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Abstract:Advertisemeut not only plays a vital role in e-conomic society, but also has become an important part ofour daily life. The application of metaphor can achieve vividand attention - catching effects. The concern of this paper isto investigate advertising English frum perspective of meta-phor, especially to analyze the application of grammaticalmetaphor and ways of foeallzation in advertising English andalso to illustrate the utility thus generated.
Key words: advertising English ; grammatical metaphor;ways of focalization
1、Intuoduction
Since edvertisemeut plays a vital role in communicatinginformation and promoting products and services, it is com-prehansively applied in business competition, especiallywhen a new market is to be opened. In recent twenty years,English advertisement has been prevailing in our daily life forEnglish has become the most popular international commer-cial language. Except for a good creative and the deliberatechoices of words and santenees, the utilization of metaphoroften contributes significantly to the success of an advertise-ment. Metaphor is not merely a rhetorical device ; it is a bas-ic principle to observe the world and a powerful tocl to learnthe knowlodge and culture of the target language as well. La-koff & Johnson (1980) hold that metaphor is not merely arhetorical device; it is one of our basic rules to investigatethe world. In their opinion, metaphor organizes conceptions,actions and also language. Boozer, Wyld & Grant (1992)believe that in different situations metaphor should be appliedin different ways in order to achieve certain effects. The au-thor of this paper mainly analyzes the utilization of grammati-cal metaphor and ways of focalization in advertising English.
2、Grammatical Metaphor and Ways of Focalization
Halliday originated the concept " granmmatical meta-phor" from the book An Introduction to Functional Gramma-rin 1985. As it is, grammatical metaphor is the bridge link-ing metaphor and grammatical structure. The study of it hasbeen undertaken beyond the traditional perspective on lexicallevel. Grammaticalization itself is a kind of metaphor, whichmeans that the meaning of one word tends to undergo a meta-phorical process as it goes more and more abstract, and thedescription of it is increasingly depended on other words.Any language to become grammatical metaphor should havetwo factors. One is that it must be metaphorical expression atfirst ; the other is that the metaphor should be displayed onthe grammatical structure. According to Aristotle, a goodmetaphor addresser is expected to have a great insight intothe similarity between the tenor and the vehicle. Lakoff&Johnson points out that when we say "argument is war", ourfocus falls on the hostility between the two parties involved inan argument and a war. Thus the metaphor addresser prima-rily needs to select the fecal point between the target domain (the tenor) and the source domain (the vehicle). Such aselection reflects the addresser 's ways of focalization.Through research, the author think that there exists six waysof focalization: external focalization, internal focalization,cross focalization, mona-focalization, multi-focalization,null fonalizafion.
3、 Grammatical Metaphor Applied in Advertising English
Common using of metaphor falls into the stereotype: "A" is " B", which is normally based on lexieal level; whilethrough a careful study of English adveltisemeut, metaphorthat is constructed on grammatical sense is composed unno-ticeably and unconsciously but generates much more effectindeed.
3.1 Nominallzation
Hu Zhuanglin analyzed nominalization as to metaphorizethe process and the characters of things, which enable themto emerge as nouns (2004 : 171 ). Two kinds of nominaliza-tion are usually used. One is to take process as things ; theother is to take quality as things. In the metaphorical form,noun or noun phrases can be used instead of verbs to de-scribe a process. To ease the understanding, it is well illus-trated in the following sentences.
1a)The hungry ehildron raided the kitchen and tookall the cakes.
1h)The hungry children made a raid on the kitchenand took all the cakes.
(1a) is constructed in the congruent form, while the(lb) is in the metaphorical form, for "raid" is used as anoun in (lb). This kind of nominalization transfers the mov-ing process to the still participants by recategorization, whichbrings people a new way of observing the world. Moreover,noun phrases possess the advantage of being able to containmuch more information than verbs do, which caters for thedemand of advertising English.
3.2 Verbalization
Semantically, verbalization takes non-process asprocess. As far as form is concerned, verbalization meansthat verbs are used to express meaning that is usually ex-pressed by non - verbal words. There are three commontypes of verbalization: taking temporal relation as process;taking causal relation as process and taking concessive rela-tion as process. For example:
(2) The malt flavors fallow through with a sweet, softentry leading to a well-balanced finish showing hop bitters.
It is created for the Ayinger Jahrhunder- Bier. At first,(2) is constructed on metaphor, as the "flavor" is comparedto a person. Then through the introduction to verbalization inchapter three, the metaphor addresser takes the temporal ~la-tion as a process. (2) can be peraphrasedin this way: there is malt flavors after asweet and gentle smell and when you drink to the bottom, thetrue bitterness of it comes out.
