Abstract:

This study aims to investigate the functions of the hedges in English advertising. George Lakoff defined hedges as words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy. Advertisers usually use hedges to stimulate consumer’s imagination, attracting their attention, and raise their interest. French scholar Sperber and British scholars Wilson proposed Relevance Theory. The theory sees the intra-lingual communication as one single ostensive—inferential process. Every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance. In this paper, I will use Relevance Theory to analyze advertising language. We will know how advertisers promote products when consumers acquire optimal relevance through the hedges in advertising language. From the perspective of Relevance Theory, hedges have both positive and negative functions. The paper concludes that, in English advertisements, hedges can contribute to accuracy, minimize negative effects as well as enhance reliability and appropriateness. At the same time, they may also result to communicative failures and reckless consumption.

Key words: hedges; Relevance Theory; English advertisement

摘要：

本文旨在研究广告英语中模糊限制语的作用。Gorge Lakoff给出模糊限制语的定义是：“一些把事物弄得模模糊糊的词语。”很多广告商利用模糊限制语激发消费者的联想和想象，吸引他们的注意并提起他们的兴趣。法国学者Sperber和英国学者Wilson提出关联理论， 认为交际是一个明示-推理的过程，在这个过程中双方之所以能够配合默契，主要是由于有一个最佳的认知模式-关联性。本文将从关联理论角度对广告语进行解读，分析广告商是如何利用模糊限制语来让受众形成最佳关联并以此达到其宣传产品的目的，同时也看到模糊限制语的积极作用：有利于精确信息，减轻负面影响以及增强广告商的可靠性和对不同场合的适应性；消极作用：导致交际失败以及造成非理性消费。

关键词：模糊限制语；关联理论；广告英语

1. Introduction
As a means of promoting products and setting up the enterprise’s public images, advertising has become an indispensable part of our life and gained increasing significance in economic life. At the same time, as a kind of applied language, its value has attracted more and more linguists’ attention.