DECODING JAPANESE ADVERTISING: A LINGUISTIC EXPLORATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND SYNTACTIC ELEMENTS IN SLOGANS

Abstract

Advertising plays a pivotal role as an economic catalyst, fostering competition, driving business innovation, and contributing to societal well-being by attracting both funds and attention. In the Japanese advertising landscape, two distinct forms take center stage: commercial advertisements (CM) and kyacchikopii, commonly known as 'catch copy'—a term coined in Japan, derived from the phrase catch copywriting, where the word 'catch' signifies the crucial aspect of capturing attention. While CM advertisements primarily target the auditory senses, catch copy or slogans focus on visual appeal (Jantima, 1998).

This research delves into the realm of advertising slogans, a subject that has garnered substantial attention across various domains, including pragmatics (context), syntax (especially concerning case particles), semantics (rhetoric), and lexicon (Gotoo, 2000; Arai, 2006, 2007; Lv, 2014, 2016; Sui, 2021). Notably, slogans have been scrutinized from a syntactic perspective, given the penchant of the Japanese language for the 'middle construction,' also known as an iisashi expression. This construction involves incomplete sentences culminating with a conjunction or particle, exemplified by instances like (1) and (2).

As part of this study, we explore the intricate syntactic structures of Japanese advertising slogans, aiming to comprehend their unique linguistic characteristics and the impact of the 'middle construction' on their effectiveness. The investigation incorporates a comprehensive analysis of pragmatics, syntax, semantics, and lexicon to unravel the nuanced layers of meaning embedded in these succinct and visually compelling expressions. By shedding light on the syntactic intricacies of slogans, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the linguistic strategies employed in Japanese advertising and offers insights into how these strategies resonate with the target audience.