A study on english advertising slogans of cars

Besides researches on language of advertising in general and on topics about certain products such as cosmetics, house ware, food, medicine, ect, that appear in high frequency on media a

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

Certificate of originality

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A STUDY ON ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF CARS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Linguistics Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‘s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2016 Dao Thi Viet

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Date:………

stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through

my growth as an academic researcher A special word of thanks goes to my family and many others, without whose support and encouragement it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted to the fulfillment of this academic work

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Chart 1: Slogans language at phonological level 38

Chart 2: Slogans language at syntactic level 53

Chart 3: Number of pronouns in the study (also includes the inflected

forms, e.g us, our, ourselves)

58

Chart 4: Slogans language at lexical level 62

Chart 5: Common verbs used in advertising slogans of car 63

Table 1: The average sentence length of each sample advertising

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.2.1.3 Theory of phonological, syntactic, and lexical strategies used in

4.2 Possible implications for writing effective, impressive, and

fascinating car advertising slogan

63

5.3 Limitations of the current research 69

5.4 Recommendations and suggestions for future researches 70

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDICES

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the research

Advertisement has become an indispensable part in modern life and it has considerable impact on people‘s purchasing behavior Advertisement appears everywhere from the media like TV, Internet, radio, or public places such as billboards, buses, bus stops, ect Using advertisements is considered a solution

of seeking a channel for organizations or companies to reach out the world with their messages Slogans are taken as the heart of advertisements and they help advertisers to transmit the advertised products‘ messages to the customers as well as persuade them to take action of purchasing products However, how to create a good and successful slogan to bring in customers‘ mind the image of the product and encourage them to buy is not always an easy task

Being aware of the importance of advertising slogans in conveying products‘ messages to customers and gaining profits for producers, many researchers have been done to study the topics of advertising slogans to reveal characteristics of good slogans One of the most renowned studies on the language of advertising was conducted by Geoffrey N Leech (1966), who described British television advertising from a linguistic point of view In his study, Leech developed the

concept of ―Standard Advertising English‖ by listing the most prominent and

widespread characteristics in his research of advertisements Although some common linguistic features of advertising in English have been revealed in his research, those features of a specific product have not been mentioned

Besides researches on language of advertising in general and on topics about certain products such as cosmetics, house ware, food, medicine, ect, that appear

in high frequency on media and billboards and other means of advertisements, a comprehensive study on advertising slogans of cars has not been dealt with so far although the demand for this product is constantly increasing due to the

improvement of the quality of life

For these above reasons, the writer have motivation to carry out ―A Study

on English Advertising Slogans of Cars” with a view to investigate the

linguistic features of good car advertising slogans as well as to satisfy the need

of creating a sharp, effective, and fascinating slogans for car producers

1.2 Aims of the research

The study is carried out with the aim of drawing out some hints for advertisers

in car industry to create effective, impressive, and fascinating advertising slogans of cars in English

1.3 Objective(s)of the research

To achieve the above aim, two specific objectives have been put forward as follows:

(i) Finding out the phonological, syntactic, and lexical features of English

advertising slogans of cars

(ii) Suggesting some possible implications for writing effective,

impressive, and fascinating car advertising slogans

1.4 Scope of the research

With the purpose of drawing out some hints for advertisers, especially those in car industry,to improve their effectiveness and professionality in writing advertising slogans as well as investigating phonological, syntactic, and lexical

features of car advertising slogans, the study just focuses on:

(i) Academic scope:

Phonological, syntactic, and lexical features of the slogans are extensively discussed

(ii) Social scope:

100 slogans from the advertisements of world-famous car companies, and the biggest ones of some developed countries

Semantic features are not included in the present thesis as it is too vague and ambiguous when looking at the advertising slogans Stylistic features were mostly excluded from the analysis as they were beyond the scope of this thesis Similarly, extra- linguistic factors, such as typography and layout, may also influence the consumer's perception of the advertisement, but they were also

excluded from this thesis as the focus was purely linguistics

1.5 Significance of the research

(i) Theoretical significance

The thesis deals with finding out linguistic features of advertising slogans of cars in English, so its findings are able to be used for subsequent research arise later such as the similarities and differences of advertising slogans of cars in English and Vietnamese or a study on the development of advertising slogans of cars in English and their change over certain period of time from the linguistic viewpoint

(ii) Practical significance

The study is carried out with the hope to provide common linguistic hints on creating good and effective advertising slogans of cars in English Besides, the study‘s findings hope to make contributions to further studies related to language in advertising in general

1.6 Structural organization of the research

The study consists of five chapters: introductions, literature review, research methodology, findings and discussion, and conclusions

The thesis starts out with introduction chapter where the overview of the thesis including rationale, aims of the research,objectives of the research, scope of the

research, significance of the research, and structure of the research should be established

The second chapter, namely literature review, presents an overview of some previous researches on the same subject both in English and Vietnamese At the same time, it provides a theoretical background to this study with theoretical preliminaries directly related to the investigation of English employed in advertising slogans of cars including advertising and advertising slogans,

discourse and related issues, linguistic features of language of advertising

The third chapter, methodology focuses on describing the methods and materials used in doing the research, including data collection and data analysis techniques to help the author achieve the best results in the study

