LV An investigation into some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 RATIONALE
Language is the most powerful weapon in communication. It is termed
the magic in communication and is thought to contain special powers, which
only the initiated are allowed to understand or control [35]. It is expressed in
varied styles in various disciplines.
Advertising is one of the disciplines where the use of language has to
be employed with care in order to deliver the message effectively and
efficiently. According to David Crystal [35], language is the systematic,
conventional use of sound, signs or written symbols in a human society for
communication and self-expression. One can then bridge the great link
between language and advertising since according to Leo Burnette [30], the
aim of advertising is to draw attention to products or services in order to make
them sell.
Crystal also thinks that, most obviously, the language is generally
laudatory, positive unreserved, and emphasizing the uniqueness of a product.
An advertisement may not attain the goals of selling goods, services or ideas,
not only because the target audience was not exposed to the advertisement,
but also because the language used in the slogans did not suffice to grab the
attention of the audience, captivate their interest, create a desire and move
them to action. It could as well be that, the message was not understood and
conveyed a different meaning to the target population. Hence the improper
use of language will cause the advertisement not to serve the purpose intended


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for. Therefore, the language of advertising needs careful investigation and
generalization.
Along with the development of the society, advertising has been
proving its increasingly important role. It is hard to imagine how a modern
society goes on without advertising. It has been familiar to us since a long,
long time ago. It has become a close friend of everybody and every family.
Everywhere and every time we go out, we can see advertising. Whether we
are shopping, reading newspapers or magazines, travelling to work, watching
television, or simply lazing around, we cannot avoid seeing advertisement
probably, if we bother to count, several hundred everyday. They come in an
extra ordinary range of forms and context.
In fact, advertising has become a part of our everyday life and is an
indispensable component of all sorts of business. Commenting on the
indispensability of advertising in a business, Stewart H Britt states in a higher
vein “Doing business without advertising is like winking a girl in the dark;
you know what you are doing, but nobody else does” [28, p.7].
Moreover, advertising is an art. It is the art of persuading. It is designed
not only to capture everyone’s attention and provide information about goods,
but also helps to promote economic growth and provide “a colourful,
diverting aspect of life”. Advertising has become a specialized activity. It is
deeply rooted in daily activities and closely follows our steps.
Besides, advertising is a device to arouse consumers’ attention to a
commodity and induce them to use it. In the increasingly keen competition of
the market economy, advertising is an important means of scrambling for
markets. As a special practical style, it has its own features in the creative
design or in the use of words.
Industrialized people cannot lead a good life without useful advice
from advertising. Advertising assists them in satisfying their wants by
informing the benefits of goods, offering knowledge and understanding of

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their environment.. Advertising shows us what goods we can buy and where
to buy, how to rationalize labour to lighten the burdens of housework, what
food we should eat and what medicines we should take for being healthy, etc.
As far as we know, advertising nowadays not only spurs economic
development, engineers sales, helps people and organizations find each other,
creates and sustains thousands of jobs – in advertising agencies, in various
promotion and exhibition industries but also gives the public the right to
choose between many options, many brands. It enables consumers to opt for
the best quality or the lowest price or the best mix of quality and price.
Although advertising appears in many different forms and means, it basically
uses the language as a means to draw customers’ attention and supplies
listeners, readers, or viewers with necessary information about new products
and services.
Advertising is also a good guide and good educator for cultural needs, a
source of information and stimulus for new achievements and progress in
every field. In the production field, advertising can ensure a certain number of
buyers so that manufacturers can manage their production accurately and
effectively. In addition, advertising efficiently supports the development of
other industries such as journalism, television… Every time an advertisement
arouses a consumer’s interest enough to result in a purchase, it keeps a
company going strong. And it helps secure the job of the people who work
there. And when advertising does its job, millions of people keeps theirs.
Therefore, advertising is very important and has become indispensable in our
modern life. It can be said that the economy of any country would take a
downturn without advertising.
In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertising writers
pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, colour and

the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to
make an advertisement beautiful and attractive. In the practice of the


