| Abstrakt: |
This study provides an attitudinal sociolinguistic profile of English mixing in advertisements in Taiwan by investigating the general public's attitudes towards English mixing in advertising and the socio-psychological features English in advertising has acquired in Taiwan. The data of this study were collected from a questionnaire survey administered to 425 subjects of various ages, education levels, and occupations. Frequency counts were performed to analyze the data. Results indicate that various types of English-mixed advertising copy are positively received, and code-mixed copy is far more acceptable than monolingual English copy. Socio-psychologically, internationalism is the most conspicuous feature English has acquired in advertising in Taiwan. However, the specific socio-psychological effects of English vary with different degrees of English mixing in advertising copy and advertised product type. While monolingual English copy yields a greater sense of internationalism than code-mixed copy, code-mixed copy mainly signifies trendiness and cuteness. Using English in advertising imported products helps to promote consumers' confidence in these products. However, this positive effect of English does not extend either to the promotion of consumers' confidence in domestic products or to their acceptance of extensive and difficult English, due to the general public's low English proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
