English Language investigation - please help

Hi, I'm currently finishing off my language investigation but now my teacher has said she's worried i dont have enough content under lexis and pragmatics - and im really stuck.

My hypothesis is - I hypothesise that females will be represented sexually in comparison to male perfume commerical adverts. I will be identifying in what ways this is done and what certain commercials tell us about stereotypes.

Im currently focusing on the frameworks: Lexis/semantics (abstract nouns), Pragmatics and Graphology - which i have analysed but

Can someone please guide me as my teacher is off ill and im really panicking.

It would be most appreciated, thank you.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

DBR247

13

Original post by ruby567

Hi, I'm currently finishing off my language investigation but now my teacher has said she's worried i dont have enough content under lexis and pragmatics - and im really stuck.

My hypothesis is - I hypothesise that females will be represented sexually in comparison to male perfume commerical adverts. I will be identifying in what ways this is done and what certain commercials tell us about stereotypes.

Im currently focusing on the frameworks: Lexis/semantics (abstract nouns), Pragmatics and Graphology - which i have analysed but

Can someone please guide me as my teacher is off ill and im really panicking.

It would be most appreciated, thank you.

In terms of lexis, look at nouns (abstract, proper, concrete, common etc.), adjectives, verbs (dynamic/stative), pronouns and prepositions. I couldn't say what else to add as I have not seen the texts but certainly look at how the lexis is used to convey certain attitudes. Adjectives I can imagine are very important and perhaps the connotations they might have especially in a perfume adverts as they need to be short but highly persuasive. It is difficult to work out semantics without looking at the lexis in context.

I hope that is of help to you,

Reply 2

DBR247

13

Original post by ruby567

I really appreciate that, could you help me with what i should look at regarding pragmatics, so far all i can manage to think of is the gender stereotypes in the language.

The commercials i have selected are :

Males - (Diesel - Only The Brave, Hugo Boss - Bottled, Gucci Guilty)
Females (Dior – J’adore, Giorgio Armani - Si, Dior - Miss Dior)

Thank you very much!

Just from the titles a lot can be conveyed about the texts and the gender stereotypes. For example, the Diesel ad conveys a sense of masculinity and dominance, it is almost promoting the image of an alpha brave with the adjectival phrase;

m m h
Only the Brave
Adj Det Adj

In terms of the portrayal of female stereotypes, in particular the J'Adore ad the use of "J'Adore" is interesting as it is a borrowing from the French language and has connotations of sophistication and seduction which appeals to the female audience or maybe spouses looking to purchase the product for their wives.

Hope that is of help,

Reply 3

ruby567

OP

1

Original post by DBR247

Just from the titles a lot can be conveyed about the texts and the gender stereotypes. For example, the Diesel ad conveys a sense of masculinity and dominance, it is almost promoting the image of an alpha brave with the adjectival phrase;

m m h
Only the Brave
Adj Det Adj

In terms of the portrayal of female stereotypes, in particular the J'Adore ad the use of "J'Adore" is interesting as it is a borrowing from the French language and has connotations of sophistication and seduction which appeals to the female audience or maybe spouses looking to purchase the product for their wives.

Hope that is of help,

Wow thanks, I didn't even think of considering the titles.

Do you think looking at the Locution, Illocution and Perlocution of these adverts will also be a good idea for the pragmatics framework?

Reply 4

DBR247

13

Original post by ruby567

Wow thanks, I didn't even think of considering the titles.

Do you think looking at the Locution, Illocution and Perlocution of these adverts will also be a good idea for the pragmatics framework?

Yes, locution, illocution and perlocution should be subliminally part of the analysis. Try not to worry about those too much just focus on the grammatical structures and lexis and the meaning can be deduced from the context.

(edited 8 years ago)

English Language investigation - please help

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