Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify linguistic features with which advertisers try to build relationships with consumers in Japanese and American cosmetic advertising, drawing on the notion of interpersonal function of Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics. The analyses conducted in this study revealed two distinct kinds in Japanese and American cosmetic advertising discourses. The typical Japanese advertising discourse is that advertisers try to tell their potential consumers how their products are good, and they want to share them with you and the others. In contrast, the typical American advertising discourse focuses on how their products are different, and that you should keep them for yourself because they will make you different.