论文总字数：25854字

摘 要

广告是传播信息的一种特殊的方式，用来介绍产品、服务或者观念，进而达到一定的商业推广效应并促成买卖、接受或赞同的目的。其中，语言是广告的重要载体。为了加强广告语言的生动性，大多数广告策划者会选择运用修辞。而修辞在中美广告中的应用比比皆是，本文从修辞手法角度出发，对中美广告语进行对比研究，进一步探讨修辞在中美广告语中是如何达到音美、形美和意美的效果。总之，文章认为对中美广告语言特点的研究对提高语言鉴赏力和理解广告语的商业和艺术价值具有极大的现实意义。

关键词：中美广告语；语言特点；修辞手法

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Purpose and significance of the study 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Previous studies on advertising 2

2.2 Previous studies on rhetoric in the advertisements in China and America 3

2.3 Summary 3

3. Rhetoric in Advertisements 3

3.1 Rhetoric in Chinese advertisements 3

3.2 Rhetoric in American advertisements 4

3.3 Summary 4

4. The Comparative Study of Rhetoric in Chinese and American Advertisements 5

4.1 Rhyme in Chinese and American advertisements----beauty in sound 5

4.2 Antithesis in Chinese and American advertisements-----beauty in form 8

4.3 Pun in Chinese and American advertisements----beauty in sense 9

5. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 11

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

Advertising industry is an important part of modern service industry and cultural industry. It has become one of the fastest growing economic industries in the world, and is often consider as a “barometer” of the state of national economic development. Roosevelt, the famous president of the United States, once said a famous remark about advertising: “Be the president or else an advertising guy because the advertising industry has reached an artistic height.” With the development of economic globalization and frequent international communication, cross-border trade among countries shows a rapid growth momentum. The economic communication between China and the United States is a bright case. At the same time, with the emergence of more and more modern media, such as, television, radio, newspapers, internet and so on. We can immediately know and have access to domestic and foreign commercial advertising language. To a certain extent, the rapid development of economy has stimulated the necessity of propaganda, and a variety of advertising texts have appeared. The advertising information aims at broadening people’s knowledge, allowing people to accept and recognize it, and finally stimulating people’s desire for consumption. If an advertiser wants his advertisement to be persuasive, or, in other words, the advertising designer wants to convince the public to buy the product and leave a deep impression on the public. Then, as an advertising designer, you have to design creative advertisements. To be creative, it is a better way to use rhetoric properly in advertising language.

1.2 Purpose and significance of the study

Because China and the United States are located in different cultural, economic and social soil, the advertisement designed for consumers with different national psychology must use different rhetorical devices. Thus, the characteristics of advertisement must be different. The differences in rhetoric in advertisement between the two countries not only reflect the differences between the two languages, but also reveal different cultural and national psychological characteristics of the two countries. Therefore, it is necessary for us to make a contrastive study of rhetorical devices in Chinese and American advertisements, and make a discussion on how rhetoric can achieve the effect of beauty in sound, beauty in form and beauty in meaning in Chinese and American advertising languages. On the one hand, it can help us to further explore the application and information of advertisement. From the perspective of cross-language. On the other hand, we can cultivate and upgrade our aesthetic awareness and enhance our abilities of appreciating the language. Moreover, the thesis mainly uses a method of qualitative analysis. First of all, advertisements in this paper are collected from related books and internet. Then, the analysis of case adopts the following procedure: defining certain rhetoric, making the case study, and making a summary of the analysis.

