Pragmatic Function andTranslation of Pun in English Advertisemen tAbstract: Advertising English is characterized by its originality, flexibility of language usage and the diversity of the forms.Apart from the distinguishing features at lexical and syntactic levels, rhetorical vehicles, as decorative devices of language, are frequently employed in advertising English. Punning, a concise way to express humor and wit, is particularly favored by advertisers to enhance the appeal of language. Drawing on existing studies in the field,the author offers five strategies in the translation of puns in advertisement, i.e. preservation, creation, compensation, explication and omission.The author argues that each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own, and sometimes two or more stratrgies are jointly employed in advertisement translation in accordance with the principle of optimal relevance depending on the situation.Key words: Advertisement; Pun; Pragmatic Function; Translation广告英语中双关语的语用功能及其翻译摘要: 广告英语的独特性在于其新颖、灵活的语及其形式多样化，除了在词汇和句法方面别具一格外，修辞手法也被广泛地运用来润色广告语言。

双关，一种集幽默与智慧于一身的语言表达形式，因其独特的语言魅力而倍受广告商的青睐。

结合大量的实例分析，本文详细地探讨了双关语在英文广告中所起的作用及其分类。

通过分析与归纳，作者提出了广告双关语翻译的五种策略：保留、再造、补偿、解释说明以及省略不译。

译者在翻译过程中可以选择一种或者多种策略以达到译文的最佳关联。

关键词：广告；双关语；语用功能；翻译IntroductionThe definition of advertisement by AMA(American Marketing Association): Advertising is the nonpersonal communication usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services of ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. It is a device to arouse consumers‘ attention to a commodity and induce them to use it. In modern age, people find themselves surrounded by various advertisements each day. An American writer writes: ― we find advertisement of all kinds everywhere, for example, glittering neon signs on top of high buildings and a long main streets, colorful pictures painted on buses pamphlets sent to very house, advertisement jammed between TV programs various advertisement glutting, newspaper and radio b roadcast; etc.‖Facing so many advertisement, how to make the advertisement impressive is the main purpose of the advertisers. In order to enhance the appeal of an advertisement, advertisers pay much attention not only to such expressive devices as plates, color and the layout of a printed page, but also to the choice of words or phrases, to make an advertisement beautiful and attractive.In the practice of the advertising English, people pay more attention to pun to make the advertisement succinct, accurate and vivid and to provide rich imagination and plentiful associations for readers so as to stimulate their desire.The frequent and wide use of figures of speech is an important characteristic of advertising English, which is an effective way to make the advertisement attractive. Among the figures, pun is loved deeply. Oxford Advanced Dictionary defines pun as ―humorous use of a word that has two meanings or of different words that sound the same‖[1]. A pun (also known as paronomasia) can be understood like that it is a deliberate confusion of similar-sounding words of phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. It leaves a deep impression on readers by its readability, wit and humor. It can satisfy the requirement of advertisement characteristics—selling power, memory value, attention value, and readability. So pun is very popular in advertisement. The article just wants to present the pragmatic function and translatability of pun inadvertisement.海量英语论文尽在英语论文网，免费下载网址：/需要其他类型英语论文可以咨询QQ 2537717351 Definition and classification of pun in advertisement1. 1 Definition of punLooking at the same issue from different perspectives, we may often come up with different definitions of the thing under discussion. And, not surprisingly, pun can be thus defined in many ways. There is such a humorous explanation about pun: ―punning –to torture one poor word ten thousand ways (John Dryden)‖. In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, pun is defined as ―An amusing use of a word or phrase that has two meanings, or words with the same sound but different meanings‖. According to The Oxford English Dictionary, pun is defined as ―the use of word in such a way as to suggest two or more meanings or different associations, or the use of two or more words of the same or nearly the same sound with different meanings, so as to produce a humorous effect‖. In Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, pun is defined as ―A figure of speech depending upon a similarity of sound and a disparity of meaning‖. From the above definitions, we can see that homonyms, homophones, and homographs all are available to construct puns with.1. 2 Types of pun in advertisement1. 2. 1Pun on Polysemy―While different words may have the same of similar meaning, the same one word may have more than one meaning. This is what we call polysemy, and such a word is called polysemic word. Historically speaking, polysemy can be understood as the growth and development of or change in the meaning of words.