A Study On The Composing Features Of The Coca-Cola Advertising Slogans Based On The Theory Of Modes Of Signifying

Based on Charles Williams Morris's theory of modes of signifying, this thesis employs both qualitative and quantitative analysis in the researching process on the modes of signifying applied in the Coca-Cola advertising slogans. The purpose is to study about the applications of the modes of signifying, the composing patterns and the features of the composing patterns of the Coca-Cola advertising slogans. This thesis uses the general theory of Semiotics to do research on the Coca-Cola advertising slogans from a totally new point of view, and, by doing so, some beneficial experience and inspiration can be obtained from using the successful advertising slogans as references.By comparison and classification, the research subject of this thesis is determined to be all the modes of signifying in the typical 130 Coca-Cola advertising slogans from the year 1886 to 2011. By analyzing the 130 Coca-Cola advertising slogans one by one, the author has drawn the following conclusions:First, in the 130 Coca-Cola advertising slogans, the total number of the modes of signifying is 521. According to the quantitative data, the designator is the most used modes of signifying in the Coca-Cola advertising slogans and the appraisor is the least used one. The remaining three modes of signifying (identifior, prescriptor and formator) have no big difference in total number.Second, the 130 Coca-Cola advertising slogans are divided into 4 groups according to their composing patterns. There are 23 composing patterns in total, and the 66 coordinate ascriptors occupy 50.77% of all the composing patterns rank the first. Meanwhile, the 5 special ascriptors occupying 3.85% rank the last.Third, during the research process, the author has found that the combination of designators and formators has a very high frequency; the prescriptor dominant pattern is not widely used as the designators dominant patterns; the combination of both designators and prescriptors is enough to give the consumers reasons to purchase; and the employ of the special ascriptor is infrequent in the Coca-Cola advertising slogans.