An analysis of the translation of pragmatic presupposition in commercial advertisement

【Abstract】Driven by the promotional purpose， commercial advertisements aim at bringing the targeted consumers the high expectation of their products by using inspiring slogan and brand name. The implicit and explicit meanings are ought to be simultaneously captured in the advertisement in order to stimulate the consuming behavior. Presupposition is one of the most commonly used tactics in commercial advertisement. From pragmatic point of view， this paper would try to figure out how to translate presupposition from English to Chinese in advertisements slogan while at the same time preserving its original effects.

【Key words】advertisement； translation； pragmatic presupposition

【作者簡介】程芳菲，华中师范大学外国语学院。

1. Introduction

By using special pragmatic strategies， commercial advertising language has various merits， for example concise， interesting， powerful and memorable. To get information， consumers need to deduct the implicative meaning from the slogan or brand name by making the minimum processing effort to have the maximum contextual effect. Therefore， the slogan should not only be utmost concise， but also be extreme expressive.

The intended meaning of the advertisement can be condensed and refined by using language tactics. Of all the tactics， presupposition is the most implicit but effective one. Entailed with presupposition， the advertisements can set up an acknowledged truth， making the consumer believe it without consuming too much processing efforts.

Advertisement translation requires translators to preserve the original pragmatic function of source text in order to exert the same influence on targeted consumers. According to Eugene Nidas dynamic-equivalence theory， translation should focus on what the text means rather than what the words are， suggesting translation is not just the equivalence between the function of the source text in the source culture and the function of the target text in the target culture. This indicates that the presupposition in source language， playing a vital part in the underlying meaning of the source text， should be preserved in target text to achieve the similar pragmatic function.

2. Pragmatic presupposition

As one of the most commonly used tactics in advertisement language， presupposition， derived from a philosophical idea， is used to control the consumers cognition and behavior. Karttunen has given a definition of pragmatic presupposition as follows： To presuppose a sentence in the pragmatic sense is to take its truth for granted and to assume that the audience does the same， which implies a relation between a speaker and a proposition.

In commercial advertisement， pragmatic presupposition is used more frequently than semantic presupposition for establishing the common ground between discourse participants when that sentence is uttered （Chen Xinren 86）. Hence， this paper is going to mainly focus on the translation of pragmatic presupposition in advertisement.

3. Features of pragmatic presupposition

3.1 Syntactic feature

Characterized by exerting instant effect on listeners， declarative and imperative sentence accounts for the major part of the commercial advertisement language. Using presuppositions can simplify and enrich the language， thus make both these two kinds of sentence short in length and concise in meaning.

Interrogative sentence is rarely used in advertisement. While interrogative sentence is a typical feature of presupposition， it is not frequently used in commercial advertisements. Though interrogative sentence， especially the alternative question， can effectively control the addressees cognition， particularly in hierarchical circumstances， it would be too attacked in advertisements slogan thus not appropriate to be used.

3.2 Lexical feature

In order to achieve conciseness， the slogan and brand name are limited in the variety of words. Therefore， presupposition in advertisement is always triggered by particular words that entail pragmatic implicature. Such words are always implicit， unconsciously affecting consumers cognition， for example， words like again， already and better.

Besides， concerning the definite article， the is more preferable than a in English commercial advertisement， since the former often presupposes the existence of things while the latter does not. Concerning that there is no definite article in Chinese， translators can convert it into content words to show the pragmatic presupposition.

4. Translation of presupposition

4.1 Literal translation

When the presupposition in source text is easy to identify from the typical presupposition triggers， it is acceptable to translate it without extended modification. In this case， the sentence format of the source language advertisement is always rather simple.

Example 1：

Lets make things better. 讓我们做得更好。（Philips）

A： Our things were already good but still have the room for promotion.

B： The joint efforts from both the manufacturer and consumers can make things better.

Instead of directly bragging their products， Philips said “make things better”. P（A∨B） implies that their former products were already good. In translation， it is acceptable to literally translate “better” into “更好”， because either the Chinese or the English slogan entails the truth that the quality of the former products were already good.