The findings and discussions chapter recapitulates the findings in the characteristics of the English language used in car advertising slogans and also the discussions with comments on these findings in previous section

The last chapter, conclusion, gives a brief summary of the main points presented

in the thesis, concluding rrecapitulation, concluding remarks, limitations of the current study, and provides some suggestions for further studies

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Review of previous studies

Being aware of the importance role of advertising in the daily communication in the society as well as in creating advertising texts and slogans , many researchers has taken studies on advertising language in various field such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and translation, ect

2.1.1 Previous studies overseas

There are a lot researches which have been cconducted in every aspect of the advertising in English, many of which cover the features of advertising

language Some famous titles that can be mentioned here are “English in advertising: A linguistic study of advertising in Great Britain” by Geoffrey N.Leech (1966), ―Advertising as communication” by Gillian Dyer (1982),

―English for sale: A study of the language of advertising” by Lars Hermeren (1999), or ―The discourse of advertising‖ by Guy Cook (2001) There are also

some researches which only focus on some certain features in advertising

language Typical examples are ―Selling America: Puns, language and adverting‖ by Michel Monnot (1982), “Pictorial Metaphor in Advertising” by

Char Forceville (1998) There are also some contrastive studies which compare the advertising language in English and that in other languages, e.g

―Advertising language: A pragmatic approach to advertisements in Britain and Japan‖ by Keiko Tanaka (1994)

In 2006, Janalapsanska, a Slovakian author conducted a study: “The language

of advertising with the concentration on the linguistic means and the analysis of advertising slogans” In the study, the author scopes his attention to the

linguistic means used in advertising The study found out linguistic means used

in advertising language in phonological, lexical and morphological, syntactic, and semantic aspects Although the thesis covers all aspects of linguistics, its result reflects only representatives of advertising slogans of many products It did not focus on a specific product, thus the findings is advisable for references when studying language of advertising

In 2015, a study on language of advertising was conducted: “The language of advertising: analysis of advertising slogans in fast food industry” by Bc Adela

Pilátová The study language strategies used in advertising slogans of fast food

in terms of phonology, lexicology, syntactic, semantics and discourses The thesis of the analyzed slogans is limited to four companies and slogans were chosen subjectively Therefore, results of this analysis should not be generalized and applied to all slogans of all companies It is only a sample of slogans from fast food industry However, the playfulness of language and the importance of slogans for development of language can be still confirmed

In 2015, Mehwish Noor et al carried out a study namely ―The language of TV Commercials‟ Slogan: A Semantic Analysis” The study investigated on the

linguistic means and devices used by copywriters of TV commercials to influence the viewers and highlight the semantic property of TV commercial slogans

2.1.2 Previous studies in Vietnam

In Vietnam, some notable researches on the language of advertising include two

PhD theses done by Mai Xuan Huy (2001) on ―Các đặc điểm của ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lý thuyết giao tiếp” (Features of advertising language in the light of communicative theory) and Ton Nu My Nhat (2005) in

which she carried out a contrastive discourse analysis of travel advertisements based on the theory of Functional Grammar

Besides, there are many articles on the matter of advertising language which are

collected by Nguyen Kien Truong in 2004 in a book called ―Quảng cáo và ngôn ngữ quảng cáo: (Advertising and the language of advertising)

Also, there are some M.A theses carried out at institutional level For example,

in Vietnam National University, Hanoi College of Foreign Languages, a thesis

on ―Presupposition and Implicature in English and Vietnamese Advertising Slogans‖ by Tran Thien Tu in 2007 and ―A discourse analysis of travel advertisements in English and Vietnamese” by Ton Nu Nhat Le in 2005” All

those books, articles and studies have revealed typical and very interesting features of advertising language in general and slogans in particular

In 2001, Mai Xuan Huy carried out a PhD study on language of advertising

namely ―Các đặc điểm của ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lý thuyết giao tiếp” (Features of advertising language in the light of communicative theory) The study investigated on semantic and pragmatic structure of

advertising slogans in Vietnamese at the time that the study was conducted This is the first project of Vietnam that has surveyed and researched on the characteristics of advertising language most comprehensively and completely Moreover, this is also the first study that has approached the language of advertising in the light of communicative theory and pragmatics By studying semantic and pragmatic structure of advertising language, the study defined mechanism of the activity of creating language in advertising slogans of advertisers Besides, the thesis discovered some interesting phenomena of semantics and pragmatics in Vietnamese

In 2015, Nguyen Thi Thu Thao took ―A contrastive analysis of English and Vietnamese real estate advertising slogans in printed advertisement‖ In the

thesis, she focuses on examining the phonological, lexical, and syntactic characteristics of advertising slogans of estate of the two varieties The thesis‘

finding showed the similarities and differences in the linguistic features of real estate advertising slogans in English and Vietnamese language

