A Cognitive Study Of Parody In English Advertisements From The Perspective Of Figure-ground Theory

Advertisement is an effective tool in marketing, and it can be seen everywhere.Parody in English advertisements, due to its novelty and attraction, has been widelyused by advertisers. There are already some researches on parody in Englishadvertisements, and the studies are mainly from the perspectives of rhetoric,aesthetics and pragmatics. In the thesis, the author attempts to study parody in Englishadvertisements from a cognitive perspective-figure-ground theory.Figure-ground theory is an important theory in cognitive linguistics. Accordingto the theory, every perception domain is composed of two parts-figure and ground.Figure is salient and easy to be perceived, while ground is usually ignored and worksas a cognitive reference for figure. In advertisements, the parodied utterance is thecognitive reference point of the parodying utterance. Parodied utterances are usuallyidioms, famous sentences or proverbs, and it is the similarity between the parodyingutterance and parodied utterance that activates the realization of parody in Englishadvertisements.The thesis is made up of five parts. Chapter one is the introduction, whichincludes the background, the significance and objective of the study and theorganization of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review, which covers the overviewof figure-ground theory and presents the previous studies of parody in Englishadvertisements. Chapter three focuses on theoretical framework and researchmethodology of the thesis. Theoretical framework includes reference point ability, figure-ground segregation and pragnanz of figure. The section of researchmethodology gives a detailed introduction to research questions, data collection anddata presentation. Chapter four is the core part of the thesis, which presents thecognitive analysis of parody in English advertisements. First, the cognitive model ofparody in English advertisements, the ways of substituting the parodic figure inEnglish advertisements and the prominent motivation of parody are introduced. Then,cognitive functions of figure and ground in parody in English advertisements arediscussed. Chapter five is the conclusion of the thesis, which contains the majorfindings and limitations of thesis and suggestions for further study.