The adjective “ unique”: More than a buzzword in the language of advertising

• Autores: Marisa Díez Arroyo
• Localización: Ibérica: Revista de la Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos ( AELFE ), ISSN-e 2340-2784, ISSN 1139-7241, Nº. 40, 2020, págs. 149-170
• Idioma: inglés
• Títulos paralelos:
  • El adjetivo “unique”: Algo más que una palabra llamativa en el lenguaje publicitario
• Enlaces
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• Resumen
  • español

    Este trabajo analiza el uso del adjetivo unique en páginas web de fabricantes de coches. A pesar de que los adjetivos tienden a considerarse elementos destacados en los textos publicitarios, su estudio suele centrarse en cuestiones de índole estadística. El presente artículo ofrece un análisis del adjetivo unique basado en un corpus de 16 páginas web de fabricantes de coches del Reino Unido con el propósito de extraer información léxica sobre el uso e interpretación de esta palabra. Los resultados obtenidos, basados en la Teoría de la Relevancia, revelan que la interpretación de este adjetivo muestra una enorme dependencia del contexto, lo cual permite identificar varios conceptos ad hoc. Asimismo, este trabajo pone de manifiesto el valor persuasivo del adjetivo unique en la publicidad del sector automovilístico en Internet, en perfecta sintonía con las características del tipo de canal empleado y de los rasgos distintivos del automóvil como producto de consumo

  • English

    This paper examines the role of the adjective “unique” in car manufacturers’ websites. The presence of adjectives is generally acknowledged to be a significant feature of advertising texts; however, analyses often focus on issues relating to the statistical frequency of occurrence of such items. Based on a corpus of sixteen UK car manufacturers’ websites, the present study considers the adjective “unique” in order to extract lexical information about its use and possible interpretation. From a relevance-theoretic approach to lexical pragmatics, findings indicate that this item shows an extraordinary sensitivity to context, and a number of ad hoc concepts are identified. Results also show that the word “unique” performs a significant persuasive role in online car advertising, adapting perfectly to the defining characteristics of this medium, as well as to the distinguishing features of the automobile as a commodity product

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