Functions of language in the pragmatic model of advertising discourse

Abstract

The aim of the article is to establish the specifics of functions of language in advertising discourse, their place and correlations with cognitive and communicative aspects in the pragmatic model of this discourse. The methodological basis of the research is discursive linguistic pragmatics, which is part of the discursive paradigm based on the integration of communicative and cognitive approaches to language. An integrated approach to the study of advertising discourse, which combines three aspects – cognitive, communicative and linguistic, suggests using a complex of linguistic cognitive, linguistic pragmatic and structural semantic methods. Based on the material of English advertising texts of printed consumer advertising, which are considered as multimodal, the analysis of R. Jakobson’s and U. Eco’s six functions of language (imperative, referential, emotive, aesthetic, metalingual and phatic) in advertising discourse is carried out. The pragmatic model of advertising discourse consists of three blocks – linguistic, cognitive-pragmatic and communicative-pragmatic. This model demonstrates the correlation of language functions with goals, strategies and illocutionary types of advertising discourse acts of the addressee and with the motives of the addressee of the advertising discourse. The leading function of language in advertising discourse – imperative – reflects the addressee’s global goal – an incentive to purchase a product/service – and correlates with directive discourse acts. The referential and metalinguistic functions of the language correlate with: 1) the goal of providing the characteristics of the product, the addressee's utilitarian motives, the strategy of argumentation and the fulfilment of assertives; 2) the goal of forming expectations, the addressee's ethical motives, the manipulation strategy and the fulfilment of commissives. The aesthetic and emotive functions of the language are based on the goal of generating emotions, aesthetic motives, the strategy of fascination and the fulfilment of expressives. The phatic function of language reflects the goal of attracting attention, psychological motives, the strategy of suggestion and the fulfilment of contactives. The language performs these functions in advertising discourse through the language means used by the advertiser to influence the consumer.