Metaphorics of Advertising Discourse (Based On Cosmetics and Perfume Advertising)

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Kazan Federal University

2 Udmurt State University

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the research of metaphorics of advertising discourse, which differs by its focus not on a product, an extralinguistic object, but its image and its qualities which are important from pragmatic point of view and are highlighted by the communicator. Actuality of the undertaken research is determined by the importance of the role that expressive and figurative component of advertising discourse plays not only in terms of its organization as a special publicistic genre, but also in terms of its perception and impact by the addressee. In the process of this research, we referenced the existing experience of studying of language units in the field of publicistic discourse, including advertising. The fundamental works in the fields of advertising and metaphor theories were used as a theoretic and methodic base. The studied material specificity and objectives required the usage of complex of research methods: method of continuous sampling; method of statistics; descriptive method; method of component analysis; structural and semantic method and distributive and conceptual analysis of language units. In advertisement of cosmetics and perfume, the correlation person (woman) – subject (product) is dominating, while the embodiment is done with the help of positive characteristics, and the product is correlated with the person by function: functions of protector and helper. Metaphorization in advertisements is usually created by verb components, since verb has a hidden dynamic and can carry a strong motive power compared to the nominal parts of speech. Author, realizing the modern person’s world of values, quite often conceptualizes the natural phenomena in the cosmetics and perfume advertising. Emphasis is placed not only on the value of advertised product, but also on ways the product can change person’s emotional, physical and moral and psychologic conditions.

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