TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 NHẬN THỨC VỀ NGÔN NGỮ QUẢNG CÁO DƯỚI GÓC NHÌN CỦA ẨN DỤ Ý NIỆM COGNITION OF ADVERTISING LANGUAGE IN THE VIEW OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR Phan Văn Hòa Huỳnh Trung Ngữ Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Đà Nẵng Học viên cao học khóa 2007-2010 TÓM TẮT Ngày ẩn dụ không vấn đề riêng ngôn ngữ mà ẩn dụ vấn đề tư hành động Ẩn dụ không giới hạn tác phẩm văn chương mà trái lại sử dụng hầu hết tất lĩnh vực tính thiết thực Quan điểm ẩn dụ khái niệm Lakoff Johnson [1] mở hướng nghiên cứu ẩn dụ Quảng cáo mãnh đất màu mỡ để ẩn dụ phát triển nhu cầu thiết thực mục đích quảng cáo Trong viết tác giả bước đầu đề cập đến việc nhận thức ngôn ngữ quảng cáo góc nhìn ẩn dụ khái niệm Trước hết, xác định lại khái niệm ẩn dụ ý niệm, thứ hai vai trò ẩn dụ ý niệm giao tiếp nói chung ngôn ngữ quảng cáo nói riêng, thứ ba nói đến bốn chủ đề ẩn dụ ý niệm thường xuất quảng cáo; hành trình, chiến tranh, bè bạn, quà tặng Trong mô tả phân tích chủ đề vậy, người viết so sánh cách sử dụng ẩn dụ ý niệm tầng số xuất chủ đề đề thông qua ẩn dụ ý niệm tiếng Anh tiếng Việt Cuối cùng, người viết nhận xét chung đưa đề xuất ứng dụng ABSTRACT Metaphor is not only the matter of language but also that of thoughts and actions The fact that metaphor is almost used in all fields is due to its effectiveness, not only in literary works When Lakoff’s and Johnson’s theory was introduced, it opened a new horizon for the study of metaphor Conceptual metaphor has come into our everyday life under different aspects and adverting language is one of them In this paper, the writers want to discuss the cognition of advertising language in the view of conceptual metaphor Firstly, the definition of the concept ‘the conceptual metaphor’ is restated Secondly, the role of conceptual metaphor regarding communication in general and advertising language in particular is pointed out Thirdly, the four topics such as Journeys, Wars, Friends, and Gifts, which are commonly mapped through advertisements, are described and analyzed In this way, comparisons of conceptual metaphor expressions and of occurrences in English and Vietnamese are made Finally, some general comments and practical suggestions are also presented in this article Introduction Nowadays, advertising is a part that is inevitable in the modern life because our present society is that of producers and consumers Advertising is not only means of selling goods, but also a level of art, and in its turn, because of the level of art, advertising becomes more effective for selling products This is also the reason why metaphor is used more and more in advertising In other words, advertisers have paid more attention to ways of using words and their meaning effectively in order to serve 218 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 producers’ aims But how they explore conceptual metaphors to benefit themselves in terms of the use of metaphor is a question to be answered We will come to the following examples: (1) Địa ốc SaigonLand: Điểm hẹn thành công! [7] (2) FPT: Cùng tới thành công [7] (22) UPS: Moving at the speed of business [10] (27) Microsoft: Where Do You Want to Go Today? [11] From the examples above, we can see the presence of conceptual metaphor in advertising via metaphor expressions like “Điểm hẹn”, “Cùng tới”, “Moving at the speed”, “Go” Here, we see the source domain [JOURNEY] in order to send advertisers’ massages to consumers So, we grasp advertising language thanks to these metaphorical expressions We will come to the definition of conceptual metaphor to understand more about its nature as well as its role in advertising Conceptual Metaphor 2.1 Definition In studies of metaphor, the representation of any coherent segment of experience, such as the concepts of love or journeys, a conceptual domain that is understood in terms of another is called a conceptual metaphor In other words, in the cognitive linguistic view, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain Examples of this include when we talk and think about life in terms of journeys, about arguments in terms of wars, about love also in terms of journeys, about theories in terms of buildings, about ideas in terms of food, about social organizations in terms of plants, and many others A convenient shorthand way of capturing