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advertising English and Vietnamese, people pay more and more attention to
the use of stylistic devices in an effort to make the advertising succinct,
accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations
for readers so as to stimulate their desire.
The frequent and wide use of stylistic devices is an important
characteristic of advertising English and Vietnamese, which is an effective
way to make the advertisement attractive. A stylistic device is an example of
the figurative use of words, which produces a particularly rhetorical effect
when people use the language creatively in a specified context. The use of
stylistic devices in advertisements aims at arousing and persuading consumers
to buy what is advertised. And their proper use can make an advertisement
sweet to the ear, and pleasing to both the eye and the mind. So advertising
writers often use stylistic devices in advertisements.
The typical linguistic features of advertisements have so far been the
focus of attention of many linguists and researchers. However, there are not
many serious studies of the language used in advertising, especially stylistic
devices used in advertising English and Vietnamese. In order to create
favorable conditions for those who want to understand more about advertising
language, I decided to carry out a detailed analysis of these features: An
Investigation into some Commonly Used Stylistic Devices in Advertising
Language in English and Vietnamese Newspapers.

1.2 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY
To some extent, the research will be a valuable contribution to the

teaching and learning of English and Vietnamese Stylistics in general and of
stylistic devices in advertising language in particular. The findings of the
research will help Vietnamese learners appreciate the beauty of advertising
language. Moreover, it will not only help them get better understanding of
advertising language but also provide them with some necessary strategies


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and techniques in writing advertisements. I also hope that this research will
provide the learner with precious experience of how to write and translate an
advertisement. As a result, their experience will certainly facilitate their
English language learning so that they will be able to learn more effectively
and successfully.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study focuses on the findings of stylistic features of some
commonly used stylistic devices namely simile, metaphor, rhetorical
questions, hyperbole, repetition and personification in English and
Vietnamese advertising language, the similarities and differences, the
frequencies of occurrence of the stylistic devices in advertising language in
English and Vietnamese newspapers.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Findings are discussed in relation to the following research questions of
the study :
1. What are stylistic features of some commonly used stylistic devices
in English and Vietnamese advertising language?
2. What are the similarities and differences in stylistic features in
English and Vietnamese advertising language?

3. What are the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used
stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising language?

1.5 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
The study is organized into five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 is the introduction to the study, which presents the rationale,
the justification, scope, research questions and organization of the study.


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Chapter 2, Review of Literature, presents a review of prior studies and
concepts related to the problem under study. General views of advertising and
some fundamental theoretical background to the study will also be presented.
The aims and objectives, research design, research method and
procedure, description of population and sample, data collection and data
analysis will be fully described in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4 deals with findings and discussion. It provides the findings
of stylistic features of some commonly used stylistic devices, the similarities,
the differences and the frequencies of occurrence of some commonly used
stylistic devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese
newspapers.
Chapter 5 gives the conclusions, the reality of the thesis, suggestions
for using stylistic devices, the limitations, the negative of advertising and
some suggestions for further research.

Chapter 2


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LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 GENERAL VIEWS OF ADVERTISING
2.1.1 Notions of Advertising
In contemporary society, advertising is everywhere. We cannot walk
down the street, shop, watch television, go through our mail, log on to the
Internet, read a newspaper or take a train without encountering it. Whether we
are alone, with our friends or family, or in a crowd, advertising is always with
us. Although advertising has become familiar to us and, in fact, it has become
a part of our life, it is by no means easy to come to terms with a definition for
it. Beside the usual definition: Advertising is a way to help selling the bad
products, there are a lot of different definitions of advertising. However, the
following ones seem to be the most appropriate to my study on stylistic
devices in advertising language in English and Vietnamese newspapers.
Advertising is defined by Harris & Seldon as a public notice
“Advertising designed to spread information with a view to promoting the
sales of marketable goods and services”. [42, p.40]
Another definition given by Cook, G. (1992) states: “Advertising
means clearly identifiable, paid for communications in the media, which aims
to persuade, inform or sell. But the world is also used to cover a much
broader range of activities – from design to public relations – by what are
often the same organizations, using similar skills.” [34]
According to the Encyclopedia American, “Advertising is any paid
form of non-personal presentation and promotion of products, services, or
ideas by an identifiable individual or organization.”
Or “Advertising is any no-personal presentation of ideas, goods, or
services that is paid for an identified sponsor.” [50, p.15]


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Each particular field defines advertising in their own way, however, a
successful advertisement is expected to accomplish five functions namely (1)
attracting attention, (2) commanding interest, (3) creating desire, (4) inspiring
conviction, (5) provoking action. Also, I can draw out some distinguishable
points:
- Advertising delivers messages to a large number of people at low cost
per “contact”.
- Advertising is a fast method of communicating with many people at
the same time.
- The sole purpose of advertising is to sell something – a product, a
service, or merely an idea through effective communication in each
definition.
In summary, as a linguist has stated, advertising is one of the
disciplines where the use of language has to be employed with care in order to
deliver the message effectively. The most important thing is that advertising is
a device to arouse consumers’ attention to a commodity and induce them to
use it. Moreover, it is an art of persuading consumers about its usefulness, the
attraction and the advantage of the product. As a special practical style, it has
its own features in the creative design or in the use of words.

