A discourse analysis of Metropolitan and SANLAM Namibia's English print advertisements in The Namibian newspaper: A comparative study
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Date
2015
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Abstract
This thesis was a critical discourse analysis of Metropolitan and Sanlam Namibia’s English advertisements in The Namibian newspaper. The purpose of the study was to investigate the English language of persuasion leveraged in the two companies’ print advertisements. The study also explored the various advertising techniques that supported the English language of persuasion used in selected advertisements. This research was qualitative in nature. It was a desktop study which employed discourse and content analysis as data collection methods. Data collected were critically examined, based on the English language employed in selected print advertisements. The study was informed by a critical discourse analysis theory which addresses issues of how social relations, identity, knowledge and power are constructed through written and spoken texts in various communities, schools, the media, and the political arena. The thesis revealed that the following language elements were utilized in Metropolitan and Sanlam Namibia’s selected advertisements: The first was the pattern of print advertisement, which looks at the headline, body copy, slogan and logos. The second was the language leveraged in each advertisement, with the use of elements like alliteration, repetition, metaphors, similes, puns, personification, adjectives and adverbs. The third was a revelation of various advertising techniques that supported the English language used in selected advertisements. The study concluded that along with most linguistic elements, the Aristotelian proofs (ethos, pathos and logos) and the AIDA principle of advertising were necessary ingredients of persuasion in these print advertisements. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge and strategies on how print advertisements, especially those by insurance companies in Namibia, utilise language and stylistic techniques when advertising in national newspapers and provide a link between the field of research into advertising and the field of research into stylistics.
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in English Studies
Keywords
English print advertisement, The Namibian, SANLAM, Metropolitan