The Role Of Cognitive Context In Interpreting Advertising Headlines

Sperber and Wilson initiatively put forward the ostensive-inferential model by taking the interlocutors'cognitive environment into consideration, which is different from the traditional communication theory which neglects human psychological process, To them, the speakers present their utterances serving as ostensive stimuli on the basis of their own cognitive context and the estimation of the hearers'to guide the hearers to infer their communicative intentions with their inferential cognitive ability. If the speakers'cognitive context overlaps with the hearers'to some extent, in other words, if the speakers'estimation of the hearers'cognitive context complies with the hearers', then the hearers will have the possibility of finding optimal relevance towards the speakers'utterance. According to the RT, relevance is the best cognitive pattern for interlocutors and optimal relevance is about spending comparatively less effort for greater cognitive effects. It is just optimal relevance, rather than maximal relevance that humans pursue.As a product of market economy, advertising communication is a type of ostensive-inferential communication though it takes place in a situation where the trust between communicators is lacking. Before the design of an advertisement, admen will estimate the cognitive context of target audience, for instance, their psychology, demands, emotions, etc., according to which the admen present their advertisements with the help of the manipulation of their own cognitive context. Meanwhile, stimulated by the ostensive behaviour, the audience draw inference on the basis of their cognitive experience. If the most accessible contextual assumption is not consistent with optimal relevance, the customers will go on searching for the relevant contextual assumptions to achieve great effects to offset the efforts they spend. During this process, the admen shoulder major responsibility for successful communication. It is clear to see that cognitive context is dynamic and changeable and plays a vital role in advertising communication. Compared with the traditional context which is almost all-inclusive, cognitive context is more practical for the interpretation of human communication. If the audience feel that this advertisement is relevant to them, they will be interested in it and in the meanwhile, they are willing to put effort into making contextual assumptions. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate the audience to buy the products or services. Therefore, the advertisements anchoring in the customers'cognitive context are more persuasive and attractive and eventually help the admen realize their goal.Before the advent of Relevance Theory, advertising was mostly studied from the perspective of semiotics, stylistics, and discourse. Though these studies have contributed significantly to the study of advertising, they are inadequate for explaining the nature of human communication. With reference to RT, scholars focus their attention on the powerful explanatory power of RT to advertising, strategies used in advertising, the design of advertising copy, etc.. However, few of them have tried to illustrate and prove the role of cognitive context in avoiding ambiguity, inferring the intentions of speakers and achieving contextual effects. In addition, since the headline carries the important points of advertisements, it is chosen as the focus of my study.It is sincerely hoped that this thesis can enrich the study of advertising communication and offer some insights into the nature of human communication. It is also hoped that it can help the designers to design better advertisements.