2.1.2 The Aims of Advertising
Any new product manufactured by a widely known company needs a
solid informational support which, as a rule, is provided by advertising. In
order to sell its products, the company willing to do that must advertise them
in the language which a potential customer can understand, otherwise the
company might fail. Therefore, the aim of advertising is to draw attention to a
product or service in order to sell it, to stimulate demand for a product,
service, idea, or to make potential buyers aware of products or services – and
to get them to act! That act may be inquiring for more information, calling for

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an appointment, coming buy your store or sending in an order by mail. The
outcome of these actions should, of course, eventually be a sale.
Advertising is uniquely able to deliver consistent messages reliable,
quickly and efficiently. Unlike other marketing communication tactics, such
as public relations, advertising allows you to control the message, the
placement and the frequency. Through advertising, you deliver a message
about your product or service. Additionally, advertising can:
° establish and maintain an awareness and positive image of your
company, products or services
° develop a need for products or services
° persuade customers that your products or services are the best
° promote events
Therefore, in this study, the aim of advertising is referred to as a main
factor affected of creating an effective advertisement. Once again, this is an
important problem for advertisers, which requires an effort to use the
techniques about linguistic to have a strong persuasion.

2.1.3 The Functions of Advertising
Advertising aims at drawing the customers’ attention towards a product
or service and persuading them about its usefulness, attraction and advantage.
In his desire to sell a product, the advertiser strives to make the public
familiar with it, to create the belief that it is superior to rival products and to
convince people that it is essential. In my study, I found that advertising has
the following functions:
2.1.3.1 Informative Function
This is the main function of advertising. Advertisements describe

available goods and state where and at what prices they can be bought.


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Advertising brings knowledge of desirable merchandise to customers. It
announces new products, describes new uses and improves features of
familiar ones. Advertising suggests that we enjoy more nourishing food, more
attractive clothes, and more comfortable homes.
Advertising also communicates information about organizations,
technicians and tradesmen able and willing to also provide various services.
In addition, advertising also draws the readers’ attention to coming events.
2.1.3.2 Feeling-arousing Function
The art of the advertising writer is not only communicating information
but also creating a favorable feeling about what he is selling. This function is
not less important than the informative function and sometimes it is much
more important. Advertising often appeals to basis such as mother’s love, sex,
manliness, feminity…
In seeking to create a favorable feeling about what he’s selling, the
advertiser often uses word magic working in harmony with the striking
illustration. He can thus appeal to the eye as well as to the intellect.
In addition, humour in advertising is another form of emotional appeal,
but one which needs to be used with discretion. Its advantages are that it
quickly establishes a warm contact between advertiser and the reader and that
it lends itself to the making of unusually attractive advertisements.
2.1.3.3 Aesthetic Function
The advertising language has to satisfy human needs of beauty.
Therefore, new models of products or latest fashion of clothes are always
competing with one another. People’s aesthetic sense is increasing day by
day, so advertising has to meet this need. In newspapers, advertisements have

to be printed in places that please readers’ eyes. A beautiful picture always
catches the readers’ attention. That is why beautiful girls’ photos often go


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with the advertisements. And these beautiful images give the readers pleasant
feelings and make them want the product.
2.1.3.4 Educative Function
Advertising is also a guide and a good means of education about the
cultural needs of people. With food for example, advertisements show the
way for us to make good meals. Or advertisements also tell us how to use the
right medicines to prevent pain or illness. Advertising educates us to the good
things in life and advises us to follow them.
2.1.3.5 Entertaining Function
This is only a subordinate function of advertising. Advertising
hoardings and posters at the station, at the bus stop or in streets are also a
hobby, recreation for passers-by to watch. It‘s really very interesting to look
at a beautiful advertising poster when we are tired after working or when we
go in streets. These posters and hoardings usefully replace empty and dull
walls.
In addition, advertising on television also pleases our eyes very much
with beautiful images. Some people learn by heart the words in advertising
and say them again very cheerfully. Advertising is really a source of joy in
life.