However, few people start from the perspective of rhetoric in the study of advertising language. What’s more, previous studies pay more attention to the external function of advertising language than to the internal features of advertising language, such as the use of rhetoric in advertising language.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Previous studies on advertising

Generally speaking, we can find many studies on advertising in China. For example, the representative works is Chen Peiai’s The New Edition of Chinese and Foreign Advertising History, which mainly focuses on the history and development of the advertising industry in China and foreign developed countries. It contains wide fields and covers the long span of time. At the same time, some systematic and complete works started. More and more researchers paid much attention to the relationship between advertisements and other disciplines. Some well-known books or articles often use a combination of linguistics, psychology and sociology together to research advertisements with a lot of cases. The representative work is Yu Genyuan’s Advertising Language Course. This book mainly focuses on the historical development of Chinese advertising to expound the close relationship between advertising language and Chinese culture. The writer analyzed advertising from the perspectives of narrative and social psychology. In addition to, this book also covers different forms of advertising expression such as dialects, phrases, idioms and foreign languages.

2.2 Previous studies on rhetoric in the advertisements in China and America

The analysis on the rhetorical devices in the advertising language in America and China gradually becomes complete and the framework has come into being. At present, although the research of the rhetorical devices in the advertising language falls behind greatly the advertising market which has developed rapidly, we can find much work introducing the advertising rhetoric, such as, Edward F. McQuarrie’s and David Glen Mick’s article of Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language and Li Na’s A Contrastive Study of Chinese and English Advertisements. David and Edward refer to the theoretical importance of the proposed framework for future research on rhetorical structure in advertising. “It is crucial to any future research on the framework will be experimental designs that differ from those conventionally used with print ads.” (435) In Li Na’s work, she refers to the diversity of rhetoric in Chinese and American ads. But much studies needs to be improved because most scholars give a brief analysis on how many rhetorical devices are used in the advertisements and enumerate some common cases.

2.3 Summary

From the above review of previous studies, it seems that none of them provides a satisfying and thorough explanation to rhetoric in advertisements. Some studies need to be improved because their authors give a brief analysis on how many rhetorical devices are used in the advertisements and enumerate some cases. However, we can find some reason to explain why these related studies are not complete. Perhaps because researchers working in different fields of linguistics have a tendency to draw attention to the aspects of their own interest. Furthermore, advertising as a special means of communication is a dynamic and complex process.

3. Rhetoric in Advertisements

3.1 Rhetoric in Chinese advertisements

From 1979 to 2019, Chinese advertising industry has developed and advanced for nearly 40 years. In this era of Internet and artificial intelligence, today’s advertising language is no longer the simple peddler’s yo-heave-ho in the past. With the appearance of a variety of modern media, it has penetrated into various aspects of people’s life. With the rapid development of the information times and the continuous advancement of science and technology, the Chinese advertising language is constantly changing at the pace of the times, from which we can find that the use and application of rhetoric is also great of importance. In addition to, there are many kinds of advertising rhetoric. There are several advertisements with rhetoric: 钻石恒久远，一颗永流传。(De Beers) 我的第一张名片。(Advertisement of Xiao Xiang suit) The first one uses hyperbole and the second one uses simile. According to incomplete statistics, Chinese advertising rhetoric can be summed up to 20 or even more including repetition, rhyme, antithesis, citation, imitation, rhetoric question, comparison, metaphor, foil, pun, adhesion, exaggeration, parallelism, analysis of words, echoes, questions, irony, top truth, contrast, cascading and so on.

3.2 Rhetoric in American advertisements

American advertising has been in the leading position in the world from the first advertising appeared in the Boston Newsletter in 1704 to the advancing advertising industry in the United States today. And some common American advertising rhetoric include metonymy, metaphor, imitation, pun, rhyme, parallelism, contrast, personification, exaggeration, analogy, repetition, irony and so on. For instance, this is an advertisement with simile: Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine. It wants to highlight the significance of orange juice in one’s everyday life. Besides, a lot of advertising designers will apply personification in ads, for example, the ad of Rolex watch: Unlike me, my Rolex never needs a rest.

3.3 Summary

From the above, we can see that some rhetoric in American and Chinese advertising language still have one-to-one correspondence, such as metaphor, parallelism, personification, exaggeration, pun, and so on. Some of which are not, such as the top truth, palindromes, disjunctive words and so on in Chinese rhetoric. In this paper, in order to highlight the differences and similarities between Chinese and American advertising rhetoric, we choose some more equivalent rhetoric to study how the rhetoric used in American and Chinese advertisements makes the sound, form and meaning become beautiful.

