Russian Journal of LinguisticsRussian Journal of LinguisticsRussian Journal of Linguistics2687-00882686-8024Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)3208710.22363/2687-0088-24591ArticlesСтатьиArticlesResearch ArticleRhetorical structure and persuasive features of advertising: An intercultural analysis of English and Arabic online advertisementsРиторическая структура и средства убеждения в рекламных текстах: межкультурный анализ английской и арабской онлайн-рекламыhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9286-4230KhedriMohsenХедриМохсен

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Language Studies

доцент факультета лингвистики

mkhedri@su.edu.omHasanEatidalХасанИтидалAssistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Artsстарший преподаватель факультета искусствeathasan@yahoo.comhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8011-2138KritsisKonstantinosКритсисКонстантинос

Lecturer in Translation and Interpreting Studies at the Department of English Studies

старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка

kritsis.konstantinos@ucy.ac.cySohar UniversityСохарский университетUniversity of GharyanГарьянский университетUniversity of CyprusКипрский университет30092022263VOL 26, NO3 (2022)ТОМ 26, №3 (2022)59662401102022Copyright ©; 2022, Khedri M., Hasan E., Kritsis K.Copyright ©; 2022, Хедри М., Хасан И., Критсис К.Copyright ©; 2022, Khedri M., Hasan E., Kritsis K.2022Khedri M., Hasan E., Kritsis K.Хедри М., Хасан И., Критсис К.Khedri M., Hasan E., Kritsis K.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0https://journals.rudn.ru/linguistics/article/view/32087

Nowadays, the bulk of e-commerce is carried out in English. At the same time, however, the emergence and growth of Arab e-commerce has attracted attention from e-commerce giants, such as AliBaba and Amazon. Acquiring a deeper understanding of culture-specific advertising practices is thus quickly becoming necessary for digital advertisers and marketers seeking to tap into both English- and Arabic-speaking consumer markets. Despite this, little has been written on online advertising discourse within the particular contexts. To address this, the present study reports on a pragmatic two-level rhetorical analysis of the macro-structure of the sub-genre of online advertisements in English and Arabic and focuses on the identification of the persuasive linguistic features employed to signal constituent moves. Drawing upon Swales’ move-step model of rhetorical analysis, the exploration of a comparable corpus of 100 online advertisements of skin care products per language introduced new layers in the rhetorical organisation of [online] advertisements. The results revealed that English and Arabic advertisements consisted of both common and culture-specific rhetorical moves. The persuasive strategies employed common lexico-grammatical features at syntactic, semantic, and discoursal level, albeit to a different extent. Overall, the results of this study illustrate that online advertisements of skin care products could be considered as a particular sub-genre with context-specific macro- and micro-structures. Through the investigation of the specific datasets, this study expands upon the existing analytical frameworks used for the study of advertising discourse and adds to the intercultural exploration of the rhetorical structures and persuasive strategies used in online advertisements.

В наши дни большая часть интернет-торговли осуществляется с использованием английского языка. В то же время возникновение и рост арабской интернет-коммерции привлекает внимание таких гигантов интернет-торговли, как AliBaba и Amazon. В связи с этим возрастает потребность в более глубоком понимании культурно-специфических рекламных практик рекламодателями и маркетологами, стремящимися выйти как на англоязычные, так и арабоязычные потребительские рынки. Однако, работы, посвященные онлайн-рекламному дискурсу в определенных контекстах, немногочисленны. Настоящее исследование посвящено прагматическому двухуровневому риторическому анализу макроструктуры субжанра англоязычной и арабоязычной онлайн-рекламы. В центре внимания авторов - языковые средства убеждения, используемые как сигналы конститутивных ходов. Рассмотрение сравнительного корпуса 100 интернет-реклам продуктов для ухода за кожей, проведенное с опорой на модель риторического анализа ходов/ шагов (Swales), позволяет выделить новые слои риторической организации онлайн-рекламы. Результаты показывают, что в англоязычной и арабоязычной рекламе применяются как общие, так и культурно-специфичные риторические ходы. Стратегии убеждения в разной степени используют общие лексико-грамматические черты на синтаксическом, семантическом и дискурсивном уровнях. В целом, результаты анализа показывают, что онлайн-рекламу продуктов для ухода за кожей можно рассматривать как определенный субжанр с культурно-специфическими макро- и микроструктурами. Исследование специфических баз данных позволяет расширить аналитические подходы, используемые для анализа рекламного дискурса, и вносит вклад в межкультурное изучение риторической структуры и стратегий убеждения, используемых в онлайн-рекламе.

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