„Hier kommen ihre grauen Zellen in Fahrt“ – Phraseme in der Anzeigenwerbung

Abstract

The article deals with the use of the phraseological units in print advertisements in the German print media. The focus is the relations between phraseological units in the texts and images of the advertisements. The introductory part provides a brief overview of phraseology as a linguistic discipline and its role in advertisements, the structure of advertisements and possible modifications of phraseological units. The results of the analysis of semantic modifications showed certain relations between phraseological units in texts and images of the advertisements. According to the typology of Hartmut Stöckl (2004), we first defined the relation between a phraseological unit as a latent or explicit relation. In the latent relation phraseological units create a certain relation between text and image. There are two subgroups of the latent relation: phraseological units, which are visually evoked, and phraseological units, which are textually evoked and expressed. In the explicit relation phraseological units are materialized in image and text. Phraseological units, which appear isolated only in one place, are classified in the subgroup of the punctual relation. In the subgroup of the connected relation are phraseological units, to which other linguistic elements and structures refer. The analysis of 84 print advertisements showed that phraseological units are mostly used explicitly and in a connecting manner. This means phraseological units are not used isolated, but the text is characterized by an expressive or phraseological language that is linked to the advertisement’s message in image and text at the same time. The research confirmed that phraseological units are very popular as fixed and idiomatic units in advertisements, because they take on the persuasive functions and represent understandable, connotative and easily memorable structures.

Keywords

• phraseology
• advertisements
• image
• text
• modification