LV An investigation into some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers

-1- Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 RATIONALE Language is the most powerful weapon in communication It is termed the magic in communication and is thought to contain special powers, which only the initiated are allowed to understand or control [35] It is expressed in varied styles in various disciplines Advertising is one of the disciplines where the use of language has to be employed with care in order to deliver the message effectively and efficiently According to David Crystal [35], language is the systematic, conventional use of sound, signs or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression One can then bridge the great link between language and advertising since according to Leo Burnette [30], the aim of advertising is to draw attention to products or services in order to make them sell Crystal also thinks that, most obviously, the language is generally laudatory, positive unreserved, and emphasizing the uniqueness of a product An advertisement may not attain the goals of selling goods, services or ideas, not only because the target audience was not exposed to the advertisement, but also because the language used in the slogans did not suffice to grab the attention of the audience, captivate their interest, create a desire and move them to action It could as well be that, the message was not understood and conveyed a different meaning to the target population Hence the improper use of language will cause the advertisement not to serve the purpose intended -2- for Therefore, the language of advertising needs careful investigation and generalization Along with the development of the society, advertising has been proving its increasingly important role It is hard to imagine how a modern society goes on without advertising It has been familiar to us since a long, long time ago It has become a close friend of everybody and every family Everywhere and every time we go out, we can see advertising Whether we are shopping, reading newspapers or magazines, travelling to work, watching television, or simply lazing around, we cannot avoid seeing advertisement probably, if we bother to count, several hundred everyday They come in an extra ordinary range of forms and context In fact, advertising has become a part of our everyday life and is an indispensable component of all sorts of business Commenting on the indispensability of advertising in a business, Stewart H Britt states in a higher vein “Doing business without advertising is like winking a girl in the dark; you know what you are doing, but nobody else does” [28, p.7] Moreover, advertising is an art It is the art of persuading It is designed not only to capture everyone’s attention and provide information about goods, but also helps to promote economic growth and provide “a colourful, diverting aspect of life” Advertising has become a specialized activity It is deeply rooted in daily activities and closely follows our steps Besides, advertising is a device to arouse consumers’ attention to a commodity and induce them to use it In the increasingly keen competition of the market economy, advertising is an important means of scrambling for markets As a special practical style, it has its own features in the creative design or in the use of words Industrialized people cannot lead a good life without useful advice from advertising Advertising assists them in satisfying their wants by informing the benefits of goods, offering knowledge and understanding of -3- their environment Advertising shows us what goods we can buy and where to buy, how to rationalize labour to lighten the burdens of housework, what food we should eat and what medicines we should take for being healthy, etc As far as we know, advertising nowadays not only spurs economic development, engineers sales, helps people and organizations find each other, creates and sustains thousands of jobs – in advertising agencies, in various promotion and exhibition industries but also gives the public the right to choose between many options, many brands It enables consumers to opt for the best quality or the lowest price or the best mix of quality and price Although advertising appears in many different forms and means, it basically uses the language as a means to draw customers’ attention and supplies listeners, readers, or viewers with necessary information about new products and services Advertising is also a good guide and good educator for cultural needs, a source of information and stimulus for new achievements and progress in every field In the production field, advertising can ensure a certain number of buyers so that manufacturers can manage their production accurately and effectively In addition, advertising efficiently supports the development of other industries such as journalism, television… Every time an advertisement arouses a consumer’s interest enough to result in a purchase, it keeps a company going strong And it helps secure the job of the people who work there And when advertising does its job, millions of people keeps theirs Therefore, advertising is very important and has become indispensable in our modern life It can be said that the economy of any country would take a downturn without advertising In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertising writers pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, colour and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive In the practice of the -4- advertising