*120174*
Lexical
and morphological aspects of advertisement
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æәíå ìîðôîëîãèÿëûқ àñïåêò³ëåð³í қàðàñòûðàäû.
The article regards
lexical and morphological aspects of advertisement.
This part of the work will be concerned with typical characteristics of
the vocabulary of advertising and most commonly used figures of speech.
There exist two types of structure of verb phrase: finite verb phrase and non-finite verb phrase. The
first one is “a verb phrase in which the first or only word is a finite verb
(it has the tense contrast, person and number concord with the subject), the
rest of the phrase consisting of non-finite verbs… The infinitive, the –ing
participle and the –ed participle are the non-finite forms of the verb.” [1, p.
41]. In advertising, “verbal groups are mostly of maximum simplicity,
consisting of only one word.” [2, p. 121]. It is obvious by a quick look
through our advertising material in research part that the majority of finite
verb phrases are either simple present forms (to satisfy the customer’s desire
for the present state of the product and its implication of universality and
timelessness) or else simple imperatives. Phrasal verbs are also used.
According to Leech, passive voice occurs very sporadically and so does the
application of auxiliary verbs. Two auxiliary verbs often used in advertising
are the future auxiliary ‘will’, because it evokes the impression of ‘promise’
and the modal auxiliary ‘can’. If an animate subject precedes the verb ‘can’,
(in most cases ‘you’ = ‘customer’ ‘you can…’), the consumer is told that the
product gives him or her the ‘ability’ to do this or that. If an inanimate
subject (in most cases the brand-name ��
e.g. ‘Nivea peeling can…’) precedes ‘can’, the consumer is told what
‘possibilities’ the product offers. [3, p. 125]
In general, noun phrases in
advertisements are far more complex than verb phrases. In advertising language,
the interesting part of the noun phrase is the premodifying part, which is
usually very complex and is characterized by certain unusual structural
features. The complexity of pre-modification is based on the effort to catch,
describe and specify the properties of the product in attractive way: “First automatic chronograph with a 72-hour
power-reserve and patented compression push-buttons. Mechanical automatic
movement 751, made inhouse.” Here the only verb is the verb ‘make’ in
passive voice. [4, p. 125]
In many cases, whole advertising text does not contain any verb; it
consists only of noun phrases. Inside the noun phrase, clusters of two, three
or more adjectives are possible: “Gingery
Fudgy Nutty Creamy Mischievous Mouthfuls.” A word ‘fudgy’ is a neologism
created by copywriters. Normally it is a noun and it does not exist in form of
an adjective.
High number of genitives occurs in names of manufacturer, names of time
and names of towns. “Bigham’s gourmet
canapés” “Britain’s No.1”
While reading the advertisement, the reader may notice the hyperbolic
character of the language. This exaggeration causes increased number of comparative and superlative adjectives.
The product is better, nicer, newer,
and tighter and the customer is happier and more satisfied. The product offers more information, more
entertainment, more comfort, more than any other product. We may observe in our
list of advertisements that gradable adjectives (they describe qualities that
can be measured in degrees; they can be used in comparative or superlative forms)
outnumber non-gradable adjectives (“they describe qualities that are completely
present or completely absent; they do not occur in comparative and superlative
forms, and cannot be used with adverbs such as very or extremely, because we
don’t usually imagine degrees of more or less of the quality being described.”
e.g. biological, school, telephonic.) [5, p. 91]
Epithet is a descriptive word or phrase, which “emphasizes particular
characteristic of described object or event and concretizes its idea, eventually
expresses author’s evaluative and emotional attitude” [6, p. 91]. There are two
types of epithets: epithet constans (commonly used stereotyped collocation,
e.g. heavy rain, bright day) and epithet ornans (decorative). In advertising,
most widely used are epithets like fresh, new, gentle, creamy, silky,
delicious, beautiful, ideal, excellent, unforgettable, eternal, etc., and,
accordingly, the gradational forms of them.
In many advertisements, we can see the use of numerals. It is necessary if the copywriters want to define the
characteristics of the product exactly. Numerals are used to define quantity of
various aspects, for example percentage of some substance in a product, number
of years in connection to the length of the tradition of the product, the
number of satisfied customers, etc.
Foreign words are used in advertisements to emphasize the origin of the product or
exclusiveness of the product in relation to particular country: “La crème de la crème of lip
colour.” French word ‘crème’ evokes the impression of good-class
French cosmetics. Even more, the phrase ‘crème de la crème’ is
taken from French and it means ‘the best people or things of their kind’ [12].
Intertextuality is “the way in which one text echoes or refers to another text. It
means that, for example an advertisement: “To
be in Florida in winter, or not to be in Florida in winter” would contain
an intertextual reference to a key speech in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Intertexuality can operate at many different levels of language, from phonological
and lexical references in titles and slogans to visual aspects such as layouts
and images. Intertextuality can be an important component of and
advertisement’s meaning, in that the original text being referred to establish
a message, which the second text can then use and elaborate on. For
intertextuality to work completely, readers have to be able to remember the
original advert and place the reference being established. But if they don’t,
it doesn’t matter too much, for the contemporary advert will simply be
enigmatic…” [7, p. 124]
In English, there exist many different ways of adding new words to the vocabulary. Advertising texts take
advantage of using made-up or adapted words and expressions in order to support the creative aspect of advertisement
and its attraction. In the text, of
course, occur words formed by affixation, compounding, conversion, shortening, blending, and
back-formation and by other ways of creating new words.