2.1.4 Means of Advertising
Advertising

reaches

people

through

various

forms

of

mass

communication. These media include newspapers, magazines, televisions and
radio. Advertisers buy space in newspapers and magazines to publish their
ads. They buy time on television and radio to broadcast their commercials.
National advertisers, such as airlines and food companies, use media to reach
customers throughout large parts of the country or all of it. Local advertisers,


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such as department stores, supermarkets, restaurants, use the media to reach
consumers within a district or town. The chief advertising media are:
newspapers, television, direct mail, radio, magazines and outdoor signs.
In addition, there are some other ways of advertising such as window
displays, telephone – directory advertising… but newspapers or magazines
and television are the two most popular ways of advertising. Especially,
newspapers or magazines can advertise every products or services. Therefore,
the advertising language is paid special attention by advertisers.

2.1.5 The Language of Advertising
Language has a powerful influence over people and their behavior. This
is especially true in the fields of marketing and advertising. The choice of
language to convey a specific message with the intention of influencing
people is vitally importance. Visual content and design in advertising have a
great impact on the consumer, but it is the language that helps people identify
a product and remember it. In general, advertising language has some
following typical characteristics. [41]
2.1.5.1 Legality
Because advertisement texts are openly popularized to the public, in the
form, at least, its language and messages must be legal and appropriate to the
laws of local government. For instance, in Vietnam, all advertising contents as
well as advertising language, which sexually stimulate or provoke violence,
are banned. While in the United States of America they are legal if enclosed
warning: For those over 18 only…
However, different the standard and force of implementing, advertising
laws and government in most countries require advertising language and
contents to be legal, decent, honest and truthful (four standards of
advertisements in Britain) and truthful, correct, clear, harmless to


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manufacturers, business men and consumers (standards of advertisements in
Vietnam).
2.1.5.2 Theoretical, Factual Foundation
Advertisement texts must create belief on the benefit and strength of
commodity and service. Consequently, they need to give right reason along
with statistics, factual evidences... to confirm and heighten the truthful, the

scientific and the legal of the advertisements of services and products.
2.1.5.3 National Characteristic
This character requires that advertisement texts must be expressed in
national language of customers. Advertisement text of exported or acrossnational commodities or services must enclose the translation into the
language of customers in order to infiltrate market easily. However, we had
better avoid translating textually. It is better to use local words, expressions,
and idioms to carry advertising information. Moreover, advertising language
need obey customs, cultural tradition that relate to national community’s
respect.
2.1.5.4 The Popularity
Words and expressions express advertising messages, which is popular
to the public. Each advertising message just aims at a particular part of
prospects; consequently, its language and style need studying and applying
clearly and understandably and appropriately to age, level of knowledge,
occupation, class, sex, taste, religion and linguistic style… of parts of public.
2.1.5.5 The Vividness
Liveliness is the most striking characteristic of advertising language. In
hash competition of advertising environment, advertising messages in dull


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and boring language will be for nothing. The vividness in advertising is
expressed in tone (funny, chatty, informal, relaxed, confident, pleasant,
attractive),

vocabulary

(stimulating,

suggestive,

impressive,

visual,

figurative…) and text form (content, capacity and structure). Rhythm, rhyme
and other phonetic effects are noticeable.
2.1.5.6 The Multi-stylistic
What linguistic style does advertising language belong to scientific,
political commentary, administrative, literary or conversational? In fact,
advertising language clearly belongs to none of them.
In phonetic, advertising language both adapts to the general standards
and takes advantage of dialects. Vocabulary in advertising is vivid and
concrete. In syntax, complete and incomplete sentences are much used in
advertising. Lastly, most ways of expression used in advertising are brief and
clear.
Because the purpose of advertising is to get people to think about or
react to the product or the company in a certain way, advertising messages
must be imaginative, entertaining and rewarding to their audience. Effective
advertising messages should be:
° meaningful, pointing out benefits that makes the product desirable or
interesting to consumers.
° believable, so that consumer will believe that the product or service
will deliver the promised benefits.
° distinctive, telling people how the product is better than competing
brands. [47, p.21, 22]
In brief, advertising language has its own peculiarities most clearly
illustrated in its register. The register of the advertising language can be
investigated in the following three aspects: vocabulary, grammatical

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structures and discourse analysis. Whatever aspect to be taken into
consideration, the utilization of the register is aimed at chiefly persuading the
audience and also providing information of the product or service in question.
Mastering the register peculiarities will facilitate learners in understanding
and using this genre of the English and Vietnamese language in their business
context.