this view of metaphor is the following: CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (A) is CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN (B) [1], which is what is called a conceptual metaphor This idea, and a detailed examination of the underlying processes, was first extensively explored by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in “Metaphors We Live By” [1] Cognitive scientists often study subjects similar to conceptual metaphor under the label of "analogy." Take some examples below to clarify the concept: conceptual metaphor Examples: o o o o o o o Life is a journey (Cuộc sống hành trình) Love is a journey (Tình yêu hành trình) Love is a war (Tình yêu chiến tranh) Argument is a war (Tranh luận chiến tranh) Theory is a building (Lý thuyết tòa nhà) Idea is a food (Ý tưởng ăn) Time is money (Thời gian tiền bạc) [1] 219 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 2.2 Mappings There are two main types of conceptual domains used in conceptual metaphors: Source domain: the conceptual domain from which we draw metaphorical expressions Target domain: the conceptual domain that we try to understand A mapping is the systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent elements of the source and the target domain Many elements of target concepts come from source domains and are not preexisting To know a conceptual metaphor is to know the set of mappings that applies to a given source-target pairing We can see that the set of concept in which words and expressions is borrowed is called “Source Model”, while the concept which is the borrowers is called “Target Model” as shown in the examples Source Model Target Model [JOURNEY] Traveler Destinations [LIFE] She went through life with a good heart He knows where he is going in life Routes I don’t know which path to take… The role of conceptual metaphors in advertising Leiss, Kline, and Jhally [3] have used metaphor to study social communication in advertising They suggest that metaphors in advertisements have become a powerful and commonly used strategy, when saying: “Metaphor is the very heart of the basic communication form used in advertising” Many other researchers share this view as they seek to explain the effects of metaphor use in advertising The study of metaphor in advertising has been used to gain insight about consumer behavior [6] Zaltman’s Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was a research tool developed to define and describe the metaphors that drive consumer behavior with implications for copy testing [6] Metaphors are relevant to the study of advertising because metaphors are laden with symbols and imagery that might be used creatively in implementing decisions that will animate or bring appropriate reasoning processes and mental models to life Stern [5] also is an advocate of studying symbolism along with metaphor in advertising Stern believes that advertising is a metaphorical art, much like poetry [5] Phan Văn Hòa [4: 9] says: “Metaphor is not the use of a special language to decorate something with beautiful but empty words In contrast, metaphor has long become a real essence and emotion of language life in various kinds of discourse Nor is metaphor limitted to the use of imaginary words But, rather, metaphor has entered 220 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 into the process of ‘wording’ of the conceptual world Metaphor is not only an effective means of language but also a creative thinking device based on the featurique function of language” Presence of conceptual metaphors in advertising 4.1 Journeys The source domain [JOURNEY] is used to conceptualize advertising language Through metaphorical expressions, we perceive advertising language under different aspects From the various mappings, we see the ontological correspondent entities between two domains the source and the target as follows: Producers, products, goods, activities, and services are travellers on a journey Also, services or advertised products are pathways along which consumers move Activities and transactions are movements made on journeys Again, advertised products also are the departures or destinations of journeys, etc We have a look at some following examples: (1) Daily Mirror: Forward with the People [10] (2) Coca-cola: Station of the Stars [10] (3) Pot Noodle: Fuel of