FuzzinessinEnglishAdvertisingTranslation

張燕

【Abstract】After a brief introduction to advertising， the thesis elaborates on the realization of fuzziness in English advertising from the following four perspectives：fuzziness of verbs， fuzziness of adjectives， fuzziness of nouns， and fuzziness of adverbs.

【Key words】advertising； English； fuzziness

Advertising， to some extent， did not appear until the 17th century in the West. In the early days of advertising， production of commodities was on a very small scale. As mass—production made more products coming out， a crisis of over—supply facilitated the rapid development of advertising.

Definition of Fuzziness

The past decades have witnessed a widely upsurge of interest in “fuzziness” after the publication of Zadehs work Fuzzy Sets in mid—1960s. A variety of new subjects such as fuzzy mathematics， fuzzy linguistics， fuzzy psychology， and fuzzy logic came into bloom. Such researchers as Zadeh， Channell， Lakoff， Wu Tieping， Chen Zhan， have made great contribution to the study on fuzziness. However， what interests the author most is the fuzzy expressions in English food advertising.

Fuzziness is difficult to define due to the nature of language itself. But in 1920， C. S. Peirce gave us a definition of fuzziness：

Communications

The advertiser uses fuzzy expressions to enhance the effectiveness of communication. Some linguists hold the opinion that uncertain description or fuzziness is not a bad thing， instead， it is widely welcomed because it can convey most information and manage completed matters with least efforts. In other words， fuzziness can settle down complex things and make judgments more efficiently. In addition， the fuzzy expressions in English advertising can convey a large amount of information with limited words.

Persuasion Power

The aim of the English advertising is to influence peoples decision and persuade people to buy the products or services. An excellent English food advertising should not force consumers to purchase， but persuade them. The purpose of advertising is to influence people to behave in a way that will be of advantage to advertisers. In other words， the eminent role of English food advertising is persuading and appealing.

Making Utterances Exactly

To some extent， advertising may be defined as a persuasion activity， a communication process， a marketing process， etc. But it will be more proper to define it as a kind of art. Many advertisers turn to the choice of fuzzy expressions， contributing to the aesthetic effect of advertising language. It is commonly accepted that fuzziness is widely used in English advertising as a critically important persuading strategy. In this part， the author will illustrate the frequency of fuzziness expressions use and explore its features and functions in English food translation practice.

Fuzziness of Verbs

Advertisement is not only a kind of economic activity， but also a kind of cultural communication between East and West. A successful translation of an English advertisement will best convey the original information， as well as indicate the features of the product advertised.It can enhance the effectiveness of communication and improve the accuracy of expressions. And fuzziness of verb is a crucial part of fuzzy expressions， which is conducive and effective in the process of translation. Look at the following advertisement：

References：

[1]Lakoff.G.Hedges：A Study in Meaning Criteria and the Logic of Fuzzy Concepts[J].Chicago Linguistic Society Papers，1992，35（1）.

[2]Lakoff.G.A Note of Vagueness and Ambiguity.Linguistic Inquiry，1971.

[3]Leech，Geoffrey.Principles of Pragmatics[M].London： Longman，1983.endprint