STYLISTIC ANALYSIS ON LAPTOP ADVERTISEMENTS

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Lia Rindi Antika

112011107

ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2015

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iii

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or

accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best my

knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any

other person except where due references are made in the text.

Copyright@2015. Lia Rindi Antika and Maria Christina Eko Setyarini

All right reserved. No part of this thesis may be produced by any means without permission

of at least one of the copyright owner or the English Department, Faculty of Language and

Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga

Lia Rindi Antika:

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Table of Contents

APPROVAL PAGE .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ................................................................................................................ iii

PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION .............................................................................. iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS.........................................................................................................................v

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 1

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1

LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................................... 3

Advertisement ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Stylistics .............................................................................................................................................. 4

Weasel Words ................................................................................................................................. 5

Personal Pronoun ............................................................................................................................ 5

Sentence Length .............................................................................................................................. 6

Types of Sentences ......................................................................................................................... 6

Figurative Language ....................................................................................................................... 7

Literal Language ............................................................................................................................. 8

METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................. 9

Research Method ................................................................................................................................ 9

Objects of Study .................................................................................................................................. 9

Data Collection Instruments ............................................................................................................. 10

Data Collection Procedures ............................................................................................................... 11

Data Analysis Procedures ................................................................................................................. 11

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS........................................................................................................ 11

Weasel Words ................................................................................................................................... 12

Personal Pronouns ............................................................................................................................. 14

Sentence Length ................................................................................................................................ 16

Types of Sentences ........................................................................................................................... 17

Figurative Language ......................................................................................................................... 17

Literal Language ............................................................................................................................... 19

CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 20

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.......................................................................................................................22

REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................23

APPENDICES.......................................................................................................................................27

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1

STYLISTIC ANALYSIS ON LAPTOP ADVERTISEMENTS

Lia Rindi Antika

ABSTRACT

Advertising is done to promote a product that is produced by a company.

As most companies want to be successful in selling their products, they

usually make their advertisements attractive to get the reader’s attention by

working on the language of advertising. This study was conducted to

identify textual devices and its interpretation used by each advertiser of

different laptop brands but similar specifications, they were Lenovo

ThinkPad S440 Ultrabook, Fujitsu Lifebook U904, Dell Vostro 5470,

Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus. The four laptop advertisements were taken

from the internet.This was done as many people nowadays tend to look for

information about a product on the internet. The four advertisements were

then analyzed by looking at its three textual devices, they are lexis focusing

on weasel words and personal pronoun, grammar focusing on sentence

length and types of sentences and semantic focusing on figurative and

literal language.The findings showed that the advertiser of each brand used

different kinds of textual devices as their ways to deliver the message to

the readers. The meaning of textual devices used also varied and it could be

derived from the use of weasel words, personal pronouns and figurative

language. The findings of this study are expected to contribute to language

style learning that is used in advertisements. It is hoped to be one of

thereferences for those who want to study the same topic.

Keywords: stylistic, laptop, advertisement

INTRODUCTION

Globalization has influenced the way the advertisers promoting their products.

Therefore, they compete to improve their creativity toward the advertisements they design by

using textual devices. The advertisers compete to make their advertisements different from

others, especially when they have similar products to be promoted. Every brand of a product

has its own unique style to promote their products; it can be differentiated from the textual

devices that they use. The textual devices they use have a purpose to persuade readers about

their product since advertising is a “nonpersonal communication of information usually paid

for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors

through the various media.”(Bovee, 1992, p.7). It has been becoming powerful tool to

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influence people’s perspective on the product that is promoted (Lapsanska, 2006, p.11). It is

important to know how do the advertisements use different textual devices from other

advertisements to attract people’s attention. Therefore, it is interesting to analyze the textual

devices and its interpretation that each brand use and generate to make it attractive to the

readers by using stylistic analysis.