English and Vietnamese, people pay more and more attention to the use of stylistic devices in an effort to make the advertising succinct, accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for readers so as to stimulate their desire The frequent and wide use of stylistic devices is an important characteristic of advertising English and Vietnamese, which is an effective way to make the advertisement attractive A stylistic device is an example of the figurative use of words, which produces a particularly rhetorical effect when people use the language creatively in a specified context The use of stylistic devices in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers to buy what is advertised And their proper use can make an advertisement sweet to the ear, and pleasing to both the eye and the mind So advertising writers often use stylistic devices in advertisements The typical linguistic features of advertisements have so far been the focus of attention of many linguists and researchers However, there are not many serious studies of the language used in advertising, especially stylistic devices used in advertising English and Vietnamese In order to create favorable conditions for those who want to understand more about advertising language, I decided to carry out a detailed analysis of these features: An Investigation into some Commonly Used Stylistic Devices in Advertising Language in English and Vietnamese Newspapers 1.2 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY To some extent, the research will be a valuable contribution to the teaching and learning of English and Vietnamese Stylistics in general and of stylistic devices in advertising language in particular The findings of the research will help Vietnamese learners appreciate the beauty of advertising language Moreover, it will not only help them get better understanding of advertising language but also provide them with some necessary strategies -5- and techniques in writing advertisements I also hope that this research will provide the learner with precious experience of how to write and translate an advertisement As a result, their experience will certainly facilitate their English language learning so that they will be able to learn more effectively and successfully 1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study focuses on the findings of stylistic features of some commonly used stylistic devices namely simile, metaphor, rhetorical questions, hyperbole, repetition and personification in English and Vietnamese advertising language, the similarities and differences, the frequencies of occurrence of the stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Findings are discussed in relation to the following research questions of the study : What are stylistic features of some commonly used stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language? What are the similarities and differences in stylistic features in English and Vietnamese advertising language? What are the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language? 1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY The study is organized into five chapters as follows: Chapter is the introduction to the study, which presents the rationale, the justification, scope, research questions and organization of the study -6- Chapter 2, Review of Literature, presents a review of prior studies and concepts related to the problem under study General views of advertising and some fundamental theoretical background to the study will also be presented The aims and objectives, research design, research method and procedure, description of population and sample, data collection and data analysis will be fully described in Chapter Chapter deals with findings and discussion It provides the findings of stylistic features of some commonly used stylistic devices, the similarities, the differences and the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers Chapter gives the conclusions, the reality of the thesis, suggestions for using stylistic devices, the limitations, the negative of advertising and some suggestions for further research Chapter -7- LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 GENERAL VIEWS OF ADVERTISING 2.1.1 Notions of Advertising In contemporary society, advertising is everywhere We cannot walk down the street, shop, watch television, go through our mail, log on to the Internet, read a newspaper or take a train without encountering it Whether we are alone, with our friends or family, or in a crowd, advertising is always with us Although advertising has become familiar to us and, in fact, it has become a part of our life, it is by no means easy to come to terms with a definition for it Beside the usual definition: Advertising is a way to help selling the bad products, there are a lot of different definitions of advertising However, the following ones seem to be the most appropriate to my study on stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers Advertising is defined by Harris & Seldon as a public notice “Advertising designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of marketable goods and services” [42, p.40] Another definition given by Cook, G (1992) states: “Advertising means clearly identifiable, paid for communications in the media, which aims to persuade, inform or sell But the world is also used to cover a much broader range of activities – from design to public relations – by what are often the same organizations, using similar skills.” [34] According to the