The Comparative Study of Rhetoric in Chinese and American Advertisements

4.1 Rhyme in Chinese and American advertisements----beauty in sound

4.1.1 Rhyme

In Chinese rhetoric, poetry comes to our minds as soon as the word ‘rhyme’ is mentioned. Indeed, in some poems such as ancient Tang and Song poetry, we found that the words at the end of some sentences use the same or similar Chinese vowels or the unity of level and oblique tones. When reading aloud, we will feel that it is easy to pronounce these words. When we are singing, songs or sentences will engender a strong, harmonious and graceful feeling. These places where the same vowel is used are called rhymes. It usually rhymes at the end of the sentence. Thus, most of rhymes in Chinese are end rhymes. And they are common in Chinese advertisements. In this way, the proper use of rhyme in the advertising language, can make the advertising language have a strong sense of rhythm.

The word “rhyme” in English comes from Latin “rhythmus”. Its definition and function are as follows. A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words, occurring at the end of lines in poems or songs. A rhyme is a tool utilizing repeating patterns that bring rhythm or musicality to poems. This differentiates them from prose, which is plain. A rhyme is employed for the specific purpose of rendering a pleasing effect to a poem, which makes its recital an enjoyable experience. Moreover, it offers itself as a mnemonic device, smoothing the progress of memorization. Of course, rhymes in English can be roughly divided into three types: alliteration, vowel rhyme and consonant rhyme. Alliteration, which means repeating the same letter or syllable, was originally the main rhyming form of English poetry. It can date back to the end of the 14th century, when the English poet Jeffrey Chaucer used alliteration in his poetry. The second is that vowel rhyme are in the middle of a sentence or line, with two or more words having the same vowel. The third is consonant rhyme, also called end rhyme. Consonant rhyme refers to the repetition of the same ending consonant in a group of words, a sentence, or a line of poetry.

4.1.2 Case study in Chinese and American advertisements

In the advertising language, in order to achieve the effect of musicality, Chinese and American advertising language use rhyming skills. Here are some typical examples of advertising language.

您身边的银行，可信赖的银行。(Industrial and Commercial Bank of China)

有汰渍，没污渍。(Tide detergent)

爱我，追我，但请别吻我! (Advertisement on cars)

晶晶亮，透心凉! (The Chinese advertisement of Sprite)

维维豆奶，欢乐开怀。(Vivi soy milk)

只溶于口，不溶于手。(Wheat best element)

头屑去无踪，秀发更出众。(Head amp; Shoulders shampoo)

要想皮肤好，早晚用大宝。(DABAO)

In the first one, the same word rhyme is “银行”(bank) and “银行”(bank), which highlights the theme of bank. The use of this rhyme is not only catchy, but also semantically concise and straightforward. In the second advertisement, the words “渍”(stain) and“渍”(stain) are used together. On the one hand, they indicate that the function of washing powders is to remove dirt and clean clothes. On the other hand, they show the advertiser’s great confidence of the product to their consumers or audiences. After conveying this confidence to their consumers, they can stimulate consumer’s interest in buying the product or enjoying the service advertised. In the third one, we can find the three “我” (me). On the basis of rhyming, it actually uses another kind of rhetoric which is personification. Among them, “I” stands for “car”, which is described as a person. And it endows “car” with life and people’s actions. Although this advertisement seems to be simple, it will give people a beautiful feeling. After all, the advertising language contains two kinds of rhetoric. It gives people vivid image and deep impression. Appreciating the following several advertisements, we can find that “亮”(bright) and “凉” (cool), “奶”(milk) and “怀”(bosom), “口”（mouth）and “手”(hand), “踪”(trace) and “众”(great), “好”(good) and “宝”(treasure) are the end rhymes.