However, examining the above studies, the writer finds that many linguists, grammarians, have been absorbed in advertising language Many researchers have dealt with advertising language in many aspects but the language of advertising slogans of cars is still an open subject which has given fully detailed analysis

So far, there have found no studies give fully detailed analysis of the linguistic features of advertising slogans of cars Therefore, this thesis is being conducted

to find the mentioned above features and together propose some possible

applications for creating fascinating advertising slogans of cars

2.2 Review of theoretical background

2.2.1 Theoretical framework

2.2.1.1 Theory of discourse

The term discourse is defined under different linguists‘ point of views Crystal (1992:25) considers discourse as a continuous stretch of (esp spoken) language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit, such as a sermon, argument, joke or narrative In Nunan‘s viewpoint, (1993: 6) discourse is the interpretation of the communicative event in context To Halliday and Hasan (1985:3), discourse is functional language This fact suggests that linguists need more debates and discussion before an agreeable definition of discourse is made

However, the following definition of discourse suggested by Guy Cook seems

to provide relatively sufficient information so that we can shape a clear image

of discourse in our minds:

“Discourses are stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified, and purposive” (1989: 156)

“Discourse may be composed of one or more well-formed grammatical sentences – and indeed it often is – but it does not have to be It can have grammatical “mistakes” in it, and often does.”

“Discourse can be anything from a grunt or single expletive, through short conversations and scribbled notes right up to Tolstoy‟s novel, WAR AND PEACE, or a lengthy legal case What matters is not its conformity to rules, but the fact that it communicates and is recognized by its receivers as coherent.” (1989:7)

It can be inferred from this definition that advertisements and advertising slogans are undeniably discourses due to their communication function and they are recognized by their potential customers as coherent This is because advertisements themselves are messages from manufacturers or service providers to their customers and slogans are those messages in the most concise ways

2.2.1.2 Theory of discourse analysis

Context

Different linguists seek to define context from different point of view in order to answer questions encountered in their own fields, and to support their own ideas and theories H G Widdowson, when focusing his study on language meaning,

thought ―context‖ as ―those aspects of the circumstance of actual language use which are taken as relevant to meaning.‖ He further pointed out, ―in other words, context is a schematic construct the achievement of pragmatic meaning is a matter of matching up the linguistic elements of the code with the schematic elements of the context.” (H.G Widdowson, 2000, p.126) When

Guy Cook was studying the relationship between discourse and literature, he

took ―context‖ into consideration as well In his definition, context is

―knowledge of the world outside language‖ which helps us to understand and

use it to interpret the messages both in spoken and written form and the term

―context‟ can be used in a broad and narrow sense In the narrow sense, it refers to (knowledge of) factors outside the text under consideration In the broad sense, it refers to (knowledge of) these factors and to (knowledge of)

other parts of the text under consideration, sometimes referred to as “co-text.‖

(Guy Cook, 1999, p 24) When studying reference and inference, George Yule

also took ―context” into account He provided us with a somewhat general definition, ―Context is the physical environment in which a word is used.” (George Yule, 2000, 128) According to Nunan (1993: 10), ―context refers to the situation giving rise to the discourse and within which discourse is embedded‖ Although they are viewed from different perspectives for different

purposes, these definitions have an important point in common: one main point

of the context is the environment (circumstances or factors by some other scholars) in which a discourse occur From those ways of defining context, it can be concluded that context is something that we need to understand the

discourse and there is no discourse without context

Role of context in discourse analysis

There exist many definitions of discourse, but the following ones help to make clear understanding of discourse

To Halida M.A.K & Hassan R., (1976), “discourse is language that is functional-language that is doing some job in some context as opposed to isolated words or sentences Discourse can be spoken, written or in other medium of expression.”

“Discourse is a unit of language in use It is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or a sentence.” “A discourse does not consist of sentences: it is recognized by, or encoded in sentences.”

Nunan D., 1993 defines discourse as “a stretch of language consisting of several sentences, which are perceived as being related in some way Sentences can be related, not only in terms of the idea they share but also in terms of the job they perform within the discourse-that is in terms of their functions”

From above definition of discourse, we can see that discourse analysis studies language in use: both written texts of all kinds and spoken data from informal to formal speech and it also studies the language phenomena above the sentence level that are influenced by contexts, social phenomena, social relationships as well as cultural factors

Hymes (1962) sees contexts as a limit of the range of possible interpretations, and on the other hand, a supporter of the intended interpretation He states as follows:

“The use of linguistic form identifies a range of meanings A context can support a range of meanings When a form is used in a context, it eliminates the meanings possible to that context other than those the form can signal; the context eliminates from consideration the meanings possible in the form other than those the context can support ”(Hymes, 1962 quoted in Brown and Yules, 1983:38)

Hymes (1962) focuses on the features of context in which it is thought to be relevant to the reading and interpretation of discourse as follow:

1 Addresser and addressee 6 Code

Different linguists give different concepts of register According to Halliday

(1985:12) “Register may be defined as the variety of a language used in particular situational context”

