Linguistic realization of single positive politene- 123docz.net

CHAPTER 3 POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN AMERICAN AND

3.2. Single positive politeness strategies in American and Vietnamese

3.2.2. Linguistic realization of single positive politeness strategies in American

The following part examines linguistic realization of the most popular positive politeness strategy - Offer/ Promise strategy - as well as compares and contrasts the use of such strategy in American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements. At the same time, examples are also given to illustrate the differences between the uses of this strategy of American and Vietnamese advertisers.

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As aforementioned, Offer/ Promise is the most frequently used positive politeness strategy in both American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements.

When this politeness strategy is further analyzed, it is noted that both American and Vietnamese ad-writers tend to use the following words/ phrases/ sentence structures when giving offer/ promise to the target customers:

 (The product) offers/makes/ helps/ creates / protects/ improves/

provides/ supplies/ leaves/ enhances … (things that are necessary for target customers)

 (The product) helps reduce/ reduces/ eliminates/ removes … (things that cause problems to the customers)

 (Using the product, the customer can) get ….

 (The product’s effect) lasts (within a period of time) ….

 (The product) allows customers to …..

It may be concluded that these words/ phrases/ structures can help the advertisers fulfill customers’ wants and then motivate them to buy their products or purchase their service. However, Vietnamese advertisers normally combine such words/ phrases in one utterance while American products are introduced briefly with one of such words/ phrases in one utterance. Take the following advertisement about one kind of functional foods – Collagen Adiva Gold in Vietnamese data for example:

“Collagen ADIVA dạng viên uống hoàn toàn mới, với công thức mới 100% Collagen Peptide được kiểm nghiệm lâm sàng từ Đức, bổ sung thêm HA cùng các dưỡng chất Vitamin E, C, D3, B6, B12 cần thiết cho da sáng mịn, hỗ trợ đẩy lùi khô sạm, ngăn ngừa nếp nhăn hiệu quả.”

(ADIVA collagen is a completely new formulation, with a new formula with 100% Collagen Peptide, clinically tested from Germany, with HA and other nutrients Vitamin E, C, D3, B6, B12 necessary for smooth skin, helps to repel dryness and prevent wrinkles effectively.)

In just one utterance of describing the effects of the product, Vietnamese ad-writer uses different words to denote its effectiveness in improving people’s health: necessary for skin, help to repel, and prevent. It is obvious that the combination of such words and phrases emphasizes the benefits of the product, which attracts the reader’s attention, and therefore, promotes the product.

In terms of syntax, interestingly, there are certain differences in the use of this strategy between American and Vietnamese magazine advertisements. The first difference is half of Offer/ Promise strategy in American advertisements is realized in noun phrases while verb phrases are employed in 40% of the Vietnamese data. This result is in line with Rush (1998)’s, which indicates the frequent use of noun phrase as an independent clause in American advertising.

According to Rush (1998), the noun phrases used in American advertising can function as independent clauses because they are complete in the context that they appear. Therefore, the use of such noun phrases had become one of the distinguished features of English advertising in general and American advertising in particular. Similarly, other researchers like Cook (1992) or Leech (1966) call this independent use of noun phrase “a minor clause” or “orthographic sentences.” These minor clauses, additionally, are equivalent in function and meaning with complete sentences with the dominant use of punctuation marks like periods, dashes and sequences of dots. Moore et al. (1988) claim that the use of noun phrase with independent status in Standard English is aimed at creating a special effect. In the situation of the selected American advertising, the special effect is for describing the outstanding features that the product can offer customers. The following example illustrates an extreme use of noun phrases in an American advertisement for a cosmetic product:

Advertisement 1:

Product: Belli facial wash

Description: Images of the products Text:

Belli®

Effective for Breakouts.

Gentle on Adult Skin.

