Persuasive claims in Chinese real estate advertisements

Abstract

This exploratory study adopts qualitative and quantitative methods to examine Chinese presuppositions in 132 real estate advertisements from 2007 to 2022. From the advertisements, we have identified a list of lexical items and syntactic constructions that trigger presuppositions in Chinese. We analyze how the presuppositions convey persuasive claims in Chinese real estate advertisements and contribute to the literature by presenting a novel framework including new categories and subtypes for analyzing Chinese presuppositions for future research. Statistical frequencies of presupposition triggers are identified to describe their occurrence in Chinese real estate advertisements. The study provides insights for consumers to improve their ability to identify presupposition triggers and for regulatory bodies to monitor the presupposed contents.