Michael (1991:478) sees register from a different point of view To him,

“register reflects the degree of technical specification in the language of economics, banking and finance, international business, advertising, medicine, information technology and so forth Discourse register reflects the degree of formality of particular text by using a characteristic set of lexical and grammatical features”

Moreover, Galperin (1977:319) suggests that, “a functional style of language is

a system of interrelated language means which serves a definite aim in communication”

From different definitions of register above, it can be seen that registers of functional styles are linguistic variations linked to specific occupations, professions, topics and so on to serve a specific aim in communication

2.2.1.3 Theory of phonological, syntactic, and lexical strategies used in advertising

2.2.1.3.1 Phonological strategies

Rhyme

Definition of rhyme, for instance in Oxford dictionary is said that it is correspondence of sound between words of endings of words, especially when these are used at the end of lines of poetry (―Rhyme‖) It is believed to be one of the best techniques in advertising When rhyme is used in the slogan it is essential when it also reflects the brand name The brand name should be part of the rhyme Rhyme always refers to sounds, not spelling (Xiaosong) For

instance: Don‟t just book it, Thomas Cook it (advertising of a travel agency)

Alliteration

Alliteration can be defined as ―the commencement of two or more stressed syllables of a word group either the same consonant sound or sound group (consonantal alliteration) as in from stem to stern, or with vowel sound that may differ from syllable to syllable (vocalic alliteration) as in each to all or two or more words of a word group with the same letter‖ (―alliteration‖) Example of

the advertising slogan with alliteration can be found in Jaguar slogan: ―Grace, Space, Pace” or Toyota slogan: ―Today, Tomorrow, Toyota‖

2.2.1.3.2 Syntactic stratergies

Short simple sentences

Quirk and Greenbaum divided simple sentences into four major syntactic types, based on their use they correspond with four discourse functions Declaratives primarily function as statements Statements declare facts about world in other words they convey information In declaratives usually subject precedes the verb Interrogatives are usually associated with questions Questions seek for information on a specific point Interrogatives are formed either by subject-verb inversion or in the initial position is wh-element, in the latter form there is

a subject-operator inversion Imperatives correspond to the directive function in other words with commands They are primarily used to make somebody to do something to make the act of hearer Imperatives do not have transparent grammatical subject and verb has just based form Exclamations express the speaker‘s surprise or impression by something

Myers wondered in his book what form prevails in the advertising language He compared advertising to everyday conversation where full ranges of forms are used rather than the textbook where the most prominent is statement In everyday conversation we use more commands, questions, exclamations as these are more used in the spoken interaction with other people Also forms of

questions (commands or exclamations) are not always so straightforward

In the conversation for example a question can function as an indirect command, so can an exclamation or a statement

Imperative sentences

Most of the advertising slogans use imperatives or commands; they are used for the personal effect on the reader or hearer For the reader they create the impression that one person is talking to another The level of politeness is omitted despite the cultural and interpersonal habit of using words such as please It might be also that the polite devices are not used as the advertising slogans are used for the benefit of hearer or reader Also ads are not used for begging someone to do something as it should be hearer free act to purchase or

to consume

Leech mentioned several verbs that are used in the imperatives Those

used for the acquisition of the product, such as Try, ask, get, take, let, send

for, use, call, make, come on, hurry, see, give, come, remember, discover, serve, introduce, choose, and look for

For examples,

Find Your Own Road-Saab

Get the Feeling-Toyota

Have Fun Out There-Jeep

Those that have something to do with the consumption, such as have, try or

enjoy, e.g Have Fun Out There-Jeep and the last items he mentioned, those that

call for attention, such as look, see or watch, this one is not really found in the

car industry

Interrogative sentences

Despite the fact that questions usually require answers and in the advertising there is no immediate response from the counterpart, interrogative clauses can

be very often seen Questions help to arouse the curiosity of the customers, they attract their attention In advertising they usually work with presuppositions (Myers 49)

For example,

Have you driven a Ford lately?-Ford

Wouldn‟t you really rather have a Buick?-Buick

Plymouth- isn‟t that the kind of car America wants?-Plymouth

Angela Goddard says about presupposition in advertising: ―Presupposition is all about reading between the lines, since this is, as it suggest, a hidden process, it

is very interesting to advertisers, as we can taking in all sorts of assumptions without consciously paying attention to them‖

For example,

And the Plymouth win-you-over beat goes on!-Plymouth

Built Ford tough!-Ford

Now that‟s imagination, that‟s Plymouth!-

Noun phrases

Leech provides a short explanation about nominal group or noun phrases

in comparison with the rest of the lexical features ―Complexity in the

nominal group, simplicity elsewhere‖ This is a generalization which can be

confirmed by analysis of practically any piece of advertising copy If the first impression on advertisement appears to be linguistically complex, further investigation usually shows that complexity is limited to nominal group structure

