Advertising Language and 16th Century Novel Forms

Advertising Language and Persuasion

Advertising uses the language of images and dominates the conative function, which serves to convince the audience to take an action (to buy, to vote, etc.). This type of language usually employs imperative verbs in the second person singular. It favors easy-to-understand, simple, short sentences, rhyming, and word games. The issuer is always an entity (company, brand, government, NGOs...), and the receiver is always a mass audience.

The image must often be accompanied by a slogan (a phrase associated with the product). Commutative advertising language is used to sell a product; the advertiser creates an association of ideas, relating the product to a range of values known to be attractive to the receiver. Advertisers must do their best to ensure the recipient purchases their product over others, sometimes using shocking images to attract imaginative receptors.

16th Century Context and Novel Development

External circumstances in the 16th century favored the development of the novel, which appeared following the invention of printing at the end of the 15th century. Thanks to printing, books became cheaper and accessible to more people. Cities developed, attracting people who worked in handicrafts and trade. These people had more free time engaged in reading. Illiteracy decreased, and universities emerged.

The 16th Century Novel: Escape and Entertainment

The 16th-century novel focused on escape and entertainment. The main themes were adventures and love, often set in distant places or the past.

Main Sub-genres of the Sixteenth-Century Novel

• Pastoral Novel: Features idealized shepherds in an ideal location. The theme is love.
• Byzantine Fiction: Focuses on a couple's problems. The theme is love.
• Moorish/Morisca Fiction: Characters are Moors, set in exotic, distant places. The theme is love.
• Ballad/Chivalric Fiction: Set in the Middle Ages, the protagonist is a knight performing heroic deeds. The theme is love.

The Picaresque Novel

The picaresque novel is realistic; it shows society of the era as it truly is. The protagonist is a rogue (a marginalized person in society who must fight to survive). The hero narrates his story in the first person, in chronological order, from birth to death. It serves as a critique of different sectors of society through the protagonist's experiences.