EXPERIENTIAL FUNCTION IN VERBAL AND NON-VERBAL MODES OF WWF ADVERTISEMENTS.

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EXPERIENTIAL FUNCTION IN VERBAL & NON-VERBAL

MODES OF WWF ADVERTISEMENTS

A Thesis

Submitted to English Applied Linguistics Study Program

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Humaniora

By:

HERMANSYAH

REG.NO.: 8106112009

ENGLISH APPLIED LINGUISTICS DEPARTMENT

POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL

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ABSTRACT

Hermansyah, Registration number: 8106112009, Experiential Function in Verbal and Non – Verbal Modes of WWF Advertisements. A thesis. English Applied Linguistics Study Program. Postgraduate School. State University of Medan. January 2014.

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ABSTRAK

Hermansyah, NIM: 8106112009, Experiential Function in Verbal and Non – Verbal Modes of WWF Advertisements. Sebuah tesis. Program Studi Lingustik Terapan Bahasa Inggris. Pasca Sarjana. Universitas Negeri Medan. Januari 2014.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go first of all to everyone who, by making such an effort in

contributing ideas and knowledge, made this project possible. You remain

anonymous and anonymized but you know who you are!

My thanks also to my beloved wife, Mia, for our runs together and for

keeping me sane: as Hakunna Matata (Aji and Assifa) say, running certainly

teaches you a lot about how to write!

Above all, my thanks go to Prof. Dr. Busmin Gurning, M.Pd, Head of

English Applied Linguistics Study Program and also my advisor, whose advise,

encouragement, reviews, comments, suggestions and patience have been a feature

of the writing process from the very beginning of this thesis. His unerring ability

to spot his problems and mistakes saved me from many mishaps and inspired me

to go further than he might otherwise have done. The writer is also grateful to

Prof. Amrin Saragih, M.A., PhD, the co-advisor, for his robust criticisms, reviews

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Advertisement is a form of communication to persuade the audience to

take action. It is becoming a part of people’s daily life. This type of discourse

exists everywhere, in newspapers and magazines, on television, billboards, radio,

the internet and even the mobile phones.

In general, advertisement can be classified into commercial advertisements

and public service advertisements. Companies use commercial advertisements to

promote their products. The major purpose of this type of advertisement is to sell

products and to make profits. Thus, the language of commercial advertisements

should be persuasive. And public service advertisement uses the same techniques

as commercial advertisements do. However, its purpose is to inform, educate and

motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as climate change, health,

education, energy conservation, wildlife, environment, and so on. One of

organizations that always concerns about it is World Wild Fund (WWF).

WWF is a non-profit organization, which has made great achievement for

public service with the help of its public service advertising. Its public service

advertisements can be seen at many places around the world and have influenced

people’s behaviors a lot.

Unlike most advertisements, WWF advertisements are advertised without

having any body copies. Meanwhile Ning Yu (2008) states that most audience are

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headline, slogan or the picture only than the advertisements that consist of body

copy.

Body copy is a type of text in an advertisement which is to expand the

basic concept with and informative and persuasive prose that sells the product. It

is always much longer than other types of text in advertisement. For example in

advertisement: Stop Illegal Logging, it has body copy as follows: Illegal logging

dapat menyebabkan kerusakan lingkungan dan satwa liar, Ayo hentikan Illegal

logging sekarang juga. In this advertisement, the meaning of the message has

been obtained only from the body copy. And it has delivered the danger of doing

the action directly to the audience. So it does not create different interpretation to

the audience because its body copy says so. Moreover, the advertisement is

supported by its picture, it shows a picture of a man cutting a tree with a seesaw.

But if it is compared with the following WWF advertisement which has no body

copy, the text says “Fashion claims more victims than you think.” The picture

shows a leopard and a cub walk along through the savanna. Seen from the picture

and the text, they are not related. It is less difficult to get the cognitive concept

from the advertisement than the advertisement with a body copy, moreover for

those who have no knowledge and experience on it.

To understand the cognitive concept of the advertisement, scholars have

been aware of the fact that when one is explaining something to another person,

whether in verbal or non-verbal modes, s/he instinctively tries to organize what

s/he says in a way that will make it easier for the hearer or the reader to

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concerns with clause that have guised as the way representing patterns of

experience.

