11 and Connor-Linton 2006: 173, Hymes 1974 mentioned that knowledge about
how to use language in different speech situations, how to interact with different people engaged together in different events, and how to use language to perform
different acts is called communicative competence.
2. Language of Advertisement
Advertising is a business in which language functions to persuade people to do and believe things. Everyone recognizes that advertisement persuades
people to buy products. Therefore, the company has to create the text as attractive as possible. It is because advertisement has a main aim to build a good image of
products. Therefore, the advertising language is very positive. As cited by Kpolugbo and Richard 2006: 180 in an Encyclopedia of the
Arts, Domel and Todd say “many aspects of the language of advertisements contribute to the emotive power advertising language, the choice and order of
words, the syntactic arrangement, the prestige of the speaker, the frequent appeals to authority”. It can be concluded that the language of advertisement is the major
factor contributing to the success of the advertisement as it has the power to move to action.
Language plays a crucial role in advertising. In the case of printed advertising like in magazine and newspaper, people find graphic and linguistic
messages. Goddard mentions that „Written advertisements have to compete with
each other and with all sorts of other texts in our ri chly literate culture‟ 2002: 9.
There are some stylistic expressions especially in the advertising language. It will
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12 help the company to attract the customers. Sometimes, some advertisements also
use figurative languages, such as personification, metaphor, hyperbole, and simile. For example, LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE. This kind of language will be
memorable. It means that the advertising language helps the customers to remember better than the daily language.
Based on the explanation above, people can find the linguistic message in the advertisement. As cited by Kpolugbo and Richard 2006: 183, Domel and
Todd identify three main factors in spoken or written advertising language. The first is the language of advertisement is simple based on colloquial speech. For
example, Inspired and Inspiring watch-REACTOR. This sentence is simple and easy to understand. The second is that the body copy of advertisement is written
with colloquial impression which is belied on the parallelism. For example, Be clean. Be protected. Be happy
Delta soap. The third is that there is much inter- influencing from one media to others, such as from radio to magazine and from
television to poster. For example, advertisement in radio is in spoken. Meanwhile, the advertisement in magazine is in written fully pictures and colour. Furthermore,
Domel and Todd say that the linguistic structures in advertisements have simplicity because of their short sentences. For example, Dust and Smoke free
PLASMA tv-LG. Moreover, passive voices are avoided and the vocabulary tends to be drawn from everyday colloquial language. They also note negative
forms are infrequently used in advertisements. However, they are found in stressed positions to emphasize the special merits of the products. For example,
Can’t resist the TASTE Fanta.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13 Past tense is also usually avoided. The reason is the products are in the
present and presently available. For example, With a first-class engine in the world, it Justifies for you
motorcycle. There is no finite verbs occur in the all advertisements. For example, Limited edition watch. All advertisements use the
imperative constructions, such as Ask for more Pepsi. The use of verb forms implies a universal timeless, such as Never a dull moment with STAR star beer.
Sometimes past tenses are used in the advertisements. It stresses the long traditions associated with products or emphasizes reliability, such as No
limitations attached . Therefore, there is the rule in writing advertisements.
3. Structure of Advertisements
