A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF BANK ADVERTISEMENT IN NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS

1.1 Introduction

Newspaper is hardly ever known as views paper, it is remarkable how often a newspaper is known not for its news, but for its views, while news is sacred and opinion that evidently counts. Reading newspaper informs readers’ as well as enhances the readers’ literacy skills. News frequently is transient but views of opinion have the aura of certain permanence about them. It is in attempt to separate news from news that newspaper creates editorial columns as against the news columns. Advertising is a form of communication used in selling products and services. Adverts are not only meant to fascinate, but also to catch attention, persuade, appeal and contribute towards satisfaction (Robert 2013).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

In the world today, people still continue to research into what language is and its functions. Hence, linguists are in agreement about some of the characteristics of human language, its definition and functions. The use of language has also become deeply entrenched in human culture and apart from being used to communicate and share information; it also has social uses such as social stratification, social grooming, entertainment and persuasion.

Advertising is a form of communication used to encourage or persuade on audience (viewer, reader or listeners) to continue to take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to influence consumers’ behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although, political and ideological advertising is also common. The purpose of advertising may also be to reassure employees or shareholders that a company is viable or successful. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media: including mass media such as: newspaper, magazines, television commercials, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail, or new media such as websites and text-messages.

The English language originates from England. It later spread across the borders of Great Britain and even beyond the continent of Europe to America, Australia, Asia and Africa. It has become so widespread that it is often considered the world language.

The advent of English in Africa cannot be separated from the incursions of trade, missionary and colonial activities. Though, the primary purpose of the missionaries was not to make Christian converts speak English, nevertheless, it was to make the populace literate enough to read the bible in their own languages. Some indigenes were able to learn and use the language after which they became catechists and teachers in the mission schools. The British later colonized Nigeria and of course used their language – English – for administration. It also became more prominent in the educational system and was used for official purposes. It became an elitist symbol used by a few privileged Nigerians who serve as models for some indigenes who sought after education.

English language has become therefore an important second language in Nigeria and the rate at which it is accorded importance cannot be over-emphasized. It is an official language, being used to conduct legislative, executive and judicial functions, the principal medium of instruction in Nigeria schools and also the language of journalism.

It is noteworthy that the earliest forms of newspaper advertising were crude and unsophisticated. But they not only help the local merchants to sell of his goods, or services, but also set a pace for the modern methods of advertising, which have over a long period of time undergone tremendous changes such that today, a lot can be written on the language of advertising in Nigeria. This is possible because advertising has become more professional, involving copywriters who exploit all the available linguistic devices to make their adverts not only persuasive, but also aesthetically appealing.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Stylistic Analysis of Bank Advertisement in Nigerian Newspapers.

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1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the structure of language in advertising has a peculiar form. Many factors predispose the copywriter (i.e. one who writes advertisements) to choose his vocabulary this in some sense implies that copywriter does not have a free flow of lexical items. It is worthy to note that some important points about newspapers is that they are businesses, and businesses need to make a profit. They can only do that if they have readers.

So newspapers have to provide us with the most up-to-date information: News features and also movie listings, the weather, sports scores, and so on. The greater the circulation, the more advertising a paper can sell which means more profits, but less space stones. Newspapers need to balance these needs.

It is however clear that the copywriter is restrained to the use of language in advertisement, and the owner of the advert has a primary motive of making profit out of the adverts. It is obvious that in good adverts language matters in this context; therefore, purpose of this study is to critically analyze the most suitable language for newspaper advertisement.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to analyze the Bank Advertisement in Nigerian Newspapers. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To identify stylistic features (such as cohesion, morphology, syntax, style and semantics) employed by advertisers in selected bank advertisements.
2. To comparatively analyze the stylistic features and Nigerian bank advertisements.
3. To examine the functions of the identified stylistic features in different contexts.
4. To determine the right choice of language used in newspaper bank advertisement.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does stylistics in advertising texts function in different contexts?
• What makes you stop and look at the adverts?
• What are the stylistic features embedded in selected bank advertisements?
• What are the similarities and dissimilarities and Nigerian bank advertisements?
• What kind of message should be driven out through bank advertisement?

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1.6 Significance of Study

This study will be able to unveil some of those hidden facts about the use and choice of languages used in newspaper advertisements, and also bring about a more refined advert outputs.

This research study will highly relevant to the readers, and especially to the world of journalism in the way and manner in which adverts are to be constructed and be placed on newspapers for public consumption.

This study identifies the stylistics features used by bank advertisements in the print media and examines how language is used to convey messages in different contexts. Given that studies on language use are of high interest to linguists, this study evaluates the effectiveness of choice of language in bank advertisements. The results of this investigation will be useful to advertisers in the banking sector, students of advertising and future researchers.

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1.7 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on Language Analysis of Newspaper Advertisements. This study is basically limited in space to the Vanguard Newspaper of Nigeria, and also to the world of publication and journalism.

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1.8 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

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1.9 Definition of Terms

Advertisement: A public notice or announcement

Announcement: To make publicly known

Newspaper: A printed publication containing news, advertisement and correspondence.