Discourse of Advertising: Reference to Kiswahili and English adverts in Kenyan Media

This study examines the nature of the discourse of advertising. The focus is on consumer advertising, which is directed towards the promotion of some product or service to the general public. The study, aims at uncovering the basic elements of the most pervasive, influential and inescapable discourse of the advertising text. It focuses on the interaction of language, image and layout, and examines advertising persuasive strategies. In doing so, it draws on various linguistic theories particularly pragmatic, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic. In addition this study provides analyses of some adverts, using different ways of interpretations; and ends with a discussion on advertising discourse. In this connection, instances from the Kenyan media and their analyses are provided; with a view to clarifying some rhetorical categories in Kiswahili and English advertising, and showing that texts construct meaning through interaction with other types of discourse, are inseparable from the culture of the advertising text