A Comparative Study Of Metadiscourse In Chinese And English Cosmetic Advertisements

Since Harris put forward metadiscourse in 1959, scholars have conducted many theoretical and empirical researches. Theoretical studies are mainly on the definition, functions and categorization of metadiscourse, while empirical studies are mainly on academic writings. In recent years, empirical studies of metasdiscourse diverted to multi-domains, such as news, advertisements, editorial and speeches. As a special kind of advertising discourse, cosmetic advertisements have attracted much attention from many researchers who have approached the issue from various perspectives. Few of the researchers, however, have conducted researches on the metadiscoure of cosmetic advertisements, let alone a comparative study on metadiscourse of Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements. Therefore, the present study tries to design a comparative analysis of the metadiscourse in Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements.This thesis analyzes 60 cosmetic advertisements including 30 Chinese ones and 30 English ones. All the Chinese cosmetic advertisements are randomly chosen from Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Bazaar and Rui Li. Most of the English cosmetic advertisements are downloaded from the official websites of cosmetics. Two of them are chosen from Vogue in English version. Based on Hyland’s (2005) definition of metadiscourse and her Interpersonal Model, the current study tries to examine the-application of metadiscourse devices including ten subcategories in both Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements and reveal the similarities and differences of the employment on metadiscourse. Furthermore, the study also explores the possible reasons attributable to the similarities and differences of the employment on metadiscourse between Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements. Statistical results revealing the similarities of the employment of metadiscourse devices are as the followings:(1) The total number of interactional resources is predominant over interactive resources both in Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements. (2) Within the subcategories of interactive resources, transitions are the least frequently used both in Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements (3) Both Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements use "engagement markers" and "boosters" more frequently than other items. (4) "Hedges" are the least frequently used both in Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements. However, there are differences in the employment of the metadiscourse devices between Chinese and English cosmetic advertisements: (1) Both interactive and interactional resources in English cosmetic advertisements are far more frequently used than those in Chinese cosmetic advertisements. (2) Within the subcategory, nearly all metadiscourse devices in English cosmetic advertisements outnumber their counterparts in Chinese cosmetic advertisements except "self mentions". (3) In interactive category, "transitions" and "code glosses" in English cosmetic advertisements outnumber that in Chinese ones. (4) In interactional category, far more "boosters", "attitude markers" and "engagement markers" are available in English cosmetic advertisements than in Chinese ones.With such similarities on the employment of metadiscourse, the current study argues that the different functions of interactive and interactional metadiscourse and the features of cosmetic advertisements can offer an explanation. The linguistic and cultural differences may contribute to give a supplementary explanation.This study provides a new perspective of the study on cosmetic advertisements and proves the feasibility of the metadiscourse study used in cosmetic advertising discourse. Moreover, it enriches the scope-of metadiscourse study and extends the metadiscourse research into more diversified domains. At the practical level, this analysis improves the awareness of metadiscourse of cosmetic advertisement copywriters to help them better develop cosmetic advertisements and benefits cosmetic advertisers and manufactures in both China and western countries to promote the across-national publicity of the cosmetic. This research also gives potential consumers a better understanding of the language features of cosmetic advertisements, and then promotes rational consumption of them.