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Course, academic year 2024/2025
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Linguistic Analysis of Advertising Messages - ABO700670
Title: Linguistic Analysis of Advertising Messages
Guaranteed by: Institute of Czech Language and Theory of Communication (21-UCJTK)
Faculty: Faculty of Arts
Actual: from 2024
Semester: summer
Points: 5
E-Credits: 5
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/2, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unknown / 13 (unknown)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
Key competences: critical thinking
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: full-time
Level:  
Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan
enabled for web enrollment
Teacher(s): Mgr. Martin Kräussl
Class: Exchange - 09.3 Linguistics
Exchange - 15.9 Others-Commun. & Inform. Sciences
Annotation -
The course aims to explore advertising discourse from multidisciplinary perspectives and points of view. Students will be introduced to various forms of online, print, and television advertising, which they will analyse using the tools of critical discourse analysis. Emphasis is placed on deepening analytical skills in the English language, the use of critical thinking, and the ability to sort sources effectively. The course provides room for practice for students in order to develop a more in-depth approach to the topics and the latest findings on advertising discourse, drawing not only from critical discourse analysis but also from pragmatics, cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and marketing. The course is designed for students with an advanced level of English.
Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (21.01.2025)
Aim of the course -

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

-        be familiar with the principles and procedures of critical analysis of advertising discourse,

-        be able to analyse individual aspects of the context of a given advertisement,

-        be able to assess and evaluate the reasons and appropriateness of code-switching and code-mixing within a single advertisement,

-        be able to categorise humour and its processes in advertising discourse,

-        be able to perform a detailed multimodal analysis of written text, visuals, and all other modes of advertising,

-        have deepened their knowledge of identity patterns and their thematisation in advertising,

-        be able to accurately describe the narrative structure of an advert, advertising appeals, executions, and strategies,

-        have deepened their language skills in professional and academic English.

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (21.01.2025)
Course completion requirements -

Assessment is based on attendance and active participation in seminars, regular submission of short assignments, and the completion of a seminar paper on one of the topics covered in the course (after prior consultation with the instructor). The final grade also includes a short oral exam, consisting of two parts: in the first, students will explain some key concepts and theories discussed during the semester, and in the second, they will conduct a linguistic and visual analysis of a given advertisement. Emphasis is placed on the ability to connect theoretical knowledge with practice, critical thinking, and clear expression.

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (10.02.2025)
Literature -

Literature:

·       Cook, G. (2001). The discourse of advertising. London: Routledge.

·       Kräussl, M. (2023). Linguistic Analysis of Advertising Messages. Unpublished manuscript. (Electronic coursebook for this course)

·       Myers, G. (1994). Words in ads. London: Edward Arnold.

 

Recommended secondary reading:

·       Benwell, B., & Stokoe, E. (2006). Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh University Press.

·       Buijzen, M., & Valkenburg, P. M. (2004). Developing a Typology of Humor in Audiovisual Media. Media Psychology6(2), pp. 161–165.

·       Clow, K., & Baack, D. (2021). Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications (9th ed.).   Pearson, pp. 159–181. 

·       Danesi, Marcel (2013). Semiotizing a product into a brand. Social semiotics 23(4), 464-476.  

·       Forceville, C. (2016). Pictorial and Multimodal Metaphor. Handbuch Sprache Im Multimodalen Kontext, 241–260. 

·       Perucha, B. N. (2009). On the use of narrative discourse in advertising: hybridity, textual voices and gender identities. Revista española de lingüística aplicada, (22), 291-306.

·       Speck, P. S. (1991). The Humorous Message Taxonomy: A Framework for the Study of Humorous Ads. Current Issues and Research in Advertising13(1–2), 1–44. 

·       Timke, E., & O’Barr, W. (2017). Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Advertising. Advertising & Society Review 17(3).

