Language variation in the advertising discourse: a cross-cultural approach
Elena A. Shamina – Elvira I. Myachinskaya – Yulia V. Ryabukhina
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2018.11.02.34
Abstract
The paper presents the discussion of two types of language variation observed in the Russian and English advertising discourse. The material for the study is taken from open media sources of different kinds and some of the observations are verified with the help of sociolinguistic experimental methods. The Russian advertising discourse is claimed to be undergoing creolization, or mixing with elements from foreign language systems it is in contact with on the world market arena. The process of creolization involves all the linguistic levels, from lexis and graphics to pronunciation and grammar and on the whole is positively assessed by native speakers of Russian. The English (British) advertising discourse is shown to avoid language mixing, but to rely instead on the regional and social variation of English and to make use of non-standard language forms, especially in the pronunciation domain. Certain sociolinguistic factors are offered as an explanation of the differences in the use of language variation in advertising in the cultures under consideration. It is emphasized that both the multilingual nature of the Russian advertising discourse and the free exploitation of deviant language patterns in the English one encourage creative techniques to be used in the sphere of product and service promotion.
Key words: advertising discourse, foreign language, creolization, regional and social dialects, sociolinguistic situation
Full Text