2.2 REVIEW OF PRIOR STUDIES
2.2.1 About Advertising Language
We are surrounded by trade advertisements in everyday life through
many different means and forms. The study of the language of advertising,
nevertheless, has not been done much so far especially in Vietnam. Most
studies on advertising focus on economic aspects more than linguistic ones.
Leech (1966), in his pioneering and comprehensive study on English in
advertising, analyzed in detail different aspects pertaining to grammar,
vocabulary, discourse and rhyme and rhetoric of advertising with special
reference to television. He has effectively related these aspects with the
functional factors. In addition, the distinctive property of advertising language
has been closely identified with the use of clauses, phrases and words.
Crystal, David and Davy, Derek (1969) in “Investigating English
Style” made an attempt to describe how language is used in English
advertising. He has focused on the semantic and stylistic features of
advertising language.
In addition, in “Stylistics”, I. R. Galperin (1971) studied certain
linguistic devices that figure most prominently in advertising. According to
him, the use of linguistic devices is to encourage people to buy the products.

Similarly, in “An Introduction to Stylistics”, Clark, Urszula (1996)
looked into the aspects of vocabulary in advertising and point out the
semantic features of advertising language.


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“A Discussion Concerning Linguistic Units and Meaning in English
Language Advertisements” (1993) by Dinh Gia Hung, Ho Si Thang Kiet
discussed the features of English linguistic units and semantic meaning used
in advertisements.
Another advertising work is “Mastering Advanced English Language”,
in which Sara Thorne (1997) analyzed the linguistic and stylistic aspects of
advertising and discussed the general features of advertising language.
In “The Language of Advertising”, Peter Sells and Sierra Gonzalezz
(1998) look at the relationship between advertising and culture. They also
focus on the interrelation of language, image, typeface, draw on literary and
linguistic theory for analysis of texts, explore specific advertising strategies
such as hooklines, puns… and examine a wide range of advertisements.
In “The Discourse of Advertising” by Guy Cook (2003, 2nd edition),
the author provided a framework for analysis of advertisements as a
discursive genre. Concepts from discourse analysis; stylistics and linguistics
are applied to examine the advertisements textual and contextual features in a
bottom-up approach that allow identifying their interaction and combinations.
Also, in this book, the interaction between advertising messages, their
substance and their surroundings are discussed and their influence on the
effectiveness of the advertising is shown.
“A Study on Linguistic Devices used in English Male and Female Print
Advertisements” (2003) by Nguyen Thi Huynh Loc revealed how these
linguistic devices work in male and female print advertisements with the

consideration of gender as well as the relationship between gender and male
and female print advertisements.
Besides, from different views, some linguists approached advertising
and advertising language, examining the linguistic usage in billboards and
advertisements, the correspondence between forms and contents as well as the
influence of cultural factors such as: “Về ngôn ngữ trong quảng cáo” (Trần


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Đình Vĩnh – Nguyễn Đức Toàn, 1993), “Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo – phương pháp
sao phỏng” (Nguyễn Đức Dân, 1994), “Về lập luận trong quảng cáo” (Mai
Xuân Huy, 1999), “Đôi nét về quảng cáo ở Việt Nam” (Võ Thanh Hương,
2000)… Also, Nguyễn Thị Thu Hương pointed out some linguistic techniques
used in language of advertising such as the diversity of structures, the names
of products… And Mai Xuân Huy with the Ph.D. thesis studying advertising
from the view of linguistic named “Các đặc điểm của ngôn ngữ quảng cáo
dưới ánh sáng của lý thuyết giao tiếp” (2001) perhaps is the person who gave
a great deal of thought to advertising. Recently, a book in Vietnamese
published in 2003 by Linguistic Study Centre named “Quảng Cáo và Ngôn
Ngữ Quảng Cáo” mentioned general problems of advertising and advertising
language. Some of these studies are “Cultural elements in advertising” by To
Dinh Nghia, “Advertisement texts studied in aspect of the structure” by Vo
Thanh Huong or “Language of advertising looked at from psychological
angle of consumers” by Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh…
“An

Investigation

into

English

Lexical

Choice

in

Trading

Advertisements” (2004) by Ngo Thi Hong found out the distinctive lexico –
semantic features of chosen lexical items and their stylistic features as well as
the distribution of lexical devices in trade advertisements.
Most lately, in “A Study on Directives in Advertising in English and
Vietnamese” (2005) by Ngo Thi Nhu Ha, she studied on ten typical directives
in English and Vietnamese advertising as well as their syntactic and
pragmatic features.
There are many other studies on Stylistic Devices and Advertising
Language in English and Vietnamese I cannot mentioned here. However, as
far as I am concerned, so far no reported research has been found on the
contrastive analysis of stylistic devices in English and Vietnamese advertising
language.


