Transcript Figure of Speech 1 - University of Cagliari

Figures of Speech 1
Pennarola Chapter VI
Ad as persuasive language
• Persuasive language uses rhetorical tropes or
figures to reach its purposes of persuading
people to buy or use the advertised
product/object/service
• A trope is a play on words; with it, a word is
used in something other than what is
considered its literal or normal form.
Advantages of rhetoric in advertising
• Attracts attention; getting noticed
 Complex rhetoric: involves comprehension and cognitive
processing, generates inferences, involves interpretation
• Provides pleasure, arousal, self-contentment: pleasant
feelings
• Provides longer retention
• (McQuarrie & Mick 2003) Visual and verbal rhetorical
tropes may sometimes create meaning incongruity =>
consumers use more cognitive effort to interpret the
advertisement.
• If the effort is rewarded with relevant meanings,
consumers will appreciate the advertisement more
Ad as persuasive language
• Persuasive language uses rhetorical tropes or figures
to reach its purposes of persuading people to buy or
use the advertised product/object/service
• “A rhetorical figure occurs when an expression
deviates from expectation, the expression is not
rejected as nonsensical or faulty, the deviation occurs
at the level of form rather than content, and the
deviation conforms to a template that is invariant
across a variety of content and contexts.”
(McQuarrie / Mick 1996)
Ad as persuasive language
OPIUM: connotation and denotation
What does the word OPIUM denote
semantically?
Morphine, heroine are closely related to opium.
There is little semantic difference between the
terms (apart from strength, effect, addictiveness…).
The connotation and not the denotation of opium,
is evoked as a metaphor of the perfume (unlike
morphine or heroine):
The Orient, dreams, romantic poetry, Bohemian
illegality.
TROPES
There are five kinds of tropes:
• metaphor (simile)
• metonymy
• synecdoche
• Irony (nonsense)
• synaesthesia
METAPHOR (1)
• Two seemingly unrelated subjects are put in
relationship (for ex., YOU ARE A ROSE).
• The first object is described as being a second object.
• In this way, the first object can be economically
described because implicit and explicit attributes
from the second object can be used to fill in the
description of the first.
METAPHOR (2)
• A metaphor consists of THREE parts:
– the tenor, that is the subject to which attributes are
ascribed;
– the vehicle, that is the subject from which the attributes
are derived;
– the ground, that is the part(s) of semantic field from which
the attributes are selected to create the relationship
between the tenor and the vehicle
(Halliday)
METAPHOR (2)
– the tenor, that is the subject to which attributes are
ascribed;
– the vehicle, that is the subject from which the attributes
are derived;
– the ground, that is the part(s) of semantic field from which
the attributes are selected to create the relationship
between the tenor and the vehicle
This singer is a nightingale
One characteristic of the nightingale (vehicle), i.e. the
harmony of her music (ground) is attributed to the singer
(tenor)
METAPHOR (3)
• Example :
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players
They have their exits and their entrances;
William Shakespeare,
As you like it 2/7
METAPHOR (4)
Metaphors are widely used in advertising as an
instrument of language economy which summarizes
various concepts (OPIUM), and teases the unconscious
desires of customers:
METAPHOR (7)
VISUAL METAPHOR
VERBAL METAPHOR
METAPHOR (5)
Metaphor can concern various parts of speech:
a) Noun: Get out of your box (Suzuki X-90)
b) Verb: Shower your lips in diamonds (Maybelline)
c) Adjective: Turn every morning into a Golden
Moment (Lyle’s Golden Syrup)
d) Preposition: Take a few years off (Esteè Lauder)
METAPHOR (7)
The tension between the literal (denotative) and
figurative (connotative) meaning, typical of metaphor is
amplified by the interplay between the verbal and the
visual code.
Metaphor
SIMILE
• A simile is a figure of speech in which the
subject is compared to another subject.
• Similes are marked by use of the words like or
as (for example, “He was as nervous as a longtailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs”).
SIMILE (2) - EXAMPLE
Visual simile: Life can be so simple (like having a cup of coffee and a cigarette)
METONYMY
• Metonymy is an association created between
meanings which are contiguous rather than
similar.
• Such associations may not be integral to the
meaning.
• One term is replaced by another according to
various relationships.
Metonymy (2)
In metonymy, associations are contiguous because we
indicate:
1.
2.
3.