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (21.01.2025)
Requirements to the exam -

Exam Requirements

The exam will be conducted orally. The emphasis will be on the ability to clearly articulate ideas, apply acquired knowledge, and demonstrate critical thinking in analysing advertising discourse. The exam will consist of two parts:

 

1.     Theoretical Part

·       Students will be required to explain key terms and theories discussed during the semester.

·       Topics include: critical discourse analysis in advertising, semiotics, visual grammar, brand semiosis, figurative language in advertising, humour, code-switching, gender, controversial marketing, identity construction, narrativity, and advertising design.

·       Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of these concepts and their interconnections in advertising discourse.

 

2.     Analytical Part

·       Students will be given an advertisement and will need to conduct a linguistic and visual analysis.

·       The analysis should evaluate multimodal elements, argumentation strategies, and persuasive techniques used in the advertisement.

·       Students should be able to identify the linguistic and discursive features within the ad and explain their impact.

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (10.02.2025)
Syllabus -

1.     Introduction to critical discourse analysis

a.   Hierarchy of analysis, text v. discourse, three-dimensional model of discourse.

b.   Power, ideology, and hegemony as main concepts in critical discourse analysis.

c.   Aspects of context, multimodal analysis in advertising.

d.   Advertising objectives, advertising media, and advertising strategies.

 

2.     Semiotics in advertising

a.   Semiotic triangle. Signs and their typology.

b.   Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between signs.

c.   Analysis of paralinguistic features of advertising. The written part of the advertising message.

d.   Denotation and connotation in advertising.

e.   Writenness v. spokenness, and their typical features in advertising texts. 

 

3.     Visual grammar

a.   The essentials of visual mode, the relationship between the written and visual components of an advertising message. 

b.   The importance of visual social semiotics to the analysis of advertising. Narrative and conceptual visuals.

c.   The representational, compositional, and interactional meta-functions of visual mode.

d.   Information value and its distribution across advertising visuals.

 

4.     Brand semiosis

a.   Semiotic process of turning a product into a brand.

b.   Typology of name, logo, and other aspects of brand rhetoric.

c.   Colours and their connotations in branding. Connotative osmosis.

 

5.     Figurative language in advertising

a.     Tropes, figures of speech and rhetorical effect in advertising.

b.   Conceptual metaphors we live by. Metaphor structure, mapping. Metaphors in advertising.

c.   Visual metaphor and its categorisation.

 

6.     Humour

a.   Three major theories concerning the processes of humour.

b.   Combinational humour types and other categorisations of humour for its further research.  

c.   Humour in advertising and its effect on the audience.

 

7.     Code-switching

a.   The difference between code-switching and code-mixing.

b.   The connotative component of code-switching in advertisements.

c.   Reasons for code-switching and code-mixing in advertising. Adapted advertisements.

 

8.     Gender

a.   Us v. Them, the distribution of power in society. Gender as a social construct.

b.   Representations of femininity and masculinity in advertising discourse.

c.   Gendered marketing v. non-gendered marketing. Pink tax.

d.   Gender and its anchoring and embedding in English grammar. Cooperative v. competitive styles of gendered speech. 

 

9.     Controversy and taboo

a.   Advantages and disadvantages of controversial marketing.

b.   Ways of portraying taboo in advertising.

c.   Reasons why advertisements may potentially fail due to the use of controversial marketing and taboo. The shock value.

 

10.  Identity construction

a.   Personal identity and group identity. First impression and identity paradox.

b.   Performative identities constructed in advertising discourse.

c.   Commodification in advertising, consumer femininity, targeted advertising.

 

11.  Narrativity

a.   Narrative structure, plot, and focalisation.

b.   Representation of real and fictional worlds in advertising.

c.   Narrative voices in advertising.

 

12.  Advertising design

a.   Cognitive, affective, and conative strategies in advertising.

b.   Typology of advertising appeals.

c.   Music and its use and significance in advertising.

d.   Executional frameworks in advertising and their analysis. 

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (21.01.2025)
Entry requirements -

English proficiency at least at B2+ level.

Last update: Kräussl Martin, Mgr. (21.01.2025)
 
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