1、渭南师范学院本 科 毕 业 论 文题 目： 广告英语中双关语的语用功能及翻译 学院名称： 外国语学院 专业班级： 英语专业 08 级英本 4 班 毕业年份： 2012 年 6 月 姓 名： 叶 雨 露 学 号： 080241010 指导教师： 陶 正 娜 职 称： 副 教 授 渭南师范学院教务处 制The Pragmatic Function of Puns and ItsTranslation in Advertising EnglishByCheng JinzhiA Thesis Presented to School of Foreign Languages ofWeinan Norma
2、l Universityas Partial Fulfillment of the Requirementsfor the Degree ofBachelor of ArtsMay 13, 2012Class: Class 4 of 2008Advisor: Guo Zhengxiai广告英语中双关语的语用功能及翻译摘 要: 广告英语的独特性在于其新颖、灵活的语言及其形式的多样化。除了在词汇和句法方面别具一格外，修辞手法也被广泛地运用来润色广告语言。双关，一种集幽默与智慧于一身的言简意赅的语言表达形式，深受广告商的喜爱,以提高广告语言的魅力。本文中，作者首先列举了四种广泛应用于广告英语中的双关
3、，即谐音双关、词义双关、语义双关和习惯双关。然后，作者从语用学角度论述了双关语在广告英语中是如何通过实现广告的各种语用功能来达到广告的效果。最后，作者通过分析双关语的可译性，试探性地提出了广告英语中双关语的五中翻译策略：保留、再造、补偿、解释说明以及省略。每个策略并不总是单独使用的,译者在翻译过程中根据译文的最佳关联原则,有时可依情形选择一种或者多种策略融合。关键词：广告；双关语；语用功能；翻译iiThe Pragmatic Function of Puns and Its Translation in Advertising EnglishAbstract: Advertising Engl
4、ish is characterized by its originality, flexibility of language usage and the diversity of the forms. Apart from the distinguishing features at lexical and syntactic levels, rhetorical vehicles, as decorative devices of language, are frequently employed in advertising English. Pun, a concise way to
5、 express humor and wit, is particularly favored by advertisers to enhance the appeal of language. In this thesis, firstly, the author lists four kinds of puns frequently used in advertising English, that is, homonymic puns, homographic puns, semantic puns and idiomatic puns. Then, the author illustr
6、ates how puns are applied to achieve advertising effects in realizing some certain functions from pragmatic perspectives. Lastly, the author analyses the translatability of puns in advertising English and tentatively proposes five strategies to the translation of puns in advertising English, i.e. pr
7、eservation, creation, compensation, explication and omission. Each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own, and sometimes two or more strategies are jointly employed in advertisement translation in accordance with the principle of optimal relevance depending on the situation.Key word
8、s: Advertisement; Pun; Pragmatic Function; TranslationiiiTable of ContentsI. Introduction 1II. The Application of Puns in Advertising English 1A. Definition of pun1B. Types of Puns in Advertising English .21. Homonymic puns.22. Homographic puns.23. Semantic puns34. Idiomatic puns .3III.The analysis
9、to the functions of Puns in Advertising English from Pragmatic Perspectives.3A. Information Function .3B. Demand Creation Function 4C. Persuasive Function .4D. Get-action Function .5E. Goodwill Establishment Function5IV. Five strategies to the translation of puns in advertising English.5A. Preservat
10、ion .6B. Creation7C. Compensation 8D. Explication.9E. Omission 9V. Conclusion 111I. IntroductionWhat is advertising? Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or idea by identified sponsors through the vari
11、ous media. In modern age, people find themselves surrounded by various advertisements each day. Facing so many advertisements, how to make the advertisement impressive is the main purpose of the advertisers. In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertisers pay much attention not only
12、to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive. Whether it is goods advertisement or public service advertisement, the creation of the advertisement is a comprehensive art. Th
13、e skills needed in this art are more than other forms of writing. It shows the vivid and interesting characters by the principle of salesmanship. Advertisers become to be aware of that the using of precision and appropriate in advertising literary language will make the influence of advertising lang
14、uage far beyond the advertisement itself. As a result, the figures of speech are frequently and widely used as an important characteristic of advertising English in creating advertisements, among which pun is loved deeply. The rhetorical of pun is a common skill in creating advertisement. Webster de
15、fined pun as “the use of word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect”. As a game of words, pun leaves a deep impression on readers by
16、its readability, wit and humor. It can satisfy the requirement of advertisement characteristicsinformation function, demand creation function, persuasive function, get action function, and goodwill establishment function. So pun is very popular in advertisement. This article will focus on analyzing
17、the pragmatic function of puns to illustrate how puns achieve advertising effects and the translatability of pun in advertising English.II. The Application of Puns in Advertising EnglishA. Definition of pun Looking at the same issue from different perspectives, we may often come up with different de
18、finitions of the thing under discussion. And, not surprisingly, pun can be thus defined in many ways. In this paper, I will adapt a clear one form Oxford English Dictionary, in which pun is defined as “the humorous use of a word, or of words which are formed or sounded alike but have 2different mean
19、ings, in such a way as to play on two or more of the possible application; a play on words to produce a humorous effect.” B. Types of Puns in Advertising EnglishAs a rhetorical device, the application of puns in advertising English reflects its unique features mainly in pronunciation, words and sent
20、ence structures. The present author holds that puns are usually used in the following four ways. 1. Homonymic punsHomonymic puns, mainly based on the use of homophones, are quite popular in all languages. In modern English, there are a lot of words of similar forms but absolutely different meanings
21、sharing the similar pronunciation, which to some certain extent causes a sense of humor. Examples: More sun and air for your son and heir.我们这里有充足的阳光，清新的空气，这对您的儿子您事业和财产的继承人大有裨益。 In an impressive way, this sentence makes customers be aware of the great significance of living in a clean environment and
22、 keeping a good health. Without any doubt, it is a success, for smart using of two groups of words with similar sounds and forms, i.e. “sun“ and “son“; “air “and “heir“, which makes the advertisement easy to read and remember for customers.2. Homographic punsHomographic puns, which takes effects und
23、er the certain situation where multi-meaning words are used, correspondents to the application of homonymic puns.Examples:Money doesnt grow on trees, but blossoms at our branches.钱不能长在树上，在我们“行” 就能。 This is an advertisement of Lloyd Bank in Great Britain, in which the word “branch“ has more than one
24、single meaning. “Trees“ in the front part can be understood as “branches“, and the further meaning of which is “branches of banks“. Readers of this advertisement are expected to believe that to deposit ones money in Lloyd Bank means to enjoy an increment of his money. It is obvious that homographic
25、puns contribute a lot in adding a sense of humor in advertising.33. Semantic punsThe application of semantic puns in advertising English is much more flexible than the above ones, in which attention is attached to the overall meaning of the sentence. Besides, it makes the advertisement meaningful an
26、d thought-provoking.Examples:Spoil yourself and not your figure. 尽情大吃，不增体重。This is an advertisement for “Weight-Watcher“ ice-cream which is produced specially for ones on diet. There are puns not only in the brand name but in the slogan of the good. “Spoil oneself“ means “enjoy oneself“; while “spoi
27、l ones figure“ has the meaning of making someone getting fatter. The success of this advertisement lies in the full use of the psychological activity of those who want to keep fit in a humorous way by proper use of the semantic puns. 4. Idiomatic punsThe flexible application of idiomatic puns in adv
28、ertising English is full of difficulties for which are deeply rooted in the local culture by the use of famous idioms and phrases. Besides, the application of idiomatic pun in advertising English, to some extent, can be understood as a means of arts.Examples: An Apple everybody keeps worries away.Wh
29、en read, this slogan can be easily associated with a popular saying, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away“. It is deeply rooted in peoples mind that “Apple“ is not only the brand name of a computer, but what keeps people fit. Judging from this advertisement, it is obvious that the enterprise wants
30、to tell their customers that their products are no harm to peoples health in an impressive way. III. The Analysis to the Functions of Puns in Advertising English from Pragmatic PerspectivesWith a better understand of puns and functions of advertisement, I will give an analysis of how puns achieve ma
31、jor functions of advertisement in pragmatic ways. In order to give a more specific study of this question, I have chosen ten advertisements form different texts about puns, including a book, a dissertation, an article in China and an article in foreign country, to make sure the variety of my data. A
32、. Information FunctionAn advertisement should contain effective, true information about commodity or service, so 4consumers can learn if such things are needed for themselves. Generally, in realizing this function, an advertisement should be easy to understand. However, as the definition of puns, th
33、ey have more than one meaning or they are different words that sound the same. Its not easy to catch all their implicit meanings, especially the homographic puns. For example:Less bread, No jam. London Underground “Bread” means “money” in slang English and “jam” can refer to “traffic jam.” So it mea
34、ns there is no traffic jam in London underground which could help travelers cost less money in traffic fee. If people do not realize the implicit meaning of “bread” and “jam”, the confusion of their rhetorical effects may get in the way of our understanding of the advertising. According to Paul Gric
35、es Cooperative Principle, puns in advertisement violate the maxim of manner: avoid obscurity of expression; avoid ambiguity. (Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong, 2002: 92) Once this principle is violated, the communication is not a natural one anymore, but a special, unconventional one. Obviously, this is th
36、e effect that advertisers are seeking for. Since in the society, people will easily omit some ordinary things but remember unusual things. From this perspective, puns make advertisement more creative so as to catch more peoples attention to the information. Such as “bread” and “jam” are eye-catching
37、, especially for tired people who go off work or school in this busy big city. Native English speakers will understand them after a few seconds of thought. Then, the advertising works. B. Demand Creation FunctionWhen the first function works, the demand creation function gets a chance. When people e
38、nter the context of puns, they will soon find their attractiveness. For example:Theres no present like the time. Zenith watch In this advertisement, “present” means both the present time and gift, “implying that the Zenith watch makes the best present and is the most accurate in telling the present
39、time.” (Wang Zhiwei, 2007) After people get this information, they will find this watch is attractive and is really a good gift for their friends and beloved people, which may raise their desire to buy one. All the puns in ten advertisements have obvious demand creation functions once they are under
40、stood by consumers.C. Persuasive FunctionAdvertisement will provide persuasive reasons of consuming for people who are interested 5in them. Such reasons will be impressed by the humorous effect created by puns. For instance:Spoil yourself and not your figure. Weigh-Watcher Ice-creamHere, “spoil your
41、self” means “enjoy oneself to ones hearts content.”(Wang Yanxi, 2004) At the same time, “spoil ones figure” means do harm to ones figure, such as gaining weight. Not to spoil figure is to keep fit. The pun persuades people that this brand of ice-cream is not only delicious but also healthy. Its pers
42、uasive and stimulating both consumers heart and palate. According to Searles classification of speech acts, such persuasive puns belong to, which are “attempts by speaker to get the hearer to do something.” (Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong, 2002: 90) Certainly, as directives, puns do a good job in achievi
43、ng the persuasive function.D. Get-action FunctionAfter being persuaded, the consumers will buy the commodity or enjoy the service. Puns will promote people to get action in order to satisfy their desire of consuming. Lets pay attention to the following advertisement:What on earth is going on? Time w
44、ill tell. Time magazine“Time” here both refers to the real time and the magazine Time. Pun solves the question in this advertisement. That is, time will tell people what happen and Time magazine will provide you such news more continently and directly. Only people buy this magazine, can they now wha
45、t Time is about. E. Goodwill Establishment FunctionPuns also promote the view of value and connotation of a company, a brand. e.g.From Sharp minds come Sharp products. Sharp CompanyWhats afoot in the world of fashion? Mansfield ShoesIn the first example, Sharp Company establishes a sharp image by pu
46、ns. In the second example, “be afoot” both means “happening” and “be on foot.” This pun shows us that Mansfield Shoes is fashionable. If the Sharp products and Mansfield shoes are really good, their commercial images created by puns will established and get good development.IV. Five strategies to th
47、e translation of puns in English advertisementOn the basis of previous studies on translation of puns, the author tentatively proposes five potential strategies for translation of puns in English advertisements, some of which have already 6been touched upon in the previous section. They include pres
48、ervation, creation, compensation, explication and omission 3. I hope these strategies will prove to be effective in real work. It should be pointed out that each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own; sometimes two or more strategies are jointly employed in an advertisement dependi
49、ng on the situation. When there is more than one pun in an advertisement, different strategies can be applied to different pun depending on the situation. For instance, some can be preserved, some explicated, and some omitted. In the following sections, these five strategies will be explained.A. PreservationFor those advertisements that mainly appeal to emotions, e.g. texts abundant with rhetorical devices such as, pun, the persuasive power lies in the successful conveyance of the rich meaning in these rh