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Based on the main purpose of the study, I decide to use the theory of
some authors such as Leech, Sara Thorne, Crystal, David and Davy, Derek, I.
R. Galperin, Clark, Urszula, Cù Đình Tú, Đinh Trọng Lạc, Hữu Đạt… and to

discuss some commonly used stylistic devices in advertising languages in
English and Vietnamese newspapers.
The study is hoped to make some valuable contributions to the teaching
and

learning of English Stylistics in general and of stylistic devices in

advertising language in particular. Also, I believe that studying stylistic
devices in advertising language is one of the most direct ways to understand
and write advertisements effectively. Especially, it will not only help
Vietnamese learners get better understanding of advertising language but also
provide them with some necessary strategies and techniques in writing and
translating advertisements.

2.2.2 About Stylistics
The study of stylistics has been done much in different places in the
world so far.
In European continent, very early treatises devoted to the study of style
can be found in Demetrius’ On Style. However, stylistics in pre-twentieth
century hardly became an autonomous discipline due to its appearance just as
a secondary component of rhetorical and grammatical analyses or in general
studies of literature and literary language. The roots of modern stylistics are
usually seen uncovered in the work of Charles Bally (1865-1947) and Leo
Spitzer (1887-1960). The description and analysis of a language’s generally
available stylistic properties is stressed in Bally’s Précis de Stylistique (1905).
Literary texts, in Bally’s formulation, are particular examples of language use;
the analysis of their style is not the core of the general stylistics he
emphasizes. Nevertheless, Bally’s work as well as its later realization in Jules
Marouzeau’s Précis de Stylistique Franscaise (1946) and Marcel Cressot’s

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Le Style et ses Techniques (1947) strongly influenced the formation of
modern literary stylistics. Leo Spitzer, in contrast, follows the more
philologically based tradition of textual (often literary-textual) analysis. Style
is seen as an expression of a particular psychological, social, or historical
sensibility or moment rather than as a general property of a particular
language. It can be said that modern stylistics in European continent in midtwentieth century witnessed an early separation between linguistic stylistic
description and literary stylistic interpretation.
In Anglo-American linguistics at this time, there remained a link
between literary stylistics and structural linguistic analysis. However, it was
Noam Chomsky’s transformational-generative grammar that signaled the
establishment of stylistics as a discipline with independent, self defined goals
at least, if not yet a real autonomy. Then the founding of the field’s major
Anglo-American journals named Style (1967) and Language and Style (1968)
contributed to the full arrival of stylistics as an academic discipline in Britain
and America.
Later, there appeared a series of related works including Donald
Freeman, ed., Linguistics and Literary Style (1970); Pierre Guiraud, Essais de
Stylistique (1970); Guiraud and Pierre Kuentz, ed., La Stylistique: Lectures
(1970); Seymour Chatman, ed., Literary Style: A Symposium (1971); Roger
Fowler, ed., Style and Structure in Literature: Essays in the New Stylistics
(1975); Freeman, ed., Essays in Modern Stylistics (1981), etc. Other linguists
such as I. R. Galperin, H. G. Widdowson, Sara Thorne, David Crystal and
Derek Davy etc. focus on English stylistics. They not only present an
overview of English stylistics but also categorize English stylistic devices into
different groups and provide carefully analysed examples.
In Vietnam, Cù Đình Tú, Đinh Trọng Lạc, Nguyễn Thái Hoà, Đinh
Xuân Quỳnh... do the same job with Vietnamese stylistics. However, none of

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the foreign and Vietnamese linguists named above show the reader how to
systematically investigate stylistic features in advertising language.

