本科毕业论文
题 目： 广告英语中双关语的语用功能及翻译
学院名称： 外国语学院
专业班级： 英语专业08级英本4班
毕业年份： 2012年6月
姓 名： 叶 雨 露
学 号： 080241010
指导教师： 陶 正 娜
职 称： 副 教 授
渭南师范学院教务处 制
The Pragmatic Function of Puns and Its
Translation in Advertising English
By
Cheng Jinzhi
A Thesis Presented to School of Foreign Languages of
Weinan Normal University
as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts
May 13, 2012
Class: Class 4 of 2008
Advisor: Guo Zhengxia
广告英语中双关语的语用功能及翻译
摘 要: 广告英语的独特性在于其新颖、灵活的语言及其形式的多样化。除了在词汇和句法方面别具一格外，修辞手法也被广泛地运用来润色广告语言。双关，一种集幽默与智慧于一身的言简意赅的语言表达形式，深受广告商的喜爱,以提高广告语言的魅力。本文中，作者首先列举了四种广泛应用于广告英语中的双关，即谐音双关、词义双关、语义双关和习惯双关。然后，作者从语用学角度论述了双关语在广告英语中是如何通过实现广告的各种语用功能来达到广告的效果。最后，作者通过分析双关语的可译性，试探性地提出了广告英语中双关语的五中翻译策略：保留、再造、补偿、解释说明以及省略。每个策略并不总是单独使用的,译者在翻译过程中根据译文的最佳关联原则,有时可依情形选择一种或者多种策略融合。
关键词：广告；双关语；语用功能；翻译
The Pragmatic Function of Puns and Its Translation
in Advertising English
Abstract: Advertising English is characterized by its originality, flexibility of language usage and the diversity of the forms. Apart from the distinguishing features at lexical and syntactic levels, rhetorical vehicles, as decorative devices of language, are frequently employed in advertising English. Pun, a concise way to express humor and wit, is particularly favored by advertisers to enhance the appeal of language. In this thesis, firstly, the author lists four kinds of puns frequently used in advertising English, that is, homonymic puns, homographic puns, semantic puns and idiomatic puns. Then, the author illustrates how puns are applied to achieve advertising effects in realizing some certain functions from pragmatic perspectives. Lastly, the author analyses the translatability of puns in advertising English and tentatively proposes five strategies to the translation of puns in advertising English, i.e. preservation, creation, compensation, explication and omission. Each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own, and sometimes two or more strategies are jointly employed in advertisement translation in accordance with the principle of optimal relevance depending on the situation.
Key words: Advertisement; Pun; Pragmatic Function; Translation
Table of Contents
I. Introduction 1
II. The Application of Puns in Advertising English 1
A. Definition of pun 1
B. Types of Puns in Advertising English 2
1. Homonymic puns 2
2. Homographic puns 2
3. Semantic puns 3
4. Idiomatic puns 3
III.The analysis to the functions of Puns in Advertising English from Pragmatic Perspectives 3
A. Information Function 3
B. Demand Creation Function 4
C. Persuasive Function 4
D. Get-action Function 5
E. Goodwill Establishment Function 5
IV. Five strategies to the translation of puns in advertising English 5
A. Preservation 6
B. Creation 7
C. Compensation 8
D. Explication 9
E. Omission 9
V. Conclusion 11
I. Introduction
What is advertising? Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or idea by identified sponsors through the various media. In modern age, people find themselves surrounded by various advertisements each day. Facing so many advertisements, how to make the advertisement impressive is the main purpose of the advertisers. In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertisers pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive. Whether it is goods advertisement or public service advertisement, the creation of the advertisement is a comprehensive art. The skills needed in this art are more than other forms of writing. It shows the vivid and interesting characters by the principle of salesmanship. Advertisers become to be aware of that the using of precision and appropriate in advertising literary language will make the influence of advertising language far beyond the advertisement itself. As a result, the figures of speech are frequently and widely used as an important characteristic of advertising English in creating advertisements, among which pun is loved deeply.
