Raising assumptions: intertextuality as a marketing tactic in reason and tickle advertisements

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Date
2011-09
Authors
Conradie, M. S.
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University of the Free State
Abstract
English: Advertising constitutes one of the most enduring and influential genres of mass media communication and has, as such, attracted attention from various academic disciplines, including linguistics and its subfield sociolinguistics. This dissertation departs from an argument put forward by Crook (2004), which posits that one of the primary objectives of advertising is the attempt to establish and reinforce positive associations with the advertised brand, in order to gain an advantage over competitors. To analyse this function, the project combines a range of pragmatic and discourse analytic methodologies, under a relevance theoretic framework, in order to conduct an empirical analysis of the role of intertextuality in print advertising. In addition, the study aims to uncover the manner in which intertextuality is combined with direct/logical vs. indirect/emotional claims, by using Simpson's (2001) reason and tickle constructs. The results support the conclusion that copywriters use intertextuality to foster positive associations with the advertised brand, but also suggest that direct - or reason - product claims serve to guide readers' inferences about the relationship between the intertext and the advertised product/service. Based on these findings, the researcher also makes specific recommendations for future analyses in the field of critical discourse analysis.
Afrikaans: Reklame is een van die mees blywende en invloedryke genres van massamedia kommunikasie en het, as sodanig, die aandag getrek van verskeie akademiese dissiplines, insluitend linguistiek en sy subfield sosiolinguistiek. Hierdie verhandeling vertrek vanaf 'n argument na vore gebring deur Crook (2004), wat voorstel dat een van reklame se primêre doelwitte die vas stel en versterk van positiewe assosiasies met die geadverteerde handelsmerk is, ten einde 'n voordeel bo mededingers te bekry. Om hierdie funksie te analiseer, kombineer hierdie projek 'n verskeidenheid pragmatiese en diskoers analitiese metodes, onder 'n relevant teoretiese raamwerk, ten einde 'n empierese ontleding te doen van die rol van intertekstualiteit in gedrukte media advertensies. Daarbenewens analiseer die studie die wyse waarop intertekstualiteit met direkte/logiese vs. indirekte/emosionele eise gekombineer word, aan die hand van Simpson se (2001) rede en kielie konstrukte. Die resultate ondersteun die gevolgtrekking dat kopieskrywers gebruik maak van intertekstualiteit om positiewe assosiasies met die geadverteerde handelsmerk te bevorder, en dui ook daarop dat direkte - of rede - produk eise gebruik word om lesers se afleidings te lei aangaande die verhouding tussen die interteks en die geadverteerde produk/diens. Op grond van hierdie bevindinge maak die navorser ook spesifieke aanbevelings vir toekomstige studies in die gebied van kritiese diskoers-analise.
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Keywords
Discourse analysis, Relevance theory, Pragmatics, Intertextuality, Reason, Tickle, Simpson, Media, Advertising, Audience engagement, Mental biasing, Sociolinguistics, Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--University of the Free State, 2011
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