Example 2：

A large number of words in English have implicative meaning apart from its literal meaning. That is to say they are embedded with implicative meaning. The most well described example is the word “manage”， which not only refers to make efforts to do something， but also implies to succeed in doing it.

Enchanteur unfolds your natural magic. 艾诗助您散发自然韵味。

（Slogan of the fragrant moisturizer product of Enchanteur）

The word “unfold” refers to open something that has previously been folded. It has two levels of meaning； its basic meaning is to open and show something while its secondary meaning indicates that the thing has already existed before being exposed.

However， in Chinese translation， as the meaning of showing has been well translated into “散发”， the secondary meaning implying the inherent natural power of women was lost. The phrase “散发” does not necessarily mean the existence of the things. Hence， the Chinese translation version fails to achieve the dynamic equivalence since it downplays the significance of the word “unfold” which entails a presupposition.

May be it would be better to translate it into “艾詩开启您的自然魅力”， since the Chinese word “开启” also presupposes that the magic lying in the nature of the users before using their products. However， for this version， the meaning of ‘showing is partly lost during the translation.

4.2 Adaptation

For the purpose of realizing the communicative purpose， the adaptation is often used to conform to the targeted language in advertisement. Furthermore， when the original translation uses some rhetorical devise， it is better to translate it with a Chinese idiom to preserve the similar aesthetic effects.

Example： For the road ahead. 康庄大道 （Honda）

This is an advertisement of Honda， a famous car manufacturer. As an adverb of location， “ahead” implies that though there is still long way to go， a car of Honda can help you to arrive the final destination. The English slogan is converted into a Chinese idiom “康庄大道” ， completely dropping its original sentence format. While the format has changed， the pragmatic function remains the same. The English slogan implies that there are many possibilities waiting in the future， correspondingly， the idiom “康庄大道” not only refers to the broad and smooth way， but also symbolizes the promising future. Based on the previous knowledge and experience， Chinese consumers can have a sense of aesthetic enjoyment created by the presupposition. Such adaptation not only achieves the pragmatic equivalence， but also makes the translation more vivid.

4.3 Creative translation

Some advertisements are based on certain cultural background knowledge that the targeted language users do not possess， and some image in one cultural background does not have the equivalent counterpart in another. In this case， it is translators mission to create a new concept or image in order to preserve the same pragmatic function.

Example 1：

Evian 依云 （mineral water）

Evian is a brand of mineral water coming from several sources near ?vian-les-Bains， on the south shore of Lake Geneva. The sources place is a town located in clean and beautiful area and the brand name implies the drinking water it provides must also be pure and clean.

Based on the common culture， western people can conceive the scenery of the beautiful town once hearing the brand name while Chinese people have a hard time perceiving the same feeling because of the lack of cultural knowledge. In order to achieve the similar emotional effect， translator transliterates the brand name into “依云”， creating the similar sense of feeling for Chinese consumers. Though without certain knowledge about the town， Chinese consumer can feel the purity and cleanness of their products， which is exactly the value that this brand intends to convey.

Example 2： Revlon 露華浓 （a cosmetic brand）

While the source language brand name carries neither certain lexical meaning nor the cultural knowledge， its Chinese brand name has strong cultural association， which derives from a popular ancient poem written by Libai （云想衣裳花想容， 春风拂栏露华浓）. The original purpose of this line is to express the incomparable natural beauty of women， which actually corresponds with the core idea of Revlon. By using the phrase “露华浓”， it leads those having the cultural background to associate the brand with beauty by using their existing knowledge.

5. Conclusion

A good translation of presupposition can help the commercial advertisement better influence their targeted consumers cognition. Using presupposition can simplify and enrich the commercial advertising language thus help to fulfill the final aim of commercial advertisement---promotion. It is necessary to preserve the presupposition so as to preserve the similar pragmatic effect and achieve the dynamic equivalence. If the correspondent counterpart of source language can be found in targeted language， it is acceptable to make a literal translation. Whats more， the adaptation can also be used to modify the slogan， making it more attractive. While if there is no completely equivalent part can be found in the targeted language， translator can create a new concept that conveys the similar pragmatic meaning.

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