Seductively Smooth. (Heineck beer)

Enjoy Coca—Cola. (Coca Cola)

Intel Inside. (Intel)

Good teeth，good health. (Colgate)

The first advertisement, on the one hand, reflects the taste of the advertisement, on the other hand, reflects the taste of the brand. The second advertisement of Coca-Cola Company is brief. The two words with the pronunciation of [k] are really short and concise, which makes people have a deep impression on this product. The third advertisement for Intel’s pentium processor, which is the largest manufacturer of personal computer parts and CPU in the United States and the world, uses alliteration. The importance of the product is demonstrated by the fact that a single advertisement contains only two words, both of which are pronounced as [in]. Short advertising words and the use of alliteration can make consumers more easily impressed. In some sense, this type of advertisement can achieve the effect of promoting or marketing some products. The last one is a Colgate advertisement for toothpaste. The two [th] are end rhyme.

4.1.3 Summary

From the examples of rhyme used in advertisements in the two countries, we find that Chinese advertisers are more likely to use end rhyme. While in the United States, on the contrary, they are used to using alliteration. This is a stark contrast. However, no matter which one is used, their rhymes contain the beauty of music in advertising language. It makes advertising language truly integrate sound, emotion, and semantics into one. With the cheerful rhythm and beautiful musicality, it is easy for people to read and remember advertisements. At the same time, it vividly depicts the content and utility of these products. Therefore, rhyme plays a vital role in both Chinese advertisements and American advertisements.

4.2 Antithesis in Chinese and American advertisements-----beauty in form

4.2.1 Antithesis

In Chen Wang Dao’s An Introduction to Rhetoric, antithesis is a pair of two sentences with the same number of words and similar syntax. (Chen 164) In antithesis, opposite or similar words and phrases are put together in a pair of two sentences to achieve a contrasting effect. The structure of antithesis is parallel and its use is extensive in advertisements.

4.2.2 Case study in Chinese and American advertisements

使头发根根柔软，令肌肤寸寸嫩滑。(Baili soap)

笑意写在脸上，满意装在心里。(Nanjing supermarket）

珍爱生命，远离毒品。(Anti-drug)

Florida Orange Juice Has As Much Potassium As A Banana. Hard to Believe. Easy to Swallow. (Florida orange juice)

In Chinese advertisements, “使”(make) and “令”(can) are verbs, “头发”(hair) and “肌肤”(skin) are nouns, “根根”(single) and “寸寸”(inch) are quantifiers, and “柔软”(soft) and “平滑”(smooth) are adjectives. Next one is similar with the first one. “笑意”(laughter) and “满意”(satisfaction), “脸”(face) and “心”(heart) are nouns, “写”(write) and “装”(take) are verbs and “上”(on) and “里”(in) are prepositions. In the third one, “珍爱”(cherish) and “远离”(leave) are verbs. These two contrasting verbs, set in parallel structures, markedly highlight that we need to protect our lives from drug. So the form of antithesis in Chinese can help readers understand ads and acquire effective information sources. (Li Na 188) The advertisement of orange juice means that it is hard to believe that juice is so delicious. “Hard” and “Easy” are adjectives. “Believe” and “Swallow” are verbs. They are symmetrical in the form. And the word “Hard” is the antonym of “Easy”.

4.2.3 Summary

To sum up, antithesis in Chinese advertisements can put more emphasis on the form. However, American ads pay more attention to the content. In either case, the use of antithesis reflects the beauty of form and draws the attention of listeners or readers. In other words, the antithesis of advertisements, depending on the emotional implication, is the enhancement of the formal beauty.

4.3 Pun in Chinese and American advertisements----beauty in sense

4.3.1 Pun in Chinese and American advertisements

Pun refers to a rhetorical device in which a sentence has double meaning by means of polysemy and homonymy. When we use polysemy and homonymy deliberately in advertisements, this advertisements will obtain the effect or result of pun.

