On Puns in English Advertisements--From the Perspective of Relevance Theory

Advertising is almost ubiquitous in today's society.In order to deliver the most effective information to the audience in alimited time and space,the advertisers pay more attention to the use of various language skills to promote sales,and puns are one ofthe most important means.Based on the Relevance Theory,this paper reveals the root cause of the successful communication of theadvertisement through the analysis of the audience's understanding of the advertisements with the pun.The first part of this paper mainly introduces the main concepts of Relevance Theory:the ostensive-inferential communication mod-el,cognitive context and the optimal relevance.The second part introduces the definition,features and functions of puns in EnglishAdvertisements.In the third part,based on the Relevance Theory,the paper analyzes the process of achieving the optimal rele-vance when the pun is regarded as an ostensive stimulus and combined with the cognitive context.Finally,the article concludesthat the use of puns in advertisements can achieve optimal relevance through such a cognitive process.