Encyclopedia American, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of products, services, or ideas by an identifiable individual or organization.” Or “Advertising is any no-personal presentation of ideas, goods, or services that is paid for an identified sponsor.” [50, p.15] -8- Each particular field defines advertising in their own way, however, a successful advertisement is expected to accomplish five functions namely (1) attracting attention, (2) commanding interest, (3) creating desire, (4) inspiring conviction, (5) provoking action Also, I can draw out some distinguishable points: - Advertising delivers messages to a large number of people at low cost per “contact” - Advertising is a fast method of communicating with many people at the same time - The sole purpose of advertising is to sell something – a product, a service, or merely an idea through effective communication in each definition In summary, as a linguist has stated, advertising is one of the disciplines where the use of language has to be employed with care in order to deliver the message effectively The most important thing is that advertising is a device to arouse consumers’ attention to a commodity and induce them to use it Moreover, it is an art of persuading consumers about its usefulness, the attraction and the advantage of the product As a special practical style, it has its own features in the creative design or in the use of words 2.1.2 The Aims of Advertising Any new product manufactured by a widely known company needs a solid informational support which, as a rule, is provided by advertising In order to sell its products, the company willing to that must advertise them in the language which a potential customer can understand, otherwise the company might fail Therefore, the aim of advertising is to draw attention to a product or service in order to sell it, to stimulate demand for a product, service, idea, or to make potential buyers aware of products or services – and to get them to act! That act may be inquiring for more information, calling for -9- an appointment, coming buy your store or sending in an order by mail The outcome of these actions should, of course, eventually be a sale Advertising is uniquely able to deliver consistent messages reliable, quickly and efficiently Unlike other marketing communication tactics, such as public relations, advertising allows you to control the message, the placement and the frequency Through advertising, you deliver a message about your product or service Additionally, advertising can: ° establish and maintain an awareness and positive image of your company, products or services ° develop a need for products or services ° persuade customers that your products or services are the best ° promote events Therefore, in this study, the aim of advertising is referred to as a main factor affected of creating an effective advertisement Once again, this is an important problem for advertisers, which requires an effort to use the techniques about linguistic to have a strong persuasion 2.1.3 The Functions of Advertising Advertising aims at drawing the customers’ attention towards a product or service and persuading them about its usefulness, attraction and advantage In his desire to sell a product, the advertiser strives to make the public familiar with it, to create the belief that it is superior to rival products and to convince people that it is essential In my study, I found that advertising has the following functions: 2.1.3.1 Informative Function This is the main function of advertising Advertisements describe available goods and state where and at what prices they can be bought -10- Advertising brings knowledge of desirable merchandise to customers It announces new products, describes new uses and improves features of familiar ones Advertising suggests that we enjoy more nourishing food, more attractive clothes, and more comfortable homes Advertising also communicates information about organizations, technicians and tradesmen able and willing to also provide various services In addition, advertising also draws the readers’ attention to coming events 2.1.3.2 Feeling-arousing Function The art of the advertising writer is not only communicating information but also creating a favorable feeling about what he is selling This function is not less important than the informative function and sometimes it is much more important Advertising often appeals to basis such as mother’s love, sex, manliness, feminity… In seeking to create a favorable feeling about what he’s selling, the advertiser often uses word magic working in harmony with the striking illustration He can thus appeal to the eye as well as to the intellect In addition, humour in advertising is another form of emotional appeal, but one which needs to be used with discretion Its advantages are that it quickly establishes a warm contact between advertiser and the reader and that it lends itself to the making of unusually attractive advertisements 2.1.3.3 Aesthetic Function The advertising language has to satisfy human needs of beauty Therefore, new models of products or latest fashion of clothes are always competing with one another People’s aesthetic sense is increasing day by day, so advertising has to meet this need In newspapers, advertisements have to be printed in places that please readers’ eyes A beautiful picture always catches the readers’ attention That is why beautiful girls’ photos often go -91- 4.2.1 Similarities ° Firstly, simple, vivid and attractive are similar features in