The Research On Presupposition Triggers In English Advertisements

The quick development of economic globalization makes it possible for moreforeign products to enter into Chinese market and more Chinese products to enter intoforeign markets. As a result, there are more and more English advertisements.Many scholars at home and abroad have studied English advertisements. Theirstudies mainly focused on linguistic features, rhetorical devices, cultural connotations,translation strategies and so on. A Few of them studied the presupposition triggers inEnglish advertisement.The author of this paper carried on a systemic and comprehensive analysis of thepresupposition triggers used in English advertisement, including the types andfeatures of presupposition triggers, the occurrence frequency of presuppositiontriggers, the cultural base of presupposition triggers, the relation between context andpresupposition triggers, the functions of presupposition triggers, with the aim toestablish a systemic theoretical framework for the presupposition triggers used inEnglish advertisement.The author used qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis to conduct theresearch. The major findings are as follows:(1) Besides the14types ofpresupposition triggers proposed by the scholars, the author found that proverbs andcoinages can also function as presupposition triggers in English advertisements, sothere are altogether16types of presupposition triggers in English advertisement. Thetype of presupposition trigger that appear most frequently is the definite description.(2) Among the seven features proposed by other scholars, the author found that onlythree features can be applied to the presupposition triggers in English advertisement.They are commerciality, triggering and detachability. So presupposition triggers usedin English advertisement have three features: commerciality, triggering anddetachability.(3) If we want to have a thorough understanding of how presuppositiontriggers function in English advertisements, we must have some cultural base. Forsocial culture base, we should mainly have a general knowledge of the western country’s festivals and western people’s philosophical views. For ecological culturebase, we should mainly know how the word “sea” is used. For religious culture base,we should mainly know religious figures and the meaning of religious expressions.For material culture base, we should mainly know all kinds of buildings.(4) Besidesconsumers’ social world, physical world, mental world and the advertising text itself,the author found that there are other kinds of contextual factors. They are words orutterance appeared before/after advertisements, words or phrases that appearedbefore/after the presupposition triggers and the pictures and music that appeared inadvertisement. Besides the ambiguous words, the author found that other9types ofpresupposition triggers can also cause ambiguities. After the analysis, the authorfound that contextual factors exert two kinds of influence on presupposition triggers.The first is that contextual factors (advertising context in broad sense, linguistic signsoutside the utterance, and the linguistic signs inside the utterance, the pictures andmusic in the advertisements) can cancel the ambiguities caused by presuppositiontriggers. The second is that consumers’ physical world, mental world and social worldcan facilitate the use of the ambiguities caused by presupposition triggers.(5) Besidesthe functions proposed by other scholars, the author found that presupposition triggersused in English advertisement have another two functions: complimenting consumersin a subconscious way and making the advertisement more coherent. Besides, theauthor also found that besides the cleft sentences and implicit cleft sentences, theparticle only can also transfer the information focus.From the theoretical perspective, this research can extend the research range ofthe presupposition trigger theory; from the practical perspective, it can not only helpconsumers to have a better understanding of the English advertisements withpresupposition triggers but also help advertisers to create more attractiveadvertisements by using presupposition triggers skillfully. Besides, it is helpful toadvertising teaching and translation.