Communicative Implicatures in Philippine TV Ads: Inputs to Communicative Language Teaching

Abstract

This study dealt with Philippine TV ads shown during primetime in the two (2) leading television networks – ABS-CBN and GMA. It primarily aimed to determine the characteristics of the TV ads, specifically to know the conventional implicatures, identify the language functions, and determine which ads can be used as instructional materials in language classes. Discourse analysis was used for this research, guided by communication and language theories, particularly the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach. From the ads analyzed, 38 expressions fall under conventional implicatures topped by presuppositions and followed by metaphor, entailment, paraphrase, and implicatives. In conversational implicatures meanings of utterances are only indirectly associated with the linguistic content. They were: representatives which ranked first, expressives followed, directives, declaratives or performatives, and commissives. Under language functions, ranking first is the representational function. Instrumental followed, then personal, and heuristics. No single instance or text came under the imaginative function. All the ads can be used as instructional materials in teaching general education language courses.