2.3 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.3.1 Stylistic Devices
2.3.1.1 Stylistic Devices (Rhetoric)
In reality, having a good idea or something important to say is not
enough. Everyone wishes their messages to get across to the intended
recipient(s) in an attractive and effective way. Undoubtedly, how something is
said is always of great importance and necessity. And it is stylistic devices
that assist people in using language well. So “stylistic devices” just means
“fancy ways of saying or writing something”. Those who have excellent
understanding of stylistic devices and use them artfully will certainly become
masters of saying and writing.
Stylistic Devices (Rhetoric) is a branch of general linguistic which is
regarded as a language science. It deals with the result of the act of
communication. [40, p.12] It means that Rhetoric takes into consideration the
“output of the act of communication”. The most frequent definition of rhetoric
is one defined as the ability to write clearly, correctly and in a manner
calculated to interest the readers. [40, p.12]
According to Andrea Lunsford rhetoric is the art, practice, and study of
human communication. Some other linguists, such as Backman, Mark assume
that:
“Rhetoric deals with the artificial structures of reality that in their
compound complexities constitute what we call culture. We do it an injustice
to define it simply as communication, etc. Rhetoric is itself a structuring art.

As an art of persuasion its materials are words and images, sentences and
paragraphs, arguments and examples, all of which are used to organize the
responses and actions of an audience. As an attitude about the world, rhetoric


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underwrites all kinds of processes and methods that aim to produce order out
of chaos.” [60]
According to the Encyclopedia that Rhetoric is classically defined the
art of speaking in such a manner as to impress the hearers and influence them
for or against an opinion exists implicitly or explicitly in any society. It is
essential to cultural, political, and social activities as such in so far as these
demand a display of uninterrupted speech or monologue. As a formalized type
of knowledge, it has been studied and practiced by the ancient Greeks since
the fifth century BC; it was developed by the Sophists of Athens, who learnt it
from Sicily (Corax and his pupil Tisias, both of Syracuse), discussed by Plato
and Aristotle – the creator of a systematic and scientific Rhetoric – continued
by the Alexandrian Hellenists, and later by Romans (Cicero, Quintilian), for
whom the oratorical skill had an ethical bearing as attached to the art of
living.
In the popular sense, the word Rhetoric has associated with it the
stigma of empty, flowery talk, or impressive speech saturated with falsehood.
It should be also noted that a Rhetorical question is really not intended to
elicit an answer, one often regards Rhetoric as suspiciously false and
dishonest. Rhetoric refers to the art of oratory, or persuasive speaking – the
art of effective argumentation with the view to influencing opinion.
In many spheres of life, persuasive communication is popular, for
example, counseling, cajoling, and even deceiving. It is a vital mode of
discourse in business, politics, and negotiation. Even so, certain cultures

within the nonliterate world have been particularly known for their eloquence.
The spoken word is powerful and well-recognized in non-literate societies.
Being the embodiment of acoustic energy, the spoken word has an immediate
impact, the capacity to make or break. According to a Yoruba proverb,
‘Speech is like an egg, when dropped it shatters.’ And according to an Arab
saying, ‘Words can bring you an elephant, and also bring you to the foot of


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the elephant’. In daily life, those endowed with the power of effective speech
are held in high social esteem due to the facility with which they contain
situations of stress through persuasion.
An important corollary of the power of speech, as against the written
word, is the basic risk involved in all face-to-face communication. The special
and temporal link between the speaker and hearer puts discourse participants
at considerable risk since unlike in writing where evaluation is delayed, there
is here an instant evaluation of each other’s communicative competence. The
stakes in oral communication are high, and they become higher in public
speaking where speakers have to contend with a wider audience. This is partly
the reason why good orators are highly prized in nonliterate societies.
2.3.1.2 Functions of Stylistic Devices (Rhetoric)
Madison gives the notion of basic function of rhetoric as follows:
“The basic function of rhetoric is the use of words by human agents to
form attitudes or to induce actions in other human agents.” He adds: “for
rhetoric as such is not rooted in any past condition of human society. It is
rooted in the essential function of language itself, a function which is wholly
realistic, and is continually born anew.” [49]
In a word, rhetoric is the study of the principles and devices by which
writing is made more effective and persuasive. Rhetoric in language can be

defined as distinctive linguistic expression to serve its own purposes and
effect with its own inventory of tool. [65]
The word rhetorical means using language well. Device, in this sense,
according to William Shakespeare is anything fancifully conceived.
Rhetorical device just means a fancy of way of saying something. It is how
something is said, not what is said. This meant that, having a good idea or
something important to say is not enough, one must also get the message


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across to the intended recipient, and do in such a way that both the message
and its importance are received and understood. [65]

