Abstract

With the booming market economy, advertisements are ubiquitous in modern society. In order to disseminate information of a certain product or service and attract customers’ attention in a limited time and space, advertisers cudgel their brains to apply any language devices that are effective to advertising slogans, among which puns are a most favored one. From the perspective of Relevance Theory, this paper studies the application of puns in English advertisements and analyzes the process how the audience understand puns in advertisements. What’s more important and creative in this paper is to explore the scientific ways to translate puns in English advertisements from four strategies: preservation, creation, compensation and explication, which may blaze a new trail in the translation of puns in English advertisements.

Key words: advertisement; pun; Relevance Theory; translation strategies

摘要

随着市场经济的发展，广告在当今社会随处可见。为了在有限的时间和空间里最大限度地传递商品或服务信息并且吸引顾客眼球，广告商们绞尽心思，越发注重运用各种语言策略来设计广告语，其中双关是最受青睐的手段之一。本文从关联理论视角，研究了双关语在广告中的应用，分析受众理解广告中双关语的过程，并创造性地从保留、再造、补偿以及解释说明等翻译策略出发,探讨广告中双关语的翻译方法，为广告英语中双关语的翻译开辟了新的视角。

关键词：广告；双关；关联理论；翻译策略