On the Flouting of Cooperative Principle in Print Advertising Language

1. Introduction

Advertising language is loaded with abundant information and enticements to stimulate customers purchasing desire. This paper will analyze the print advertising language based on the flouting of these four Cooperative Principle （CP） maxims and their conversational implicatures.

2. Theoretical Framework

According to Grice （1975）， CP is a principle of conversation with four maxims： quantity， quality， relation and manner. Flouting a maxim leads to implicature. It is obvious to the hearer at the time of the utterance that the speaker deliberately and quite openly failed to observe one or more maxims （Peccei， 2004）. Therefore， flouting a maxim is open and noticeable.

3. Data collection

Four pieces of print advertisements are collected randomly from The Globe Magazine and China Daily. And the topics cover areas of food， cars， and domestic appliances. Advertisements on TVs and from the Internet do not serve as research purpose as some visual and auditory elements may interfere in researches.

4. Analysis and Discussion

Flouting the quantity maxim： This maxim includes two sub-maxims： 1） Make your contribution as informative as is required; 2） Do not make your contribution more informative than is required （Grice，1979）. The former sub-maxim requires that information should be sufficient in the context. However， its flouting in advertising language is common.

Example 1 Poetry in motion， dancing close to me. （Toyota Motor）

Though feeling puzzled at first， you soon get its true meaning： when you are driving this vehicle， you will enjoy the poetical life. This advertisement has provided insufficient information to leave readers more time in imagination and infer the conversational implicature to reach its commercial goals.

Flouting the quality maxim： Do not say what you believe to be false; do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence （Grice， 1975）. Advertisings flouting this maxim occur when advertisers blatantly write something untrue or lacking adequate information. Several rhetoric devices can typically give rise to its flouting， like irony and personification.

Example 2 Apple thinks different. （Apple Computer）

In this advertising， name of the computer has been given life and can think in its own way. Personification used in advertisings can not only underline the functions and characteristics of the commodities， but also increase the attractions and readability of advertisements.

Flouting the relation maxim： Information in conversations should be “relevant” to the topic. But to hawk goods directly sometimes can be counterproductive as customers may feel boring and unattractive. Therefore， its flouting makes advertising language attractive

Example 3 Rhythm of the Rain （Green Arrow gum）

It seems like an advertisement for umbrella as it is the name of a song with brisk rhythms and tones in the rain. However， it aims to tell people that the light feeling of eating Green Arrow gum is just like singing this song.

Flouting the manner maxim： Manner maxim requires the addressers express the meaning briefly and orderly. However， in advertisings， some ambiguous expressions and the flouting of this maxim is often used to enhance the charm of products and stimulate customers curiosities as well as purchasing desires. Violation of this maxim sometimes brings people unexpected effects.

Example 4 We know eggsactly how to tell eggs. （an egg company）

Most people may consider “eggsactly” a misspelled word at first， they may then find the formal part of this word is egg， meaning eggs are what the company sells; the latter part has the same pronunciation with “exactly”， enhancing peoples impression. With a sort of ambiguity， it attracts customers attention， leaving them a deep impression.

5. Conclusions?

This paper analyzes print advertising language by explaining examples from a pragmatic way based on CP and its four maxims. Customers tend to pay more attention to these advertisings， trying to infer their implied conversational meanings. And they may be impressed deeply and become familiarized with these products by identifying their values. Therefore， these CP maxims and the implicatures will help advertisers create some successful advertisements.

References：

[1]Dingena， M.. The Creation of Meaning in Advertising[M]. Amsterdam： Thesis Publish，1994.

[2]Grice. Presupposition and Conversational Implicature[M]. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press，1981.

【作者簡介】季瑞婕，貴州健康職業學院。