advertising language in English and Vietnamese ° Secondly, all the stylistic devices used in English and Vietnamese advertising language have high artistic effects in the way of expressing, drawing attention to products or services, making a strong impression on customers in order to arouse their interest of buying the products or services Therefore, the stylistic devices’ functions are almost analogous in the two languages ° Thirdly, in English and Vietnamese advertisements, an advertising slogan can contain two or many stylistic devices For example: In English: (305) Where the ground meets the sky (The Panorama – Phu My Hung) [102] This contains four stylistic devices: hyperbole, metaphor, metonymy and personification In Vietnamese: (306) Quà tặng vô giá thời gian (Thạch Bích Mineral Water advertisement) [190] Two stylistic devices are used simultaneously: metaphor and hyperbole ° Lastly, there are only some differences in terms of structure of some stylistic devices but in general, they are the same Simile in English and Vietnamese advertisements is the same It is a comparison between two different things that resemble each other in at least one way It is expressed by comparative words such as like (như), more … than(hơn), less … than(kém), etc… Sometimes no comparative words are needed in both languages -92- Metaphor is a dominant and difficult stylistic device Concepts of metaphor in English and Vietnamese advertisements are quite similar, even identified They are the way of saying one thing but meaning another Also, rhetorical questions are dominant stylistic devices They are similar in English and Vietnamese They are used widely in advertisements to make emphasis on the special and beautiful characteristics of the product Therefore, rhetorical questions have a great importance in advertising in both languages In advertising, hyperbole appears in high frequency in English and Vietnamese languages And it’s hyperbole in advertisements that can make the features of products or services become noticeable and desirable Perhaps, repetition used in advertising in both languages can help the customers remember the brand name easy and long – lasting This is also the advertisers’ purpose in increasing the effect of promoting as well as luring the customers’ attention to buy the products or services With personification in advertising in the two languages, the product advertised seems to become a very close friend with customers with its human qualities And it makes them have confidence in the product In reality, the advertisers always take advantages of effects in the stylistic devices to highlight the main objective of advertisements – to get people to think about the product or service Through these devices, advertisements rouse the customers’ desire as well as make them more attractive 4.2.2 Differences ° Stylistically, there are some differences in terms of structure in stylistic devices The structure(as as: similar comparison) in simile, the yesno questions without verbs in rhetorical questions as well as rhetorical -93- questions in the form of comparative sentences don’t appear in Vietnamese advertising In repetition, there are three kinds of repetition of sounds: rhyme, chime and assonance & alliteration in English advertising But there are only two kinds in Vietnamese advertising: rhyme and chime ° Through two tables 4.4 and 4.5 on pages 95 and 96, we can see that in English advertising language, simile is the stylistic device that takes the highest percentage (21.67%) This explains that simile is most employed to raise the value of the products and services and to draw customers’ attention to new products and services Simultaneously, it makes buyers feel secure in selecting the products and services As far as I know, comparative advertising is a type of persuasive advertising in which a company directly compares its brand with one or more other brands The objective is to get consumers to switch from a competing brand to the company ‘s product ° Meanwhile, in Vietnamese advertising language, the stylistic device that is most paid attention to is hyperbole It takes the highest percentage (23%) As we all know, the advertising language’s nature is overstating Using hyperbole in advertising language, Vietnamese advertisers want to give a prominence to the products and services Moreover, they want to emphasize the original, beautiful and special characteristics of products or services and simultaneously make a strong impression on customers in order to get the feedback from the customers to products or services Therefore, hyperbole is used in advertisements to lure the customers’ attention, to increase the effect of promoting as well as to highlight the distinctive features in advertising language In short, although there are some differences in stylistic features in English and Vietnamese advertising language, in terms of structure as well as the frequency of occurrence, the stylistic devices’ functions are almost analogous in the two languages In other words, different as they are, all the -94- advertisements are alike in one important way They have the same purpose: to get people to buy some products or services In order to persuade people to buy products or services, advertisers often use stylistic devices in writing advertising slogans It is stylistic devices that make advertisements more effective and persuasive 4.3 FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE OF SOME COMMONLYUSED STYLISTIC DEVICES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE ADVERTISING LANGUAGE Table 4.4: Frequency of Occurrence of Stylistic Devices in English Advertising Language Types of Raw numbers Percentage (%) stylistic devices Simile 65 21.67 Hyperbole 49 16.33 Repetition 47 15.67 Rhetorical Questions 37 12.33 Personification 35 11.67 Metaphor 30 10 Total 300 100.00 The table presents the frequency of occurrence of stylistic devices in English advertising language After analyzing 300 samples of English advertisements, it is noticeable that simile has the highest percentage (21.67%) while the others have the lower values, hyperbole (16.33%), repetition (15.67%), rhetorical questions (12.33%), personification (11.67%) and metaphor (10%) Table 4.5: Frequency of Occurrence of Stylistic Devices in Vietnamese Advertising Language -95- Types of Raw numbers Percentage (%) stylistic devices Hyperbole 69 23 Metaphor 64 21.33 Personification 60 20 Repetition 54 18 Simile 26 8.67 Rhetorical Questions 18 Total 300 100.00 The table presents the frequency of occurrence of stylistic devices in Vietnamese advertising language Among 300 samples of Vietnamese advertisements, it is noticeable that hyperbole takes predominant use with 69 slogans (≈23%); metaphor holds 64 (≈21.33%); personification takes 60 (≈20%); repetition holds a smaller number of 54 (≈18%); simile has minor use with 26 (≈8.67%); and rhetorical questions are the smallest proportion with 18 (≈6%) The percentages shown in table 4.4 and 4.5 reveal the difference in their frequency and their effects in persuading customers to make allowance for advertised products and services In summary, the style of advertisements is dependent upon the purpose of advertisements Through stylistic devices, advertisers have expressed the stylistic features of advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers to create an impression on the consumers Moreover, it is stylistic devices that reflect advertisers’ cleverness in using appropriate language for their persuasive purposes -96- Chapter CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 5.1 CONCLUSION “Today’s advertising is tomorrow’s harvest.” [75] In fact, advertising acts as an indispensable factor to promote economic growth and provide a colourful aspect of life Advertising seems to appear everywhere, every time It is deeply rooted in our daily life and closely -97- follows our every step It is hard to imagine how a modern society goes on without advertising Advertising is a very interesting genre, whose complexity might be greatly increased with the use of language As far as I know, good advertising does not just inform It sells Any advertisement that causes the customers to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what is written about the product- is not doing its job completely Or any that does not elicit the desired action – buying the products – is an absolute waste of time and money In other words, when doing the advertising, all the advertisers know that prospects must be nudged to get them act Although advertising appears in many different forms and means, it basically uses the language as a means to draw customers’ attention and supplies listeners, readers, or viewers with necessary information about products and services Language has a powerful influence over people and their behaviour This is especially true in the fields of marketing and advertising The choice of language to convey a specific message with the intention of influencing people is vitally important Therefore, in order to understand, apply and make advertisements effectively, studying on advertising language is a necessary task to be done Advertising language as a special kind of language is very different from common language It has its own features in morphology, syntax, and rhetorical devices Simple and attractive are two general features of advertising English and Vietnamese There are different types of advertisements, and they are differed in the way of writing according to their target audience, the product or other aspects Therefore, we must analyze the features of different kinds of advertisements in order to find a proper position for our own advertisement, and choose methods fit it best Different as they are, all the advertisements are alike in one important way They have the same purpose: to get people to buy some products or services In order to persuade -98- people to buy products or services, advertisers often use stylistic devices in writing advertising slogans It is stylistic devices that make advertisements more effective and persuasive Stylistic devices are variations of literal or ordinary form of expressions Their use is to make the thought more striking and effective, for they have the power to vivify and illustrate A fresh, apt stylistic device appeals to the imagination, creates mental pictures and makes the speech or writing vivid, impressive and interesting For this reason, advertisers often use stylistic devices such as hyperbole, simile, rhetorical questions, pun, etc to increase the readability and appeal of an advertisement and to arouse consumers’ interest of buying the products Moreover, advertisers often use stylistic devices because they imparts a vitality to advertisements and spur decision making As a result, studying on stylistic devices plays an important role No matter what kind of copy-writing you get into, you will find that your daily routine calls for several functions of stylistic devices The thesis is carried out in the light of stylistics It is a descriptive and contrastive analysis of stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers These commonly used stylistic devices are simile, metaphor, rhetorical questions, hyperbole, repetition and personification This study has tried to present and interpret stylistic features of stylistic devices in advertising communication Especially, the discussion has highlighted the similarities and differences in stylistic features and the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language in the two languages As regards methodology, both qualitative and quantitative methods were suitably adopted for the descriptive and contrastive analysis in the two languages of the study After analyzing 600 samples of advertisements, 300 in English and 300 in Vietnamese, I find that each stylistic device has the distinctive features and -99- different effects in performance the purpose and nature of advertisements Through the contrastive analysis in the two languages, some differences and similarities have been revealed Although there are some differences in terms of structure, the stylistic devices’ functions are almost analogous in the two languages Also, through the quantitative data, the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used stylistic devices have been displayed Vietnamese advertisers and businesses often use hyperbole in advertising language Meanwhile, to English advertisers and businesses , simile is the most persuasive and effective way of advertising Also, basing on the collected data, I have classified and arranged the stylistic devices into different tables, according to their structures and frequencies For example, repetition is classified into three kinds such as repetition of sounds, repetition of words and repetition of phrase structures Or in simile, there are three degrees of comparison such as equational; differentiating and double comparison, etc More important in the research is the stylistic devices mentioned in the thesis closely linked with the five functions of advertisements – attracting attention, arousing interest, stimulating desire, creating conviction and getting action The use of stylistic devices in general is directed towards the ultimate goal of introducing or increasing the sale of different products or promoting different services In addition, the finding of the study has given the foundation for the suggestion on how to deal with dilemmas when using stylistic devices in advertising as well as how to write advertisements in the most effective way I hope this thesis is well suited for the advertisers who want to increase the effectiveness of their interactions with customers and it could serve as a practical introduction to stylistic study The study is hoped to make some valuable contributions to the teaching and learning of English stylistics in general and of stylistic devices in -100- advertising language in particular Especially, it will not only help Vietnamese learners get better understanding of advertising language but also provide them with some necessary strategies and techniques in writing and translating advertisements In summary, in order to elicit the desired action from the prospects, and attain the purpose of advertising, advertisers often use stylistic devices to make their advertisements more persuasive and effective After studying, I found that using stylistic devices in advertising language is the fastest and the most successful way to achieve the goal and the objectives of advertising It plays the most positive role in demanding action from the prospects and making successful advertisements For this reason, this study is carried out, hopefully to contribute to provide some knowledge of stylistic devices of one of the important acts in advertising communication which may benefit the advertisers in doing the advertising Also, through the result analysis and findings of the thesis, I hope some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language may be well suited for the copy-writers on the way of looking for an effective access to elicit the desired action from the prospects and reach their selling goal Furthermore, this topic will not only help understand the essential characteristics of stylistic devices but also contribute a small part to the field of studying stylistics, especially the style of advertising language 5.2 IMPLICATIONS To some extent, this thesis will be a valuable contribution to the teaching and learning of English and Vietnamese stylistics in general and of stylistic devices in advertising language in particular Furthermore, it also provides advertisers and businesses with some useful techniques in writing advertisements ° For the Part of English Learners -101- The result of the study may be beneficial to learners of both languages The contrastive analysis will offer them a good insight to get involved in stylistic devices Furthermore, this thesis helps Vietnamese learners enrich their knowledge of stylistic devices Besides, the findings of the study will help them appreciate the beauty of advertising language It will not only help them get better understanding of advertising language but also provide them with some necessary strategies and techniques in writing advertisements I also hope that this study will provide learners with precious experience of how to write and translate an advertisement As a result, their experience will certainly facilitate their English language learning so that they will be able to learn more effectively and successfully ° For the Part of English Teachers This thesis helps English teachers to