The increase of public concern over environmental issues has led to a surge of environmental appeals through advertisements (Hansen, 2002), in which advertisers make essential (mis-)use of the terms nature and natural (Harré et al., 1999). This research aims at revealing how nature and what is regarded as natural are described and employed by advertisers in British travel promotion texts in order to attract ecotourists. In particular, by tracing the discourses of nature through a corpus-based discourse analysis, the study investigates the meaning of the terms nature and natural in order to understand whether or not their usage in tourism advertising is deceptive. The results show that, although the lexical items used to describe the natural world seem to express concern for the physical environment, the role of nature is limited. Indeed, the nature depicted in these travel promotion texts seems to be highly influenced by human beings. Nature is used as a recreational attraction and resource, the perfect setting for various activities and sports, while its preservation and respect on behalf of the ‘responsible’ tourist is marginal.
A discourse analysis of the perception of “nature” in English travel promotion texts.
ARGONDIZZO, Carmen;RUFFOLO, Ida
2012-01-01
Abstract
The increase of public concern over environmental issues has led to a surge of environmental appeals through advertisements (Hansen, 2002), in which advertisers make essential (mis-)use of the terms nature and natural (Harré et al., 1999). This research aims at revealing how nature and what is regarded as natural are described and employed by advertisers in British travel promotion texts in order to attract ecotourists. In particular, by tracing the discourses of nature through a corpus-based discourse analysis, the study investigates the meaning of the terms nature and natural in order to understand whether or not their usage in tourism advertising is deceptive. The results show that, although the lexical items used to describe the natural world seem to express concern for the physical environment, the role of nature is limited. Indeed, the nature depicted in these travel promotion texts seems to be highly influenced by human beings. Nature is used as a recreational attraction and resource, the perfect setting for various activities and sports, while its preservation and respect on behalf of the ‘responsible’ tourist is marginal.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