Britain, Isn’t It [11] (4) 1939 - Coca-Cola goes along [12] (5 Địa ốc SaigonLand: Điểm hẹn thành công! [7] (6) FPT: Cùng tới thành công [7] (7) “Con đường tốt vào Đại học hàng đầu giới.” [9] From the examples above, we see the languages of journeys are borrowed to describe the sub-domains of the target domain [ADVERTISING] So, we understand advertising language via language of journey For example, the phrases “Forward with”, “Station”, “ Fuel”, “ goes along”, “ Điểm hẹn”, “ Cùng tới”, “ Con đường tốt nhất” are use metaphorically to depict the advertised products and services lively and aptly From “Forward with” in (1), we understand that the paper Daily Mirror always companies with the people like friends on a journey With the metaphorical expression “Station” in (2), the product Coca-cola is understood drink loved and chosen by the Stars Or Pot Noodle is considered fuel of Britain via the word “Fuel” in (3) while Địa ốc SaigonLand is seen as a destination for people through “Điểm hẹn” in (5) And, the service FPT ia depicted as a traveler on a journey via the metaphorical expression “Cùng tới” in (6) and so on There are many metaphorical expressions belonging the source [JOURNEY] used in English and Vietnamese We have a comparison via the following table 221 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 Table 4.1 Metaphorical expressions belong to the source model [JOURNEY] in English and Vietnamese English Vietnamese Blue Ginger Restaurant: A nice place to come Anh văn Hội Việt Mỹ: Khởi đầu cho thành công Hat Council: If you want to get ahead, get a hat Địa ốc SaigonLand: Điểm hẹn thành công! Pampers: We’re right behind you Every step of the way FPT: Cùng tới thành công After all, can you think of a better way to avoid manual labour? Sabura Trường Nhân lực Quốc tế: Vững bước đến tương lai! You're invited on a Journey Con đường tốt vào Đai học hàng đầu giới 4.2 Wars Like the previous way of metaphor use, the advertisers have used the war metaphor in their advertisements to make advertising language more lively and stronger The war metaphor also has another version the fight metaphor, and this metaphor generates many entailments Advertising is often presented in terms of wars or fighting as physical conflict or clash between adversaries As a result, there is a tight mapping according to which entities in the domain of advertising systematically correspond to entities in the domain of fighting This mapping preserves the image-schematic structure of the source domain [2] because the image schematic structure of the source domain [WAR] is projected onto the target domain [ADVERTISING] The ontological correspondences are the following: Actions or activities in advertisements are fights, struggles, or combats Those activities take place in the course of fighting Products, services, and advertised things are hostile enemies in the market They fight each other to get their own markets and customers So, companies, products, goods, and advertised things have become brave warriors or soldiers in an army Competition between products advertised is the confrontation between counterparts That products used most welcomed warmly by virtue of their quality and convenient use is victory, whereas that the ones welcomed less or boycotted by consumers because of bad quality is defeat in the battle Sometimes, the fights occur between products’ use and the agents attacking people As a result, advertised products become warriors willing to fight to protect people from attacking of unexpected agents The following is some examples for illustration: 222 (8) Budweiser Beer: Nothing beats a Budweiser [7] (9) Nivea: It helps protect your skin [7] TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 (10) You Can Kill a Horse but not a Cadillac [13] (11) Milmax Angle với Lactoferrin: Lá chắn vững cho thiên thần bạn [7] (12) Kem Nivea Q10 Plus: Đẩy lùi dấu hiệu lão hóa [7] (13) Thật xứng danh thủ lĩnh Plasma siêu việt [8] From the examples above, we see that advertising language is understood in terms of the language of wars For example, with the word “beat” used metaphorically in (8), Budweiser Beer is considered a strong warrior that can’t be beaten by anyone From here, we can understand that Budweiser Beer is a champion of quality in comparison with other beers Or, the product Nivea Cream Q10 Plus is considered a soldier