A Study Of Fuzziness In Advertising Language

Fuzziness is the one of the distinct characteristics which existsin every aspect of natural language. Chinese scholars haveconducted multi-perspective studies of fuzzy linguistics and greatsuccess has been achieved. Fuzzy language has been applied inmany fields. Among them, fuzzy language in advertisement raisedmore concern. Many studies were conducted to fuzzy language byapplying various theories, while most of these studies were fromadvertising or literary perspectives. In addition, these studies seldomtouched upon how to carry out speech acts in advertising language.Based on the previous studies, this thesis will describe andanalyze qualitatively the cases of commercials from linguisticperspective, then discuss fuzzy language in commercials by applyingSpeech Acts Theory. There are some findings as follows:Fuzzy approaches in commercials comprise fuzziness insounds,fuzziness in words,hedges and figures of speech. Theapplication of these approaches makes the language of commercialsmore euphemistic and implicit with less words and sentences.The purpose of promoting purchases can't be revealedexcessively in the commercials. Therefore, when implementing speech acts, advertisers intend to employ indirect speech acts. As aconsequence, the speech acts in advertising language aremore circuitous and flexible than those in other languages.Fuzzy language can be applied reasonably to produce somepositive effects, including conveying information effectively, makingexpressions appropriately and enhancing the effects of advertising.The study of fuzziness in advertising language can guideconsumption and promote the development of fuzzy linguistics.