從認知語用觀點看中文雙關語廣告的理解：以台北捷運站內廣告為例

Understanding Chinese Pun-Based Ads in Taipei Metro Stations: A Cognitive Pragmatic Approach

張晉寧(Chin-Ning Chang)

指導教授 ： 蘇以文

國立臺灣大學/文學院/語言學研究所/碩士(2010年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2010.01375

摘要

廣告在現代人的生活裡已經是不可或缺的一部分。為了要吸引讀者注意，廣告者經常使用各色各樣的修辭法讓自己的作品更顯特色。在中文的廣告中，雙關語就是常常被用到的一種。然而，過去針對中文雙關語廣告的學術研究是不足的。此篇論文即以探究讀者在理解中文雙關語廣告時的過程為目標，並將焦點放在由文字和圖像組成的平面廣告。我們所有的資料都來自於台北捷運車站內的看板廣告。在收集到的396的廣告中，包含雙關語的廣告有101個（25.5％），佔了所有修辭法中最高的比例。

為了要能適切的處理中文雙關語中的語言和圖像，此篇研究採用了2005年時Brandt和Brandt提出的混合模型（blending model）。這個模型擅於有系統地處理兩種概念的融合，並且將過程中重要的影響因素都以圖像的方式清楚地呈現。在我們的分析裡，雙關語廣告中的語言和圖像會分別在輸入域1（Input Space 1）和輸入域2（Input Space 2）中做處理。如果這兩個輸入域中產出的解讀是有關聯的，它們即會在虛擬域（Virtual Space）中混合出新的解讀。最後，讀者會結合有關當下情況的背景知識，進一步細緻化虛擬域中的解讀並在意義域（Meaning Space）中得到他對這個雙關語廣告最終的理解。

這樣的分析法有許多的優點。首先，我們的分析是可以重製的，而且適合於所有我們收集到的中文雙關語廣告。此外，我們將讀者理解雙關語過程的每一步都清楚地用圖像呈現出來，這讓我們的分析法易於理解而且容易被學習。我們的分析法甚至也能找出是什麼樣的原因，讓某些中文雙關語廣告的兩個意義不是那麼容易被讀者完整地解讀出來。

論文的最後，我們找出了三個中文雙關語廣告的特性。首先，中文雙關語廣告有很大的比例（60.4％）是由同音字（homophone）所造成的，這和中文裡同音字相當多的現象有很大的關係（Chen et al. 2009）。而這樣的特性也使得中文成為一種比較容易創造雙關語的語言，因為同一個音有更多可能的同音字可以選擇。第二，我們收集的雙關語廣告裡高達21.8％是以中文四字成語為創作基礎。我們認為這是由於中文四字成語的文化意義能促使這樣的雙關語廣告更受讀者欣賞;此外，四字成語只有四個字的特性也同時節省了昂貴的廣告空間。第三，我們也發現同一個雙關語標題，在其兩個不同的意義下，語法結構經常也是不同的。這樣的現象應與中文是一個在語句結構上比較有彈性且沒有格位變化和格位標記的語言有密切的關係。

關鍵字

雙關語 ； 廣告 ； 混和理論 ； 多型式輸入 ； 中文特性

並列摘要

Advertisements have been an indivisible part of modern people’s life for decades. In order to draw attention, advertising language usually embodies many rhetoric devices to bring the receivers into a new sight. Punning is one such device preferred by Chinese ads. However, studies in this regard are scarce. The present thesis is thus devoted to investigating the comprehension process of Chinese pun-based ads complicated by words and images. Our data were all gathered by photographing the billboard ads in all the Taipei metro stations. We collected 396 ads, 101 of which incorporate puns (25.5%), the highest percentage among all the rhetoric devices.

In order to handle well the inputs from different modalities of Chinese pun-based ads, this study adopts Brandt and Brandt’s (2005) blending model as the analytical tool. This model excels in dealing with concepts with inconsistency in a systematic way, illustrating clearly the important pragmatic factors that participate in the recipient’s comprehension process. In our analysis, language and visuals are interpreted in the Input Spaces 1 and 2 respectively. The two interpretations then blend into the Virtual Space if they are related. Eventually, the recipient integrates his background knowledge towards his current situation and obtains the final interpretation in the Meaning Space.

Several advantages support the analysis suggested in the present thesis. First of all, our way of analysis applies to all the Chinese pun-based ads in our database, which means our analysis is re-doable. In addition, each step of the recipient’s comprehension process is clearly presented in illustration, which makes our analysis easy to understand and to follow. Furthermore, for those punning ad captions whose two meanings are not easy to be successfully retrieved, we can ferret out the critical point by adopting our way of analysis.

For the last issue, we identify three major characteristics of Chinese pun-based ads. Firstly, most of the Chinese pun-based ads in our database are created by homophones (60.4%). This is due to the fact that Chinese has “a high incidence of characters with multiple homophones” (Chen et al. 2009). This characteristic also makes Chinese a language convenient to create puns than other languages because the advertisers can search for possible words to pun among more potential candidates of homophones. Secondly, 22 of the 101 pun-based ads (21.8%) in our database are made of Chinese four-character idioms. We argue that making puns with them may well be better anticipated by the target receivers due to cultural factors; besides, the compactness of these idioms with only four characters reinforces the advertisers to pun by them in consideration of saving the advertising space. Lastly, the two meanings of a Chinese punning caption are usually made possible by different grammatical structures. This phenomenon may be closely related to the characteristic that Chinese is not only more flexible in sentence structure but also case-free.

並列關鍵字

pun ； advertisemen ； blending ； multimodality ； Chinese characteristics

參考文獻

McQuarrie, E. F. & B. J. Phillips. 2005. Indirect persuasion in advertising. Journal of Advertising 34(2), 7-20.

Brandt, P. A. 2005. Mental spaces and cognitive semantics: A critical comment. Journal of Pragmatics 37, 1578-94.

Brandt, L. 2008. A semiotic approach to fictive interaction as a representational strategy in communicative meaning construction. In Oakley, T. & A. Hougaard (Eds.), Mental Spaces in Discourse and Interaction, 109-48. Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing Company.

Bruthiaux, P. 2000. In a nutshell: persuasion in the spatially constrained language of advertising. Language & Communication 20, 297-310.

Chen, H.-S., J. Vaid & J.-T. Wu. 2009. Homophone density and phonological frequency in Chinese word recognition . Language and Cognitive Processes 24(7-8), 967-82.