In line with the statement above, Halliday (1985:45) states that “to be able

to read, listen effectively and with understanding a certain text, we have to be able

to interpret it in terms of systemic functional grammar. In addition, Bell (2001:

121) states that experiential function expresses cognitive meaning and draws the

systems and networks of transitivity to create propositions, which convey the

user’s experience of the external world of the senses and inner world of the mind.

It has a constituent structure that can be described functionally in terms of

process, participant, and circumstance, with process being the essential ingredient.

It can be said that experiential function concerns with the clauses that have guises

as the way of representing patterns of experience through the process of doing,

process of being, process of existing, process of physiological and psychological,

indicating perception, relational, activities of saying, commanding, asking, and

etc. all of these elements can make the readers understand the verbal mode of the

advertisement.

According to Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen (1996:13),Alike

verbal mode, Non-verbal has grammatical structure; different interpretations of

experience can be encoded using not only verbal mode but also non-verbal mode.

Non-verbal mode is any visual mode is designed to affect the audience in some

purposeful way in order to express the cognitive meaning.

Following the public service advertisement above, one can see advertising

as a special kind of discourse. It can be strongly inferred that advertising is a type

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concept in mind and aims to explore the experiential function realization in verbal

and non-verbal modes of WWF advertisements.

1.2 Problems of the Study

With respect to the background of the study, the problems of the study

are formulated as the following:

(1) What is the type of process dominantly used in verbal and non-verbal

modes of WWF advertisements?

(2) What is the type of circumstance dominantly used in verbal and

non-verbal modes of WWF advertisements?

(3) Why is the pattern of experiential function used in the way it is in

verbal and non-verbal modes of WWF advertisements?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

In relation to the questions of the research problems, the objectives of

the study are:

(1) to describe the type of process used in verbal and non-verbalmodes in

WWF advertisements,

(2) to describe the type of circumstance used in verbal and non-verbalmodes

in WWF advertisements, and

(3) to explain the reasons for the pattern of experiential function in verbal and

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1.4 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study is limited on looking at experiential function especially in

verbal and non-verbal modes in public service advertisements. The study is

restricted to the print public service advertisements advertised by World Wide

Fund (WWF) in 2012. The data source was taken from magazines, newspapers,

and internet.

1.5 Significance of the Study

Findings of this study are expected to be useful theoretically and

practically.

1. Theoretically, the readers can enlarge their knowledge on and help to

understand experiential function realization especially for verbal and non

verbal modesof WWF advertisement.

2. Practically, the findings of this study will also be useful for the next

researchers to investigate the other phenomena related to experiential function

realization in advertisement as well as the contribution for advertising

companies to create a creative and persuasive advertisement as a form of

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusions

Having analyzed the data, it is concluded that

a. Material process is the dominant type used in verbal mode of WWF

advertisements.It expresses the notion that some entities ‘do’ something

which may be done ‘to’ some other entities. Theoretically the intention of

the verbal mode of the WWF advertisements was to attract public’s

intention, make them do an action wildlife and environment reservation.

Meanwhile, in non-verbal mode of WWF advertisements, relational

process is the dominant one and followed by existential process.It

expresses the notion whether they are being used to identify something or

assign a quality to something. On the other words, the intention of the

verbal mode of the WWF advertisements was to portray and identify the

quality of the existence of wildlife and environment.

b. Location circumstance is dominantly used both in verbal and non-verbal

mode of the advertisements.Location circumstance indicates time and

place in which the process occurs. On the other word, the non-verbal mode

of WWF advertisements was to portray the existence of the wildlife and

environment.

c. The use of process and circumstance in such a way both in verbal and

non-mode of WWF advertisement because the advertisements can work

effectively and attractively if the two modes combined. And they will

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work wonders and successful if they delivered with the appropriate and

effective words, simple clause, easy to be understood and attractive as well

as creative picture. As the result audience can take action for a better

world.

5.2 Suggestions

With reference to the conclusions, suggestions are staged as the followings

a. It is suggested that the advertisers should clearly use exact verbal and

non-verbal modes to describe how their advertisements are beneficial to the

consumers by applying material process in verbal mode and location and

existential circumstance in non-verbal mode. In this way, they offer

satisfaction to the potential consumers and their products gain more

purchases.

b. The advertisers are also suggested to specify in what circumstance their

products satisfy the consumers. In this way they are expected to use

appropriate circumstances of location and existential. This is potential to

gain more attention for customers.

c. It is suggested that the potential consumers should consider the products

they want to purchases by which they gain satisfactorily – purchased

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