Lexical Features Advertising Theory a. Advertising and Advertisement
2 Long-noun Phrases
Long-noun phrase is used to describe the specialty of the advertised products. To describe a car, for example, the advertisers may use modern
comfortable stylist car rather than a car that is modern, comfortable, and stylist.
3 Ambiguity
McArthur said that ambiguity is “actual or potential uncertainty of meaning” 1992. Some sentences may ambiguous when they have more than one
meaning. Those sentences may be ambiguous in isolation, but if the sentence is put in a context, the real meaning will be revealed. There are lexical lexical
homonymy and polysemy and grammatical ambiguity grammatical homonymy and polysemy.
4 Use of Imperatives
Imperative words are used to ask the customers to do something. Some advertisements use imperative words like try this or buy it to ask the customers to
do the thing, immediately after read the advertisements.
5 Simple and Colloquial Languages
Colloquial means “a semi-technical term for the vernacular form of a language or sometimes mildly pejorative, for informal, everyday speech,
including slang” McArthur; 1992. It means that colloquial language is informal language that used in everyday speech and including slang language. Simple and
colloquial language are used to make familiar language and easy understood by the customer.
6 Use of the Present Tense
The purpose of using present tense in the advertisement is to make the ‘always right’ effect whenever the customers see the advertisements. Present tense
has a specialty that is universal timelessness, so the sentence in present tense always right and exist.
7 Syntactic Parallelism
Syntactic Parallelism means several words are repeated to make one idea in the same pattern. This will make the customers easier to remember the
advertisements. For example, the slogan of Prudential, a well-known insurance company, that is ‘always listening, always understanding’. In the grammar matter,
this slogan is parallel, uses the same word ‘always’ in the two clauses and
followed by –ing form of verb.
8 Association
Sometimes advertisers use other things to associate with the advertised products although they are different things. Association is indicated by the word
like or as to associate the quality of the advertised products with the other thing. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9 Ellipsis
Ellipsis is “omission of an element of language for reasons associated with speech, rhetoric, grammar, and punctuation” McArthur; 1992. Because of
limited space, sometimes advertiser should omit some elements of clauses, but it must not change the main information that delivered.
10 Incomplete Sentences
Usually advertisements have limited spaces to deliver the message and they contain pictures and words. The one which the customers pay attention more
is the pictures rather than the words. So incomplete sentences are ordinarily found in the advertisements to deliver some messages in limited space.