A Pragmatic Approach To The Functions Of Presupposition In Advertising Language

Advertisements exist in almost everywhere in our realistic life. It has become a major part of the social and cultural communication. Concerning the important role of advertising, more and more experts and scholars have paid close attention to it. From different points of view, many linguists have been working on advertising language— the most important communicative factor of advertising. Advertising as a kind of persuasive language has the goal of informing consumers of the advertised products or services, and persuading them to take purchase action. As an important linguistic phenomenon, presupposition possesses some unique properties and thus is frequently exploited by advertisers to reinforce the persuasiveness of advertising.This thesis attempts to explore the possible functions of presupposition in print advertising language to find out the positive roles played by presupposition in helping advertising achieve its persuasion goal. It may help advertising practitioners obtain a better understanding of how presuppositions work and thus consciously employ such a linguistic strategy.Chapter One introduces the rationale and purpose of this study, the theoretical basis, the language data and research methodology employed in this thesis, as well as the organization of the thesis.Chapter Two is literature review. It traces the historical origin and general development of theories on presupposition, as well as discusses different types of presupposition and its unique properties. It provides theoretical support to the case analysis in the chapter four.Chapter Three is to analyze the problems and limitations of the presupposition in the past and put forward the need and value of the research.