There have been many studies related to stylistic analysis of advertisement. Kostkova

(2008) conducted a study of advertising of food products that aimed to find out linguistic or

non-linguistic styles that were used by the advertiser from 23 printed advertisements in 10

different magazines. The analysis was focused on visualization, graphological/phonological

level, lexical level, grammatical and morphological level, and semantic level. His study found

out that advertisements used linguistic and non-linguistic feature to attract reader’s attention,

and each advertiser used eye-catching visual aspect which could give positive effect to the

readers. A similar study was conducted by Li (2009); his study aimed to find out general

stylistic characteristics of Atkins Chocolate Chip Granola Bar advertisement. He focused on

linguistic description especially in graphology, lexicology, syntax, grammar and semantics

whereas for textual analysis he focused on the layout and paragraph development and

cohesive devices. Meanwhile, for contextual analysis, he focused on the medium of

communication and role-relationship. His finding was the advertisement used many devices

in linguistic, textual and contextual aspects which made it attractive and eye-catching, thus

made it easy for the producer to promote it among the consumers. Three years later, Anh

(2012), conducted a study that was to find linguistic features found in English and

Vietnamese advertisement by focusing on the repetition and antithesis feature. The result of

his study was Vietnamese advertisements use fewer repetition aspects than English

advertisement, and there has not been English advertisement that can be discovered using

descriptive antithesis yet.

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Looking at the three previous studies mentioned before, this study was more or less

similar to Li (2009) study. However, this study focused on textual devices which were more

emphasized on its lexical, grammatical, and semantical styles. This study analyzed four

different laptop brands advertisement with similar specifications. The choice of laptop

advertisement was motivated by a phenomenon that nowadays almost all people, especially

students, use laptops to help their business or study. Therefore, many laptop products from

various brands are launched in the market, they appear to compete each other since many

people need to use laptops. The aim of this study was to find the textual devices used and the

meaning that the advertisers try to generate by using those textual devices in their

advertisements. This study focused on two questions as a guide for this study:

1. What are the textual devices used by the advertiser of Lenovo ThinkPad S440

Ultrabook, Fujitsu LifeBook U904, Dell Vostro 5470, and Samsung ATIV Book 9

Plus in their advertisements?

2. What are the possible meanings generated through those textual devices used by the

advertisers in their advertisements?

The findings of this study are expected to contribute to textual devices and its

meaning learning that are used in advertisements. It is hoped to be one of the references for

those who want to study the same topic.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Advertisement

There are many definitions about advertisement, one of them was stated by Knnitlova

(1990) which was cited in Kostkova (2008, p.7) that advertisement is a product of two sides

persuasive communication between a producer and customers. Leech (1972) as cited in

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Lapsanska (2006, p.15) stated that advertisement aims to promote a product or service to the

people. The same idea was stated by Wells et al (2007) as cited in Bari (2011, p.153) said that

advertisement is “an undirectional and paid form of communication that is used to

disseminate the product or services information”. Meanwhile, Mann (1993) cited in Kostkova

(2008, p.7) in Advertising Association defined, “advertisements are message paid by those

who send them, intended to inform or influence people who receive them”. Generally

speaking, advertisement is a two-way persuasive communication between producers and

customers to influence customer’s perspective about products or services owned by the

producer through mass media which is paid by the producer for using the media.

Stylistics

Stylistic was defined as a method to interpret the meaning of a language through

textual devices (Simpson 2004, p.2). He then added “various forms, patterns and levels that

constitute linguistic structure are an important index of the function of the text”.Whereas,

Leech and Short (2007, p.11) also defined stylistic as a linguistic approach that explains the

relation between language and its use as an artistic function by using questions “why” and

“how” rather than “what”.Meanwhile, Crystal (1989) as cited in Zyngier (2001, p.368)

defined a stylistic as a

Style is seen as the (conscious or unconscious) selection of a set of linguistic features from all

the possibilities in a language. The effects these features convey can be understood only by intuitively

sensing the choices that have been made … and it is usually enough simply to respond to the effect in

this way. But there are often occasions when we have developed a more analytical approach … Here

… our intuition needs to be supplemented by a more objective account of this style. It is this approach

which is known as stylistics.

