Филологические науки /Риторика и
стилистика
Айнабекова Л.И.
Региональный социально – инновационный университет,
Казахстан
COGNITIVE ASPECT OF ADVERTISEMENT TEXT
The tendency to
distinguish discourse and text
according to dynamic and static criteria is revealed in the works of group of
scientists such as P.Werth, D.Gevins, L.Idalgo Dauning, E.Lakhey, E.Semino,
P.Stokwell and others. According to the scholars theory, discourse is a complex
socio-psycholinguistic phenomenon which includes the language process in a
certain social context and its result -
text.
More and more
scientists are starting to support the idea that all knowledge is in the form
of mental representations. V.Z. Demyankov and E.S. Kubryakova believe that the
representation is an important part of our consciousness: "... we always,
when it seems to us necessary, can imagine the domestic "screen" of
any object, any situation among the real objects or persons surrounding us, as
well as the imaginary events " (Kubryakova, Demyankov 2007: 14-15).
Any situation is
thought of as a cognitive basis of discourse. The interest in the situation is
explained with the fact that linguistic event takes place within this
situation. The understanding of the situation by P. Werth is quite close to the
interpretation of the model situation by T. Van Dijk (van Dijk 1989: 46).
According to van Dijk, the model of the situation is formed by a concrete
individual, his or her personal knowledge, experience, attitudes, feelings,
emotions, opinions, and is used by the addressee while understanding the text.
It is unique, dynamic, mobile and strategic complex, since it activates all the
levels and structures. The situation represents a complex set of circumstances,
characterized by a place, a time, a set of entities that are in certain
relation with each other.
Combining the
explicitly expressed textual information and background knowledge
(presupposition), the reader naturally creates a certain mental "picture".
Presupposition is understood as a component of text which represents the
background knowledge. It is impossible to perceive the text adequately without
this background (presuppositional) knowledge. Presupposition may appear while
reading another text or it may stay in the mind of human without being
verbalized.
Mental picture
and its modeling, particularly in advertising, is the subject to utilitarian
and mundane goals: how to efficiently encourage the addressee for action that
is profitable for producer. Mental representation constructed in the human mind
while processing the information is called
a textual world.
The following
elements are essential for the description of the “world”:
• textual base - language material
fixed on a particular physical medium;
• cognitive base - knowledge and
understanding of communicants.
The textual base
is formed by set of linguistic forms that serve for "packaging"
conveyed meaning. It can be regarded as an act of fixing the language (surface)
forms of a certain conceptual structure (Kubryakova 1992: 284). The main
function of textual base is to help the addressee to construct a kind of mental
model that can be stored in memory for a long time. Simple story with a happy
ending, as proposed in the above mentioned advertisement of gel, is designed
not only to inform consumers about the product, but also to focus on the
product image and relate to it as to the integral part of human life.
Thus, reading the
advertising message, the person activates only the referentially demanded
knowledge. In advertising of dental services it may be knowledge about the
features of the treatment of the oral cavity, the procedure of admission of
patients, tooth extraction, prosthetics, and so on. The knowledge about hockey or how to tune a guitar appear to be
unnecessary and inappropriate.
Noting some
categorical statements it is expedient to say that the cognitive base includes
knowledge and understandings, which are possessed by the majority of the
linguistic culture. In addition, it also includes the resource of individual
image held by each linguistic identity.
Cognitive base is
formed by the knowledge and understanding of not only the extra-linguistic
reality, but also by the knowledge of the language and culture. Using the
knowledge in the understanding of discourse is the ability to relate the text
with some existing cognitive structure on the base of which the textual world
is created. Cognitive structures which reflect "rolled" form of
encoding information are called frames, circuit, script, scripts, plans,
cognitive model and etc.
We fully share
the view that a person perceives what is happening in the light of previously
acquired knowledge structures and make a choice in favor of the term frame
indicating the structure of mental representations of conceptual content. Some
linguists state that "life context of discourse is modeled in the form
of" frames "(typical situations) or "scenarios "(focuses on
the development of the situation.
In the space of
one textual world several mental representations can simultaneously occur.
Alternatives within the textual world are called subworlds. The prefix sub-,
used by P. Werth (subworld), remarkably discredits the selected term and gives
the wrong idea about its semantics.
Communicants have the capacity to
create multiple derivatives worlds simultaneously without certain cognitive
effort. Besides, they easily "switch" from one to another.
The identified
levels reflect the nature of the interpenetration of the constitutive elements
of discourse. A decisive role is played by the correlation of elements of
textual and cognitive base, the activation of which leads to the creation of
mental models. These mental models serve as a basis for the acknowledgment of
discursive situation.
Literature:
1.
Кубрякова Е.С. Проблемы представления знаний в современной науке и роль
лингвистики в решении этих проблем // Язык и структуры представления знаний. –
М., 1992. – С.4-38.
2.
Демьянков В.З. Когнитивизм, когниция, язык и лингвистическая теория // Язык
и структуры представления знаний. – М., 1992. – С.39-77.
3.
Дейк
Т.А., ван. Язык. Познание. Коммуникация. - М., 1989. - С. 41.