Saying less, meaning more: Intentional Ambiguity as a pragmatic strategy in marketing communication

This thesis investigates the intentional pragmatic ambiguity as a communicative strategy in the marketing communication, focusing on the role of meaning and the speaker’s context in interpretation. Even if ambiguity is often seen as a source of misunderstanding, the pragmatic theory suggests that it can be deliberately exploited in order to guide the interpretation and engage recipients. In this thesis, the results of an experimental study will show how contextual cues can disambiguate meaning and that intentional ambiguity can be used to enhance involvement increasing communicative effectiveness.