The fundamentals of noun phrase structure are nouns, determiners and pronouns However, there are other constituents common in noun phrase structures, such as adjectives, adverbs and clauses In the complex noun phrase three components are distinguished: the head, the pre-modification and the post-modification (Greenbaum and Quirk 363)

According to Leech in advertising the most interesting part of the noun phrases are pre-modification, which usually shows not only complexity but also unusual structural features Pre-modification as well as compounding extend a limited number of nouns in English language The reason of using pre-modification in advertising is not only to provide with the information about the product but also give an attractive description References to products and product names are another reason for using pre-modification in advertising There are basically four ways of referencing to products, mentioning the brand name, using the trade name as a means of the identification or a word or a

phrase designating the product name Leech said: “On the other hand, proper nouns do occasionally combine with modifiers of non-restrictive force (…) This type of pre-modifier, which is mainly confined to tems of emotive or evaluative import commonly, precedes product names in advertising” In the text was

already mentioned the importance of the pre-modification and its effects

on the complexity, modifying classes that were not part of the previous explanation and should not be omitted are: genitives, comparative and superlative adjectives and noun modifiers Genitives are usually used to

animate or personal noun groups

Verb phrases

The structure of the verb phrases are divided into two types: finite and

non-finite verb phrases Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk explained: “A finite verb phrase is a verb phrase in which the first and only word is a finite verb, the rest of the verb phrase (if any) consisting of nonfinite verbs” The

finite verb phrases can be verb phrase of independent clauses, have tense contrast, person and number concord with the subject and have mood Non-finite verb phrases are formed if the first or only word has the non-finite form of the verb, such as the infinitive, the –ing participle and the –ed participle As for the above mentioned simplicity of phrases: the finite verb phrase is simple when it consists of only one word and complex is when it consists of two or more words (Greenbaum and Quirk 42)

Leech in his book further studied simplicity in the verbal group, as from the aforementioned findings, this occurred as prominent feature in advertising English He mentioned that by checking the advertising materials, provided in his book, were discovered that majority of finite verb phrases can be either simple present forms or simple imperatives Simple present form is used to satisfy the customer and provoke the customer‘s desire for the product in that particular moment Claims are written for as absolute purpose as possible

It works with the universality and timelessness In case of using other tenses such past or future it is rather for the purpose of comparison and contrast between present and future

Most of the verbs in the advertising have general meaning and have just little

effect on the overall advertising message Leech said: “Simplicity of verbal meaning can be associated with the morphological simplicity of verbs‖ (154) Most of the verbs are monosyllabic, such as make, give, us, buy It is not rare

that in advertising verbs do not need to be used at all

Leech divided these verbs into several categories For instance, those that set

relationship between the product and consumer (e.g have, buy, get), verbs that deals with consumption (e.g use, take) He also mentioned that passive voice

is used very scarcely probably due to depersonalization of such messages Apart from lack of passive voice the auxiliary verbs are also used just in few

cases If any auxiliary verb occurs then it is usually will or can ―Will‖ is used for its reference to promise and ―can‖ for the relevance of the opportunity Apart from the opportunity ―can‖ have a different meaning when it is

preceded by an animate or inanimate subject For instance, in most cases it is used with animate subject you, which are a reference to customer, you can buy, you can do It has the meaning of the ability of the customer to do something When preceded by inanimate subject, such as brand name itself or the name of the product In this case it is really about opportunity or possibility what the product offers to the customer to satisfy his needs

2.2.1.3.3 Lexical strategies

In this section, typical lexical features of advertisements will be examined Those features include the use of some common verbs and adjectives, comparative reference, brand names, and personal pronouns

Common verbs and adjectives

Leech (1966: 151-155) has studied adjective and verb vocabulary in television advertising and notes that there is much more variation in the former than in the latter He also presents a list of the most common verbs and adjectives, of which the ten most popular are

listed in figure 1

Figure 1 The ten most popular adjectives and verbs in Leech's (1966) sample

As figure 1 show, the most frequently used adjectives and verbs in advertising language tend to be very commonplace English words and most often monosyllables Indeed, when one compares Leech's list of verbs with that presented by Biber et al (2002: 110) of the twelve most common lexical

verbs in English, there are many similarities The verbs make, get, give, see, come, go and know are on both lists, for example The most notable difference

is the lack of the verb say in Leech's list: according to Biber et al., say is the single most common lexical verb in English On the other hand, the verbs buy, have, keep and look are absent from the list compiled by Biber et al These

differences are understandable considering the unique characteristics and objectives of advertising language A further feature that characterizes the verbs in both lists is that they are mostly of Germanic origin

Brand names

The use of brand names, on the other hand, has to do with memorability As Leech (1966: 28-29) maintains, an advertisement needs to make a lasting impression in order to affect the behavior of the consumer Repetition has

an important role in enhancing memorability, which is why the name of the product or the service provider is often mentioned several times in a single

advertisement This increases the probability that consumers remember the name when they are making a purchase decision According to Leech (ibid., pp 145-146), the repetition of brand names can also be seen as a means of creating cohesion, but that is only a secondary function Indeed, this repetition often occurs in neighboring clauses, where it would normally be

avoided by using a pronoun, as in And Clark's sandals really fit, because Clark's sandals are made in four width fittings (Leech's example)