The rhetorical of pun is a common skill in creating advertisement. Webster defined pun as “the use of word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect”. As a game of words, pun leaves a deep impression on readers by its readability, wit and humor. It can satisfy the requirement of advertisement characteristics—information function, demand creation function, persuasive function, get action function, and goodwill establishment function. So pun is very popular in advertisement. This article will focus on analyzing the pragmatic function of puns to illustrate how puns achieve advertising effects and the translatability of pun in advertising English.
II. The Application of Puns in Advertising English
A. Definition of pun
Looking at the same issue from different perspectives, we may often come up with different definitions of the thing under discussion. And, not surprisingly, pun can be thus defined in many ways. In this paper, I will adapt a clear one form Oxford English Dictionary, in which pun is defined as “the humorous use of a word, or of words which are formed or sounded alike but have different meanings, in such a way as to play on two or more of the possible application; a play on words to produce a humorous effect.”
B. Types of Puns in Advertising English
As a rhetorical device, the application of puns in advertising English reflects its unique features mainly in pronunciation, words and sentence structures. The present author holds that puns are usually used in the following four ways.
1. Homonymic puns
Homonymic puns, mainly based on the use of homophones, are quite popular in all languages. In modern English, there are a lot of words of similar forms but absolutely different meanings sharing the similar pronunciation, which to some certain extent causes a sense of humor.
Examples: More sun and air for your son and heir.
我们这里有充足的阳光，清新的空气，这对您的儿子——您事业和财产的继承人——大有裨益。
In an impressive way, this sentence makes customers be aware of the great significance of living in a clean environment and keeping a good health. Without any doubt, it is a success, for smart using of two groups of words with similar sounds and forms, i.e. "sun" and "son"; "air “and "heir", which makes the advertisement easy to read and remember for customers.
2. Homographic puns
Homographic puns, which takes effects under the certain situation where multi-meaning words are used, correspondents to the application of homonymic puns.
Examples:
Money doesn't grow on trees, but blossoms at our branches.
钱不能长在树上，在我们“行”就能。
This is an advertisement of Lloyd Bank in Great Britain, in which the word "branch" has more than one single meaning. "Trees" in the front part can be understood as "branches", and the further meaning of which is "branches of banks". Readers of this advertisement are expected to believe that to deposit one's money in Lloyd Bank means to enjoy an increment of his money. It is obvious that homographic puns contribute a lot in adding a sense of humor in advertising.
3. Semantic puns
The application of semantic puns in advertising English is much more flexible than the above ones, in which attention is attached to the overall meaning of the sentence. Besides, it makes the advertisement meaningful and thought-provoking.
Examples:
Spoil yourself and not your figure. 尽情大吃，不增体重。
This is an advertisement for "Weight-Watcher" ice-cream which is produced specially for ones on diet. There are puns not only in the brand name but in the slogan of the good. "Spoil oneself" means "enjoy oneself"; while "spoil one's figure" has the meaning of making someone getting fatter. The success of this advertisement lies in the full use of the psychological activity of those who want to keep fit in a humorous way by proper use of the semantic puns.
4. Idiomatic puns
The flexible application of idiomatic puns in advertising English is full of difficulties for which are deeply rooted in the local culture by the use of famous idioms and phrases. Besides, the application of idiomatic pun in advertising English, to some extent, can be understood as a means of arts.
Examples: An Apple everybody keeps worries away.
When read, this slogan can be easily associated with a popular saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away". It is deeply rooted in people's mind that "Apple" is not only the brand name of a computer, but what keeps people fit. Judging from this advertisement, it is obvious that the enterprise wants to tell their customers that their products are no harm to people's health in an impressive way.