‖ Pun on polysemy is used widely, especially with the name of the product such as the following examples:―From sharp minds. Come sharp products.‖The example is an ad vertisement for the Sharp copier. The word ―sharp‖ praises the consumers‘ brightness, but also refers to the Sharp product. The advertisement praises the consumers who are sharp to buy the product which is sharp. The vanity of the audiences is aroused and they want to use it to show their wise, and also they believe the product is really sharp.―Money doesn‘t grow on the trees. But it blossoms at our branches. Lioyd Bank.‖It is the slogan of Lioyd Bank. ―branch‖ means ―part of a tree growing out from th e trunk‖, but here it implies the division of bank‖. The slogan encourages people to store their money in Lioyd Bank, and their money will be like the blooming flowers, yielding better fruits. After understanding its meaning, readers will figure it out in mind that their money will become more and more daily and daily, just like the leaves in spring.1. 2. 2 Pun on Homonym―Homonymy refers to the phenomenon that words with different meanings have the same form, i.e, different words are identical in sound or spelling, or in both. When two words are identical in sound, they are homophones. When the words are identical in spelling, they are homographs. When two words are identical in both spelling and sound, they ar e complete homonyms.‖ The follow instances will explain that:― ‗VIPs‘ an atomical comfort.Varia ble Impact Pressure Sole‖The advertisement of sportshoes uses the homophonic word ―VIPs‖. As we know, VIP usually stands for ― very important persons‖, while, here, it stands for ―Variable Impact Pressure Sole‖. It implies if you use VIPs, you will be a VIP. The word ―VIPs‘ motivates the audiences‘ vanity and induces them to buy the product.―Trust us. Over 5000 ears of experience.‖It is an advertisement for audiphone. The literal meaning is that the product has experienced a lot of texts. While ―ears‖ and ―years‖ are a pair of homophone. So it implies that the product has a long history and has high quality.―Goodbuy Winter! 100% cotton knitwe ar $40‖It is an advertisement for the sale of winter clothes. The advertisement seems to people that it s a good and cheap to buy cotton knitwear. But when the audiences read ―goodbuy winter‖ together, they will understand the good use of pun. ―Goodbuy winter‖ sounds the same as ―goodbye winter‖. The advertisement use homophone to show two meanings: it is a good business to buy the cotton knitwear now, and winter has passed away. Naturally, people will associate the situation happening every year that when they say goodbye to winter, the clothes will have a great discount and it is good time to buy them.―More sun and air for your sun and heir.‖The advertisement is for a bathing beach. The advertiser uses homophone sk ilfully, sun vs. son, and air vs. heir. The advertiser encourages people to bring their son and heir to the bathing beach to get sun and air to keep fit. Each couple hopes their son and heir will be healthy all their life. Pun makes the advertising language sound sweet, fluent and persuasive.1. 2. 3 Pun on Parody―Parody is a piece of speech, writing of music that imitates the style of an author, composer, etc in an amusing and often exaggerate way‖[2]. Pun on parody uses the outfit of saying, apothegm, proverb or idiom to form new meanings. English has a lot of well-known phrases, idioms and sayings. They are important part of everyday language spoken by the English speakers, and have become one of the aspects of the English culture. The advertisement designers are sharp-minded and imaginative. They change a part of the expressions and put their ideas into them to achieve sensational effect. And most of them achieve a remarkable success. The transformations are not only eye catching, but also easy to be accepted by the common, who will do according to the tradition. As the sayings of idioms have been one part of the tradition, the people will be easily persuaded by the advertisement works of this kind. So pun on parody is popular in advertisement.―A Mars a day helps you work, rest a nd play.‖It is the slogan of Mars chocolate company. Looking at this advertisement, people will associate it with two idioms: ―An apple a day keeps the doctor away‖ and ― All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy‖. From the meanings of the two idioms, the watchword tells people that a Mars‘ chocolate a day will make you not be a dull boy (make you wise) and keep the doctor away (keep fit).―Try our sweet corn, you‘ll smile from ear to ear.‖It is taken from the advertiseme nt 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 idiom ― from ear to ear‖ also is a pun. One meaning 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. How can people refuse such delicious food?