【正文】 It is a homonymic pun. Here, the same word hang is used twice. Combined with the context, we will find that the former mean united while the latter refers to death by hanging. It is ambiguity that produces puns. It is important to keep in mind that the central and fundamental phenomenon upon which puns operate is ambiguity. A pun deliberately employs phonemic or semantic conditions to express one meaning on the surface while hiding another. People can find theoretical support for the ambiguity of puns. Li Xinhua 9 (2020) maintains that the language unit has both form and content. While there is not a onetoone relationship between form and content, that is to say, one phonemic form does not signify one meaning, and one meaning is not represented by one language form. The Double Context Another striking characteristic is that a pun contains a double context. According to Li Xinhua, there are three elements in analyzing and posing a pun: a double context, a hinge and a trigger. A hinge is the pun itself, and a trigger refers to the intention and background that lurk behind the exploitation of puns, which is often employed when we analyze puns. Take the following as an example: (3) Mine is a long and sad tale! said the Mouse, turning to Alice and sighing. It is a long tail, certainly, said Alice, looking down with wonder at the mouse’s tail。 to provide the advertisers with the theory guiding principles of puns in advertising to make a better application of puns in their advertisements。本研究表明雙關(guān)語在英語廣告中有種八種功能：一 是 傳遞功能；二 是 吸引受眾注意力功能；三 是 使廣告簡潔凝練；四 是 美化廣告 語言；五 是 避免社會(huì)禁忌；六 是 幽默效果；七是 有效提出警告 ； 八 是 保持記憶效果。 8)memory retaining effect. The analysis of advertising puns can not only deepen the audience’s understanding of advertising puns but also enable the advertiser to make a better application of puns in advertisements. Key Words： advertisements, puns, Relevance Theory, functions 內(nèi) 容 摘 要 廣告是一種特殊的 交際與勸說工具，廣告商們善于運(yùn)用語言強(qiáng)大的表現(xiàn)力和靈活性，充分駕馭語言技巧來達(dá)到這一目的。 4)making advertisements aesthetic。 廣告中的雙關(guān)語的語用功能和運(yùn)用技巧 Pragmatic Function and Application of Puns in English Advertisements Abstract Advertising is highly effective tool of munication and persuasion. Adverting values the power and flexibility of language and employs many language techniques to achieve the effects. Pun, as a prominent form of wordplay, has been widely employed in advertisements. Therefore, based on Sperber and Wlison’s Relevance Theory, this study intends to analyze the interpreting process of puns in advertising. As to the reason why the advertiser prefers puns, it has assumed that it is because puns can bring out certain pragmatic function to help achieve certain municative effect. The present paper has proposed that puns have seven functions in English advertising: 1) information conveying。 5)avoiding social taboos。雙關(guān)語作為一種獨(dú)特的修辭手段，在廣告中應(yīng)用廣泛。本文通過對廣告的剖析不僅加深了人們對廣告雙關(guān)語的認(rèn)識(shí)，而且能使廣告更好地運(yùn)用廣告雙關(guān)語。 to help audiences achieve a better application of puns understanding of puns in advertisements and enjoy them. 1. A Brief View of Advertisements In this section, from the definition of the advertising to show the Relevance Theory can be used to analyze the English advertisements. And through the analysis of the functions and general characteristics of the advertisements to show that pun plays an important role in the English advertisements. So, the study of puns in English advertisements has a significant meaning. The Definition of Advertising The term advertising[1] has its origin in the Latin word advertere, meaning drawing attention to something or notifying or informing somebody of something. According to the Definitions Committee of the American Marketing Association, advertising[2] is the nonpersonal munication of information usually paid for and persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various medias. Several aspects of this 3 definition generally must be exchanged with exchanged with money. Secondly, the nonpersonal indicates that advertising involves certain people of the public, but there is no opportunity for immediate feedback from the information recipientsthe advertisement receivers. Thirdly, munication has been defined as the transferring of information, the exchange of ideas, or the process of establishing munication between a sender and a receiver. Fourthly, media refer to the channels like magazines, newspapers, TV, radios, etc. that can make the information recipients. Anyway, advertising is with us all the time and everywhere and we might define it as a munication process, a marketing process and an economic and social process. However, Relevance Theory is used to analyze this language phenomenon. In view of Sperber and Wilson’s claim that their theory can be applied to munication in general, so it also can work for advertising as well—at least in as much as advertising is a kind of munication. Function of Advertising Language possesses the following functions: phatic function, informative function, expressive function, evocative function, context function and directive function. Since advertising is a kind of munication, it employs language as the most important means for the intercourse and is provided with all the basic functions of language with special emphasis on informative, directive and express functions. In order to persuade consumers to buy the products of a 4 certain band, advertisers give information about their products to consumers, arouse the good feelings towards the brand, and finally motivate them to buy their products. In fact, the advertising language can be seen as the mon language exploited at its best, but one can still easily distinguish the advertising language from the other language of mon uses. This peculiarity of adverting lang