Figurative language means to create advertising slogans

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Figurative language means to create advertising slogans

Bakhmat Liudmyla,

PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor of the Foreign Philology Department,

ME "Kharkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical Academy" of Kharkiv Regional Council

Tonkonoh Nataliia,

PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor of Foreign Philology, Translation and

Applied Linguistics Department,

SHEE "Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi Gryhorii Skovoroda State Pedagogical University"

Annotation

The paper deals with analyzing the features of authentic English advertising slogans from the linguistic point of view. The study considers the means of figurative creation of the advertising text component - the slogan, the verbal equivalent of the logo, which reflects the main concept and strategy of the company. It is considered a variant of the text, which is a pre-planned expressive speech activity, carefully thought out in terms of choice of linguistic means, speech strategies and tactics, designed for emotional impact on the addressee.

Keywords: advertising text; advertisement; slogan; features; expressive means; metaphor. slogans linguistic creation

БАХМАТ Людмила Володимирівна,

кандидат педагогічних наук, доцент кафедри іноземної філології,

КЗ "Харківська гуманітарно-педагогічна академія" Харківської обласної ради

ТОНКОНОГ Наталія Ігорівна,

кандидат педагогічних наук, викладач кафедри іноземної філології, перекладу та методики навчання,

ДВНЗ "Переяслав-Хмельницький державний педагогічний університет імені Григорія Сковороди"

ОБРАЗНІ МОВНІ ЗАСОБИ СТВОРЕННЯ РЕКЛАМНИХ СЛОГАНІВ

Розглядаються стилістичні особливості рекламних слоганів, словесного еквіваленту логотипу, що віддзеркалює основну концепцію та стратегію фірми. Слоган позиціонується як різновиду тексту, що є наперед спланованою експресивною мовленнєвою діяльністю, ретельно продуманою щодо вибору мовних засобів та мовленнєвих стратегій і тактик, розрахованих на здійснення емоційного впливу на адресата.

Вмотивовано представлено визначення рекламного тексту, слогану та проаналізовано засоби образної мови (метафора, гіпербола, алітерація, рима та інші). Здійснено огляд лінгвістичних досліджень українських науковців, які займаються вивченням стилістичних особливостей складання емоційних гасел.

Такого роду тенденції ілюструються прикладами оксюморонів, стилістичного повторення, римування, фразеологізмів тощо. Стверджується, що згадані риси і виразні засоби є обов'язковими ознаками рекламних гасел.

Ключові слова: рекламна комунікація; рекламний текст; реклама; слоган; художні тропи; експресивні засоби; метафора.

The active development of the mass media stimulates the interest of researchers to study linguistic peculiarities of advertisements as they have a great impact on the language itself.

In general, the advertising text is used to convince the addressee. It is a motivated, pre-planned expressive speech activity, carefully thought out in terms of linguistic means, speech strategies and tactics, used for emotional impact on the addressee. Hermeren studied persuasion comparing its effect with the process and meanwhile distinguishing four components: understanding, perception, change in attitude, and memorization. Combination, perception and expressiveness of language means are closely intervened.

Recently, more and more scholars are getting interested in advertising texts, considering them a complex communicative phenomenon, which is realized in the corresponding media space by the most effective means, which include the sociocultural context, as well as special types of texts [1, p. 23].

V. Samarina defines the advertising text as concise, but informatively rich, with a special emphasis on the attractiveness of the advertised object and focus on the addressee. It often has implicit meanings, products of cognitive, pragmatic, and stylistic advertising tools [2, p. 5].

I. Ivanova notes that in communicative linguistics, linguistic pragmatics, psycholinguistics, "the advertising text is verbal and fixed in the sign form of speech imprint of and thought activity". It is treated as a thematic, structural and communicative whole with stylistic characteristics [3, p. 37].

Analyzing the structure of the ad text, 4 parts are divided: 1) the title; 2) the slogan; 3) the main advertising text; 4) code (or echo phrase) [1, p. 77]. We consider the slogan to be the most important component in advertisements. D. Dobrovolska states that "the advertising slogan is a special kind of microtext and an element of communicative interaction between the speaker and the recipient" [4, c. 6]; which combines verbal, visual and audio components. Many Ukrainian linguists are studying the issue: S. Blavatsky, V. Zirka, N. Kovalenko, N. Myasnyankin, and others. In addition, foreign linguists (J. Licha, B. Mьller, K. Tanaki, K. Shido, etc.) define the slogan as a key statement and the main idea of an advertising campaign.

That what tomorrow will bring. Multimedia: A world where all communications are one.

A. Malyshenko marks the similarity of the slogan and the advertising headline. It is believed that the slogan reflects the essence, the philosophy of the company [5, p. 191]. The slogan is the most effective form of advertising, an easy to remember short phrase that conveys the main idea of an advertising campaign.

