A study on implicatures used in Yellow Pages Advertisement Media

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on analyzing the slogans of advertisements using theory of implicature and cooperative principles proposed by Grice. Implicature is a study that concerns with anything that is inferred and implied from utterances and sentences, while cooperative principle is related to the truth-value, informative contributions and its relevancy. The slogan as the core of advertisement is also written in the forms of sentences and the intended messages are often conveyed implicitly. Based on the background, this study is concentrated more on the implicatures and the cooperative principles, particularly its maxims, found on the slogans. This study is further conducted with the following problems: 1. How are the implicatures used on the slogans of advertisements in ،Yellow Pages’?, 2. How are the maxims flouted and hedged on the slogans of advertisements in ،Yellow Pages’?

The research is conducted using descriptive qualitative method based on Grice’s theory of implicature and cooperative principles. The data are selected from advertisements found in ،Yellow Pages’ advertisement media published in 2004. The data are the written texts of slogans found in the advertisements.

Some findings covering the formulated research questions, proposed in the first chapter, are revealed in the section of data analysis. It is found that in writing the slogans, sometimes the advertisers give certain contexts by adding the identity of the factory/firm/store or even its products or services. In other occasion, they leave out the identity of the factory/firm/store or its products and services, so that readers need to refer to special contexts. Those are further classified into generalized and particularized implicatures.

Furthermore, the maxims are also flouted and hedged by the advertisers. The maxims are flouted when the simple words/sentences and understatements are applied. In this case, the advertisers give information less and more than is required by the readers/consumers. In addition, the maxims are hedged when the advertisers used rhetorical questions and hyperbole forms, since the truth-value and the effectiveness of the information is still doubtful.

Referring to the findings, it is recommended for the advertisers to make the slogans more understandable by considering and comprehending the implicatures, particularly generalized implicature. In addition, it is also recommended to the readers or the future researchers to use the results of this study as references. Furthermore advertisements in particular their slogans, found in electronic media such as Television’ Radio and also Internet are also interesting to analyze using the same theory (theory of implicature proposed by Grice). The future researchers can analyze how the performances of the advertisers influence the implicatures.