模糊语在广告中的应用及其功能所有专业(编辑修改稿)

模糊语在广告中的应用及其功能所有专业(编辑修改稿)内容摘要：

the thinking course of human brain. In daily life, we do 10 not put our ideas into words as accurately as possible all the time. Otherwise, we‟ll be tormented by the boring statistics. Advertisement demands of vagueness The aim of advertisement is to publicize its products, to encourage, to persuade, and to induce the consumers to buy them. Hence the advertising language usually includes information about the goods, but it is also full of strong persuasiveness and induction. So the advertising language is required to contain truth in it, but not so accurate as language used in science and law. The employment of vague language in ads meets these special requirements. Vagueness exists objectively in advertising language, this is, in the first place, determined by the readability and persuasiveness that an ad must possess. For example, there is a sentence in the ad of Platinum MasterCard, “ There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard.” Here, the advertiser uses several vague words, “some, things, everything, else”, it fully expresses the function of Platinum MasterCard with only several vague words. Secondly, vague language is necessary in ads to make products lifelike. Because only precise words cannot achieve vividness effect. For instance, Take the unusual way. (Meters/bonwe) Anything is possible. (Li Ning) Impossible is nothing, (Adidas) We can see that there isn‟t any relationship between these slogans 11 and their products‟ characteristics. These slogans all tend to endow their products a kind of spirit and uniqueness through advocating an idea by means of vague language. And this is exactly what sports and sportswear seek for. In the age of everyone pursuing uniqueness, when this uniqueness caters to the consumers, it will turn into an action of purchasing. Realization of Vagueness in Advertisement In advertisement, it is important to use precise language to convey information of the goods accurately and sufficiently. However, sometimes the employment of vague language could be more convenient and efficient in conveying information and it could speed up the munication between the advertisers and the consumers. The most widely used words in advertising language are adjectives, verbs and numerals. While other parts of speech, like nouns, adverbs and pronouns appear in a relatively low frequency. Use of Adjectives to Express Vagueness The aim of advertisement is to publicize the products and present their characteristics. And adjectives are critical to product description and concept expression in advertising language. An appropriate adjective can make things vivid and lifelike. So we can see a large amount of adjectives in advertisement because of its powerful function of description and 12 modification. British linguist G． L． Leech in his book English in Advertising：Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain listed 20 adjectives of supreme frequency, they are new， good(better／ best)， fresh， free，delicious， full， sure， clean， wonderful， special， crisp， fine， big，great， real， easy， bright， extra， safe， rich. These words, with tendentious emotive meaning, are of strong vagueness. For example, Good to the last drop． (Nescafe) I am More satisfied． (More cigarette) In addition, some evaluative mendatory adjectives are also employed greatly in ads. They are used to describe different kinds of products and services, encourage the audiences to imagine and trigger their interest in the products. For example, In perfect shape． For unlimited times． (Rado Watch) In this ad, perfect and unlimited are mendatory adjectives of unclear connotation and fuzzy denotation. In what degree can the shape of the watch be called perfect, this is an undefinable standard. And the word unlimited is also an immeasurable scale. So even if the characteristics of the watch are obvious, we don39。 t need exact figures to present its diameter, the length of the watch strap and its service life. The use of vague language in ads would manifest the good quality and perfect shape of the watch. 13 There is another reason for the activeness of adjectives in ads. For they have parative and superlative forms. There is a wellknown Chinese ad , “没有最好，只有更好 ”(No best, only better). This kind of vague expression helps extend the content of ads, and leave a space of imagination for the consumers. For example： You are more beautiful with Kodak． (Kodak film) Let39。 s make things better． (Philips Electronics) In the first example, there are two meanings with more beautiful. One means the pictures photographed by Kodak film are more beautiful than the actual looking. And the other means the pictures photographed by Kodak film are more beautiful than those photographed by other film panies. It doesn39。 t specify which meaning it refers to in the ad. Likewise, in the latter example, it also doesn39。 t specify whether its products are better than their earlier products or those produced by other panies. So, although vague expression doesn‟t specify the meaning, it leaves us a space of imagination. Use of Verbs to Express Vagueness The information conveyance of ads requires not only accuracy but also maximum quickness and economy, so people must resort to vague language. Verbs can vivify nouns and turn abstract image into bright terms with distinct characters, so they are widely used in ads. As we all know, the major function of ads is to persuade and induce, then, the ad 14 writers usually use verbs of semantic fuzziness and strong induction, to influence the consumers. For example, Take time to indulge. (Nestle ice cream） The verb “indulge” is a word with great uncertainty, because there are many things we can enjoy and indulge in life. But if on a hot summer day, then。