In other words stylistic can be viewed as the study of meaning used in a written

language through textual devvices used to investigate how do the styles affect the readers and

how do they make them understand the message which is delivered. The stylistic analysis

includes visualization, graphology, semantic, syntax, grammar, lexis, morphology and

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phonology. In this research due to the limited time I had, then I analyzed three textual devices

in the advertisements. The first textual device was lexis especially on the use of weasel words

and the use of personal pronouns. The second textual device was grammar especially in the

use of short sentence and types of sentences in the advertisements. The last textual device

was semantic which focused on the use of figurative and literal sentences.

Weasel Words

Lexis style of an advertisement could be analyzed by the use of weasel words.

According to Lutz (1990, p.112) weasel words are used in an advertisement to make the

advertisement has the claim on their product which is in fact it does not have any claim.

Danciu (2014, p.26) similarly stated that advertisers use weasel words to make consumers

rely on the products qualities, weasel words that are usually used helps virtually, acts, can be,

up to, refreshes, comforts, fights, the feel of, the look of, fortified, enriched, strengthened.

Looking at the statement mentioned previously, weasel words are words used in an

advertisement to impress the readers, so it will encourage them to buy the products. Most

readers may not pay more attention while reading the claim on the product since weasel

words impress them to buy the products.

Personal Pronouns

Lexis used in advertisements can also be analyzed by the use of personal pronoun

since personal pronoun means “words that stand for expressing of individual persons”

(Krizkova, 2009, p.16). Words that express personal pronoun here may refer to the advertiser or

the reader. As Linghong (2006, p.74) stated that personal pronoun used in an advertisement

can show a friendly communication between the advertiser and the reader, in this case a

personal pronoun can refer to an individual or a group of readers. Personal pronoun can also

show the advertisers, to know if the advertiser works individually or with a team as said by

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Brown and Gilman in Fassold (1990) cited in Yu (2006, p.2) that “plural pronouns like “we”,

“us”, “our”, “they”, “them” and “their” for example, have the function of suggesting group or

institutional authority”. Personal pronoun is categorized into three classes; they are nominative,

objective and possessive (Yu, 2006, p.1). Nominative personal pronoun is used when it shows the

subject of a verb; it includes I, you, she, he, it, we, you and they. Meanwhile, objective personal

pronoun is used when it shows direct or indirect object of a verb or preposition; it includes me,

you, him, her, it, us, you, them. The last personal pronoun which is possessive personal pronoun

is used when it shows possession; it includes my, mine, your, yours, his, her, its, our, ours and

theirs.

Sentence Length

Most advertisements use short sentence since it is legible to the readers. Thus it makes

them want to read it. A similar idea was also stated by Linghong (2006, p.76) that “ a long

difficult sentence would drain readers interest in reading the text”. An advertisement also

aims to be remembered by people. Therefore, the sentences used should be short so people

can remember it easily. The finding of United Press International (UPI) and the Associated

Press as cited in Linghong (2006, p.76) supported it, that a sentence contains approximately 8

words or less is “very easy to read”. Meanwhile, a sentence contains approximately 29 or

more will be considered as “very difficult to read” and the total standard of words in a

sentence is 17 words.

Types of Sentences

Types of sentences used in the advertisement can also show the linguistic style of the

advertisement since linguistically, a statement has a role to bring information (Neuzilova,

2005, p.62). Therefore, every advertisement producer has their own way to convey the

message to the customers. According to Quirk and Greenbaum (1990, p.231) as cited in

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Neuzilova (2005, p.62) there are four types of sentences, they are declaratives,

interrogatives, imperatives, and exclamatives. Declarative is used to inform about something,

for example “the accident happened yesterday”. An interrogative asks a question, for

example “can you lift the chairs?”. Another type of a sentence is imperative in which shows a

command or polite request, for example “Please open the door”. The last type of sentence is

exclamative that shows excitement on something which is usually started by “what” and

“how”, for example “what a surprise!”.

In an advertisement, there might be one or two types of sentences used. Based on

Neuzilova finding (2005, p.64) that an advertisement that uses imperative sentence for the

headline will use declarative sentence for the body copies and accompanying information.