The slogan makes the brand stand out among competitors, creates the integrity of a series of advertising campaigns as brands often offer a multitude of products [1, p. 76].

Toyota - drive your dream,! (Toyota).

The purpose of the article is to study the basic means of figurativeness of advertising slogans.

It is key to make short and clear (5-6 words), original slogans to guarantee effectiveness. The main emphasis is on reflecting the company's philosophy with the obligatory application of its name as it is a generalized, content-rich statement.

According to morphological features, slogans are divided by using:

- verbs. The use of verbs adds dy- namicity, creates a sense of action, e.g. Ford has a better id,ea (Ford Motor Compa.- ny). Achievements are highlighted by nonverbal headings, such as Always Coca Cola (Coca Cola);

- qualitative adjectives in the comparative and highest degrees. The advantage is provided by the simple forms of comparative and highest degrees (without using in the world, of all, etc.), for example, No battery is stronger longer (Duracell Batteries). Psychologists mark the comparative degree to be more often used for positive feedback from the recipient;

- personal pronouns. Personalization is extremely important in advertising, with emphasis on personally-directed communication, for example Maybe she's born with it - maybe it's Maybelline (Maybelline).

Linguists are trying to identify and apply different aspects according to the terminology of figurative and expressiveness in the English language. The most profound researches are by N. Arutyunova,

L. Verba, T. Kapuza, E. Kovalenko,

L. Kozub, N. Kopeikina, V. Kravchenko,

N. Lysa, A. Radu and others.

Stylistic tools deserve special attention. Emotionally colored words are designed to stimulate the recipient, calling to the subconscious, increasing the emotional potential of advertisements.

Considering the graphic level, we note the importance of capitalization.

Gluten Free, Grain Free and Low-Carb Delicious (SKINNY DONUTS).

Slogans are characterized by the use of words with complete capitalization.

ARE YOU BEACH BODY READY? (World Protein).

In contrast to full capitalization, some firms use full decapitalization. In this case, even the name of the company will be written in small letters:

others clog ours do not (dyson).

nature's secret to silky perfection (organix).

Often the font (italics or bold) is used to draw attention to the key word or phrase of the slogan.

Something special in the air (American Airlines).

Duplication of letters is also a stylistic trick.

Here's mine ... What's your swisssh? (Pantene).

Studying slogans, one can not ignore various ways of creating: artistic and expressive means. Although these two concepts are closely interconnected, there are different scientific approaches to the definition of their tactical features. Tropes reveal the essence of the subject, the phenomenon, acting as the means of personalizing the character, showing the author's attitude. They enrich slogans with figurative expressiveness and emotionality. Tropes include epithets, comparisons, metaphors, metonymy, irony, sarcasm, allegory, hyperbole, lithotypes, periphrasis, etc. Unlike tropes, expressive means do not create images, but increase speech expressiveness through special syntactic structures such as inversion, rhetorical figures (questions, appearances, assertions, assumptions, exclamation), parallel structures, contrasts, gradation, etc.

In a linguistic aspect, figurativeness is closely linked to expressiveness. This can be explained by the fact that the creation mechanisms are similar, and thus it is possible to establish formation patterns and use of figurative means. Tropes and stylistic figures help to achieve the result. Slogans, due to certain communicative intentions of the speaker, can in a certain way influence the recipient through a pragmatic instruction, in which the strength and intensity, quantity and quality of influential means of speech vary. Therefore, in order to speak more convincingly and to increase the influence on the speaker - the change of emotional states, the speaker tends to intensify, enhancing the expressiveness of the statement itself. That is why when creating a slogan a large number of stylistic means are used: hyperbole, metaphor, comparison, metonymy, personification, periphrasis, irony, etc.

Analyzing emotionally colored vocabulary of advertisements, we conclude that the absolute majority is metaphors.

O. Selivanova notes "metaphor is the most productive creative means of enriching the language, a manifestation of linguistic economy, the semiotic regularity that demonstrates itself in using symbols of one conceptual sphere to designate another, likened to it in some respect" [6, p. 97]. So, metaphor is a language figure that uses an object name of one class to describe an object of the other class. The natural ability to find analogies prompts a person to look for similarity between the most remote objects or phenomena. One sees similarity not only between objects that are sensually perceived, but also between concrete realities or abstract phenomena, with character features.

A metaphor is defined as a secondary device nomination based on the similarity or affinity of different objects. Metaphoriza- tion can be done by likening an abstract object (make-up) to a real one or a person (artists).

The make-up of make-up artists.

