摘 要

随着现代模糊观念的出现和模糊语言学的发展，广告语言越来越表现出其模糊性和说服性的特征。模糊语在广告语言的使用是出于顺应消费者心理、促销商品的动机。

本文在前人研究的基础上结合合作原则和顺应论对模糊语在广告语言中的语用功能进行了分析。积极的功能包括使广告更加生动，更加吸引观众的注意力；使广告更加委婉，更容易被消费者接受；以及使广告变得更加灵活等等。相反，模糊语言在广告中的运用有时也会产生消极的语用功能。广告商有时会利用模糊语言的语言特点，对广告进行过度炒作和虚假宣传。

所以，本文的研究可以帮助读者更好的理解广告中模糊语的这些特点，也可以帮助促进广告商和顾客之间的成功交流。

关键词：模糊语；广告语言；合作原则；顺应论；语用功能

Contents

1. Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------1

2. Demonstration --------------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1 Theoretical overview------------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.1.1 The origin and characterizing of Hedges-----------------------------------------------2

2.1.2 The purpose and characteristics of advertising language ----------------------------3

2.1.3 The motivation of using hedges in advertising: Adaptation Theory and the Cooperative Principle ---------------------------------------------------------------------------4

2.1.3.1 To acquire a sense of authority--------------------------------------------------------5

2.1.3.2 To acquire a sense of novelty----------------------------------------------------------6

2.1.3.3 To acquire a sense of inexpensiveness -----------------------------------------------7

2.2 Analysis of the pragmatic function of hedges--------------------------------------------7

2.2.1 The positive role of hedges in advertising ---------------------------------------------8

2.2.1.1 Making advertising language more vivid--------------------------------------------9

2.2.1.2 Making advertising language more euphemistic------------------------------------9

2.2.1.3 Making advertising language more flexible----------------------------------------10

2.2.1.4 Making advertising language more informative-----------------------------------12

2.2.2 The negative role of hedges in advertising-------------------------------------------13

2.2.2.1 Over-Hyped advertising -------------------------------------------------------------13

2.2.2.2 Fraudulent advertising----------------------------------------------------------------14

3. Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------------------15

Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------17

Bibliography ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------18

An Analysis of the Pragmatic Function of Hedges in Advertising

1. Introduction

Fuzziness is a basic attribute of language, which is widely used in all aspects of language. As an important means of communication in the information age, advertisement has penetrated into every corner of social life. It greatly affects people's consumption, outlook on life and values. Advertising research has also become one of the hot topics of information dissemination.

In 1965, the American scientist, Lofti Zadeh put forward his influential paper “Fuzzy Set”, which provided a theoretical foundation for a systematic study of fuzzy linguistics. In China, the pioneer of fuzzy linguistics is Professor Wu Tieping from Beijing Normal University. In 1979, he published the article “A Preliminary Study of Fuzzy Language” in the fourth issue of Foreign Languages, which aroused the strong interest of domestic scholars. In recent years, many linguists and pragmatics researchers have begun to pay attention to the various functions of fuzzy language in advertising, and analyze and discuss the ways of fuzzy language. Wang Hua pointed out that the application of vague language in advertising can not only effectively convey the characteristics and performance of commodities, but also enhance the charm and appeal of advertising language to impress the readers, so as to attract the attention of advertising. (Wang 39) And Zhao Ning analyzed the pragmatic function of advertising fuzzy language from three aspects: phonetic fuzziness, lexical fuzziness and sentence fuzziness.（Zhao 213）