Dialectical Analysis Of Hedges In Advertising English

Advertising plays an increasingly important role in today's business world. Fuzzy expressions, especially hedges, are more favored by advertisers in order to achieve attraction and persuasiveness. Interest in this has arisen in recent years. Some argue that hedges in advertising English may lead to deception, while others suggest that they can help to improve effectiveness and smoothness of advertisements. The author holds that a dialectical attitude towards the two-sided functions of hedges should be taken into consideration. Vagueness in advertising can be approached from various perspectives. Based on the studies by Zadeh, Lakoff, Wu Tieping, and Rosch, the thesis interprets this from semantic, pragmatic and cognitive angles. Hedges in advertising weaken the truth of advertisers'claims to avoid being negated later on or taking responsibilities for their rosy promises. Hedges can also make advertising more acceptable and effective, and achieve politeness or face-saving. Then the negative and positive functions of hedges are further analyzed based on prototype-based metonymic mappings. The default reasoning in the interpretation of hedges in advertising can lead to discrepancy between text-based impressions and reality, while this cognitive model also observes the principle of least effort or economic principle. A solution of this issue is that advertisers should observe the principle—honesty and consumers should also raise awareness of self-protection. Only through joint efforts can a real communicative bridge be built by advertising.