Personal pronouns

The use of pronouns is an area where advertising differs significantly from other registers (Cook 1992: 155), which makes it an especially fruitful and meaningful subject of linguistic analysis The inherent problem of advertising is that while it is a non-personal method of communication, it needs to personalize the message for the consumers, since they do not like the impression of only being addressed as part of a mass audience (Delin 2000:

136) In consequence, the only solution is for the advertisement to seem

personal, even though it targets a large number of people at once (Myers

1994: 78) According to Williamson (1978: 50), the pronoun you that is so common in advertisements is thus to be regarded as referring to you, the

reader of the advertisement, even though there is no logical reason to suppose

that it was specifically you that the advertiser had in mind when creating the

advertisement As Williamson (1978: 50-51) elaborates,

Every ad necessarily assumes a particular spectator: it projects into the space out in front of it an imaginary person composed in terms of the relationship between the elements within the ad You move into this space as

you look at the ad, and in doing so 'become' the spectator The 'you' in ads is

always transmitted plural, but we receive it as singular Consumers are thus

expected to recognize themselves in the pronoun you as well as to accept the

other assumptions that make the advertisement purposeful and logical (Myers

1994: 88) As Myers (ibid.) remarks, “even if we don't buy the product, we

may for a moment buy a view of the world”

The use of certain pronouns in advertisements, especially you, also helps to

produce a sense of equality and a conversational tone while downplaying the role of the advertiser as a possessor of information and an authority (Delin

2000: 136; Fairclough 1989: 37) The pronoun we, for example, can be

used in both exclusive and inclusive senses in advertisements (Biber et al

2002: 94; Myers 1994: 81) In Myers's (1994: 81) view, when we includes the

person who is spoken to, it creates a sense of solidarity with the consumer, which in turn gives the advertisement a more equal and conversational tone Myers (ibid., p 82) provides an illustrative example of this use from the

1940's: “We are constantly being attacked”

Not by Blitzkrieg, which we can and will face - but by hosts of insidious foes in the shape of germs It can be assumed that the advertiser expects

readers to include themselves in the we, as the advertisement would otherwise

be illogical In contrast, when we is used exclusively, it refers to the company, granting it a more personal image For instance, if the pronoun we

is substituted with the name of the clinic in the slogan We bring YOUR life back into FOCUS, the image projected becomes more impersonal and detached and the tone less friendly: Manhattan Lasik Center brings YOUR life back into FOCUS

The pronoun I most commonly refers to the potential customer, the expert or

advocate of the product, or the sceptic (Myers 1994: 83; Cook 1992: 155) As

with you and we, consumers are expected to recognise themselves in the I

when it is used to refer to them, and to accept the underlying assumptions, as

in the following example (mine):

I want to get rid of glasses and feel more confident

Myers (1994: 83, 85) argues that I is used in advertisements to offer readers

a new way to define themselves and to be distinctive individuals As advertising is fundamentally mass communication, the goal of advertisers is

to persuade consumers to ‖be different like other people‖ (Myers 1994: 83) Even though the third person pronouns (he, she, it, they) do not involve either

the reader or the advertiser, they can also be used to establish positions and to

create the impression of a personalized message (Myers 1994: 85) He, she and they can indicate someone known to the reader either through the

advertisement or as part of their life (Myers 1994: 85, 87), but they are also frequently used by advertisers to refer to those that fail to use the product, in order to distance them from the reader (Cook 2001: 155-156), as illustrated by the following example:

She thought refractive surgery was a waste of money But should you really put

a price on your health?

Comparisons

A linguistic construction called comparative reference is very common in

advertisements According to Goddard (1998: 103-104), this construction

”tells the reader that they need to locate particular items in the text, and draw them together for comparison on a specified basis‖ To illustrate this, the sentence our product is cheaper than the product made by our rival

contains a comparative reference, and the basis for comparison is inexpensiveness Comparative reference occurs most commonly in a modified form in advertisements, however: advertisers usually omit the comparative item but retain the basis for comparison as they try to avoid comparing their product directly with others by referring to their rivals

Leech (1966: 160) calls these constructions unqualified comparisons in the

consumer's memory Leech also distinguishes a more subtle function that linguistic violations have: the ability to establish ―symbolic connections between the product and the ideals and emotive urges of the consumer‖ This can be used in creating a positive image for the brand, for example, by prompting consumers to link certain positive feelings with the product

According to Leech, this kind of a clever use of linguistic violations greatly resembles ―creative writing‖ in a literary sense

