A semiotic approach to the interpretation of english-language print advertising

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of creolized, or semiotically complicated texts. Such texts consist of two non-homogeneous parts, verbal and non-verbal, in which elements different in their semiotic nature interact and generate meaning. The aim of the article is to identify and describe the specifics of the semiotic system of English-language printed advertising texts. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the study of the semiotic system (both visual and verbal) of modern English-language advertising texts supplements the interpretation of the advertising text and ensures the discursive integrity of the analysis of the analyzed phenomena. In modern linguistics, an advertising text is considered creolized; it has a multi-code character, which is why it is justified and necessary to apply a semiotic approach to its interpretation. The research material was modern English-language advertising texts published in Vogue, Elle, In Style, Tatler, Marie Claire, Wedding, and Cosmopolitan magazines in 2013-2019. The specificity of English-language advertising texts is considered in the framework of three areas of semiotics: semantics, syntactics, and pragmatics. The semantics of the advertising text contains the so-called “linguistic-visual communicative complex”. The author of the advertising text aims to create a competent combination and interaction of image and idea. Analyzing the printed advertising text in terms of syntactics, the authors note its so-called formulaic character, that is, a coherent strict sequence of its structural elements: heading, text, slogan, trademark. The authors consider the pragmatic component of the advertising text in the form of four elements of the mechanism of advertising influence: attention, interest, desire to have, action/purchase, which follow in in the strict specified order. At the semantic level, the authors establish the most frequent and effective types of visual signs used in advertising. They also analyze the color decisions chosen for affecting the recipient emotionally, psycho-physically, and symbolically in order to arouse the desire to purchase goods, which enhances the advertising impact. The article provides a number of language techniques used in creating advertising texts: allusion, metaphor, repetition, alliteration, pun, hyperbole, ellipsis, and others. As a conclusion of the research, the authors formulate justifications for the formation of ideas about the semiotic system of English-language print advertising.