The role of figurative language use in the representation of tourism services

Djafarova, Elmira (2017) The role of figurative language use in the representation of tourism services. Athens Journal of Tourism, 4 (1). pp. 35-50. ISSN 2241-8148

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Abstract

The majority of tourism research explores the images represented visually, as the visual plays a vital part in the production and performance of tourism services. Less attention is paid to the text in this context, although it also has a strong visual element expressed in words. The language, which represents tourism, has a central connection with tourists‟ attitudes that deserves to be included in the research. Tourism is a service industry and its products are not easily tested. Customers are dependent on the marketing activities for constructing the images of these services. This article explores the use of figurative language, specifically metaphors and puns and its contribution to the communication of tourism images. Relevance Theory, a pragmatic approach helps to understand how puns and metaphors are interpreted. Figures of speech enhance representation of tourism services visually and help to attract the attention to the presented services. According to Relevance Theory, to ensure successful use of figures of speech, more anchoring is required in the text. This will help consumers shape tourism images. The article attempts to provide preliminary outcomes, which would further assist the research in similar areas of language use.

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