that can stop and drive back every sign of old-age This is depicted via “Đẩy lùi” in (12) and so forth The conceptual metaphor is used in both English and Vietnamese Table 4.2 Metaphorical expressions belong to the source model [WAR] in English and in Vietnamese English Budweiser Budweiser Beer: Vietnamese Nothing beats a Milmax Angle với Lactoferrin: Lá chắn vững cho thiên thần bạn Quaker Puffed Rice: Shot from Guns! Kem Nivea Q10 Plus: Đẩy lùi dấu hiệu lão hóa You Can Kill a Horse but not a Cadillac “…Cao huyết áp mệnh danh kẻ giết người thầm lặng…” Mineral Care Spa Hydra-Free-OilBiore: Look closely No cleaner clears Balance giúp kiểm soát chất nhờn tối đa and prevents blemishes better than Biore chống nước cho da, mang lại cho bạn da sạch,… Pond’s Double White Day and Night Sally Hansen Nailpolish: The protection Facial Foam giúp loại bỏ bụi bẩn, bã you need in the colors you want nhờn… Nivea: It helps protect your skin Prudential Financial: protecting your wealth Growing Nụ cười chiến thắng EPSON and Thật xứng danh thủ lĩnh Plasma siêu việt Nicorette: Nicorette, Nicorette, you can Clear: “Trong giới tóc, gàu bắt beat the cigarette đầu xâm chiếm…” 223 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 4.3 Friends The model [FRIEND] is used as the source domain to express the massages from the everyday advertisements The friend metaphor has large metaphorical entailments, so there are many different aspects from friends used metaphorically to persuade consumers The following are illustrated examples in English and Vietnamese: (14) IZUSU: Always besides you [7] (15) Kodak: Share moments Share life [7] (16) Transcend (USB): Digital life in your hand Your supplier, Your partner, Your friend [7] (17) Bảo Việt Việt Nam: Cùng bạn nẻo đường [7] (18) MiLo: Giúp trẻ tự tin để vươn xa [7] (19) Biti’s: Nâng niu bàn chân Việt [7] The examples above let us see that due to the metaphorical expressions from (14) to (19) like “Always besides you”, “Share”, “Your friend”, “Cùng bạn”, “Giúp trẻ”, “Nâng niu” advertised products and services have become close consumers’ friends that can share, help and always stand beside consumers As a result, the advertisers have built an amicable relationship between the advertised products as well as producers and consumers There is similarity between English and Vietnamese in using this metaphor Table 4.3 Metaphorical expressions belong to the source model [FRIEND] in English and in Vietnamese English Vietnamese IZUSU: Always besides you Bảo Việt Việt Nam: Cùng bạn nẻo đường Transcend (USB): Digital life in your hand Your supplier, Your partner, Your friend Thái Sơn – người bạn trung thành chuyên nghiệp bạn Kodak: Share moments Share life Bảo hiểm Prudential: Luôn lắng nghe, luôn thấu hiểu Pampers: We’re right behind you Every step of the way Người lao động – Tờ báo đồng hành với đời sống việc làm bạn Access: Your Flexible Friend Hãy chọn kỳ nghỉ tuyệt vời cho bạn Hàng không Singapore 4.4 Gifts Human beings’ life has been developing together with the course of time, so giving and receiving gifts become a part of everyday communication means Catching this trend, the advertisers have exploited the source model [GIFT] to project onto the conceptual 224 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 domains in advertising With the structural mapping, the advertisers want to draw consumers’ feelings and care to the advertised products as well as seduce perspective customers to buy their products, goods, and services The following is examples: (20) General Electric: We Bring Good Things to Life [7] (21) They'll Take The Cadillac Tonight! [7] (22) Bơ Lisa: Món quà từ thiên nhiên [7] (23) Nước khoáng thiên nhiên Thạch Bích: Quà tặng vô giá thời gian [7] Through conceptual metaphors, advertised products and services are considered valuable gifts that attract everyone We can see this from the examples above And, we don’t find out any difference between English and Vietnamese Table 4.4 Metaphorical expressions belong to the source model [GIFT] in English and in Vietnamese English Vietnamese Anheuser-Busch Beer: This Bud’s for Bơ Lisa: Món quà từ thiên nhiên You Kleenex: Kleenex Thank goodness for Đồng hồ Rado: Hãy bày tỏ tình yêu bạn cách tặng đồng hồ Rado ALPO Dog Foot: Doesn’t your dog Nước khoáng thiên nhiên Thạch Bích: Quà deserve ALPO? tặng vô giá thời gian Arpege