Positive and Negative Ambiguity in Advertisements

Introduction： In English the definition of ambiguity is “An ambiguous sentence is usually of doubtful meaning because it can be interpreted in more than one way or many other ways.”The ambiguity can be classified into two sides， intentional and unintentional. Mostly in daily communication， the ambiguity is unintentional because it may cause misunderstanding， so in this aspect， the ambiguity is negative. However， in some regions， for instance， advertisements， they use ambiguity intentionally to make their products more competitive and memorable. This can be showed in the usage of pun. In this aspect， the ambiguity is negative. In this paper， it will analyze   different types of pun as the positive side of ambiguity in advertisements as well as the negative influence of ambiguity.

1. Different types of pun-the positive ambiguity in ads

1.1 Pun in homonyms

Words which have the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings are called homonyms. For example， the typical word “bank” In ads， they often use homonyms to indicate two meanings， on the one hand， it is in conformity with the principle of simplicity， on the other hand， it can make the audience to enjoy the humorous language. For example， “Coke refreshes you like no other can. （Coca-Cola）”In this piece of ads， “can” has double meanings， first， as a modal verb， it means Cock refreshes you like no other can（refresh you）. Second， as a noun， it is a metal container， here it refers that Coke refresh you like no other can（can refresh you）.

1.2 Pun in homophones

Words which have the same pronunciation but different meanings are homophones. Using homophones can make the ads more attractive. For exmple， “With so many carrots， Ill be a real gem，（B.C.Muffins）”Here carrots actually has the same pronunciation with carat， carrots use the meaning of carat， it full of interest. Actually， Muffin is a product of Betty Croker， it tastes like carrot， this shows the good quality of their product and also the taste of their product. Homophones make the advertising language sound sweet， fluent and persuasive. When the customers read the ads， they may easily to buy the products.

1.3 Pun in Idioms

Idiom means a group of words whose meaning is different from the individual words. In ads， you can find many idioms has been given double meanings.

“Try our sweet corn， youll smile from ear to ear.”It is taken from the advertisement for a kind of sweet corn. the word “ear” has double meanings： the organ of hearing and the seed –bearing part of a cereal. The onemeaning of the idiom “ from ear to ear”is that people are satisfied with the product. The other one is that the consumers eat one ear by another. so the advertisement implies that the sweet corn is very delicious， and you will enjoy it and eating one by one.

2. The negative ambiguity in advertisements

The advertisers use pun on purpose to express different meanings， but sometimes they don not want to use ambiguity. In linguistics， this can be seen in connotative meaning which is subject to culture and experience. For instance， a Chinese brand “芳芳牌婴儿爽身粉”It first has been translated “Fangfang” Baby Talcum Powder. Actually in English it exist the word fang， but it means either of two long sharp teeth at the front of the mouths of some animals. It is not surprised that why foreign customers did not buy their products.

Conclusion： Ambiguity can be seen everywhere， including literature and daily life. It has both negative and positive effect. When we use ambiguity we should know whether we want to use it intentionally or not. Also， after studying linguistics I began to observe some language phenomena. Linguistics for me， I think it is full of interesting and there are a lot of new knowledge.

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作者简介：任灵（1993.09.19-），女，吉林白山人，研究方向：语言学方向。