Every type of a sentence used in an advertisement conveys its own meaning to the readers.

For example, imperative sentence on the advertisement headline has a meaning to order the

readers to do something which seems inappropriate to order people to do something directly

(Bovee, 1992 as cited in Neuzilova, 2005, p.64).

Figurative Language

An advertiser always attempts to attract their readers to buy their product by

implementing some techniques on the words used in the advertisement. Types of sentences as

I have mentioned before is not the only technique that the advertisers can be creative in their

advertisement but also figurative speech they used. Figurative language means differently

from literal language and it “refers to words and groups of words that exaggerate or alter the

usual meanings of the component words” (Heller, 2011, p.62-63). Similarly, stated by Regel

(2008, p.1) that figurative utterance explains conditions by saying it over the literal meaning.

Therefore, figurative language means a language that goes beyond the actual meaning of a

sentence or utterance.

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Figurative language in an advertisement is used to convey meaning from the

advertiser in a creative way rather than to convey it directly (Stern as cited in Langrher, 2003

as cited in Lian, 2011, p.212). According to Spivey (2011) there are 7 types of figurative

languages which are simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, idiom and

cliches. Simile is used to compare two different things using the words “like” and “as”, for

example “the baby is cute as a doll”. Metaphor is similar to simile but it compares two

different things without “like” and “as”, for example “the cloud is white cotton”.

Personification is used to characterize animals or things to be as human’s, the example of

personification is “the sun rays of the morning hit my face”. Exaggerating the real meaning

of a sentence or utterance is categorized into hyperbole, for example “it was so cold, I saw

the ice become stone”.Simple words like “pow” and “crash” are included into onomatopoeia

because it is written as it sounds, the word crash is a result of the sound “crash” when two

objects collide. Idioms are used to say things which are completely different from the real

meaning, for example “deliver the good” which means do what is expected or promised. The

last figurative language that may be found in advertisement is cliches which are used to say a

thing using phrases or statements that have been used too often so, it becomes meaningless,

for example “all for one and one for all”.

Literal Language

Literal language has the opposite meaning of figurative language since literal

language acquires its meaning from syntactical and component pattern that the sentence is

used, component in this context points out to the sentence’s morpheme (Searle, 1987,

p.207).A similar idea was stated by Katz as cited in Itani (1996, p.40) “literal meaning of a

sentence is determined by the meanings of its component words and its structure.” Thus,

literal language means language that has meaning from the structure and word components

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used in the sentence. In the advertisement, figurative and literal language might be used

together, and it is interesting to analyze what the advertiser intends through figurative

language and what the advertiser really mean through literal language.

METHODOLOGY

Research Method

Since the main point of this study was to find the textual devices used and its meaning

by each advertiser, qualitative descriptive research was used as a general method of the study.

As Lans&Voordt (2002,p.53) stated that descriptive research focuses on objectivity, and it

describes how is the reality of a phenomenon. Similarly, Marshall and Rossman (2011,p.33)

stated that qualitative study means to explain, explore and describe. Thus it means to

understand, develop and discover the phenomenon happens in research. In line with Altheide

(1987) and Morgan (1993) as cited in Sandelowski (2000, p.338) that qualitative result is an

“analysis of verbal and visual data that is oriented toward summarizing the informational

content of data”. Generally speaking, qualitative research reports the finding of the research

by describing the result through analyzing the data. Therefore, this research was a qualitative

descriptive research since it described the findings in a form of words.

Objects of Study

This research analyzed four laptop advertisements of different brands, those brands

were the Lenovo ThinkPad S440 Ultrabook, Dell Vostro 5470, Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus,

Fujitsu Lifebook U904 Notebook. Those brands were chosen since they had similar

specifications from one to another. The similarity of the specifications of the product can be

seen in the table below.