4、 Conclusion
Granunafical metaphor is of some complexity and obscu-rity. Nominalization and verbalization are two forms of gram-matical metaphor. Through this paper, the author hopes thatgrammatical metaphor in advertising English will receive adeeper research, so it can be properly and effactively appliedin advertisement. Deep and comprehensive investigations inthis field are expected.
Key words: advertising English ; grammatical metaphor;ways of focalization
1、Intuoduction
Since edvertisemeut plays a vital role in communicatinginformation and promoting products and services, it is com-prehansively applied in business competition, especiallywhen a new market is to be opened. In recent twenty years,English advertisement has been prevailing in our daily life forEnglish has become the most popular international commer-cial language. Except for a good creative and the deliberatechoices of words and santenees, the utilization of metaphoroften contributes significantly to the success of an advertise-ment. Metaphor is not merely a rhetorical device ; it is a bas-ic principle to observe the world and a powerful tocl to learnthe knowlodge and culture of the target language as well. La-koff & Johnson (1980) hold that metaphor is not merely arhetorical device; it is one of our basic rules to investigatethe world. In their opinion, metaphor organizes conceptions,actions and also language. Boozer, Wyld & Grant (1992)believe that in different situations metaphor should be appliedin different ways in order to achieve certain effects. The au-thor of this paper mainly analyzes the utilization of grammati-cal metaphor and ways of focalization in advertising English.
2、Grammatical Metaphor and Ways of Focalization
Halliday originated the concept " granmmatical meta-phor" from the book An Introduction to Functional Gramma-rin 1985. As it is, grammatical metaphor is the bridge link-ing metaphor and grammatical structure. The study of it hasbeen undertaken beyond the traditional perspective on lexicallevel. Grammaticalization itself is a kind of metaphor, whichmeans that the meaning of one word tends to undergo a meta-phorical process as it goes more and more abstract, and thedescription of it is increasingly depended on other words.Any language to become grammatical metaphor should havetwo factors. One is that it must be metaphorical expression atfirst ; the other is that the metaphor should be displayed onthe grammatical structure. According to Aristotle, a goodmetaphor addresser is expected to have a great insight intothe similarity between the tenor and the vehicle. Lakoff&Johnson points out that when we say "argument is war", ourfocus falls on the hostility between the two parties involved inan argument and a war. Thus the metaphor addresser prima-rily needs to select the fecal point between the target domain (the tenor) and the source domain (the vehicle). Such aselection reflects the addresser 's ways of focalization.Through research, the author think that there exists six waysof focalization: external focalization, internal focalization,cross focalization, mona-focalization, multi-focalization,null fonalizafion.
3、 Grammatical Metaphor Applied in Advertising English
Common using of metaphor falls into the stereotype: "A" is " B", which is normally based on lexieal level; whilethrough a careful study of English adveltisemeut, metaphorthat is constructed on grammatical sense is composed unno-ticeably and unconsciously but generates much more effectindeed.
3.1 Nominallzation
Hu Zhuanglin analyzed nominalization as to metaphorizethe process and the characters of things, which enable themto emerge as nouns (2004 : 171 ). Two kinds of nominaliza-tion are usually used. One is to take process as things ; theother is to take quality as things. In the metaphorical form,noun or noun phrases can be used instead of verbs to de-scribe a process. To ease the understanding, it is well illus-trated in the following sentences.
1a)The hungry ehildron raided the kitchen and tookall the cakes.
1h)The hungry children made a raid on the kitchenand took all the cakes.
(1a) is constructed in the congruent form, while the(lb) is in the metaphorical form, for "raid" is used as anoun in (lb). This kind of nominalization transfers the mov-ing process to the still participants by recategorization, whichbrings people a new way of observing the world. Moreover,noun phrases possess the advantage of being able to containmuch more information than verbs do, which caters for thedemand of advertising English.
3.2 Verbalization
Semantically, verbalization takes non-process asprocess. As far as form is concerned, verbalization meansthat verbs are used to express meaning that is usually ex-pressed by non - verbal words. There are three commontypes of verbalization: taking temporal relation as process;taking causal relation as process and taking concessive rela-tion as process. For example:
(2) The malt flavors fallow through with a sweet, softentry leading to a well-balanced finish showing hop bitters.
It is created for the Ayinger Jahrhunder- Bier. At first,(2) is constructed on metaphor, as the "flavor" is comparedto a person. Then through the introduction to verbalization inchapter three, the metaphor addresser takes the temporal ~la-tion as a process. (2) can be peraphrasedin this way: there is malt flavors after asweet and gentle smell and when you drink to the bottom, thetrue bitterness of it comes out.
4、 Conclusion
Granunafical metaphor is of some complexity and obscu-rity. Nominalization and verbalization are two forms of gram-matical metaphor. Through this paper, the author hopes thatgrammatical metaphor in advertising English will receive adeeper research, so it can be properly and effactively appliedin advertisement. Deep and comprehensive investigations inthis field are expected.