2.2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.2.1 Advertising

Definition

There have been numerous interpretations of advertising American Marketing

Association (AMA) defines advertising as “the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.” (www.marketingpower.com) According to Churchill, Jr and Peter (1998: 142):―Advertising is noted as any announcement or persuasive message placed

in the mass media in paid or donated time or space by an identified individual, company, or organization to serve a number of audience about products and persuade or remind them of buying, to convey information about the organization itself or issues important to the organization in order to create or enhance perception of the quality or reliability of a product, thus encouraging customer loyalty and repeat purchases” From above definitions about

advertising, people can understand that advertising is a communication means that carries information about a product or service to consumers in a visually or verbally attractive way so as to promote it and later sell it People use persuasive techniques in advertising to explain perspective customers what is the best for them, and then make an informed decision from various options that

are available for them

Advertising as a mean of communication

Advertising is a communication means that carries information about a product

or service to consumers in a visually or verbally attractive way in order to promote it and later sell it Advertising is using persuasive techniques to explain

perspective customers what is the best for them It helps consumers to make an informed decision from various options that are available for them Vestergaard

and Schroder stated in their book: ―Advertising is verbal/non-verbal, public, one way communication” Verbal and non-verbal means apart from using spoken or

written words, sentences, the conversation is always accompanied by our gestures, facial expression and other non-verbal features, in written advertisements this is expressed by pictures, quotations marks, size/bold letters and other visual stimulations It is public communication as advertising message

is always addressed to anonymous public therefore it is one way communication, same way as in case of literature or film industry

The process of communication

The communication process in general by Vestergaard and Schroder needs at least two people One that will send the information (addresser or transmitter) and the other one for whom the information is intended to (addressee or receiver) Between these two people is transmitted a code message or code meaning through communication channel All of this is part of the context or some kind of situation (15) In the advertising environment are other aspects that need to be taken into account The communication process in the advertising is described based on the figure below:

(Hoang, T & Nguyen, V.T 2000)

Figure 2: The communication process in advertising

Selective feelings

Selective awareness

Selective memorization

Satisfied

Noise

SOURCE

RECEIVER

It is clearly stated in the model that in advertising, the intended message never comes to the receiver in a direct way It is always decoded, which makes the message sound implicit There are two reasons for this implicitness of advertising messages Firstly, as advertisers have to pay for their advertising information, their messages must be decoded so that they can convey as much

as possible to the customers with the minimum number of words Secondly, and more importantly, it is strongly believed by copywriters that human beings have

an inborn ability to infer as it is noted by Geis (1982:46) that ―Human beings are „inferencing‟ creatures, trained to read into what is said as much as is consistent with the literal meaning of what is said and the context in which it is said ‖

Functions of advertising

It has been agreed by many market researchers that an advertising should have four functions, which can be generalized by four words: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action The acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, Action, and it is one of the founding principles of most modern-day marketing and advertising American advertising and sales pioneer Elias St Elmo Lewis, a legend inducted into the advertising hall of fame in 1951, coined the phrase and approach It started way back in 1899, when Lewis talked about "catching the eye of the reader, to inform him, to make a customer of him." By 1909, that had evolved several times, becoming "attract attention, awaken the interest, persuade and convince." It's not far from the AIDA model that is now used

throughout the world 39273)

(https://www.thebalance.com/get-to-know-and-use-aida-Attention - a good advertisement should attract the consumer to direct their

attention to the product of it To achieve this, advertisers always try to make their advertisements special in some ways, even stupid and awkward This is because striking things remain longer in human minds than normal ones

Interest - the introduction and publicity of an advertisement should arouse

consumers‘ great interest The interest may be caused by an eye-catching image,

a pleasant jingle, a funny advertising plot or a surprising slogan When they are interested in the product advertised, they will learn more about it From this, the confidence in the product will be gradually achieved

Desire - the publicity of advertising should stimulate consumers‘ desire to buy

the product, and make them realize that this product is just what they want Previously, most advertisements aimed at promoting their products‘ merits,

which is called product-oriented However, there has been a shift of focus from product-oriented to audience-oriented, which is primarily concerned with the

needs and wants, the hopes and fears of the target audience

Action - the advertising makes consumers to response to the advertising

information and evokes them to take the action of purchasing It is here that the topmost task of advertising is fulfilled

Types of advertising

Advertisements are divided into different kinds based on specific purposes There are different approaches to the classification of advertisements According to Lars Hermerén, three criteria are mentioned to classify advertising The first one is the geographical area such as local, national, international or global The second criterion is related to the medium that carries the advertisement - print or electronic The last division is whether the purpose

is to make profit as a result of the advertising, therefore commercial or commercial

non-In commercial advertisements, they divide into two types namely consumer advertising intended for mass audience and trade advertising that serves for communication between retailers and manufacturer Trade advertising can be differentiated from consumer advertising by communication and the below mentioned prestige advertising In trade advertising the parties are equal and

have some degree of understanding of advertised product or service, they also have special interest about product or service that is advertised Corporate advertising should get people‘s awareness about the company or organization not primarily about their products or services they offer Vestergaard and Schroder call this prestige or goodwill advertising; firms are more focused on their image or name It is rather long-term advertising and usually do not aim into immediate increase of sale In contrast, the non-commercial division in accordance to Herméren is that of government and charity advertising Government commercial includes public service information For instance, when the government wants to inform citizens about new regulations, legislation but also recruit people into the army or police Charity advertising involves raising funds or informing public about some issue that needs their attention

