Abstract A piece of effective advertisement can grasp the reader’s attention instantly and stimulate their desire to purchase the commodity。 To create an effective advertisement, lots of strategies have to be employed。 Pun is a most frequently used strategy。 86947

Pun is a clever and amusing use of words or phrases suggesting two or more meanings, or of words with the same sound but different meanings。 Using puns can make the statement humorous, concise, evocative and memorable。 

The frequent use of puns in advertising arouses scholars’ strong interest in probing into this linguistic phenomenon。 In recent years, the researches of puns in advertising mainly focus on exploring the structural form of its language and its pragmatic and aesthetic functions。 This thesis attempts to interpret the understanding of puns in English Advertisement based on the relevance theory of Sperber and Wilson。 

It is discovered that in the interpretation of puns in English advertisements, the readers or audience always consciously or unconsciously employ relevance theory to help them understand the puns。 Human beings’ cognition drives them to seek the maximal relevance between the pun and the context, or they will seem optimal relevance between a pun and its context。 The key to successfully understanding of puns in English advertisements is to find the maximal or optimal relevance。 Relevance can make consumers see the unique beauty of advertising。

Keywords: English advertisement; puns; maximal relevance; optimal relevance; context

从关联理论角度探究英语广告语中的双关语

摘要广告设计者通常会采用很多策略,使其宣传形象而生动。双关语就是最常使用的策略之一。双关指巧妙地运用某些包含两个或更多含义的词或短语，或者运用读音相同或类似，但含义不同的词语，使语句幽默，简洁，令人回味。

近年来，关于广告双关语的研究层出不穷。大部分研究关注广告双关语的语言特征、广告双关语的实际作用和审美功能。而本文将基于关联理论来解释读者或观众对这一特殊语言现象的理解过程。

本文首先介绍了双关语的基本概念以及在英语广告中常见的几种双关语的类型。然后，总体介绍了关联理论的理论框架，详细解释了关联理论两个重要原则：最大关联和最佳关联原则。最后，根据最佳关联和最大关联原则分析消费者对于英语广告中双关语的理解。

研究发现，广告受众总是会有意或无意使用关联原则对双关语进行解读。人类的认知及交流决定了，在解读过程中，受众会寻求最大关联，或者最佳关联。双关语在英语广告中的运用可以通过不同的途径达到最佳关联或者最大关联，从而引起受众的兴趣。

毕业论文关键词：英语广告；双关语；最佳关联；最大关联；语境

Contents

Abstract in English I

Abstract in Chinese II

I。 Introduction 1

II。 Puns in English Advertisements 3

2。1 Definition of Puns 3

2。2 Puns in English Advertisements 3

2。3 Categorization of Puns in English Advertisements 4

2。3。1 Homophonic Puns in Advertising 4

2。3。2 Semantic Puns in Advertising 5

2。3。3 Idiom or Saying Puns in Advertising 6

Ⅲ。 Theoretical Framework: Relevance Theory 8

3。1 A General Introduction of Relevance Theory