The Pragmatic Analysis Of Puns In Advertising English

Advertising is a highly effective tool of communication and persuasion. Advertising values the power and flexibility of language and employs many language techniques to achieve the effects. Advertisements' all- too-frequent use of puns has come to arouse the author's interest in further studying this linguistic phenomenon. As to the study of puns in the context of advertisement, less attention has been received in this narrow scope where my strong interest lies. Based on Sperber and Wilson's Relevance Theory, the present paper employs many examples to explore some characteristics peculiar to puns and their functions in advertising based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis. As to the reason why the advertiser prefers puns, it has been assumed that it is because puns can bring out certain pragmatic function to help to achieve certain communicative effect. The present paper has proposed that puns have five functions in written advertisements: 1) information conveying;2) attracting the audience's attention;3) making advertisements brief;4) making advertisements aesthetic;5) avoiding social taboos. The analysis of advertising puns can not only deepen the audience's understanding of advertising puns but also enable the advertiser to make a better application of puns in advertisements. At the same time, the thesis stresses that in the English learning;the effective use of advertisement with puns can stimulate learners' interest and improve their study efficiency.