III. The Analysis to the Functions of Puns in Advertising English from Pragmatic Perspectives
With a better understand of puns and functions of advertisement, I will give an analysis of how puns achieve major functions of advertisement in pragmatic ways. In order to give a more specific study of this question, I have chosen ten advertisements form different texts about puns, including a book, a dissertation, an article in China and an article in foreign country, to make sure the variety of my data.
A. Information Function
An advertisement should contain effective, true information about commodity or service, so consumers can learn if such things are needed for themselves. Generally, in realizing this function, an advertisement should be easy to understand. However, as the definition of puns, they have more than one meaning or they are different words that sound the same. It’s not easy to catch all their implicit meanings, especially the homographic puns. For example:
Less bread, No jam. — London Underground
“Bread” means “money” in slang English and “jam” can refer to “traffic jam.” So it means there is no traffic jam in London underground which could help travelers cost less money in traffic fee. If people do not realize the implicit meaning of “bread” and “jam”, the confusion of their rhetorical effects may get in the way of our understanding of the advertising. According to Paul Grice’s Cooperative Principle, puns in advertisement violate the maxim of manner: avoid obscurity of expression; avoid ambiguity. (Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong, 2002: 92) Once this principle is violated, the communication is not a natural one anymore, but a special, unconventional one. Obviously, this is the effect that advertisers are seeking for. Since in the society, people will easily omit some ordinary things but remember unusual things. From this perspective, puns make advertisement more creative so as to catch more people’s attention to the information. Such as “bread” and “jam” are eye-catching, especially for tired people who go off work or school in this busy big city. Native English speakers will understand them after a few seconds of thought. Then, the advertising works.
B. Demand Creation Function
When the first function works, the demand creation function gets a chance. When people enter the context of puns, they will soon find their attractiveness. For example:
There’s no present like the time. — Zenith watch
In this advertisement, “present” means both the present time and gift, “implying that the Zenith watch makes the best present and is the most accurate in telling the present time.” (Wang Zhiwei, 2007) After people get this information, they will find this watch is attractive and is really a good gift for their friends and beloved people, which may raise their desire to buy one. All the puns in ten advertisements have obvious demand creation functions once they are understood by consumers.
C. Persuasive Function
Advertisement will provide persuasive reasons of consuming for people who are interested in them. Such reasons will be impressed by the humorous effect created by puns. For instance:
Spoil yourself and not your figure. — Weigh-Watcher Ice-cream
Here, “spoil yourself” means “enjoy oneself to one’s heart’s content.”(Wang Yanxi, 2004) At the same time, “spoil one’s figure” means do harm to one’s figure, such as gaining weight. Not to spoil figure is to keep fit. The pun persuades people that this brand of ice-cream is not only delicious but also healthy. It’s persuasive and stimulating both consumers’ heart and palate. According to Searle’s classification of speech acts, such persuasive puns belong to, which are “attempts by speaker to get the hearer to do something.” (Dai Weidong, He Zhaoxiong, 2002: 90) Certainly, as directives, puns do a good job in achieving the persuasive function.
D. Get-action Function
After being persuaded, the consumers will buy the commodity or enjoy the service. Puns will promote people to get action in order to satisfy their desire of consuming. Let’s pay attention to the following advertisement:
What on earth is going on…? Time will tell. — Time magazine
“Time” here both refers to the real time and the magazine Time. Pun solves the question in this advertisement. That is, time will tell people what happen and Time magazine will provide you such news more continently and directly. Only people buy this magazine, can they now what Time is about.
E. Goodwill Establishment Function
Puns also promote the view of value and connotation of a company, a brand. e.g.
From Sharp minds come Sharp products. — Sharp Company
What’s afoot in the world of fashion? — Mansfield Shoes
In the first example, Sharp Company establishes a sharp image by puns. In the second example, “be afoot” both means “happening” and “be on foot.” This pun shows us that Mansfield Shoes is fashionable. If the Sharp products and Mansfield shoes are really good, their commercial images created by puns will established and get good development.