Anti-Blemish Basics™

ANTI-BLEMISH FACIAL WASH

CLEANSE

Lactic acid gently exfoliates without over-drying & ACNE CONTROL ACNE CONTROL - SPOT TREATMENT

TREAT

Sulfur clears acne blemishes and helps prevent new breakouts Picky for a Purpose™

√Allergy Tested

√No Artificial Dyes or Fragrances

√No Phthalates

√No Paraben Preservative

√Safety-Screened Ingredients

OB/GYN & Dermatologist Recommended

In this advertisement, the impression of a clipped “no-nonsense” style is achieved through the abundance of short statements “No Artificial Dyes or Fragrances”; “No Phthalates”; “No Paraben Preservative” or “Safety-Screened Ingredients”. These noun phrases call to reader’s mind all the advantages of the product, its effectiveness and its safety.

Another interesting point of the noun phrases used as a positive politeness strategy in American advertising is the use of different premodifiers in the noun phrases. Sharing the similar results of studies of Ghadessy (1988) and Rush (1998), the results of this study reveal that premodifiers in American noun

phrases in advertising tend “to be lengthy and complex noun phrases, with superlative and compound adjectives, and nouns functioning as modifiers.”

Consequently, three most frequently-used premodifiers can be found in the selected data of American advertisements namely according to their frequency Compound premodifiers, Descriptive premodifiers, and Classifying premodifiers.

Firstly, a high frequency and variety of compound premodifiers are used in American advertising. Some of the compound premodifiers are “nonce compounds” - compounds that are invented for a particular occasion and is only used one (Rush, 1998) as in:

 Safety-Screened Ingredients (Belli®);

 Oil-free, lightweight feel (MAYBELLINE);

 Professional-grade formula for 3 days of frizz control and heat styling protection up to 450 (L'ORÉAL).

Some of these compound premodifiers are even more exotic. For example,

 In just 4 weeks, visibly retighten facial zones: cheekbones appear lifted, forehead is smoothed, jaw line and neck look redefined. (Rénergie French Lift:™ - Lancôme)

 A 25% more youthful - vibrant, brighter - look to your eyes. (ESTEE LAUDER)

As can be seen from the above examples, all the products are emphasized with the prominent features that they can offer the target customers. Therefore, the use of such compound premodifiers is of great importance in attracting and retaining readers’ attention to the product, one of the main purposes of advertising.

Descriptive premodifier is another type of premodifiers used in the noun phrase denoting Offer/ Promise strategy. Normally, the descriptive premodifier in the selected data is mainly used to give colorful and attractive descriptions

of the product or service, and so “communicates more on an emotive level”

(Rush, 1998). The following examples illustrate this use:

 richer, longer-lasting color silkier, shinier, nourished hair

(GARNIER NUTRISSE)

 A SWEET BURST OF FLAVOR

(JUICY FRUIT)

 DYNAMIC RESPONSE + MAX REBOUND (FILA ENERGIZED)

Classifying premodifiers are the ones which give information about the product. Therefore, these premodifiers help the readers understand more about the product. The following advertisement giving information about the product illustrates this use of classifying premodifiers:

Advertisement 2:

Product: Special K@ Pastry Crisps

Description: A plate of 3 crisps and a strawberry surrounded by colorful flowers, birds, flying strawberries and two lovely babies in the images of angels.

Text:

NEVER AGAIN BREAKING UP WITH YOUR

Sweet tooth

WHAT WILL YOU gain ?

Special K® Pastry Crisps. Two light and crispy pastries, delightfully drizzled. It's the perfectly sweet, 100-calorie snack.

In this advertisement, the premodifier “100-calorie” gives a detail description about the product. It can be considered “semi-technical information”

about the Crisps. And as Leech (1966) and Quirk (1976) point out in their studies, the use of such classifying premodifiers is frequent in American advertising. In the selected data of this study, many of such examples can be found in American advertising.

On the contrary to the use of noun phrases in the realization of Offer/

Promise strategy of American magazine advertising, Vietnamese advertisements prefer using verb phrases. Interestingly, these verb phrases normally contain two main components namely central element (the main verb) and post-additive element. The central element in these verb phrases normally are the words that indicate the things that the product can offer the target customers. These include such words as offer/make/ help/ create/ protect/ improve/ provide/ supply/ leave/

enhance. Post-additive element is normally composed of both objects and complements to indicate clearly which benefits that the customers can get from the products. The following example illustrates the aforementioned points.

Advertisement 3:

Product: Bioré

Description: The image of the product in a big form; a sun clock is on the top left corner of the product together with the word “8h.”

