Lexical Broadening Process of English Cosmetics advertisements: A Lexical Pragmatic Study

Abstract

if it is employed in the suitable manner. Cosmetics ads have an integral part of our daily lives since the arrival of internet. Accordingly, there still exists an obvious gap to be filled by approaching these ads from the perspective of lexical pragmatics (henceforth LP). The problem addressed in the current study is simply represented by the sort of uncertainty that may exist over the type of lexical broadening processes employed by the designers of these ads and the strategies they employ to influence their consumers and get them involved into these ads. The present paper aims to investigate the lexical broadening processes employed by the advertisers to construct their intended meanings and messages. This study is based on the hypotheses that the advertisers depend heavily on lexical broadening processes to convey their ideas and intended messages. It is also hypothesized that by using various lexical broadening processes, the advertisers express the intended meaning in their ads. The selected cosmetics ads have been analyzed in the light of Wilson and Carston )2007( model. The analysis of the selected ads has shown that the advertisement-markers depend on lexical broadening processes because they are heavily used in the selected ads.