IV. Five strategies to the translation of puns in English advertisement
On the basis of previous studies on translation of puns, the author tentatively proposes five potential strategies for translation of puns in English advertisements, some of which have already been touched upon in the previous section. They include preservation, creation, compensation, explication and omission [3]. I hope these strategies will prove to be effective in real work. It should be pointed out that each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own; sometimes two or more strategies are jointly employed in an advertisement depending on the situation. When there is more than one pun in an advertisement, different strategies can be applied to different pun depending on the situation. For instance, some can be preserved, some explicated, and some omitted. In the following sections, these five strategies will be explained.
A. Preservation
For those advertisements that mainly appeal to emotions, e.g. texts abundant with rhetorical devices such as, pun, the persuasive power lies in the successful conveyance of the rich meaning in these rhetorical devices. Preservation is one of the effective ways to represent the strength of the original, and it is also one of the often-employed approaches available to the translator, but it should be adopted on the condition that there is a large degree of overlap in both the source language and the target language in terms of linguistic features and the cognitive environment of the source language and the target language reader on the subject to be translated, so that by doing so it neither causes clash in the target language culture nor misleads the reader when he/she processes it and therefore the original and the translated closely resemble each other, and if possible have the same effects on the reader. Such linguistic features may be morphologic, phonetic, syntactic and semantic, etc., which still preserve (as much as possible) the communicative clues of the original, or resemblance in linguistic properties.
E.g. Coca Cola可口可乐
Pun also appears in brands，for instance, “Coca Cola”, a brand of soft drink. According to American Heritage Dictionary, “cola” originally refers to “African evergreen plants having reddish，fragrant, nutlike seeds yielding all extract that contains caffeine and the bromines”，but nowadays，it usually refers to “a carbonated soft drink containing an extract of the cola nut and other flavorings”. When it was introduced into China, the translator borrowed the name and hence a name for this new type of soft drink came into being. “可乐” in Chinese also means “something that deserves to be happy about”; therefore “可口可乐” has more than one interpretation: on the one hand, it is the name of the brand, a usage of alliteration which sounds very pleasant; on the other hand, it means “both tasty and deserves to be happy about”, referring to its superb taste and its quality of being able to bring happiness or even good luck, and this really caters to Chinese reader’s interests. What is important is that, obviously, the translator has given full consideration to both the advertiser’s intentions and the reader’s expectations, making them meet each other perfectly. So not only the original pun is successfully preserved but also new values are added. Thus, it’s an ideal translation; both its quality and function are included in the translation.
B. Creation
In case the cognitive environment of the target text reader differs significantly from that of the source text reader or the source text touches on some social taboos or sensitive topics, preservation of the original may cause negative response or misunderstanding, while other approaches prove to be ineffective, the translator can choose to introduce new pun in the target text. By creation, we mean the translator can introduce new pun on the subjects(related but not necessarily the same as the original)in the target text. For instance, by reproducing the pun with a standard target language pun in the target text, or by turning non-pun expression in the source text to pun expression in the target text, or zero to totally new pun expression in the target text, the translator can produce the similar contextual effects in the target text. Baker says: “One may either omit or play down a feature such as idiomaticity at the point where it occurs in the source text and introduce it elsewhere in the target text…it may be used to make up for any loss of meaning, emotional force, or stylistic effect which may not be possible to reproduce directly at a given point in the target text.” If other things being equal, sometimes by creation it is possible to achieve a lower degree of resemblance but roughly the same level of overall relevance as it can bring in adequate contextual effects if the translator’s assumptions about the cognitive environment of target language reader are accurate. Here, creating similar contextual effects acts as the criterion. Nevertheless, the created new pun should be acceptable in the cognitive environment of the reader.
E.g. Better late than the late.
Version A: 迟到总比丧命好!