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Brands Processor Memory Hard Drive Operating

System

Display Graphic

Lenovo

Thinkpad

S440

Intel Core

i7 , i5 and

i3

Up to 8 GB Up to 500

GB

Microsoft

Windows 8

and 7

14.0 inch

1366 x 78

Intel HD

Graphics

4000

Fujitsu

Lifebook

U904

Intel Core

i5 and i7

14 GB 500 GB Microsoft

Windows

7, 8, and

8.1

14.0 inch

3200 x

1800

Intel HD

Graphics

4400

Dell Vostro

5470 Intel Core

i3 and i5

Up to 8 GB 128 GB Microsoft

Windows 8

and 8.1

14.0 inch

1366 x 78

Intel HD

Graphics

4400

Samsung

ATIV

Book 9

Plus

Intel Core

i5 and i7

8 GB 128 GB Microsoft

Windows

8.1

13.3 inch

3200 x

1800

Intel HD

Graphics

4400

Some of the brands were mostly used by workers and students to help with their

business. The advertisements were taken from Internet since many people tend to look for

information about things they are going to buy on the Internet nowadays.

Data Collection Instruments

The instruments I used to collect the objects of study were Internet and computer. The

Internet was used to get the objects of the study which are Internet advertisements.

Meanwhile, the computer was used to save the objects of the study.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.htmlhttp://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.htmlhttp://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.htmlhttp://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.htmlhttp://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.htmlhttp://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.html

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Data Collection Procedures

The advertisements collection procedures were started by browsing the Internet. After

got some advertisements, they were saved in the computer to be selected. Four

advertisements were selected based on the similarity of the product’s specifications, so it

would be easier to differentiate their linguistic styles since they had similar specifications.

After four advertisements had been selected, then they were saved to be analyzed further.

Data Analysis Procedures

The analysis of the advertisement was done right after four advertisements were

selected. Then, they were analyzed by its textual devices and its interpretation to know what

the advertiser intended to say the product. The first textual device to be analyzed was lexical

style; it focused on the use of weasel words and personal pronoun.The second textual device

was the grammatical style in which it focused on the use of short sentence and types of

sentence. At last, it came to semantic analyze which was focused on the use of figurative

language and literal language. The result of the finding was in a form of descriptive

qualitative research since it described what textual devices used by each advertiser and its

interpretation that may present in their advertisements

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This section discusses the textual devices used in each advertisement and the

interpretation that might be generated by the advertiser. For this section, each advertisement

was given initial name, Lenovo ThinkPad S440 Ultrabook (LT) Dell Vostro 5470 (DV),

Fujitsu LifeBook U904 (FL) and Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus (SA).The textual devices of the

advertisements were identified in the use of weasel words, personal pronoun, short sentence,

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types of sentences, figurative language, and literal language. The study could find the textual

devices used and possible interpretation generated by the advertisers in their advertisements.

Weasel Words

Table 1. Weasel Words

Lenovo ThinkPad

S440Ultrabook

Fujitsu LifeBook

U904

Dell Vostro

5470

Samsung ATIV Book 9

Plus

- Designed

for

the

future

- Elegant

package.

- Immersive multimedia

experience

- Perform with brilliance.

- An attractively fully-featured.

- The outstanding

thin design.

- Faster performance

and built-in

security

solutions to

keep you

productive.

- Work smarter and look

sharp.

- The essential security and

support you

need to keep

you on the

winning path.

- You can boot up in seconds.

- A crystal clear collaboration

solution.

- The resolution so high, even

the details

have details.

- Incredible detail and ease

of use.

- Its incredible images are

viewable

indirect

sunlight.

- It looks so

gorgeous.

- Performs every bit as

impressively as

it looks.O

HIGH, EVEN

THE

DETAILS

HAVE

DETAILS.

RESOLUTIO

N

The result of the analysis of the weasel words used in each advertisement showed that

each advertisement used different combinations of weasel words. The first advertisement I

analyzed was DV that used the most weasel words among others. DV used these phrases as

weasel words, they were, “faster performance”, “look sharp”, “work smarter”, “a crystal

clear”, “keep you productive” and“keep you on the winning path”. From the phrase “a crystal

clear”, it could be implied that the advertiser of DV might want to present one of the strengths

of the product which is a very clear noiseless sound produced from the laptop to the readers.

