An Analysis Of Deviation In Advertising Language

'Advertising', stemming from the Latin word'advertere', refers to the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and persuasive in nature about products, service or ideas by identified sponsors through various media. Regarded as the embodiment of commerce, ads can be found in every corner of the modern life, and it has been an indispensable component of the modern society. It plays an important role in promoting sales and boosting economy. At the same time, advertising language has caught linguists'and ads researchers'interest since advertisers employ various writing techniques to make their ads stand out and be remembered by readers at their first sight. Experts have studied advertising from the perspectives of language features, style features, figurative speech, and functional and cultural connotations. The thesis focuses on deviation which is a linguistic device of purposeful violations of grammatical rules and pragmatic regulations in language communication. The functions of applying language deviation in literature creation can be summed up as strengthening mood, accentuating certain parts of writings, attracting readers'attention and pursuing aesthetic values. Thus the functions of deviation can fulfill advertisers'main aim at making their ads appealing to readers.The thesis is organized on the basis of Leech's classification of deviation, with ad samples covering various fields, like ads for food and drink, cigarette, dress and fabric, shoes, cosmetics, vehicle, aviation and navigation, insurance and banking, travel, hotel and restaurant and some non-profit business and education advertising. The data mainly come from web sites, newspapers and magazines, and some are borrowed from other researchers'papers and are marked in the thesis.The thesis firstly reviews previous researches in advertising language. Then it forms the theoretical framework for the later analysis by defining and classifying deviation based on Leech's classification. In Chapter IV, the thesis probes, by case study, into the deviation devices in advertising at the levels of lexicology, grammar, phonology, graphology, semantics, register, style and pragmatics. The thesis also illustrates motivations for the adoption of deviation in ads. Finally the thesis reaches its conclusion that deviation is widely employed in ads to fulfill ads'functions:'call attention, arouse interest and promote memory'.By analyzing deviation devices in advertising language, the thesis aims at enriching the deviation theory by more evidence, rendering help for English learners and ads readers to understand ads better, giving ads writers suggestions on better ads writing, and making implications for college English teaching.