4.3.2 Case study

情系中国结，联通四海心。

This is a classic advertisement for China Unicom. In the advertisement, the adman uses the semantic pun. Here，“联通”(Unicom) has two meanings: one indicating the unity of the world, the other showing the brand name of China Unicom, conveying the key information that the communication service provided by this company is of high quality and helps to promote people’s communication. While readers comprehend the advertisement from these two different dimensions, they will be more likely to agree with the advertising designer at the point that one way to keep pace with the new times is to make use of “China Unicom”. This is just the humor achieved by pun. And this is the meaning in beauty achieved by pun. Because of the features of pun, the advertisement can express two meanings. People can understand the real meaning and consider another meaning as a joke. So this is the meaning in beauty in ads.

We doctor shoes, heel them, attend to their dyeing needs and save their soles. (A Michigan shoe repair shop)

It’s an ad for a Michigan shoe repair shop. The advertisement is short. But it has homonymic pun and semantic pun, which is quite eye-catching and attractive. In this advertisement, “doctor” means “cure” or “repair”. “heel” means “heal” or “repairing the heels”. This is the semantic pun. “Dyeing” and “dying” and “sole” and “soul” are homonymic pun. The ad’s meaning: “we offer services such as repairing shoes, repairing heels, dyeing shoes and fixing soles.” But its implication is to treat the shoes, cure them, meet their customer’s needs and rescue their souls. Repairing shoes symbolizes that doctors heal the sick people and god saves the human being’s soul. At the same time, it vividly explains the high quality of their service and the great skill of repairing shoes. The whole advertisement is full of humor and is very interesting.

4.3.3 Summary

From the cases, it is shown that semantic pun can combine with homonymic pun together. In Chinese and American ads, pun is an ideal way to modify and improve the advertising language. With pun, ads can show us two or more different meanings. We will think these ads are funny and humorous, which is the meaning of beauty.

5. Conclusion

No matter what Chinese and American advertising designers choose which kinds of rhetoric, their common purpose is to draw readers’ or listeners’ attention on advertisements and give readers the deep impression on commodities or services. Mastering and applying different rhetorical devices in advertisement can help manufacturers or company produce better goods and provide much higher quality of services. It is quite useful and beneficial for us to make great advertisements in today’s world where is full of competition. At the same time, grasping more knowledge about the advertising rhetoric also can help consumers have a better understanding of Chinese and American advertisements. After knowing the related information, they have rational judgments and comments on all sorts of advertisements in our nation and other English countries. In the era of global integration, international economy and cultural exchanges are increasingly frequent. No matter Chinese economy or American economy, if they want to open the international market and adapt to the international market, we know that high-quality of products and good advertising are indispensable. The advertisements in the future should be added into other new content with the rapid development of information age. Therefore, it is quite vital and meaningful for us to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the advertising rhetoric.

Works Cited

Chris Fill, Graham Hughes, Scott De Francesco. Advertising：Strategy, Creativity and Media. Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2013.

McQuarrie, E.F. and David Glen Mick. “Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Language.” Journal of Consumer Research: 22 (2009) : 424-438.

Smith, Craig R. Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: A History. London: Waveland Press, 1998.

曹筱萍：《英语广告文体中的押韵》.《江西科技学报》，6（2007）：82-84.

[Cao Xiaoping. “Rhymes in English Advertising Stylistics.” Journal of Jiangxi Science and Technology, 6 (2007) 82-84.]

陈培爱：《中外广告史新编》. 北京：高等教育出版社，2009.

[Chen Peiai. The New Edition of Chinese and Foreign Advertising History. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2009.]

陈望道：《修辞学发凡》. 上海：上海教育出版社，2001.

[Chen Wangdao. Rhetoric Studies. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press, 2001.]

李娜.：《汉英广告语言对比研究》. 北京：中央编译出版社，2014.

[Li Na. A Contrastive Study of Language in Chinese and English Advertisements. Beijing: Central Compilation and Translation Press, 2014.]

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：25854字