Business slogans in english and Vietnamese

In order to compose a meaningful slogan that can wrap up the essence of a product, there has been a full exploitation of language from phonology, lexicology, and syntax to semantics and

Bùi Thị Trang

Trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ Luận văn ThS Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã Số: 60 22 15

Người hướng dẫn: Assoc Prof Dr Trần Xuân Điệp

Năm bảo vệ: 2010

Abstract:

Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Tiếng Việt; Khẩu hiệu

Content:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale ……… 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study……… 1

3 Scope of the Study……… 2

4 Method of the Study……… 2

5 Design of the Study……… 2

PART II: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Theoretical Background 1 Business Slogans – Another Term of Advertising Slogans……… 4

2 A Review of Previous Studies ……… 4

3 Advertising as a Form of Communication……… 6

3.1 Communication……… 6

3.2 The Definition of Advertising……… 7

3.3 Advertising Functions……… 8

3.4 Types of Advertising……… 9

3.5 Structure of an Advertisement……… 10

4 Advertising Slogan as Part of an Advertisement……… 10

4.1 Definition of Slogan……… 10

4.2 Characteristics of a Good Advertising Slogan……… 12

Chapter 2: An Investigation into Certain Linguistic Features of some English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans 1 Procedures……… 14

1.1 Data Collection……… 14

1.2 Data Analysis……… 15

2 The Analysis……… 15

2.1 Graphetic Features……… 15

2.2 Phonological Features……… 16

2.3 Lexical Features……… 18

2.4 Syntactic Features……… 22

2.5 Semantic Features……… 25

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions 1 Findings and Discussions on Graphetic Features……… 27

2 Findings and Discussions on Phonological Features……… 27

3 Findings and Discussions on Lexical Features……… 28

4 Findings and Discussions on Syntactic Features……… 30

5 Findings and Discussions on Semantic Features……… 31

PART III: CONCLUSION 1 Recapitulation of main ideas……… 32

2 Limitations of the study……… 34

3 Suggestions for further research……… 34

APPENDIX I LIST OF ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS……… I APPENDIX II LIST OF VIETNAMESE ADVERTISING SLOGANS…… III

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Advertising slogans are critical to the image of the business, regardless of the size The slogan or tagline is part of the business image It is a major part of the branding Therefore, slogans must be central and condensed messages which leave unforgettable impressions on

the consumers’ minds

The question that is often raised for advertisers is how to create a successful slogan In order to compose a meaningful slogan that can wrap up the essence of a product, there has been a full exploitation of language from phonology, lexicology, and syntax to semantics and pragmatics A slogan is a combination of many stylistic features which deserves to be written and researched by a copywriter with experience in writing slogans that gets the business noticed

Because creating a successful slogan is not an easy task, slogan writing has now become an industry It requires the study into the aspects of language exploited

Realizing the importance of advertising slogans to every business, this study is carried out

to investigate the exploitation of some stylistic features in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics of some English and Vietnamese advertising slogans The results of the study may be useful for Vietnamese advertisers to produce successful slogans

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

This study aims to find out the similarities and differences in the writing style of advertising slogans between English and Vietnamese To achieve this aim, two objectives are set Firstly, an investigation into certain stylistic features in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics must be carried out Secondly, there should

be comparison between English and Vietnamese slogan writing style in business From this investigation and comparison, some hints can be drawn for Vietnamese advertising language in order to improve the effectiveness and profession of Vietnamese advertising

3 Scope of the Study

It is impossible for an M.A thesis to cover such a broad topic of business slogans Therefore certain stylistic features of some English and Vietnamese advertising slogans were chosen to take into consideration

4 Method of the Study

This study represents itself as descriptive research, as it “involves a collection of

techniques used to specify, delineate, or describe naturally occurring phenomena without experimental manipulation” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989: 124) In this type of research,

collecting data will be carried out through non-intrusive and non-manipulative procedures This typical characteristic will be specifically suitable for the job of collecting data in the study

This study combines both qualitative and quantitative methods Firstly, the advertising slogans are investigated so that stylistic features appearing in them are discovered and named Secondly, quantitative method is employed to find out the differences and similarities between Vietnamese and English slogans

5 Design of the Study

The study consists of three parts Part 1 entitled “INTRODUCTION” provides the reason

why the topic is chosen It then provides the aim and objectives of the study It is also in

this section that we are concerned with the scope and the design of the study

Part 2, named “DEVELOPMENT”, deals with the main contents of the study Chapter 1

begins with the concept of business slogan and advertising slogan, and then provides a review of some previous works done on advertising language both in English and Vietnamese It is followed by briefly looking at the language of advertising as a form of communication in order to find out the basic functions that an advertising message is intended to accomplish It, later on, provides some classifications of different types of advertisements and the popular structure of an advertisement After that, it gets insights into the term “advertising slogan”, its definition and its characteristics

Chapter 2 will start with the procedures of the investigation The analysis is then presented

in details in terms of graphology, phonology, lexicology, syntax and semantics In this analysis, some advertising slogans – both in English and Vietnamese – are chosen to support for the argument

Chapter 3 focuses on presenting findings of the research and discussions The discussion comes after statistical results for each stylistic feature It is the basis of the later conclusions

Part 3 “CONCLUSION” provides the recapitulation of main ideas, the limitations of the

study and some suggestions for further research

The study is closed with the appendix of English and Vietnamese advertising slogans that are used for the analysis

References

English

1 Arens, William F & Bovée, Courtland L (1994) Contemporary Advertising Irwin

Publishing

2 Bovee, Courtland L., and John V Thill (2000) Business Communication Today New

York: Pearson Prentice Hall

3 Bovee, CL (1992) Contemporary advertising Homewood: Illinois Richard D Irwin

4 Churchill, G.A Jr & Peter, J.P (1998) Marketing – Creating Value for Customers

Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill

5 Charles L Whittier (1955) Creative advertising New York: Holt

6 Fiske, J (1990) Introduction to Communication Studies Routledge

7 Geis, M.L (1982) The language of Television Advertising New York and London:

Academic Press

8 Hermeren, L (1999) English for sale: A Study of The Language of Advertising Lund

University Press

9 Nunan, D (1992) Research Methods in Language Learning Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press

10 Saundra Hybels and Richard L Weaver (1992) Communicating effectively New

York: Mcgraw-Hill College

11 Seliger, H W and Shohamy, E (1989) Second Language Research Methods New

York: Oxford University Press

12 Shannon, C E A (1948) Mathematical Theory of Communication Bell System

Technical Journal, vol 27

13 Wisker, G (2001) The Postgraduate Research Handbook New York: Palgrave

14 XUE Hangrong (2003) Introduction to English Styles[M] Xi’an: Xi’an Jiaotong

University Press

Vietnamese

1 Bùi Thị Bích Thủy (2008) An Investigation into the Style of the English Language Used

in Advertising Slogans Issued by some World-Famous Airlines Unpublished Thesis

VNU-ULIS Hanoi

2 Hoàng Trọng, Nguyễn Văn Thi (2000) Quảng Cáo NXB Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố

Hồ Chí Minh

3 Hoang Thi Thuy (2005) Advertising Language Used in Trade: A Comparison in

English and Vietnamese Unpublished Thesis VNU-ULIS Hanoi

4 Trần Thiên Tứ (2007) Presupposition and Implicature in English and Vietnamese

Advertising Slogans Unpublished Thesis VNU-ULIS Hanoi

Website

http://www.nowsell.com/marketing-guide/list-of-advertising-slogans.html