Another classification of types of advertising can be according to medium: print advertising in newspapers, magazines, brochures, fliers or billboards Television, radio or online advertising, also advertising that started to predominant only recently smart phone or niche advertising

2.2.2.2 Slogan

Definition

The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of

the Scottish Gaelic and Irish sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host"

+gairm "cry") which used to mean battle-cry Merriam-Webster (2003), p

1174 Irish It has come to mean in its contemporary sense, a distinctive advertising motto, or advertising phrase, used by any entity to convey a purpose or ideal; Or, a catchphrase According to Longman Dictionary

of Contemporary English (1995), “a slogan is a short easily-remembered phrase used by an advertiser, a politician, etc.” In his book, Creative Advertising, Charles L Whittier (1958: 11) says a slogan: ―…should be a

statement of such merit about a product or service that it is worthy of continuous repetition in advertising, is worthwhile for the public to remember, and is phrased in such a way that the public is likely to remember it”

Therefore, in general, a slogan can be understood as a memorable motto used in political, commercial, religious, and other contexts as a repetitive expression of

an idea or purpose In the particular case of an advertising slogan, it is a verbal logo normally appearing just beneath or beside the brand name or the logo of the product A slogan is kind of a condensed message of the whole advertisement which advertisers want their customers to remember most It is the usual case that slogans come to customers‘ mind first when they think about the products

Features of a good slogan

In his book, Creative Advertising, Charles L Whittier says a slogan “… should

be a statement of such merit about a product or service that it is worthy of continuous repetition in advertising, is worthwhile for the public to remember, and is phrased in such a way that the public is likely to remember it.”

Following are some characteristics of perfectly formed advertising slogans

A slogan should be memorable

Memorability has to do with the ability the line has to be recalled unaided The more the line resonates with the big idea, the more memorable it will be 'My goodness, my Guinness!', as well as being a slick line, was made memorable by the illustrations of the Guinness drinker seeing his pint under some sort of threat (perched on the nose of a performing seal, for example) It invoked a wry smile and a tinge of sympathy on the part of the audience at the potential loss if the Guinness was dropped If it is successful, ideally the line should pass readily into common parlance as would a catchphrase, such as 'Beanz meanz Heinz' or ''Where's the beef?' In addition to a provocative and relevant illustration or

story, alliteration, coined words, puns and rhymes are good ways of making a line memorable, as is a jingle

For example,

Alliteration

• Jaguar: Don't dream it Drive it

• Girl Guides: Dream Dare Do

• Fila: Functional Fashionable Formidable

A slogan should recall the brand name

Rhymes – with brand name

One of the best techniques for bringing in the brand name is to make the strapline rhyme with it Here are some lines we've selected from the ADSlogans Unlimited database

For example,

• Radio Rentals: Stay contented, get Radio Rented

• Teletext: Don't get vexed Ask Teletext

• Thomas Cook: Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it

Rhymes – brand name mention

A fall-back position is to use a rhyme and mention the brand name without it actually rhyming

For example,

• Mars: A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play

• Viakal: It's the Viakal fizz that does the bizz! (1992)

• Andrews Antacid: It's the Andrews fizz that does the bizz

A slogan should be simple

The endline is what you want the punter to 'get' So KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) should be used when creating advertising slogans

For example,

• Larkspur: Landing Hotel Home suite hotel

• Lloyd's Life: Insurance Cash if you die, cash if you don't

• British Airways: You leave Arrive before

A slogan should be neat

The word ―neat” is being used is in the teenage sense A neat line helps move

the brand up a point in the punter's perception Following are some lines that are neat!

• Apple Computer Think different

• Mazda Get in Be moved

• Thomas Cook Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it

A slogan should not be complicated or clumsy

Complex slogans not only make people feel hard to understand the messages hidden in it but also remember it Following are some complex slogans:

• Caltex: At the heart of your engine And the community

• Madasafish: Freedom for the net generation

• Bally Ribbon Mills: Manufacturers and distributors of quality narrow

woven-edged fabrics since 1923

2.3 Summary

In this chapter, literature review, a review of previous studies was made to see what researches of the same field both overseas and in Vietnamese has been done and what area in this field to which the present research can contribute In addition, theoretical background in which is directly relevant to the research was also deeply discussed After all, the following chapter, methodology, will present the research-governing orientations and research methods of the study

Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research-governing orientations

slogans come from famous car companies in the world such as Ford, Audi, Porsche, BMW, Lexus, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Toyota, Volkswagen and others The study focuses on investigating linguistic features

of the collected slogans as a whole, not on slogans of each car company separately

3.1.3 Research approach

Quantitative approach was used to conduct the present thesis According to Wisker (2001), the purpose of this research type is to find out more about a phenomenon and to capture it with detailed information Therefore, using this approach in the thesis helps to investigate into the frequency of the occurrence

of some linguistic phenomena among the slogans of some world-famous car companies