Interpretation Of Euphemism In English Commercials Within The Relevance-adaptation Model

Advertising euphemism, as a branch of euphemism, has hardly attracted scholars’ attention as it deserves. The available studies in the field mainly concentrate on the expression forms, pragmatic functions of advertising euphemism. But as for the production mechanism and interpretation mechanism of advertising euphemism in verbal communication, there is less concern about it.In light of the problems mentioned above, the present thesis regards advertising euphemism as a specific type of verbal communication, and makes a tentative research on the production and interpretation mechanism of euphemism used in the English commercial advertising copies within the framework of Relevance-Adaptation Model which is proposed by Professor Ran Yongping(2004), in the hope of expounding the reason why advertisers or advertising agencies are prone to use euphemism in advertising copies, how it conveys the real meaning to customers successfully, and giving customers instructions on how to understand the intended meaning and appreciating the art of advertising language.This thesis covers a number of advertisements that are collected through advanced search and extracted from two kinds of world-known magazines: Time and The Economist, which were published from January, 2014 to June, 2014. Under the framework of R-A Model, the thesis elucidates on the production and comprehension mechanism of euphemism used in English commercials and the effect which a specific context have on the contextual correlates as well as how strategies are used to attract customers and persuade them to take buying actions.The results of the research verify the powerful application and explanation of R-A Model on advertising euphemism. Moreover, it provides advertisers with a new perspective on how to design their advertisements and offers customers ways of understanding and appreciating advertisements.