Rule-Breaking in the Language of Advertising
Date
2002
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the extent to which rules or conventions of a language are
"broken" in print advertising. A lot of the text that is used in advertising does not adhere
to some norms that are conventionally adhered to in natural language. Research from
how we learn language suggests that there are rules inherent to language that we obey. In
using language, we are expected to obey these rules in order to maintain order and clarity,
and to avoid wordiness and ambiguity, for example.
However, despite their infringements on these rules of natural language,
advertisements are still readable, coherent and cohesive and can still be comprehended.
My thesis determines which linguistic rules are violated and which are not and thus
ascertains the role of such rule-breaking in advertising language. It also arrives at a
conclusion as to how this rule-breaking is a tool that the advertisers use to make the
product more attractive and to make the advertisement more effective.
In order to do this, this paper examines a range of advertisements in French and
English, from different genres of magazines. The advertisements selected for discussion
here are from a broader pool and were the ones that best illustrate a specific linguistic anomaly I wish to explore in detail. I have also made reference to some of the articles
that I studied and that dealt with specific aspects of rule-violation in advertising language.
I have classified and divided my information according to the type of anomaly
that I have found, namely those that pertain to reference, semantic roles, syntax,
pragmatics and morphology. These are explored in the sections numbered 2.0 through
6.0. Within each section; I present examples of my data that display irregularities, and
discuss, with reference to natural language, what it is that constitutes an irregularity in
each case. Then I explain why it is that these specific linguistic irregularities are carried
out in advertising and how they are actually used to lead the readers directly back to the
product. After my reference page, I have included an appendix which has pictures of a
lot of the advertisements that I discussed here.