Text:

Sữa chống nắng dưỡng da sáng hồng Bioré 5 tác động

Sữa chống nắng Bioré UV mới với tinh chất sữa dễ thấm mang lại 5 tác động bảo vệ và dƣỡng da toàn diện:

1. Bảo vệ da khỏi tia tử ngoại UVA có hại gây sạm & đen da và vết tàn nhang với chỉ số PA+++ mạnh mẽ

2. Bảo vệ khỏi tia tử ngoại UVB có hại gây bỏng rát da, cháy nắng với chỉ số SPF 50+ tương đương 8h liền

3. Bảo vệ khỏi các dấu hiệu lão hóa của da nhƣ vết nhăn, giảm độ đàn hồi, săn chắc 4. Dƣỡng da khô thoáng, mịn màng, không nhờn bóng với công nghệ độc quyền Sara đến từ Nhật Bản

5. Độc đáo khi tạo lớp nền trang điểm cho da sáng mịn với công thức che khuyết điểm và tinh chất sữa màu hồng phấn.

Do đó, khi đã sử dụng Bioré UV, bất kỳ bạn gái nào cũng sẽ cảm nhận đƣợc sự khác biệt.

Hyaluronic Brightening Moisturizer Bioré 5 effects

New Bioré UV with Immune Dandruff Factor offers 5 comprehensive protection and skin care effects:

1. Protect your skin from harmful ultraviolet rays UVA & black and freckles with strong PA +++

2. Protect your skin from UVB rays harmful to skin burns, sunburn with SPF 50+ equivalent to 8 hours.

3. Protect your skin from signs of aging of the skin such as wrinkles or reduction in elasticity

4. Make the skin smooth and not greasy with Sara technology from Japan 5. Uniquely create a subtle foundation for light complexion with concealer and pink powder essence.

Therefore, when using Bioré UV, any girl will feel the difference.

As can be seen, this advertisement begins with the prominent feature of the product – five comprehensive protection and skincare effects. It then continues with explaining in more details these five effects by using verb phrases beginning with “protect”, “make” or “create” and the words showing its effectiveness. Therefore, the target customers may be quite convinced with the product effectiveness, and they are willing to spend money on the product.

The second difference lays in the use of comparison language in American advertising in comparison with the use of the sentence structure “Với (With) + words/ phrases denoting technological value of the product” in Vietnamese advertisements. Firstly, American advertisements tend to use a variety of comparative language when offering target customers what they desire for. The comparison ranges from explicit forms like comparative or superlative to the implicit ones which indicate the distinguished features of the products.

The following advertisement illustrates the use of comparative form in American advertising:

Advertisement 4:

Product: Tampax

Description: An active young girl in casual clothes Text:

KEEP THE POLKA THE ONLY DOT ON YOU

TAMPAX RADIANT PROTECTS

30% BETTER

AND HAS A ONE-OF-A KIND RE-SEALABLE WRAPPER FOR ULTRA-DISCREET DISPOSAL . SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.

TAMPAX radiant

YOU STAND OUT. YOUR PERIOD DOESN'T

Although magazine readers may not necessarily believe all the promises or take them seriously, it is always important that the advertiser offers some kind of guarantee or promise to the target audience because it shows the advertiser’s effort and willingness to sell their products. An advertisement would seem weak and not persuasive when it does not provide any kind of guarantee. Therefore, this advertisement makes use of the phrase “protect 30% better” to offer the readers the strength of their tampax over other products. Moreover, the phrase

“has a one-of-a-kind re-sealable wrapper for ultra-discreet disposal” also serves as the benefit that the product can bring their users. The advertiser then goes ahead and proposes “satisfaction guaranteed.” To conclude, the advertiser of this advertisement has clearly indicated the advantages of the products and at the same time guaranteed the users the satisfaction when using the product.

Superlative can also be found in the American selected data as in “See your most beautiful eyes ever.” (Estee lauder) It is undoubted that every customer will be curious when looking at such kind of advertising as it offers them the most beautiful thing that they can have.

Linguistic realization of single positive politeness strategies in American

Previous studies of advertising from cross-cultural pragmatic

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