The Language of Advertising Syntactic Analysis – Lesson 3d Lingua Inglese, Module B A.A. 2009/10.

The Language of AdvertisingSyntactic Analysis – Lesson 3d

Lingua Inglese, Module BA.A. 2009/10

Ellipsis (1)

• Besides using the regularity of parallelism, an advertiser can throw in an unexpected irregularity:

• It entails syntactic reduction, a form of inexplicitnessinexplicitness consisting in the unspoken, the unexpressed, but understood.• It entails the omission or deletion of some items of

the surface text, which are recoverable in terms of relation with the text itself.• It is a major cohesive devicecohesive device, contributing to the

efficiencyefficiency and compactnesscompactness of a text (Beaugrande-Dressler, 1981; Halliday-Hasan, 1976).

ELLIPSISELLIPSIS

• We can find ellipsis both in written and spoken language, but especially in face-to-face conversation, we often do not bother to encode information that can be understood from the linguistic or situational context.• It is mainly a feature of oralityorality, used to avoid repetition and redundancy.

• The use of ellipsis in advertising: – Create ambiguityambiguity in order to attract the reader’s

attentionInterpretation: visual or verbal text, referents

outside the text (exophoric)

– Reproduce speech, informalinformal register, in order to create a confidential relationship with the reader.

Ellipsis (2)

Types of Ellipsis (1)

Starts perfect… Stays perfect... (Maxfactor)

•Ellipsis of the SubjectEllipsis of the SubjectIt entails the omission of the pronoun or noun functioning as SubjectSubject within the Nominal group.

Mates coming around? (Heineken)

Feeling fruity? (Del Monte)

• Verbal Ellipsis: Operator Verbal Ellipsis: Operator EllipsisEllipsisIt involves the omission of the operatoroperator, so that the lexical verb is always explicit. Generally, the SubjectSubject is also omitted from the clause

ItIt ItIt

Are yourAre your

Are youAre you

Types of Ellipsis (2)

• Verbal Ellipsis: Lexical EllipsisVerbal Ellipsis: Lexical EllipsisIt involves the omission of the lexical verb, so that the verbal group consists only of the operator – expressing modality (can, will, would, may, might) or tense (be, have, do).

“I keep my hands clean! Why can’t he?” (Lava soap)

“I keep my hands clean! Why can’t hecan’t he (keepkeep his hands clean)?”

Summertime’s here(Häagen-Dazs)

The key to your dream car is in your

home(Halifax Insurance)

This is what a Honda feels like(Honda)

Deixis• A word or phrase whose meaning requires contextual contextual informationinformation (e.g. in ads, the image on the page).• A feature of oralityorality, common in face-to-face conversation (→ shared situational context). • Types of deicticsdeictics:

– personal pronouns (I, you, we) or Adjs (your) – Advs of time (now, then) and place (here, there)– Demonstrative Adj/Pronouns (this, that)

• Use of the pronoun ‘you’ in ads is ambiguous as it is doubly exophoricexophoric.• It refers to:

The situation – i.e. the character in the picture

Discourse participants – i.e. the receivers of the advert.

Paralanguage• It is distinctive of oraloral communication and is used to express attitude and emotion.• = voice tone, facial expression, gesture, body posture, physical proximity.• In advertising, it is realised via speech, images, graphology and layout.• Communicative importanceCommunicative importance of the way writing is displayed (Cook 1992).

Reproducing speech

Do us a favour, will youwill you? Write to your MP about that Climate Change Bill. (Christian Aid)

ExerciseUp to 15-hour wear. Light as air. New. Double Wear Light.Long-wear makeup is now lightweight makeup. Fresh, natural, comfortable. Goes on sheer, leaves skin free to breathe all day. Controls oil, resists smudging and won’t "melt" off through heat and humidity. For a look that stays vibrant and fresh whether it’s a workday, a workout or a weekend. It’s makeup that keeps up. Oil-free. Photo-friendly. Fragrance-free. Non-acnegenic. Dermatologist-tested.

• Extensive use of punctuationpunctuation, especially full-stops > fragmentationfragmentation• Minor clausesMinor clauses > Fresh, natural, comfortable.• Extensive use of AdjectivesAdjectives (Compound Adj) > Oil-free. Photo-friendly.

Fragrance-free. Non-acnegenic. Dermatologist-tested. • EllipsisEllipsis > Goes on sheer, leaves skin free, controls oil, resists smudging and won’t

"melt" off ...

To sum up... Linguistic features of adsads (mainly on the syntacticsyntactic level):– Imperatives– Exclamations and interrogatives– Disjunctive grammar, fragmentation, NPs– Extensive use of adjectives– Parallelism – Ellipsis– Deixis– Paralanguage

To sum up... Linguistic features of adsads (mainly on the syntacticsyntactic level):– ImperativesImperatives– ExclamationsExclamations and interrogativesinterrogatives– Disjunctive grammar, fragmentationfragmentation, NPs– Extensive use of adjectives– Parallelism – EllipsisEllipsis– DeixisDeixis– ParalanguageParalanguage

Typical features of oralityorality