Language choice as discourse: A transitivity approach to MTN® and ETISALAT® advertising communicative webs in Nigeria

Abstract

Advertising texts are significant to manufacturers to promote and skyrocket products’ consumption. This study examined kinds of textual choices in advertising, accounting for their frequencies. Two advertisements each from MTN® and Etisalat®-of the Nigerian advertising universe-were chosen for sample analysis, employing Transitivity and word-formation procedures, as the conceptual frameworks. Transitivity allowed tables and graphs to compute the recurrence of textual components. The research revealed Material Processes of has offered, go rock (MTN); and get, pick up (Etisalat) as pronounced choices. Circumstances of Location such as This week (MTN); and on weeknights… (Etisalat) are choices of communicative augmentations. The investigation further recapitulated creative over-generalization (yous), word play fragmentation (Y’ello), and alphanumeric code (9javaganza) as communicative facilities of MTN and Etisalat constructs. Hence, the researcher suggested that an extensive study of language choice in advertising domains can strengthen government policies to benefit, among others, readers, researchers, manufacturers, and advertising practitioners.