Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ (Dec 2021)
Functional representation of language play techniques in french advertising
Abstract
This article presents results of a functional study of such an advertising message which is built on a variety of language play techniques. Since language play is inseparable from the character of the speech message, typical of the type of utterance in which it is employed, it is convenient to distinguish primary and secondary functions of language game in advertising using R. Jakobson’s communicative model. The predominant manifestation of a certain function is studied drawing on specifi c examples of French playful advertising slogans. The communication process in a printed advertising text looks like the following: the advertising copywriter, who writes the text at the request of the advertiser (sender), transmits information about the product (context) to the possible client (receiver) in order to get a response (channel) from them, which should manifest itself in a positive evaluation of the product and, consequently, in its purchase. At the same time, special attention is paid to the very form of the advertising text (message); in order to recognise the double meaning embedded in the message the receiver needs to have certain background knowledge (a common code). The various techniques of the language game place special emphasis on one of the six components of the communicative act and therefore perform one of the linguistic functions. Language games seek to show the features of the product, presenting it in a favourable light (referential function), to convey positive emotions from the advertised product (emotive function), to cause interest, establish and maintain contact with the potential buyer (phatic function), to infl uence him or her, to motivate to purchase (conative function); in order to achieve this, advertising appeals to the shared cultural code (metalinguistic function). At the same time, the main feature of constructing a game slogan is a projection of the equivalence principle from the axis of selection to the axis of combination (poetic function). The advertising game message performs several functions simultaneously, the totality and hierarchy of which determine, ultimately, the nature of its “verbal structure”.
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