A Study of Information Management in Chinese Advertisements from the Application of Presuppositions

• Main Authors: Wan-ling Chang, 張婉玲
• Other Authors: Feng-fu Tsao
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/22496942294509545998

碩士 === 國立清華大學 === 語言學研究所 === 89 === Presupposition plays a basic and important role in people’s daily communication. Because presupposed content is taken for granted by communicators, communication can be effective and economical. However, presupposition can be viewed as a strategy if a speaker, with special intention, employs its characteristics, i.e. implicit, subjectivity, variety, and non-controversy, and conveys the presupposed information to the listener. Taking Chinese advertisements for example, we’ll analyze the application and the effects of presupposition both from the standpoints of advertisers and readers. Other related information of assertion and implication will be discussed in the study. From the standpoint of advertisers, the presupposed contents they employ the most are the existential presupposition, factive presupposition, belief presupposition, and state presupposition, which are fit for the psychological process of consuming. According to the classifications of presupposition triggers collected by Levinson (1983), different contents of presupposed information are often triggered through certain lexical items or sentence structures. Advertisers also relate presupposition and assertion directly or indirectly. If the relation tends to be indirect, it is more important to convey information by implication. Advertisers may also utilize the asymmetry between the presupposed part and felicity condition of the asserted part. It creates a fun effect that readers do not expect beforehand, and thus increases the attraction of advertisements. From the standpoint of readers, through the questionnaire, readers perceive presupposed or asserted information with similar degree, but challenge them with significant differences. Therefore, advertisers can employ the presupposition to convey intended messages because of its high perception and low suspicion. The perception of implicated information is the most difficult because of readers’ experience and world knowledge. Except for state presupposition, readers perceive the other three presupposed contents with similar degree but challenge fact presupposition the most. Readers’ responses to presupposition, assertion, and implication vary with the relation between presupposition and assertion in advertisements. However, readers’ responses to perceiving information do not vary with gender or advertisements with different gender-tendency. However, females tend to challenge information less than males. It is obvious that the way of presenting presupposition and assertion is the main factor that will affect readers’ responses to information. Finally, from the attractive effects of advertisements, it is found that females usually view advertisements as attractive. And the advertisements with indirect relation between presupposition and assertion are regarded as more attractive than those with direct relation. The phenomenon seems to have some kind of connection with readers’ responses to information.