A Study On The Textual Features Of The English Motor Vehicle Advertising

With the quick development of Chinese economy and China's entry into WTO,the motor vehicle is becoming a kind of indispensable consumer goods in our dailylife. And with the increasing consumption of the motor vehicle, more and more worldfamous automobile companies concentrate their attention on Chinese market and setup branch companies in China, which has brought great challenges to our nativeautomobile industry. In the face of the outer competition, we should be clear about oursituation. On the one hand we should realize the technology gap between us and theworld famous automobile companies and on the other hand we should perceive thereason behind the popularity of the "outer" brands, which lies not only on thetechnology gap but on their advanced publicity means---the motor vehicleadvertising---which have successfully attracted a large number of consumers'attention. As a language researcher, the author feels it is necessary to make a thoroughexploration of the textual features of the world famous automobile companies'advertisements so as to provide our advertising copywriters with some usefulreference.Halliday (1994), the founder of functional grammar, states in his masterpiece AnIntroduction to Functional Grammar that functional grammar can be applied to theanalysis of any type of discourse no matter whether it is spoken or written. Accordingto the theories of functional grammar, there exist three levels of meaningsimultaneously in any form of discourse, namely, interpersonal meaning, experientialmeaning, and textual meaning. And these three types of meaning can be expressedthrough different lexical or grammatical forms: interpersonal meaning can beexpressed by mood and modality system, experiential meaning by various types ofprocesses and textual meaning by lexical cohesion or theme –rheme construction.In the light of this view, 34 English motor vehicle advertisements from thewebsites of some well-known automobile companies have been selected at randomand then the interpersonal and experiential meaning of these samples have beenstudied and explored within the theoretical framework of functional grammar.ivThrough the studies of the communication roles, it is found out that there exist threekinds of narrative angles in the motor vehicle advertisements: the product-oriented;with the interaction between the product and the addressee as the narrative center;andthe addressee-oriented. The product-oriented type focuses on the objective descriptionof the specific qualities, features and the functions of the car advertised. Due to thefact that the face-to-face communication between the advertiser and the consumer isimpossible in a written discourse, the car producer/ advertiser tries to create animaginary addressee "you" in the type with the interaction between the product andthe addressee. And through the interaction or communication between the caradvertised and the addressee, the car advertiser successfully shortens thepsychological gap between himself and the potential consumers and makes theadvertisement more acceptable and appealing. In the addressee-oriented motor vehicleadvertisements, the advertising effect is mainly achieved through the description ofwhat profit the imaginary addressee can get from the product.Through the exploration of interpersonal meaning it is found out that the role ofgiving in the motor vehicle advertising is often realized through the declarative mood.Although most of these declarative moods are expressed independently, there are stillsome declaratives followed by supporting or discretional responses. This studydiscovers that the role of demanding is also realized through declaratives and thisfinding is different from our normal communication in which the role of demanding isusually realized through the imperative or the modulated interrogative mood. Inaddition, as the customer is generally regarded as the "God" in the trader's mind, sothe social status between them is unequal. Thus the advertiser cannot or has no rightto express command to the potential consumers in the motor vehicle advertising. Andthe study also proves that the imperative mood in the motor vehicle advertisingactually expresses the meaning of advising and carries out the role of demandingindirectly. The discussion shows that the application of modal expressions in themotor vehicle advertising is not so obvious, but in those ads with modal expressionsProbability and Usuality are the two frequently used ones by which the car advertiserreduces his assertiveness, emphasizes the specific function or features of the caradvertised, and further strengthens the objectivity and reliability of the advertisement,therefore, leaves deep impression on the customers.Through the analysis of experiential meaning it is found out that the frequenciesof relational processes, material processes and mental processes are relatively higherthan the other three, which has certain close relationship with the field or tenor of themotor vehicle advertising.Through the study on the textual features of the English motor vehicleadvertising we can have a clear idea of the effect and function of the motor vehicleadvertising. It is sincerely hoped that this study can provide insights into theadvertisement designing for our advertising copywriters who can learn someadvanced experience regarding the advertisements writing from the world famousautomobile companies, increase the attraction of their advertisements and reach theeffect of advertising generally. Moreover, it is also hoped that this study can providesome implications for English reading comprehension.