A Study On English Advertising Language From The Perspective Of Memetics

Memetics is a type of new theory, which is used to explain the development of culture. The core concept is meme. Meme is considered as the replication factor as well as the unit of cultural transmission, which is spread by imitation. The replicated and transmitted language, cultural practices, social behavior or ideas all belong to meme.Language as the tool of expressing ideas and exchanging feelings for human is a meme itself and it resides among the meme. As one of the carriers of meme propagation, its function is to spread meme. And the effect between the two is mutual. Meme as the unit of cultural information is conductive to language development. It plays an important role in the process of human language development, while meme itself must rely on language to self-replicate and spread. The process of language spread is the process of meme replication and propagation.With the rapid development of commodity economy, advertising has infiltrated every aspect of people’s life. Advertising is a cultural communication activity and meme is contagious. The socialization of advertising language is the result of meme. The development of meme theory has been paid much attention, and meme is frequently used by advertising designers. Thus, advertising language and meme are closely related.This paper tries to study English advertising language from the perspective of memetics. Inductive and deductive approaches are used to classify English advertising language meme and to analyze and summarize the sources of English advertising language as well as the features of language use. Conclusion is drawn to identify the method and general rule of applying memetics in English advertising language so as to provide the advertising innovators with a strong theoretical basis for advertising creation. Meanwhile, it also helps us understand the culture of western nations deeply and it lays a broad and solid foundation for English teaching.