The Structure and Communicative Impact of Shona Advertisements

There has been increasing interest in advertising in Shona in Zimbabwe, previously the preserve of English. This development has received little attention from linguists. This monograph thus fills a gap. It examines the form and communicative impact of Shona advertisements using text linguistics. It asserts that these texts have cohesion so to decode them all structures must be co-interpreted. It lso established that these texts could be in the question and answer and the problem-solution- evaluation forms. The research further concludes that Shona commercial advertisements have both the presenting and hidden agendas while information giving ones had no hidden agenda. While the surface meaning was easily recognised, the deeper one was not. The presenting agenda enticed readers by highlighting the advantages of brands while the deeper meaning encompassed their liabilities. But most readers' comprehension end with the presenting agenda. For information giving advertisements, all the information was clarified. The target readers of this publication are linguists, students, advertisers, agents and audiences of Shona advertisements.

Autorentext

Shumirai Nyota, PhD: Studied African Languages with the Univrsity of South Africa. Senior Lecturer in linguistics, Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe.