Analysis of Fuzziness in Advertising English开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义

In modern society, fuzziness, as one of the essential features of natural language, is more and more widely concerned by public, which covers many areas. However, fuzziness is the intrinsic characteristic of advertising so that its application plays an important role in advertising language. With the advanced development of material and spiritual civilization, the tide of globalization sweeps across the whole world swiftly and violently. At the same time, with the advent of fierce competition in business world, advertising is the natural outcome that makes great difference on market, economy, and even the development of society. Therefore, there are both certain theoretical meaning and important realistic significance to the study of fuzziness in advertising language. This study can contribute to consumer#8217;s comprehension in connotations of advertisement and enhance the designer#8217;s skills in producing advertisement, thereby realize the functions of advertising well.

2. 研究内容和预期目标

This study will contain five aspects. Firstly, it will introduce the definition of fuzziness, fuzziness in advertising and significance of studying fuzziness in advertising. Secondly, it is concerned with the study of fuzziness theories which includes the proposal and development of the fuzzy theory, the definition of fuzziness of language and its classification. Thirdly, it is devoted to an analysis of fuzzy expression and their functions in advertising English. Fourthly, it is mainly focus on the pragmatic analysis of fuzziness in advertising English. This part will study the fuzzy sounds, expressions and rhetorics. Fuzzy sounds will be analyzed through fuzziness of homophones and polysemy. Fuzzy expressions will be clarified through verbs, adjectives, approximations and hedges. Fuzzy rhetorics will be analyzed through simile, metaphor, pun, hyperbole and euphemism. Lastly, the study comes to a natural conclusion and points out the connotation. The fourth part is the core of this paper, so the pragmatic analysis of fuzziness in advertising English will be explained in particular. Outline 1 Introduction 2 Overview of fuzziness study 2.1 The fuzzy theory and the development of fuzzy linguistics 2.2 Definition of fuzziness and its classification 3 Fuzzy expressions in advertising English 3.1 The features of advertising language 3.2 Fuzziness and context 3.3 Functions of fuzziness in advertising 3.3.1 Conveying meanings efficiently 3.3.2 Improving accuracy 3.3.3 Making advertisement impressive and persuasive 3.3.4 Making advertisement aesthetic 4 Pragmatic analysis of fuzziness in advertising English 4.1 Semantic fuzziness 4.1.1 Fuzziness of adjectives 4.1.2 Fuzziness of numerals 4.1.3 Fuzziness of verbs 4.1.4 Hedges 4.2 Rhetorical fuzziness 4.2.1 Simile 4.2.2 Metaphor 4.2.3 Pun 4.2.4 Hyperbole 4.2.5 Euphemism 5 Conclusion

3. 国内外研究现状

As a natural outcome of the competition in business world, advertising is of great importance to our society. In recent years, studies on advertising language have achieved great development. Fuzziness, as the intrinsic feature of advertising language, is drawing increasing attention. Fuzziness is one of the substantive characteristics of language (Zhang Qiao, 1998, p.1). With the proposal of the modern fuzzy theory and the development of fuzzy language theory, studies on the fuzziness of language have aroused great concern in various disciplines such as linguistics, literature, translatology, philosophy, psychology, etc. Therefore, fuzziness is an important part in language use. The publication of L.A. Zadech#8217;s Fuzzy Sets in 1965 marked the birth of fuzzy theory. He suggests that fuzziness can be handled in terms of a fuzzy set, a class of entities with a continuum of grades of membership. Many scholars have tried to define fuzziness, but there is no unanimous one. Crystal (1991) defines fuzzy as #8220;A term derived from mathematics and used by some linguists to refer to the indeterminacy involved in the analysis of a linguistic unit or pattern.#8221;(p.148) He also points out that several lexical items are best regarded as representing a semantic category which has an invariant core with a variable (or #8216;fuzzy#8217;) boundary and this allow for flexibility of application to a wide range of entities, given the appropriate context. For instance, the difficulty of defining the boundaries of cup and glass has been a well-studied example of this indeterminacy (Crystal, 1991). According to Zhang Qiao (1998), fuzziness is inherent in the sense that it has no clear-cut referential boundary, and is not resolvable with resort to context. Fuzziness can thus be defined as an indeterminacy of the borderline of the subject in question. Fuzzy linguistics, as one of the interdisciplinary subjects induced by fuzzy theory, begins to develop in the early 1970s. Instead of pursuing the final goal of #8220;accuracy#8221; or #8220;preciseness#8221; of language, fuzzy linguistics provides a practical and effective method in dealing with abundant phenomena of fuzziness in language (Zhang Qiao, 1998). The basis of fuzzy linguistics is the fuzzy set theory. It studies fuzziness in phonetics, semantics, syntax, rhetoric, etc. This is now a fertile area for research. In China, the publication of Wu Tieping#8217;s paper A Tentative Exploration of Fuzzy Language (1979) has initiated the study on fuzziness. After that, scholars have studied fuzziness from different aspects and fields and have made fruitful achievements. Advertising, as a way of propagating and transmitting information, has become an essential part of our daily life. It plays a vital role in the development of society and economy. As is well known, the ultimate goal of advertising is to stimulate consumers#8217; purchasing desire so as to promote the goods. In order to achieve this aim, advertising has resorted to various techniques, among them language is of crucial importance. Fuzziness is one of the substantive characteristics of language, so is it with advertising language. Although it is generally believed that advertising language should be true and accurate, fuzzy language is still widely used in advertising. It is because fuzzy language can avoid the absoluteness caused by precise language so as to enhance the flexibility of advertisements. What#8217;s more, the use of fuzzy expressions helps to inspire the imagination of consumers and stimulate their shopping desire. In recent years, studies and researches on advertising language have achieved great development, but few studies have undertaken on the fuzziness of advertising language. Therefore, a study on the fuzziness of advertising language does not only have theoretical meaning, but also practical value. It helps consumers better understand the connotation of advertising language. In addition, it contributes greatly to the fulfillment of the functions of advertisements. On the basis of the existent theories of fuzzy language, this paper aims at analyzing the fuzziness of advertising English through specific advertising texts.

4. 计划与进度安排

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5. 参考文献

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