On Poetic Effects Of Advertising Language

Poetic effect is named to the peculiar effect of utterance which achieves most of its relevance through a wide array of weak implicatures (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995: 222). Studied within Relevance Theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1986/1995: 169), poetic effect results from a special kind of mental processing based on a wide-ranging activation and accessing of contextual assumptions, triggered by the search for an interpretation consistent with Relevance Theory.After reviewing many previous works on advertising language, poetic effects and Relevance Theory, the present study focuses on the following two foundational areas:(1) What are the different linguistic realizations of poetic effects in advertising language based on Relevance Theory?(2) What are pragmatic functions of advertising language triggering poetic effects? Metaphors are analyzed first based on the survey of 36 subjects' interpretation of 32advertisements. In advertisements, there are both conventional metaphors and more creative metaphors. Metaphors vary on a scale from conventional to creative categories. The assumptions, which the audience infer from it, may not be limited to those which the advertiser specifically intended him to recover. There is no cut-off point of weak implicatures of a metaphor. Complex metaphors are difficult for the audience to interpret. Some advertisements even contain unreasonable metaphors. Generally, implicatures triggered by a metaphor are very close in meaning while they may completely be the opposite. Assumptions are stored indirectly and are used differently in thinking. Metaphors reveal similarities of which we might not have been previously aware. Interpreting creative metaphors requires more time. If more time is supplied, the more weak implicatures may be discovered, the more pleasure the process of interpreting would contain, the more poetic effects the advertisement would trigger.Secondly, based on the analysis of metaphors, the study presents that the following linguistic forms can trigger poetic effects, including creative metaphors, similes based on creative metaphors and part of novel co-occurrences of lexical items, and unfinished sentences which interest the audience.Thirdly, the study attempts to expound the pragmatic functions of the wide use of advertising language triggering poetic effects. Advertising language triggering poetic effects can invoke the audience's interest; tend to be personal, specific, ambiguous andindeterminate; enable the advertiser to avoid taking responsibility for some unfavorable implicatures; serve as politeness strategies.The significance of the study lies in both theory and practice.Firstly, the thesis presents different linguistic realizations of poetic effects and pragmatic functions of advertising language triggering poetic effects through the audience's cognitive process of interpreting advertising language triggering poetic effects. Since previous studies did not deal with them in detail. Thus, the study enriches the theory on poetic effects.Secondly, the thesis has practical value. Not only does it offer the suggestions to advertisers' creative work, but also to the audience's interpretation. On one hand, the master of advertising language triggering poetic effects can be beneficial to the advertisers. On the other hand, the audience can better interpret advertisements to avoid being misled.