―All is well that ends well.‖This is an idiom, but here, it is taken from an advertisement of a cigarette. ―End‖, as a verb, means ―finish‖, while, as a noun, means ―cigarette butt‖. The sentence means that if the cigarette ends are good that the cigarette is good.1. 2. 4Pun on GrammarMany advertisers use pun produced for grammar problem to attract the audiences, such as ellipsis or word with different grammar functions. If this type of pun can be used properly, it will achieve unexpected effect.―Which lage r can claim to be truly German? This can.‖It is an ad vertisement for Lager beer. ―Can‖ is a modal verb. But in the advertisement, a can of beer beside it reminds people ―can‖ has another meaning—tin. Also ―Lager‖ refers to the name of beer. With the illustration, the whole advertisement brings a humorous effect and impresses the audiences deeply. The Coca-cola company also uses ―can‖ to do their advertisement.―Coke refreshes you like no other can.‖Just like last example, ― can ‖ has double meanings, so the sentence can be understand like that Coke refreshes you like no other (can; tin, drink) can (refresh you). It implies their product is the best one. Of course, people like to buy the best one.1. 2. 5 Pun on Illustration and WordsA lot of advertisement associates with illustrations and words to achieve better effect, especially on TV, because people are more easily attracted by pictures than words. The illustrations and words can help people to understand the advertisement fully. Pun in the advertisement must be connected with illustrations and words, so people can understand the implied meanings. For instances:―50% OFF.‖It is a shopwindow advertisement of E-spirit exclusive shop in Shanghai from 2001 and spring festival. The illustration is a picture with six lights, three on and three off. From the illustration, people know it does not only mean a half of the lights are off, but also means the whole sale discounts 50%. The illustration and words are vivid, and attract the passers-by‘ attention more easily.―Stop at two.‖It is the title of an public service advertising (PSA) which the Population andCommunity Development Association ( PCDA) of Thailand uses to advocate the couple to have children no more than two. The illustration is the photo of Wistern Churchill who formed a ―V‖ letter w ith his forefinger and middle finger. The gesture ―V‖ means victory. So people also can understand that it is a victory to have only one child. This picture is famous, so people will remember it easily. To achieve thesuccess of their country, people may more like to control the population.海量英语论文尽在英语论文网，免费下载网址：/需要其他类型英语论文可以咨询QQ 2537717352 The pragmatic function of pun in advertisementPun has a lot of advantages such as conciseness, wit and humor, novelty and vividness. It produces a particularly rhetorical and pragmatic effect when people use the language creatively in a specified context. The proper use can make the advertisement impressive and attractive.2. 1 Wit and humorPun, the g ame of word, produces wit and humor effect to attract the audiences‘ attention and inspires their association. In the age of rapid rhythm, advertisement with pun like a spice makes people enjoy themselves in the advertising atmosphere, and reduces their pressure in a relaxed environment.―When the wind has a bite… and you feel like a bite… then bite on a whole Nut.‖The word ―bite‖ has several meanings: grip, food, and eat. The whole sentence means that when the strong wind hurts you and you are very hungry, just eat some Nut. After day working, people would feel tired and hungry, while the advertisement is just the situation of them. Therefore, they would be attracted to buy the product, so they will not suffer hunger after work. Also, the sentence sounds like tongue twist.―Excellent Taste!‖It is a word in an advertisement for a whiskey product—Jamson. In the advertisement, when the hero drank the Jamson whiskey that the heroine introduced to him, he said, ―Excellent Taste‖. Generally speaking, ―taste‖ means ―favor‖, but here, another meaning is ―the ability to appreciate what is beautiful‖. So the advertisement means:this kind f whiskey as good flavor; the heroine has high appreciation. The advertiser uses pun to praise both the product and the consumers who choose their product. It caters for people‘ vanity and induces them to buy the product.2. 2 Creativeness and originalityThis is typical of advertising language. An advertisement has a high demand of diction every word playing an important role. If human emotions have to be inspired, the words, strong in expressing emotions, will be chosen. In advertisement, originality is king. A new way of sending message can set a brand apart from copycats and also-rans. So it is important to use something novelsuch as coinage in the advertisement to draw people‘ attention. Normally, a new created word accepted by readers can enhance the freshness and attraction of the advertisement. Good advertisers use coinage to refresh the advertisement and to achieve its p ropagandist purpose.