2.3.2 Simile
Simile is a specific semantic trope in stylistics, especially in stylistic
devices. The existence of simile in stylistic devices has partly created the
creativeness in the development of languages. In the language of literature,
music as well as the one of advertisement, we can easily find out many kinds
of simile and they themselves have enabled these kinds of language to be
more attractive, more expressive, charming and persuasive. By using similes,
the poets, the writers, the musicians, the advertisers, etc. have helped us to
approach such ways of figurative comparison although they are very
deviatory. Since they are comparisons of objects belonging to entirely
different classes, they have high value of expressiveness stimulating the
conceptual ability from the hearers and readers. In order to understand what is
simile and how it works in languages, let’s study some simile definitions both
in English and Vietnamese.
According to Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied
Linguistics, “Simile is an expression in which something is compared to

something else by the use of a FUNCTION WORD such as like or as.” [44]
“Simile is a figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made
between two things essentially unlike. The comparison is made explicitly by
the use of some such words or phrases as: like, as, than, similar to, resembles,
or seems.”[68]
So sánh tu từ là phương pháp biểu hiện ý tưởng rõ ràng, cụ thể, sinh
động. (Simile is a way to express an idea clearly, concretely and lively)
[16, p.259]
So sánh tu từ còn gọi là so sánh hình ảnh, là một biện pháp tu từ ngữ
nghĩa, trong đó người ta đối chiếu hai đối tượng khác loại của thực tế khách


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quan không đồng nhất với nhau hoàn toàn mà chỉ có một nét giống nhau nào
đó, nhằm diễn tả bằng hình ảnh một lối tri giác mới mẻ về đối tượng. (Simile
is also called figurative comparison, it is a kind of semantic trope in which
two different unentirely homogeneous classes of thing in the objective reality
were compared to express figuratively a new way of perception about things
compared) [9, p. 154]
So sánh tu từ là cách công khai đối chiếu hai hay nhiều đối tượng cùng
có một dấu hiệu chung nào đấy (nét giống nhau), nhằm diễn tả một cách hình
ảnh đặc điểm của một đối tượng. (Simile is an explicit comparison between
two or more things that resemble each other in a certain way aiming to
describe the characteristics of things compared figuratively) [25, p.175] and
Cù Đình Tú added more for interpretation: “Các đối tượng được đưa ra so
sánh là các đối tượng khác loại và mục đích của so sánh tu từ là nhằm diễn tả
một cách hình ảnh đặc điểm của một đối tượng” (Things compared are
essentially unlike ones and the aim of simile is to describe the comparison
figuratively)

In the definitions of [68] & [73], the simile markers such as: like, as,
as…as, than, similar to, resembles, appears, more than… in English or như,
như là, là, bao nhiêu, bấy nhiêu... in Vietnamese were mentioned for the
illustration of simile.
By examining the definitions above, to some extent, we have a basic
knowledge about what is simile. In fact, to understand thoroughly about
simile and apply its theories in analyzing structural or stylistic features… is
not such an easy game at all. It requires a passion for linguistic research as
well as a wish to maintain the fascinating beauty of rhetoric.
Simile in English and Vietnamese is a comparison between two
different things that resemble each other in at least one way. The simile is a
device both of art and explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some
familiar thing (an object, event, process, etc.) known to the reader.


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When you compare a noun to a noun, the simile is usually introduced
by like:
I see men, but they look like trees, walking.
(Mark, 2002)
Rách như tổ đỉa
(Hữu Đạt, 2000)
When a verb or phrase is compared to a verb or phrase, as is used:
They remained constantly attentive to their goal, as a sunflower always
turns and stays focused on the sun.
(Mark, 2002)
Sống chết một lần thôi
Con sẽ chết như những người đã chết
và những người đang chết

(Trần Quang Long, Thưa mẹ, trái tim)
Often the simile the object or circumstances of imaginative identity
(called the vehicle, since it carries or conveys a meaning about the word or
thing which is likened to it) precedes the thing likened to it (the tenor). In
such cases, so usually shows the comparison:
The grass bends with every wind; so does Harvey.
(Edmund Waller, 1993)
Many times the point of similarity can be expressed in just a word or
two:
Yes, he is a cute puppy, but when he grows up he will be as big as a
house.
(Robert Harris, 2002)
But in Vietnamese just one word is in comparison such as là or như :
“Nhớ lại hồi kháng chiến, mỗi lần nhìn về phía Đà Nẵng, tôi nhớ Ngân
như một con bướm trắng bay chập chờn trong khói súng”
(Nguyễn Văn Bổng, 2000)