Persuasive Strategies in Kurdish Advertisements: A Pragmatic Study

Abstract

This research studies persuasive strategies that include speech acts and Grice’s Cooperative Principle in Kurdish advertisements. Four types of Kurdish newspapers are used with two examples in each one. This research investigates the use of language in Kurdish advertisements with the goal of influencing consumers in particular sectors. It aims at examining the functioning of the advertisements in relation to the Grecian Cooperative Principle. Kurdish advertising texts are also analyzed in terms of locutionary, illocutionary as well as perlocutionary acts investigating how these acts operate. The methodology is based on a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of a set of Kurdish advertising samples, with a focus on the coherence, brevity and cultural appropriateness of the language. The study revealed that the successful Kurdish advertisements skillfully control the utilization of speech acts and maintain or deviate the Grecian maxims to improve their persuasive potency. It is also evident through analysis of advertisements that the most common maxim employed is the Quality maxim, for example, such as Dala Brand Sunflower Oil advertisement. Less frequently used is a Manner maxim,as in this ad from Korek Telecommunications. In connection to speech acts, the most frequent type was the illocutionary act followed by the locutionary act, while the perlocutionary act was used the least.