The readers even needn’t notice such words, because they sound familiar
and ordinary to them. However, if a new word is ‘deviated’ (it is accommodated
somehow to the context of the advertising text), it becomes striking and
interesting for the reader.
We can find new words and phrases formed by compounding. Very striking feature
of advertising language is a variety of “lexical units, where each unit is
consisting of two or more bases (roots)” [8, p. 40] They are called compound
words. A compound word may be characterized by its inseparability (it cannot be
interrupted by another word), semantic unity, morphological and syntactic
functioning and certain phonetical and graphic features. The creativity of
copywriters goes beyond the normal frequency of compounds used in other types
of discourse. Because of the intentions to render in best possible way the
product, various compounds are used and created (e.g. good-as-homemade, Jus-Rol, pain-relieving, state-of-the-art,
hand-crafted, head-to-toe, one-of-a-kind, platinum-inlayed, all-new,
front-facing, touch-sensitive, built-in).
Affixation is another “very effective process of building new words by
adding an established prefix or suffix to the existing base. It is a most
productive process of creating new words in English.” [9, p. 35]. A suffix
occurs after and a prefix occurs before the base. “A suffix usually changes not
only the lexical meaning of a word but also its word class”
The following examples show the creativity of advertising language: “provodkative, cookability” [10, p.
140], anti-aging, jewel-like, Casiology.
Shortening in general is “a process in which part of the original word
is taken away. It expresses the trend of Modern English towards monosyllabism.”
[37, p. 47]. Shortening contains clipping, acronyms and initialisms.
Conversion may be used not only with the association with brand names.
Here is an example of advertisement for Penguin books situated on railway
platforms. [11, p. 65]: “Book at any
station.” Book is both the verb (‘reserve a ticket’) and the noun (‘a a
written work published and dedicated to reading.’). The picture of the
trademark Penguin at a station links the two.
“An idiom is an expression
(i.e. term or phrase) whose meaning cannot be deduced from the literal
definitions and the arrangement of its parts, but refers instead to a
figurative meaning that is known only through conventional use. In linguistics,
idioms are figures of speech that contradict the principle of compositionality
(the principle, which tells that the meaning of a complex expression is
determined by the meanings of its constituent expressions and the rules used to
combine them.)” [36]. Idioms have multiword character, they are fixed and they
have common figurative meaning. The phrase ‘to be in the same boat’ has the
literal meaning ‘to be in the same boat’, and also the idiomatic figurative
meaning ‘to be in the same difficult situation’.
A proverb is a type of
idiomatic construction. It is “a well-known phrase or sentence that gives
advice or says something that is generally true.” [12], e.g.: ‘Too many cooks
spoil the broth ’ means that if too many people are involved in something, it
will not be well done.
Copywriters use idioms and proverbs in advertisements, because these
constructions are familiar to most potential customers in a society. The idiom
or a proverb in a text may be used without formal changes, or in a creative
way, where an element of a proverb or idiom is slightly changed or replaced by
another word to create a pun and, consequently, a connection with a product. If
the picture accompanies the text, the picture usually does not represent the
figurative - and, of course - correct and common meaning of the idiom, but it
represents the image and representation of the literal meanings of its
constituents: “Challenge us – and get
yourself a bigger slice of the cake.” (Siemens Financial Services). An
idiom ‘a bigger slice of the cake’
means a share of the available money or benefits that you believe you have a
right to. A picture represents two happy young women eating a cake.
A collocation is “a
combination of words in a language, that happens very often and more frequently
than would happen by chance.” [12]. Collocations are used in advertisements,
however often without any deviation or play on words and for the reader it is
often imperceptible.
We offer here an example of and advertisement with the use of deviated
collocation: “Do you believe in love at
first touch?” The original collocation sounds ‘love at first sight’, but
this advertisement emphasizes a “sleek stainless steel body” of a mobile phone.
Әäåáèåò
1. Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney et al. (1990). A Student’s Grammar of
the English Language. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
2. Leech, Geoffrey, N. (1972). English in Advertising: A Linguistic Study
of Advertising in Great Britain (English Language Series). London: Longman
3. Leech, Geoffrey, N. (1972). English in Advertising: A Linguistic Study
of Advertising in Great Britain (English Language Series). London: Longman
4. Leech, Geoffrey, N. (1972). English in Advertising: A Linguistic Study
of Advertising in Great Britain (English Language Series). London: Longman
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6. Cmerjkova, Svetla. (2000). Reklama v cestine. Praha: Leda
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8. Kvetko, Pavol. (2001). Essentials of Modern English Lexicology.
Bratislava
9. Kvetko, Pavol. (2001). Essentials of Modern English Lexicology.
Bratislava
10. Cook,
G. (1996/1992). The Discourse of Advertising. London: Routledge
11. Myers,
G (1994): Words in Ads. London: Edward Arnold