of the social development is for equality, in-中國煤化工ed lngitsiss and Dicomecluding the equality in gender and race, but it is ironical that the adverting,Analyis1990.Vol.2which is one factor for social development, is strengthening the inequality be-TYHC N M H G, Educationm an ltodoctiontween women and men, which goes in the wrong track.to Theory and Practice in Critical Discourse Analyis,1995On the whole, this society is composed both men and women, none of[4]陳燕如廣告中的女性社會(huì )角色.廈門(mén)大學(xué)學(xué)報,2002年第一期which can be the whole world. But most standards and concepts in the system[5]秦秀白英語(yǔ)中性別歧視現象的歷史文化透視現代外語(yǔ), 1996of moderm eivilizations have the stigma of male- domninant socielty. How to年第二期