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The phrase “work smarter” was presented to reassure the readers that the laptop could help

the readers to do their work with more advanced applications of the laptop since the word

“smarter” refers to the applications of the laptop which has meaning that it can do like

something that has brain does. The comparative “smarter” is used to compare the product

with other laptops which means that the laptop can do better than other laptops. Those weasel

words might affect the readers to buy the product since it tries to impress the readers,

especially on the performance of the laptop.

Whereas, SA used the phrases “the details have details”, “incredible details”,

“incredible images”, “so gorgeous”, and “impressively as it looks”. The advertiser of SA

might want to tell the readers that the laptop can produce very good images until the details

can be seen by saying “incredible images” and “incredible details”. The phrase “impressively

as it looks” is used to emphasize that the laptop can perform the work very good just like how

it looks. By using these weasel words, the advertiser of SA might want to tell the readers

about the capability of the product to perform some works in very good ways as the strength

of the product.

FL and LT used the same amount of weasel words and were the fewest use of weasel

words among the others. FL used “performs with brilliance”, “outstanding thin design” and

“attractively fully-featured”. The phrase “performs with brilliance” showed the readers that

the laptop can perform some works as brilliant as something that has a brain does. Whereas,

“outstanding thin design” told the readers that the laptop has an incredible thin body which

might be light to carry. Based on the weasel words used by FL advertiser, it could be said that

the advertiser wanted to present the good performance and appearance as the strengths of the

product.

The last advertisement, LT used “ designed for the future”, “elegant package” and

“immersive multimedia experience.” The phrase “designed for the future” refers to the

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applications that the laptop has. By saying that phrase, the advertiser of LT wanted to present

to the readers that the laptop has advanced applications since it is designed for the future

which means advanced technology time. Whereas, the phrase “elegant package” means that

the laptop is framed into a stylish appearance that may look attractive to see. Those weasel

words used by the LT advertiser show that the advertiser wanted to present the performance

and appearance as the strengths of the product. Based on the previous finding, it could be said

that two advertisements presented performance and appearance as the strengths whereas the

other two only presented the performance as the strength.

Personal Pronouns

Table 2. Personal Pronoun

Lenovo ThinkPad

S440 Ultrabook

Fujitsu LifeBook

U904

Dell Vostro

5470

Samsung ATIV Book

9 Plus

- And you have an unparalleled

computing

experience.

- Offer you the exceptional

mobility. - Enterprise-

grade security

to protect most

valuable asset-

your company

data.

- Be available wherever you

are.

- Keep you productive

everywhere

you go.

- The essential security and

support you

need to keep

you on the

wining path.

- You will appreciate the

performance

- Fit easily into your Dell

carrying case

and go

wherever your

business takes

you.

- You can type comfortably.

- When you do, you’ll

realize it’s

a

premium

touchscreen

that enables

you to tap

and

swipe your

way easily

through the

day.

15

The table 2 shows that two advertisements used a different amount of personal

pronouns, except for two advertisements that used the same amount of personal pronouns.

DV had the most use of personal pronoun among other advertisements, followed by FL, SA

then the last one was LT since it only used one personal pronoun in the advertisement. The

difference was found in the use of personal pronoun from each advertisement that FL and DV

used more types of personal pronoun than LT and SA did.

LT and SA used one type of personal pronoun, which was nominative personal

pronoun “you”. The use of nominative personal pronoun in these advertisements show that

the readers are the subject of the sentence. By putting, nominative personal pronoun in those

advertisements, it means that the advertisers tried to communicate with the readers. The

nominative personal pronouns used in LT and SA advertisements also show what the readers

will get if they have the laptop as the tool to help them with their work.

Whereas, FL and DV advertisements used two types of personal pronouns which were

nominative personal pronoun “you” and possessive personal pronoun “your”. The use of

nominative personal pronoun “you” in these advertisements was similar to previous

advertisements which are to have a communication with the readers and to show what the

users will get if they have the laptop to help their work. Meanwhile, the use of possessive

personal pronoun used in FL try to show to the readers about what the most valuable asset is.

The possessive personal pronoun used in DV tried to show the ownership of things of the

readers; they are reader’s carrying case and business. Based on the use of personal pronoun

explained previously, it could be said that the advertisers use nominative personal pronouns

to have a communication with the readers and to show what the readers will get if they get

and have the product whereas, possessive personal pronoun referred to what belong to the

readers.

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Sentence Length

Table 3. Sentence Length

Lenovo ThinkPad

S440 Ultrabook

Fujitsu LifeBook

U904

Dell Vostro 5470

Samsung ATIV

Book 9 Plus

Slogan = 8 words

Headline= 73 words

Slogan = 3 words

Headline= 85 words

Slogan= 4 words

Headline= 20 words

Slogan= 8 words

Headline= 113 words

The previous data showed how many words were in the slogan and headline of the

advertisement. There was no distinct difference in the length of the advertisement since all

the advertisements were categorized as very easy to read in their slogan. However, most

headlines were considered very difficult to read since they have above 17 words. Unless for

DV advertisement, it had 20 words which was close to the limit of standard words in the

advertisement which was 17 words. Therefore, the headline in DV advertisement was still

categorized as easy to read since it was not much more than 17 words.

From the finding, it could be meant that all advertisements used short sentences in the

slogan due to its attempt to attract the readers to read the headline of the advertisement. Three

words were categorized as very easy to read. Thus, it wouldn’t be difficult for the readers to

read the slogan at a glance then continue to the headline. The headlines of the advertisements

used long sentences since they declared the top specifications of each product. The use of

long sentences in the headlines might due to the need of the advertiser declare the top

specifications that the products had.

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Types of Sentences

After analyzing types of sentences in each advertisement, it could be said that three of

four advertisements used only declarative sentences from the slogan to the headline. The

advertisements used the declarative since it informed the readers about the top specifications

of the products itself. However, FL used two types of sentences in the advertisement’s

headline, the first type was the declarative sentences followed byan exclamative sentence.

The exclamative sentence of the advertisement was in a form of a question “what’s more?”

then, it was followed by the declarative sentences that answer the exclamative sentence of

“what’s more?”.

The change from the declarative sentence to the exclamative sentence was to make

the headline more interesting to read for the readers and to prevent a flat communication. By

inserting the exclamative sentence “what’s more?” inside the declarative sentences, it would

also help the readers to keep continue reading the advertisement if they get bored while they

read it since the exclamative sentence “what’s more?” was followed by the declarative

sentences which means that there are more information on the top specifications of the

product that should be read by the readers.

Figurative Language

Table 4. Figurative Language

Lenovo ThinkPad S440

Ultrabook

Fujitsu LifeBook U904 Dell Vostro 5470 Samsung ATIV Book 9

Plus

-Its super-crisp 35.6cm

(14-inch) frameless

WQHD+ IGZO display

also supports touch

input

With faster performance,

touch screen option, and

the essential security and

support you need to keep

you on the winning path.

Based on the data displayed previously, three of four advertisements used figurative

language except LT and SA. The figurative languages used by three advertisements were

18

different from one to another. FL used the word “super-crisp” and “frameless”, those words

were categorized into hyperbole since they exaggerated the qualities of the product. The word

“crisp” means firm, therefore “super-crisp” means very firm which referred to the physical

figure of the laptop. The word “frameless” literally means without frame, but in the use of

figurative language in this context, the word “frameless” could mean very thin which also

referred to the physical figure of the laptop. Thus, the advertiser of FL wanted to present the

strength of the product to the readers that the laptop has a very thin body figure which might

be light to carry and fit in any bag spaces without worrying about it being broken since the

laptop is also firm.

Meanwhile, DV used personification since the product said “the essential security and

support you need, to keep you on the winning path”, by looking at the figurative language

mentioned previously, it could be said that the advertiser used a human role on the strength of

the product. The essential security and support of the product could keep the user on the

winning path which is something that can only be done by a human. By using that figurative

language, the advertiser of DV wanted to present the strength of the product to the readers

that the laptop can keep the users success to do the work with the laptop since it can perform

very well with its essential security and support.

My finding was similar to Ogungbe (2011, p.46) that he also found the figurative

language used in telecom sales promotion messages in Nigeria. He found hyperbole and

metaphor in telecom sales promotion, whereas I found hyperbole and personification in two

out of four laptop advertisements. The use of hyperbole and personification in the laptop

advertisements I analyzed were presented to the readers to create impression over the

product. The use of figurative language in these advertisements had a similar purpose to

weasel words which also create an impression on the product, so would be able to attract the

reader’s attention and encourage them to buy the product.

19

Literal Language

Table 5. Literal language

Lenovo ThinkPad S440

Ultrabook

Fujitsu LifeBook U904 Dell Vostro 5470 Samsung

ATIV Book 9

Plus

Describe the strengths of

the product by using

three passive sentences

of four sentences written

in the headline.

Describe the strengths of

the product by using

active sentences.

Describe the strengths of

the product by using

active sentences.

Describe the

strengths of

the product by

starting it with

common sense

that sharper

screen

resolution will

result in better

view. The

advertisement

also mostly

use active

sentences to

describe the

product’s

strengths.

The finding of the literal language used in advertisement showed that there were very

few differences on how the advertisements deliver their literal meaning. Two of four

advertisements used the distinct different style for delivering the literal meaning to the

readers.The table 5 showed that three of four advertisements used active sentences to deliver

the literal language to describe the products. It might be due to the readers that would be

easier to understand the advertisement using active sentences. The only advertisement that

used passive sentences was LT; the use of passive sentences in this advertisement might be

due to the length of the headline.

Based on my finding on the short sentences, DV had the shortest length of headline’s

sentence but it did not describe the specifications of the product. Even though LT did not

have the shortest sentence length on the headline, but it delivered a brief description of the

20

specifications of the product. Efficiency might be a reason for the LT’s advertiser to keep the

sentences short but still describe some important specifications of the product. SA used a

common sense that a sharper screen resolution would gain a better view. This common sense

could lead to reader’s interest to read further since most of them would agree that a sharper

resolution will gain a better view.

CONCLUSION

The study was conducted to find the textual devices and its interpretation used in four

laptop advertisements with different brands but similar product’s specifications. Based on the

finding of the study, each advertiser of each brand used different kinds of textual devices to

deliver the message to the readers. LT used weasel words, personal pronouns, long sentences,

declarative sentences, and passive sentences whereas FL used weasel words, personal

pronouns, long sentences, declarative and exclamative sentences, figurative language and

active sentences. Meanwhile, DV used weasel words, personal pronouns, short sentence,

declarative sentences, figurative language and active sentences whereas SA used weasel

words, personal pronouns, long sentences, declarative sentences and active sentences. The

message which can be derived from the meaning of the textual devices used by each

advertiser also varied, and it could be generated from the use of weasel words, personal

pronouns, and figurative language. I also found that the use of weasel words and figurative

language as textual devices has similar function which was to create impression over the

product to the readers.

The result might be different if the objects being researched were more than four and

the linguistic styles being researched were different. I did my research on four laptop

advertisements with three textual devices due to the limit of time I had. This research could

be implied in the study of advertisement language on what kind of textual devices are usually

21

used by the advertiser to make the advertisement language attractive and what messages are

the advertisers try to say by using those textual devices in their advertisements . Further

research of this study may involve a different kind of an advertisement such as a television

advertisement, a sales promotion or a youtube advertisement. The textual devices used as

investigation tools might be broader since linguistic has so many knowledge about language.

Thus, it can be the reference for those who want to study the same topic.

22

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, I would like to express my thankfulness to the Heavenly Father who bless

my study from the beginning until the end of my thesis submission. I give my first

appreciation to my supervisor, Maria Christina Eko Setyarini, M. Hum for kindly giving

guidance to do my thesis. My second appreciation is for my thesis examiner, Athriana Santye

Pattiwael, M.Hum for reading and examining my thesis. I also thank to my mom who always

support me during my study until thesis submission. The last thank is for my brother who

always be there for me in all my conditions.

23

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