Version B: 晚了总比完了好! [4]
This public advertisement of “safe driving” reminds one of a well known idiom “better late than never”, whose translation is “迟做总比不做好” . In the advertisement, the first “late” means “coming or occurring after the correct, usual, or expected time; delayed” , while the phrase “the late” means “the dead, especially recently deceased” . So considering the difference in the two languages, we know that the original pun can not be preserved as the two meanings in the original can’t be kept intact in a Chinese word or phrase. This may be the reason why someone thinks that an “established translation” should be adopted instead of more relevant approaches. For instance, they would think that as there is already “an established translation” there，why not borrow its structure? Hence, “Version A” comes into being. However, in order that the translated and the original resemble closely enough in relevant aspects, the translator has to，if possible，retain the linguistic features in the original. In Chinese, we know that “late” can be rendered as “晚了”, its close match in sound being “完了”，which literally means “over or finished" , so put together, they can make up a new pun．In “Version B”, we can see that the two words “晚了/完了” (/wǎn/and/wán/) sound almost the same, therefore, it is a new pun that better conveys the features of the original. Besides, considering the reader’s cognitive environment, we know that this translation also makes perfect sense. It warns people of the danger of fast or unsafe driving: it is better to be late than killed in a traffic accident. So the reader can get adequate contextual effects without spending his/her unnecessary processing effort，and optimal relevance is achieved.
C. Compensation
By compensation, we mean that the translator can make up for the loss of meaning, emotional force, or stylistic effect by using some other devices in the target text. For instance, by introducing a rhymed non-pun in the target text, the loss of punning can be compensated to a certain degree. Besides, using different modes of representation (e.g. replacing words with pictures) also provides a translator with possible means to realize the function of persuasion in the target text. However, this must be on the condition that these new devices should be equally relevant to the target text reader, namely, it can produce enough positive contextual effects without expending his/her gratuitous processing effort.
Examples:
Where there is a way, there is Toyota. (Toyota)
车到山前必有路，有路必有丰田车.（Cheng, 2007:260）
By mimicking the popular saying "where there is a will, there is a way", the advertisement tries to convince their customers that the Toyota mobiles have full confidence in reaching a wider market and the needs of their customers. As a popular Chinese saying，“车到山前必有路” is supplemented by the translator. As a result, the forms of the two small sentences are paralleled. What's more, another rhetorical device of Chinese is implemented in this translation version, i.e. Dingzhen, which makes the target text pleasant to eyes and smooth to read.
D. Explication
On some occasions, the underlying meaning in the original is made explicit on some grounds, for instance, grammatical or cultural, i.e. either grammatically or culturally it is not feasible for the translator to “transfer” the original linguistic features. In this case, due to the difference in linguistic devices and the cultural context, the translator has to use this strategy to supply the contextual assumptions for the reader. Furthermore, in order for the ease of comprehension for the reader, i.e. to aid the comprehension by reducing the level of difficulty involved in decoding, and hence less processing effort, the translator may deliberately choose to make the translated more explicit than the original, for instance, spelling out the underlying meaning of the pun or adding some more information that is not present but implicated in the original, so that some of the assumptions are made more manifest to the reader. Among the ways to achieve explication, two that readily come to the translator’s mind are free translation and paraphrase, through which the main idea the original contains can be conveyed to the reader.
E.g. The unique spirit of Canada.
Translation: 独一无二的加拿大酒，独一无二的加拿大精神。
In the above advertisement of whiskey, the word “spirit” refers to two different things: “essential nature of a person or group” and “alcoholic beverage, especially distilled liquor” . In Chinese, it generally refers to “精神” or “灵魂.” For the translator, his/her first attempt is always to reproduce the pun with a word containing the two meanings. Yet, considering the language difference, we know the translator can’t preserve both of them in one word in Chinese. However, he/she has to keep it in mind that the advertiser intends to communicate both of these two interpretations, for the first implies the beverage’s unique quality or flavor, while the second serves as a compliment to the beverage, suggesting that it represents the characteristic of Canada, and hence its superiority over others. Here, explication comes to play: to explicate the two meanings separately. In Chinese, “unique” means “唯一的” , “独一无二”, etc.. We can see that through repetition of “独一无二的” and “加拿大” , the uniqueness of the beverage is highly emphasized, giving the reader an impression that the beverage is indeed “unique and superb”. Accordingly, though unable to preserve the original pun, the translator has successfully reproduced the strength of the original advertisement.
