An ICM Approach To Pragmatic Presupposition In Auto Ads

Since pragmatic presupposition (PP) was put forward by Frege in 1892, it has been one of the hot-debated topics in the fields of philosophy, semantics and pragmatics. In linguistics, the presupposition, especially as an important topic in pragmatics, is frequently employed by the advertising designer as a useful device to enhance the persuasive effect of advertisement and realize their advertising goals because of its own characteristics. Previous researchers mainly drew their attention to the application and function of PP in advertisement, while readers'cognitive interpretations of PP were not systematically investigated. Therefore, this thesis will attempt to set up a model to analyze PP used in auto ads from the cognitive-pragmatic view in order to discover readers'cognitive mechanism in the process of understanding PP.After sorting out the existing studies on PP and finding out their limitations, this thesis explores the merits of studying PP under the theory of Idealized Cognitive Model (ICM). On this basis, PP is classified from the perspective of the four principles of ICM, and a model of interpreting the cognitive process of these four kinds of PP is set up. This thesis goes beyond the previous simple description of the application and functions of PP in ads. From the perspective of ICM, it reveals that the operation of PP in ads is not unbiased but rooted in the readers'image schemas, and emphasizes the strategies and functions of these four kinds of PP. The result shows that 1) the application of PP in ads is mainly manifested in forms of proposition and metaphor, because both of them can interpret the concrete characteristics and functions of cars in a more direct and vivid way; 2) according to readers'different image schemas, advertising designers are inclined to setting PP in forms of metonymy and metaphor-metonymy interaction with the purpose of reducing the cognitive burden and avoiding lengthy expressions thus capturing the readers'attention in an instant. This thesis consists of five parts. Chapter One provides a general introduction of the whole research, including the rationale, objectives and methodology, data collection as well as the organization of this thesis. In Chapter Two, from the prospective of philosophy, logical semantics, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics, this thesis sorts out the existing studies on PP and finds out their limitations. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical basis of this study in detail, based on which PP is reclassified and a model is set up. Chapter Four analyzes and interprets the readers'cognitive process of understanding PP with the proposed model. The conclusion is made in Chapter Five by summarizing some findings, limitations of this thesis and some suggestions for the future study.