―Cab Fourward.‖It is an advertisement title of Ram Car produced by Doqi company. The word ―fourward‖ sounds like ―forward‖. Connecting it with the picture in the advertisement, people would know why it uses ‗fourward‖. Because the four doors of this kind of car could be opened from four directions. The advertiser creates the word ―fourward‖ from ―forward‖ to show the speciality of the car.―Catch the Raincheetah and cheat the rain.‖It is an advertisement in Toronto Daily Star. The punny word ―Raincheetah‖, the name of the raincoat, sounds like ―raincheater‖ while the word ―raincheater‖ derives from ―windcheater‖. The word ―cheat‖ in the sentence makes it wonderful and let people feel that this kind of raincoat can protect the consumers well. Pun gives people impression of novelty and interest.2. 3 Satisfying people’s requirement of beautyA good advertisement is a text from which people can appreciate the art of language, especially advertisement using pun. Pun in advertisement is orderly and antithetic that makes people feel the aesthetic modality of language. The characters of pun, such as vividness, wit and humor, pleasure people‘s spirit and let them enjoy the beauty of language. For instance:―Give your hair a touch of spring.‖It is an advertisement for shampoo. The word ―spring‖ here is very vivid and like a picture in people‘ mind: after using the shampoo, the long hair becomes elastic and shining. When you stand there, your hair will go with wind. Everyone likes beauty, so the advertisement caters for people‘ desire and induces them to buy the product to make them more beautiful.2. 4 Satisfying the requirement of society—EconomyWith the rapid development of the society, people become busier and busier, so they require short and easy remembered advertisement to supply the message they want. But how to impress the audiences is a question. The answer is using pun. But why is pun especially favored by the advertiser? The main reasons as following:―Firstly, advertisement is paid message, with limited space and time, so it doesn‘t allow verbiage to waste the investment. Pun with double meaning has the characteristic of small carrier but plenty of connotations. So it is very econo mic, effective and money-saving to the advertiser. Secondly, in modern society, people pay more and more attention to effect, and get tired of the tedious advertisement. The pun in advertisement is usually formed by short sentences. Some use the name of the product as the theme of the advertisement. Some use excellent phrases to show the specialties of the product. To the audiences, it saves their time to get the information they want. Thirdly, usually, the audiences read or watch advertisement unintentionally and only can remember something unconsciously. So, to achieve expected propagandist effect, the advertisement must reduce the memory message. Pun is suitable for the requirement. The content is short, the form rhythmic, and the style novel, which are easily remembered and impressed people deeply‖ [3]. In a word, pun uses fewer words to express full message which is the content of Economy Principle, and it usually reaches the purpose of advertisement that is arouse consumers‘ attention to a commodity and induce them to use it. For instance:―Two beer or not two beer, that‘s a question.----Shakesbeer‖Looking at the beer advertisement, people would associate it with the proverb ―To be or knot to be, that‘s a question‖ in Hamlet. Shakesbeer i s the name of the beer, but it sounds like ―Shakespeare‖ who is known nearly all over the world, so it is easy forpeople to remember the Shakesbeer. And the word said by Hamlet is also very famous, especially in western country. The sentence is short and the pattern is famous, so people will remember the product naturally.―Go well, Go Shell.‖It is an advertisement for Shell Oil Company. ―Well‖ sounds like ―where‖, so it implies that go to Shell company to buy oil. Only four words are used in the advertisement, but express the meaning fully and impress people deeply. Imagine that one day, when you drive your car, suddenly, the oil is run out. So you are wondering where to go, then, of course, you will remember the words ―Go well, go Shell‖. So you will go to Shell at once. The slogans impress the audiences deeply and persuade them to buy the product invisibly.―Make Time For Time.‖It is an advertisement for Time magazine. The advertisement uses the pun on homonymy of the word ―time‖ to refer two meani ngs: common sense of time, and the name of he magazine. The advertisement means that read Time magazine to seize time. In the society full of competition, time is important and magazines also play an important role which people have to read to broaden their view. While Time magazine will not only broaden view, but also save your time. It satisfies people‘s requirement.2. 