E. Omission
The translator’s last resort is perhaps omission, or called deletion, which can be adopted if explication of pun may lead to redundancy or for some other reasons (e.g. stylistic reason). Nevertheless, it should be emphasized that generally speaking before the translator tries to omit the original, he/she has to be careful as to whether by doing so he/she will deviate from the advertiser’s intention. In some cases the pun in the source text, if possible, had better be represented in the target text, otherwise the effect of the advertisement being “playful” or “witty” conveyed by such vehicles may get lost.
E.g. Coke refreshes you like no other can.
Version A: 没有什么能像可乐那样令您神清气爽。
Version B: 清新可口，别无所求。
In this advertisement for soft drink Coke, the word “can” has two meanings; one refers to “the metal container for liquids”, and the other “the modal verb”. So the advertisement can have two interpretations: “Coke refreshes you like no other can (tin, drink) can refresh you”. The pun can’t be preserved, as the translator is unlikely to find a Chinese word or phrase that can cover the two meanings of the original. So under the circumstance, the translator can choose other strategy like compensation, explication or omission to render the advertisement. “Version A” is a case of explication, in which the main idea of the original is conveyed. However, we can see that this translation seems to be a little clumsy, so the reader deserves a better translation. As we know the purpose of an advertisement is to attract the reader’s attention, interest, to appeal to the reader, so in a sense, at first sight it has to be readable and memorable. However, “Version A” seems to be incapable of achieving this purpose. To make it “sweet and short”, the translator can use the well-established four-character phrases in the Chinese version, as shown in “Version B”. The original pun is omitted in this translation for the sake of stylistic effect; otherwise the version will be longer and hence less forceful. Compared with “Version A”, this one being concise and impressive, though imperfect, it is more likely to be accepted by the reader. On the other hand, in the aspect of meaning, the phrase “别无所求” conveys a wealth of implicatures, for instance, “it suits you best”, “it is the best”, “it brings you the greatest happiness”, etc. So “Version B” can produce adequate contextual effects in the reader’s cognitive environment without causing his/her unnecessary processing effort and optimal relevance is achieved through omission and compensation. From the above examples, we can see that some puns in the original can be preserved in the target text, while others can’t. This may be due to language constraints, difference in cognitive environment and so on. However, what is important is that relevant strategies like creation and compensation should be adopted to make up for the loss of meaning, emotional force, or stylistic effect so that the translation can closely resemble the original in relevant respects and in this way optimal relevance can be achieved.
V. Conclusion
To sum up, pun is one of the most utilized rhetoric devices in advertising English. It can make products more competitive and profitable. In today’s society, a better use of advertising will help a company a lot in winning more consumers. There are mainly four kinds of puns applied in advertising English, that is, homonymic puns, homographic puns, semantic puns and idiomatic puns. Pun in advertisement can result in information function, demand creation function, persuasive function, get action function, and goodwill establishment function. So only well understand its applications, functions, pragmatic analysis and translatability, can it be used rightly and make the advertisement more humorous, competitive and profitable .Hence, the study of the how puns achieve advertising effects in realizing some certain functions of advertisement will be useful. The five strategies used in the paper are some of possible methods in the translation of pun in advertisement. In the actual translation, it must accord to the concrete condition and then use other effective methods to express the text’s meaning. It will help people to study Chinese advertisement through the analysis of English advertisement. And the successful translation of example also helps translation enterprise have a further development.
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