4.
effect for cause ('Don't get hot under the collar!' for 'Don't get angry!');
object for user ('the stage' for the theatre and 'the press' for
journalists);
substance for form ('plastic' for 'credit card', 'lead' for 'bullet');
place for:
•
•
•
5.
event: ('Chernobyl changed attitudes to nuclear power');
person ('No. 10' for the British prime minister);
institution ('Whitehall isn't saying anything');
institution for people ('The government is not backing down').
Metonymy (2)
In metonymy, associations are contiguous because we
indicate:
1. Causality (effect, cause or instrument replaces the
product):
“Kiss your sore throat better” (HALLS SOOTHERS)
“Soft smooth lips in a handy stick” (LABELLO)
METONYMY - Example
Metonymy
Metonymy
SYNECDOCHE
• Synecdoche is like metonymy but more
‘specific’. It’s a trope in which a term for a
part of something refers to the whole of
something, or vice-versa.
• Synecdoche is closely related to metonymy, a
figure of speech in which a term that denotes
one thing is used to refer to a related thing.
Indeed, synecdoche is sometimes considered
a subclass of metonymy.
SYNECDOCHE (2)
Synecdoche is used when (Lanham 1969: 97):
•
A part of something is used for the whole (“hands” to refer to
workers);
•
The whole is used for a part (“the police” for a handful of
officers);
•
The species is used for the genus/category (“bread” for food,
“kleenex” for facial tissue)
"Give us this day our daily bread."
•
The genus/category is used for the species (“personal
computer” for IBM-compatible personal computer)
Synecdoche
Synecdoche
Synecdoche
IRONY
• In IRONY, the signifier of the ironic sign seems
to signify one thing but it actually signifies
something very different.
• Where it means the opposite of what it says
(as it usually does) it is based on binary
opposition.
IRONY
• Irony reflects the opposite
– of the thoughts or feelings of the speaker or writer
• 'I love it' = I hate it
– of the truth about external reality
• 'There's a crowd here' = it's deserted
IRONY
• Irony reflects the opposite of:
– the thoughts or feelings of the speaker or writer
• 'I love it' = I hate it
– the truth about external reality
• 'There's a crowd here' = it's deserted
http://pelfusion.com/showcases/42-really-funny-and-creative-print-ads/
IRONY
• It can also be seen as being based on
substitution by dissimilarity or disjunction (as in
understatements or exaggeration)
– You don’t know English
– No, I just speak a bit of it
dissimilarity
– I can buy a Rolex because I am rich - disjunction
IRONY
• Substitution can be based on dissimilarity
understatement)or disjunction (as in exaggeration)
dissimilarity
disjunction
(as
in
IRONY (2)
SYNAESTHESIA
• It is a peculiar form of metaphor associating
terms which belong to different sensory
domains
SYNAESTHESIA (2)
• Synaesthesia is amply used by copywriters because it
represents the hedonistic invitation to enjoy all the senses
• Examples of written synaesthetic expressions:
- Lips that scream with colour (Rimmel) SIGHT AND HEARING
- For colour at its softest (l’Oreal) SIGHT AND TOUCH
- Velvet. The irresistible hot chocolate (Cadbury). TOUCH AND TASTE
SYNAESTHESIA (2)
• Synaesthesia is amply used by copywriters because it
represents the hedonistic invitation to enjoy all the senses
– Lips that scream with colour (Rimmel)
– For colour at its softest (l’Oreal)
Synaesthesia
Other tropes
Antonomasia
• Any single entity appearing in the advert text
becomes the representative of its category
– The Make-Up of Make-Up Artists (Max Factor)
– Nespresso. What else? (Nescafè)
– Carte Noir. French for Coffee
– Audemars Piguet. The master watchmaker
Other tropes
Tautology
• Self referential quality of advertising discourse
• It can be merely visual: the whole advert text consists
of the photo of the product simply accompanied by
the brand name as if the product did not require any
introduction
– It’s a Volvo. It’s a Volvo (we printed it twice in case you
didn’t believe the first time) (Volvo)
– NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW, NEW,
NEW, AND NEW
New Bodyform Invisible – with 12 improvements
Other tropes
Anaphora
• It is the repetition of one or more words
within a sentence, preferibly at the beginning
– It creates an effect of expectation, emphasis and
symmetry
“it’s where moths dance. it’s where laughter comes
easily. it’s where time meander. it’s where i’m always
religthing the candles. it’s where our friends come to
Sunday lunch. it’s where other don’t leave until
Monday morning. It’s where we live. it’s our habitat”
(Habitat)