5 Implying WarningSome advertisements imply warming. Pun can make the warming vivid and effective so that people can pay attention to it. For instances:―Better late than the late.‖It is a public service advertising of traffic. It derives from the proverb ―Better late than never‖. In the sentence, ―the late‖ means‖ the dead‖, and it reminds the drivers to drive slowly and carefully. The advertisement with pun here has more powerful to persuade the drivers to care their security.Another example:―The driver is safer when the road is dry; The road is safer when the driver is dry.‖It is also an advertisement for safe driving. The exce llent word is ―dry‖ which has double meanings: without water and without drinking. It expresses if the road is dry and the driver doesn‘t drink, all drivers will be safer. The antitheses and thyme of the sentence has more powerful to warm people.2. 6 Marking product more profitable and competiveThe speciality of pun is useful in advertisement, and favored by people. If a advertiser can make full use of it to satisfy people‘s requirement, the product may precede others and gain the market.―A deal with us means a good deal to you.‖Here, the double meanings of ―deal‖ are: the amount and business. The meanings of the advertisement are that: do trade with us is a good business to you; doing business with us, you will get a lot. Advertisers use pun skilful to inspire the audiences‘ curiosity and attract their interest to do the deal.―Powe to influence others.‖It is an advertisement for a Hector Powe Clothing Company. They advocate that if you wear their clothes, you will have power to influence other people. Because ―Powe‖ is like ―power‖. It satisfies people‘s desire of power, so they like to have a try. Thus, it will bring great profit to the Powe company. Maybe people with the clothes can‘t have more power, but the company has the power to influence the market.3 Five strategies of translation of puns in English advertisem entOn the basis of previous studies on translation of puns, the author tentatively proposes five potential strategies for translation of puns in English advertisements, some of which have already been touched upon in the previous section. They include preservation, creation, compensation, explication and omission[4]. These five strategies, adopted in accordance with the principle of optimal relevance,have some advantages. First, they have already been widely employed in practice and are generalized from the previous studies, thus they have solid foundation. Secondly, they can cover most of the important methods proposed by other scholars as we can see in the analysis in the previous sections. Thirdly, these five strategies stem from a comprehensive perspective: such aspects as form, meaning and function have been taken into account. So we hope these strategies will prove to be effective in real work. It should be pointed out that each of the five strategies is not always applied on its own; sometimes two or more strategies are jointly employed in an advertisement depending on the situation. When there is more than one pun in an advertisement,different strategies can be applied to different pun depending on the situation. For instance, some can be preserved, some explicated, and some omitted. However,whatever the situation is, whatever strategies the translator should choose, depends on whether optimal relevance can be achieved, i.e. the choice has to be made in accordance with the principle of optimal relevance. In the following sections, thesefive strategies will be explained.3. 1 PreservationFor those advertisements that mainly appeal to emotions, e.g. texts abundant with rhetorical devices such as pun, the persuasive power lies in the successful conveyance of the rich meaning in these rhetorical devices. Preservation is one of the effective ways to represent the strength of the original, and it is also one of the often-employed approaches available to the translator, but it should be adopted on the condition that there is a large degree of overlap in both the source language and the target language in terms of linguistic features and the cognitive environment of the source language and the target language reader on the subject to be translated, so that by doing so it neither causes clash in the target language culture nor misleads the reader when he/she processes it and therefore the original and the translated closely resemble each other, and if possible have the same effects on the reader. Such linguistic features may be morphologic, phonetic, syntactic and semantic, etc., which still preserve(as much as possible)the communicative clues of the original,or resemblance in linguistic properties. Eg. An Apple for everybody keeps worries away.V ersion A: 电脑选苹果，烦恼远离我。