learn and know more about English and Vietnamese stylistics in general, and stylistic devices in advertising language in particular It is quite necessary for a teacher to master the knowledge that students can ask for Stylistic devices seem indispensable in daily use, in literature and especially in advertising but it is a difficult field As a result, the teacher should be patient with his students in order to help them clearly understand and distinctively distinguish English and Vietnamese stylistic devices when they study stylistics The teacher should encourage his students to practise by using stylistic devices in writing their compositions or in translating literary works or advertisements, etc As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I have noticed that teaching English stylistics through advertisement is an interesting teaching style for the learners ° For the Part of Advertisers and Businesses The most important purpose of advertisers and businesses is selling products and services, without which no business can exist for long It is advertising that appeals consumers’ attention to commodity and induce them -102- to use it How can advertisers and businesses perform their purpose? This study is carried out, hopefully to provide some knowledge of stylistic devices of one of the important acts in advertising communication which may benefit the advertisers and businesses in doing the advertising As we know, the use of stylistic devices in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers to buy what is advertised The proper use of stylistic devices can make an advertisement sweet to the ear, and pleasing to both the eyes and the mind For this reason, advertisers and businesses often use stylistic devices to write effective advertising slogans This thesis can help advertisers and businesses pay more and more attention to the use of stylistic devices in an effort to make the advertising succinct, accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for consumers so as to stimulate their desire ° For the Part of Customers and Consumers Advertising assists them in satisfying their wants by informing the benefits of goods, offering knowledge and understanding of their environment Advertising is a good guide, a good informant and perhaps a good educator for cultural needs In addition, advertising shows us what goods we can buy and where to buy, what services we can use, how to rationalize labour to lighten the burdens of housework, what food we should eat and what medicines we should take for being healthy, etc On the other hand, customers and consumers should pay attention to the negative side of advertising so as not to be misled People often say, “Advertising is misleading” Sometimes, advertising deceives consumers by polishing or overstating some products or services Therefore, consumers must be vigilant over its labels In fact, in order to sell more products, some advertisers have been using many negative ways of advertising which they think effective The advertising should be strictly forbidden, namely: -103- ° advertising exaggerates or gives unreal comparisons with other products or services to persuade customers ° it attacks or lowers the prestige of other products or services directly or indirectly ° it uses wrongly scientific achievements ° it contains words or pictures that create violence or mislead customers about products directly or indirectly ° it arouses customers’ fear with any means Besides, competing advertising is often based on wrong works or extravagant and unreasonable declarations that make customers misunderstand Sometimes, it harms customers’ thinking 5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to the lack of time , space as well as relevant materials, the topic under study may not have been thoroughly discussed as it should be Stylistic devices are complicated and abstract problems of stylistics There are a lot of stylistic devices used in advertising language However, this thesis only investigates some commonly used ones in advertising language With the limited data for the analysis, there are certainly many other stylistic devices used in advertising language such as pun, alliteration, antithesis, exclamation, etc that the research has not covered Furthermore, the similarities and differences in stylistic features in English and Vietnamese advertising language has not been analyzed clearly yet With those difficulties and limitation of personal ability, sources of materials relating to the problem under investigation and outside factors, some weaknesses are inevitable -104- I would be very grateful to those who take interest in the topic and this work Any comment, advice and adjustment is valuable to make this work more fulfilled, diversified and perfect 5.4 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH This study has been an attempt at presenting, describing, and analyzing the differences and similarities in stylistic features in English and Vietnamese advertising language However, this study is just a minor part in the research on Stylistics, so it remains some limitations and more detailed discussions are still needed And during the study of stylistic devices in advertising language, I have ambition of delving into several interesting aspects of stylistic devices as well as all commonly used ones in advertising language If only I had more space, more time and more ability to satisfy my ambition Hence, I now would like to suggest further researches on the following problems: Firstly, I find it