perfume: Promise anything, but give her Arpege! her “Nhân sâm quà vô tạo hóa ban tặng cho người…” Conceptual metaphors are most commonly used in English and Vietnamese 5.1 Conceptual Metaphors are most Commonly used in English From the samples studied, we find that all three types of conceptual metaphors: structural metaphors, ontological metaphors, and orientational metaphors are used in advertising via different source models, but their frequency is not the same The statistics are shown in the table 5.1 below: Table 5.1 Frequency of occurrence of types of conceptual metaphors in English Type of metaphor Quantity Percentage Structural metaphors 116 46.4% Ontological metaphors 119 47.6 % Orientational metaphors 15 6% Total 250 100.00 225 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 5.2 Conceptual Metaphors are most Commonly used in Vietnamese While the Ontological metaphors are most commonly used in English, the Structural metaphors are most employed in Vietnamese as shown in the table 5.2 below Table 5.2 Frequency of occurrence of types of conceptual metaphors in Vietnamese Type of metaphor Quantity Percentage Structural metaphors 171 68.4% Ontological metaphors 67 26.8% Orientational metaphors 12 4.8% Total 250 100.00 Figure 5.2: Frequency of occurrence of types of conceptual metaphors in Vietnamese 5% 27% Structural metapho rs Onto lo gical metapho rs Orientatio nal metapho rs 68% 5.3 Summary Conceptual metaphor used in advertising is an amusing phenomenon of language There are many different source domains used to conceptualize advertising language, but within the limit of the paper, writers only introduce four popular source domains that are used almost in all advertisements: Journeys, Wars, Friends, and Gifts In these source domains, we see that although there are differences in terms of the frequency of occurrence of conceptual metaphors in English and Vietnamese, linguistic features are almost analogous in the two languages However, there are more other domains should be paid more attention in the study of conceptual metaphors To cover the use of conceptual metaphors will give us more benefits: the nature of conceptual meataphors will be clarified; and when clarified, conceptual metaphors will be widely exploited not only in advertising but also in all kinds of discourses 226 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ, ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG - SỐ 1(42).2011 TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO [1] Lakoff, George and Johnson (1980), M Metaphors We Live By, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press [2] Lakoff, George , The Invariance Hypothesis: Is Abstract Reason Based on Image Schemas?, Cognitive Linguistics,1, 1990, 9-74 [3] Leiss, W., Kline, S., and Jhally, S (1986), Social Communication in Advertising New York: Methuen [4] Phan Văn Hòa (2008), “Ẩn dụ, ẩn dụ dụng học ẩn dụ ngữ pháp”, Ngôn ngữ đời sống, số [5] Stern, Barbara, “Medieval Allegory: Roots of Advertising Strategy for the Mass Market Journal of Marketing 52.3, 1988, 84-94 [6] Zaltman, Gerald and Coulter, Robin, “Seeing the Voice of the Consumer: Metaphor-Based Advertising Research.”, Journal of Advertising Research 35.4 July/August, 1995, 35-51 TÀI LIỆU PHÂN TÍCH [7] Phan Thị Uyên Uyên, An investigation into some commonly stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers, MA Thesis, 2006 [8] Thanh Niên, N0 363 (Dec 29th 2009), N0 07 (Jan 07th 2010) [9] Tuổi Trẻ, N031/01/2010, N0 25/02/2010, N0 31/03/2010 [10] http://www.winspiration.co.uk/slogans.htm [11] http://www.factacular.com/subjects/Advertising_Slogans [12] http://www.winspiration.co.uk/royalcro.htm(cola) [13] http://www.winspiration.co.uk/cadillac.htm 227 ... Communication in Advertising New York: Methuen [4] Phan Văn Hòa (2008), Ẩn dụ, ẩn dụ dụng học ẩn dụ ngữ pháp”, Ngôn ngữ đời sống, số [5] Stern, Barbara, “Medieval Allegory: Roots of Advertising... chiến tranh) Argument is a war (Tranh luận chiến tranh) Theory is a building (Lý thuyết tòa nhà) Idea is a food (Ý tưởng ăn) Time is money (Thời gian tiền bạc) [1] 219 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG... Double White Day and Night Sally Hansen Nailpolish: The protection Facial Foam giúp loại bỏ bụi bẩn, bã you need in the colors you want nhờn… Nivea: It helps protect your skin Prudential Financial: