A Relevance-based Model for Analyzing Arabic Advertisements

Relevance Theory is a theory of communication grounded in psychology and cognition. The theory treats utterance interpretation as a cognitive process. According to relevance theorists, utterances are linguistically encoded inputs to inferential processes which affect the cognitive environment of the hearer. By the same token, utterances are verbal stimuli decoded by hearers to derive an assumption or set of assumptions treated as the representations of the actual world and/or thoughts (Sperber and Wilson 1995:2). In the advertisement, the text conveys a range of implications, and it must be assumed that the most likely interpretation is that consistent with the advertisers desire to reinforce favourable associations with the brand. Advertising is essentially a form of communication through such diverse media as hand bills, newspapers, magazines, bill boards, letters, radio and television broadcasts and motion pictures. This study tries to analyse a number of Arabic advertisements that are taken from various social media web sites. As Relevance theory is one of the most important theory in pragmatics, this study follows a relevance-based model as it is the most suitable model to describe how the inferential process of the ostensive-inferential communication occurs. The main aim of this study is to identify and discuss how the inferential process of comprehending the advertisement happens and how the reader can arrive at the optimal relevance and get the most contextual effect that can change his cognitive environment with the least processing effort.