In this case, L. Verba notes "the meta.- phor has a heuristic cognitive value, as if it helps to get deeper understanding of the phenomenon essence" [7, p. 71]. Metaphors are aimed at creating an artistic image. Their use is connected with the need for verbally categorizing new concepts. Media texts become the domain of metaphorical derivation of titles.

Zhang X. and Gao X. a provide examples of two hinged beer cans; cars depicted by lovers, and others. Z. Kovecses notes the important role of conceptual metaphors because the potential of advertising directly depends on well-selected words / images [8, c. 112]. L. Svazene distinguishes several types of metaphors: verbal and figurative. Analyzing financial aspects, the first ones include: lock-in period, fire-heat, anger- love and others.

Do you think this could re-ignite the housing market? .... There's been a blaze there anyway.

There are examples of figurative metaphors, where the person relates to the person, the bathroom to its owner.

Bellavista's equipment is the fa.ce of our room.

The ability to hypothetical comprehend reality helps us point out metaphor uniqueness. Metaphors allow to predict events development, to push the recipient to the meant choice; this way of "refining" information is particularly effective, as the readers / listeners come to conclusion on their own. This feature needs to be taken into account, since metaphor explication may occur both in accordance with the advertiser's ideas and against them.

Your Daily Ray of Sunshine (Tropicana).

It's What Comfort Tastes Like

The first metaphor designs the image of health and activity associated with orange juice. Using the metaphor in the second example creates associative relationships between sweets that are shown as "comfortable food" which brings joy and reduces stress in everyday life.

When analyzing advertisements of drinks, food, automobiles, tourism, clothes and other categories, H. Katrandiyev,

I. Velinov and K. Radova identified metaphors as the most commonly used - about 50%. Crucial constructions occupy the second place, ranging from 5% in telecommunication and technological advertising to 37% - in advertising of banks and insurance companies.

Connecting People (Nokia).

Hyperboles are next widely used, because "... hyperbole (Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) - a stylistic figure of explicit and intentional exaggeration to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the thought'. At the heart of hyperbole, there is mainly science fiction, sometimes complete mismatch of reality, and hence - manifestation of tendencies to generalize, a high degree of conventionality [9], e. g.: A thousand pardons. Haven't seen you for ages.

Together with other accompanying means (musical, sound, visual), they contribute to influencing imagination, which subsequently leads to concrete actions.

The extra-linguistic aspect plays an important role as well with slogans reflecting specific phenomena of material reality- specific realities), as well as linguistic, namely semantic (ways of creating a relationship between the direct and figurative values of complex signs) factors on which the process is based. Oxymoron is used to create a linguistic effect and better visualization, e. g.: pretty bad, awfully nice.

Stylistic repetition is an indispensable feature of advertising slogans. The term "repetition" refers to lexical-syntactical unitо, e. g.: The city had laid miles and miles of streets and sewers through the region (R Aldington).

Alliteration is repetition of sounds similar to consonants in the verse line, stanza to enhance the sound or intonation expressiveness and musicality.

Passion for Perfection - / P /, / f / (Russian Standard vodka).

Experience the sinister side of Bourbon - / s / (Jim's Beam).

Alliterations are often used in brand names to attract attention, memorize and highlight, e.g.:Dunkin Donuts, Cafй Coffee Day, Big Bazaar, Range Rover, PayPal. Using a certain letter several time has an emphasizing effect.

Big Beefy Bliss (McDonald's).

Rhymes are formalized sound consonance between words or endings of words.

Be a woman for a cause not for applause (Baileys Irish Cream).

Melodicity and imagery for advertising slogans make rhymes that are created by repeating a monosyllable token, e.g.: A healthy food for a wealthy mood,. Don't dream it, drive it!

There are numerous examples of repeating both consonant and vowel sounds separately and together. Rhyming slogans has a certain intonation model, which is easy for spontaneous memorization. Rhyme reflects melody and artistic taste, a subconscious desire to listen to the content of the slogan [9]. They rhythmically arrange stanzas for rhymed lines to improve memorization.

Beanz Meanz (Heinz).

Assonance is repeting the same vowel sounds in a string or stanza, which adds a delightful sound, enhances its musicality.

There is no V in Wodka authentic vodka from Poland is called wodka - / v / (Vodka Wyborowa).

Anaphora is the same beginning, repetition at the beginning of verse lines, stanzas or sentences of identical or consonant words, syntactic constructions.

Pure spirit. Pure experience (Crystal head vodka).

The use of tautology draws attention to the important aspect of the recipients by repeating the same word, either of single or similar roots. Sometimes, repetition is veiled. Visual tautology is often used in graphic advertising.

Here today, here tomorrow (Toshiba.).

Antithesis is represented by contrast, it figuratively and vividly demonstrates the contrast between ideas / means, adds interesting things. Often the same grammatical structures are used to emphasize differences. However, antithesis can "hide" in various parts of advertising.

