Linguistic and cultural adaptation of English-language slogans in French advertising discourse

The present study was conducted within the framework of one of the most relevant scientific paradigms - discourse studies of two contacting languages. The focus of attention is French advertising discourse. A hypothesis proposes that the advertising text adaptation is influenced by both a specific feature of linguistic systems and the requirements of an extra-linguistic nature: pragmatics of an advertising slogan, linguistic situation and the cultural and historical features of the society. A contrastive analysis of the original advertising slogans of international companies (in English) and their translations adapted for the French-speaking audience is used to support the hypothesis put forward. A comparative study of slogans as structural units of discourse, which are considered as means of expressing cultural and communicative meanings directly affecting the consciousness of humans with a certain linguistic and cultural worldview, allows us identifying the main types of transformations of slogans during their adaptation to a new linguistic environment. Objectification of the data obtained is also provided by reference to the comparative-parametric method, on the basis of which the most frequent methods of foreign slogans adaptation are singled out. The ratio of linguistic and extralinguistic parameters in choosing a particular transformation model determines its effectiveness in terms of conveying communicative intention of the advertising slogan in a different linguistic and cultural situation.