The Language of Newspaper Advertising: Stylistic and Semantic Perspectives

Abstract

Stylistic is a branch of linguistic that studies the language patterns of particular authors. It is a branch of Linguistics which studies the linguistics features of situational distinctive uses (varieties) of languages made by individual and social groups in their communication. Semantics is a branch of linguistic that studies meaning. Meaning is the relationship between language and the external world. Combining stylistic and semantic features in advertising will give rise to efficiency. The uniqueness of the diction makes the language of advertising a specialized field of study. This study investigates the stylistic and semantic features involved in newspaper advertising. The research adopted a textual analysis approach to the qualitative research method. The population of study are 9 popular Nigerian daily newspapers that advertised organizations, products or services. The researcher used the purposive sampling techniques to select four commercial banks namely: GTB, FIRSTBANK, ACCESS and FCMB in Nigeria who advertise in these Nigerian daily newspapers were purposively sampled. The research used secondary sources or documents. The data analysis was done using documentary analysis where words, expressions and signs used in the newspaper adverts were analyzed in relation to what they seek to communicate to the audience. The study found that all stylistic devices proposed in this research such as Phonological devices, Grammatical devices, Graph logical devices, symbolical devices (pictures, icons etc.) and distinctive features among others are present in newspaper advertisement. The study also found that newspaper advertisement uses semantic features such as acronym, emotional connotative, adjectives, repetition and metaphor, among others to inform, entice, excite and induce the audience towards patronizing their products. The study concluded that stylistic and semantic analyses in newspaper advertisements have been serving as an effective way of bringing services to the audience as well as communicating and appealing to the emotions of customers. The study recommended that future researchers may explore some other linguistic approaches in the study of newspaper advertisement.