The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand (M & Ms).

It is essential to use anthimeria which replaces one part of the language with another, for example, a verb with a noun or vice versa.

Log off 13 lime in (Corona Extra Beer).

Arguments are fundamental in advertising. They are epithets that make texts animated and colored.

Only Carvers can do a job like this. Because only Carvers ha.s the new SuperDrive Electric Power-Pa.ck. Ordinary power tools have ordinary motors. But Carvers have a Power-Pack (Carvers).

Interestingly, phraseological translations, sentences and proverbs are widely used.

Paremia (proverbs) is a huge treasure that constantly feeds the figurative means of literary language and gives it bright features of a national character, creating a unique color. Speeches of paremical origin are actively penetrating into the language of advertising texts, because, like oral speech, they are characterized by emotionality and expressive relief. Advertisers often turn to proverbs and sayings and alter them to fit modern views, according to the target audience, e. g.: Live not to eat, but eat to live. To lengthen your life lessen your meal.

This technique is explained by the use of ethno-cultural linguistic heritage, which helps in a new way to highlight perception mechanisms and reproduction in the language of advertising and to understand emergence of language stereotypes in representatives' minds of various linguistic and cultural communities, since advertising is a transnational phenomenon. References to cultural traditions, customs, rituals, ceremonies, moral norms and values are regulative mechanisms of advertising encourage people to feel ethnic group elements. Characteristic features of phraseol-ogisms are connecting semantic structures, imaging qualities, the ability to form associative fields, occasional constructions.

In addition, to maximize recipient- centered approach, spoken phrases, idioms, phrasal verbs are used to make the lexis "true".

Vodka is like love; you only know the real thing after you experience it (Russian Standard vodka).

Particular attention is paid to divergent use of words in order to attract the more attention.

Absolut (Absolut Vodka).

Modern advertising is oriented not on logic only, but on awakened emotions. Emotional vocabulary requires considering a range of problems associated with the type of communication, conventionally called advertising communications, in part, the problem of defining functions of the advertising language. The main purpose of advertising communication is an advertisement offer, the essence of which is reduced to verbal submission of the subject to the recipient in the most favorable for the source form [4].

Excitement and emotionality of slogans are shown with exclamations, units of the lexical level, taken separately or in combination with words or units of other levels, carries the accumulated experience of previous generations and cultural-historical values, and therefore its use in advertising slogans is appropriate.

Oh what a feeling, Toyota!

Linguists refer to excerpts for persistent compounds and phrases that express emotions denoting expressions of will (commands, appeals to certain actions, etc.). The appropriateness of using exclamations in slogans is due to the contextually-determined meaning, which can express almost the entire spectrum of human emotions, are divided into two large groups: exclamations expressing positive emotions (joy, glorification, exaltation, inspiration, excitement, sympathy, relief, pleasure, etc.) and exclamations expressing negative emotions (pity, anxiety, repentance, disappointment, unpleasant feelings, confusion, nervousness, internal anxiety, envy, disappointment, contempt, superstition, disgust, anger, sadness, fury, ruthlessness, despair, etc.).

Exclamations have not only emotional signs that express feelings of the speaker, but also motivating, expressing the order, prohibition, call, encouragement; etiquette, caused by the national-cultural or universal tradition of speech communication. Lexis promotes the best memorization of slogans.

When doing the linguistic analysis of advertising texts, such extra-linguistic parameters as the specifics of the advertised product, the characteristics of the target audience, the purpose of advertising, functions and categories, distribution channels, etc. need to be perceived as the special characteristics of advertising text. These parameters determine the language layout of the text, they will motivate and explain the choice of linguistic means of all levels.

Appearance in general can be attributed to the expressive means of language, because it transmits not only logical, but also emotional information through the system of stylistic means.

Originality. The article is rich in examples of authentic English slogans highlighting the use of figurative language means. Moreover, lots of curricula courses at higher educational pedagogical establishments feature philological training of the communication and competency-based approaches as well as deep understanding of ways to teach that get the most academic attention of future language teachers. In current curricula, special attention is paid to the methods of using innovative technologies and creating an interactive learning environment with the help of authentic English.

Conclusions and perspectives of the further research

Advertising texts with their imaginative means (metaphors, hyperbole, etc.) have an emotional character, which is provided by various expressive means of language and stylistic techniques. The use of stylistic tools plays a special role in promotional texts, since they help to formulate imaginative thinking, provide infinite variability of associative pairs, and is an instrument for manipulating consciousness.

Thus, advertisements are a complex, heterogeneous and multifaceted phenomenon, which requires further research, with the aspect of finding the dependence of linguistic designs (e.g., the ratio of verbal and non-verbal components, structural elements of the advertising text: title, the main text, slogan, etc.).

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