An Analysis Of Vagueness In American Female Advertisements From The Perspective Of The Adaptation Theory

Based on Verscheuren’s Adaptation Theory, this thesis analyses vagueness of language use in American female magazines from internal structure of language and external context of languages, supported by 12 magazines of The Oprah Magazine in 2015. The Oprah Magazine is one of the best selling magazines in the United States whose contents are closely related to human daily life, so the advertisements in this magazine is closely related to the present American life. Through the analysis of the latest materials relating to American daily life, writer deeply explores the inner relationship between American advertising language using and choice making. With the acceleration of internationalization, nowadays globalization increasingly plays a prominent role in the world. It is hoped that this paper can expand the international horizon of advertisers and manufacturers. It is probably bring some enlightments for international and innovation-oriented talents.Verscheuren points that “the process of language using is a process of choice making. When users actively choose words, they will adapt to internal language structure and external language environment, consciously and unconsciously.”(Verschueren, 2000:55)This thesis illustrates vagueness in American female advertisements particularly in The Oprah Magazine, with tables, charts, data and examples in details, and uses quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze American advertisements as well. From the view of internal language structure, vagueness will be discussed on lexical level, syntactic level and rhetorical level. From the view of external language environment, it will be presented in mental world, physical world and social world. In this thesis, the writer explores how advertising-maker takes vagueness as a way to adapt to readers’ or consumers’ habits of language use and psychology.First, according to Adaptation Theory, this study focuses on vagueness in the latest foreign materials. As for advertising-makers, this thesis usefully provides the art of language and effective ways of advertising so that advertisements can properly send messages to consumers. Second, in order to get a better understanding of characteristic and features of commodity, consumers can know the implications of advertising language and deeply learn the intentions of advertising-makers through the analysis of vagueness in advertisements. Third, this research expands international horizon and enlarges research objects to linguistic researchers. So it is instructive in cross-cultural communication and pragmatic teaching.