interesting to investigate into the differences and similarities of pun in English and Vietnamese advertisements because it is pun that reflects the advertiser’s cleverness in using appropriate language for his persuasive purposes through polysemy and homonym Secondly, it had better study on antithesis in English and Vietnamese advertisements because through antithesis, advertisers not only describe the quality of the products but also supply the information that they not direct give out: the perfection of product Thirdly, an investigation into alliteration in English and Vietnamese advertisements is very popular because alliteration can make advertising words rhythmic and please to the ear Moreover, this figure of speech makes the advertising slogans catchy, forceful and mind grabbing and makes people love the advertisement at the first sight -105- [...]... in English Language Advertisements” (1993) by Dinh Gia Hung, Ho Si Thang Kiet discussed the features of English linguistic units and semantic meaning used in advertisements Another advertising work is “Mastering Advanced English Language , in which Sara Thorne (1997) analyzed the linguistic and stylistic aspects of advertising and discussed the general features of advertising language In “The Language. .. directives in English and Vietnamese advertising as well as their syntactic and pragmatic features There are many other studies on Stylistic Devices and Advertising Language in English and Vietnamese I cannot mentioned here However, as far as I am concerned, so far no reported research has been found on the contrastive analysis of stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language -18-... commentary, administrative, literary or conversational? In fact, advertising language clearly belongs to none of them In phonetic, advertising language both adapts to the general standards and takes advantage of dialects Vocabulary in advertising is vivid and concrete In syntax, complete and incomplete sentences are much used in advertising Lastly, most ways of expression used in advertising are brief and clear... factors In addition, the distinctive property of advertising language has been closely identified with the use of clauses, phrases and words Crystal, David and Davy, Derek (1969) in “Investigating English Style” made an attempt to describe how language is used in English advertising He has focused on the semantic and stylistic features of advertising language In addition, in “Stylistics”, I R Galperin (1971)... English Stylistics in general and of stylistic devices in advertising language in particular Also, I believe that studying stylistic devices in advertising language is one of the most direct ways to understand and write advertisements effectively Especially, it will not only help Vietnamese learners get better understanding of advertising language but also provide them with some necessary strategies and. .. certain linguistic devices that figure most prominently in advertising According to him, the use of linguistic devices is to encourage people to buy the products Similarly, in An Introduction to Stylistics”, Clark, Urszula (1996) looked into the aspects of vocabulary in advertising and point out the semantic features of advertising language -16- “A Discussion Concerning Linguistic Units and Meaning in. .. consequently, its language and style need studying and applying clearly and understandably and appropriately to age, level of knowledge, occupation, class, sex, taste, religion and linguistic style… of parts of public 2.1.5.5 The Vividness Liveliness is the most striking characteristic of advertising language In hash competition of advertising environment, advertising messages in dull -14- and boring language. .. across to the intended recipient(s) in an attractive and effective way Undoubtedly, how something is said is always of great importance and necessity And it is stylistic devices that assist people in using language well So stylistic devices just means “fancy ways of saying or writing something” Those who have excellent understanding of stylistic devices and use them artfully will certainly become masters... persuading the audience and also providing information of the product or service in question Mastering the register peculiarities will facilitate learners in understanding and using this genre of the English and Vietnamese language in their business context 2.2 REVIEW OF PRIOR STUDIES 2.2.1 About Advertising Language We are surrounded by trade advertisements in everyday life through many different means and. .. Therefore, the advertising language is paid special attention by advertisers 2.1.5 The Language of Advertising Language has a powerful influence over people and their behavior This is especially true in the fields of marketing and advertising The choice of language to convey a specific message with the intention of influencing people is vitally importance Visual content and design in advertising have a ... similarities and differences of some commonly used stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language (5) putting forward some implications for the teaching and learning of English and Vietnamese. .. similarities and differences in stylistic features in English and Vietnamese advertising language? What are the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese. .. want to understand more about advertising language, I decided to carry out a detailed analysis of these features: An Investigation into some Commonly Used Stylistic Devices in Advertising Language