Metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in english (with reference to vietnamese) a study from cognitive perspective

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES ------ LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG METAPHORS USED IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERT

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG

METAPHORS USED IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISING SLOGANS IN ENGLISH (WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE): A STUDY FROM

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

ẨN DỤ ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG TRONG CÁC KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO ĐỒ ĂN

VÀ ĐỒ UỐNG BẰNG TIẾNG ANH (CÓ QUY CHIẾU VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT):

NGHIÊN CỨU THEO GÓC ĐỘ TRI NHẬN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

LÊ THỊ KIM NHUNG

METAPHORS USED IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISING SLOGANS IN ENGLISH (WITH REFERENCE TO VIETNAMESE): A STUDY FROM

COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

ẨN DỤ ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG TRONG CÁC KHẨU HIỆU QUẢNG CÁO ĐỒ ĂN

VÀ ĐỒ UỐNG BẰNG TIẾNG ANH (CÓ QUY CHIẾU VỚI TIẾNG VIỆT):

NGHIÊN CỨU THEO GÓC ĐỘ TRI NHẬN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 60220201

Supervisor: Trần Thị Thu Hiền, Ph.D

HANOI – 2017

DECLARATION

I hereby certify my authority of the Minor Programme Thesis submitted

entitled “Metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English (with

reference to Vietnamese): A study from cognitive perspective” in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution

Hanoi, 2017 Signature

Lê Thị Kim Nhung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would have been far from accomplishment without my supervisor, my lecturers, my family, and friends Therefore, it is time for me to send

my sincerity to them all

First of all, I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Tran Thi Thu Hien, Ph.D., for her invaluable guide and advice on my thesis since the day I revealed my ideas I absolutely appreciate the support and knowledge that

she has invested in my work

My sincere thanks also go to the lecturers at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies for their deep explanations and useful lectures

My profound thanks and deep gratitude go to my family and my friends for their valuable support and encouragement

ABSTRACT

The thesis focuses on analyzing metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English with reference to those in Vietnamese from cognitive perspective The research also reflects some previous studies of metaphors used in advertising context The major theoretical basis of the study is Lakoff and Johnson‟s theory of metaphor, which lays a foundation for a specific classification of 50

advertising slogans divided into four different groups: “Life is an entity/substance”, “Feeling/Desire is an entity/substance”,

“Locations/Characteristics are locations”, and “The product is an entity/substance” When the classification is done, the slogans are described and

main findings are presented: From cognitive perspective, metaphor is central to our thought, structures our thought, and is the process of embodied cross-domain

mapping Abstract target domains, such as “life”, “feeling”, and “state”, can be understood by more concrete source domains, such as “entity” or “substance” The

“life” and “feeling/desire” metaphors contribute to a large portion of metaphors

used in food and drink advertising slogans Conceptual metaphor is used widely to help people understand an abstract concept by referring to a concrete one Ontological metaphor is one of the most common subtypes of conceptual metaphor

in both slogans in English and those in Vietnamese However, differences in beliefs, values, and culture, especially culinary culture, between Vietnam and English-speaking countries may result in differences in advertised items, the frequency of target domains, and types and subtypes of metaphor used in slogans

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aim and objectives of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Research methods 2

1.5 Scope of the study 2

1.6 Significance of the study 3

1.7 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ……… 5

2.1 Definitions of metaphor 5

2.2 Classification of metaphor 7

2.2.1 Conceptual/Conventional metaphor 7

2.2.2 Mixed metaphor 11

2.2.3 New metaphor 12

2.3 Metaphor versus other ways of meaning transference 14

2.3.1 Metaphor versus simile 14

2.3.2 Metaphor versus metonymy 14

2.4 Advertising slogans 15

2.4.1 Definitions of slogans and adverting slogans 15

2.4.2 Purposes of advertising slogans 15

2.5 Previous studies of metaphor in advertising 16

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18

3.1 Research approaches 18

3.2 Research samples 19

3.2.1 Data source 19

3.2.2 Description of research samples 20

3.3 Data collection procedures 21

3.4 Data analysis procedures 21

CHAPTER 4: METAPHORS IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISING SLOGANS 23

4.1 “Life is an entity/substance” 23

4.2 “Feeling/Desire is an entity/substance” 27

4.3 “States/Characteristics are locations” 32

4.4 “The product is an entity/substance” 33

CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 39

5.1 Subtypes of food and drink in English advertising slogans with reference to those in Vietnamese 40

5.2 Target domains in English food and drink advertising slogans with reference to those in Vietnamese 41

5.3 Types of metaphors in English food and drink advertising slogans with reference to those in Vietnamese 42

5.3.1 Conceptual metaphor in food and drink advertising slogans 43

5.3.2 New metaphor in food and drink advertising slogans 44

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION 46

6.1 Summary 46

6.2 Implications 47

6.3 Limitations of the study 48

6.4 Suggestions for further studies 48

REFERENCES 50 APPENDIXES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTATIONAL CONVENTIONS

1e: each slogan is assigned a number in the list of slogans in English

1v: each slogan is assigned a number in the list of slogans in Vietnamese

“Bold letters or sentences” are used for target domains, source domains, and metaphors

Italics type is used for slogans, terms and metaphorical expressions

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Information on food and drink advertising slogans used for research

analysis 21 Table 5.1: Subtypes of food and drink used in 25 advertising slogans in English and

those in Vietnamese 40 Table 5.2: Target domains used in food and drink advertising slogans in English and

in those in Vietnamese 41 Table 5.3: The general frequency of each metaphor type in the whole 25 food and

drink advertising slogans in English and those in Vietnamese 42 Table 5.4: The frequency of each sub-types of Conceptual metaphor in food and

drink advertising slogans in English and in Vietnamese 43 Table 5.5: The frequency of each sub-types of New metaphor in food and drink

advertising slogans in English and in Vietnamese 44

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims to provide with the most general information about what is included in the study and how it is carried out

1.1 Rationale

Metaphor, a figure of speech, is utilized so widely that sometimes it is used

subconsciously According to Lakoff and Turner (1989:1), it is “omnipresent”,

“accessible to everyone” and “irreplaceable” It is used in our daily life to help us

understand the world around us by referring an abstract to a concrete one In the field of cognitive linguistics, it has been widely accepted that metaphor constitutes and constructs human thoughts and it is argued that metaphor is the cross domain mapping between the source domain and the target domain

Metaphor has also been widely used in the field of advertising Advertising,

as one of the most efficient ways of publicizing products, has become an

indispensable part of our life and “a major manifestation of conceptual metaphors”

(Kövecses 2002: 59) Slogans of advertising, perhaps, are some of the most powerful component elements of all the advertisements They are widely used to attract potential consumers‟ attention and may be an indispensable part of advertisements The selling power of the advertisements largely depends on the conceptual metaphors, pictures or words used in them A well-chosen metaphor will greatly prompt people‟s desire to buy a certain product

Therefore, a study on “Metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans

in English (with reference to Vietnamese): A study from cognitive perspective” has

been chosen with the main focus on the advertising slogans in the field of food and

drink The study also describes slogans to exploit metaphors used in slogans in English with reference to those in Vietnamese to find out how metaphors are used

in these slogans from cognitive perspective

1.2 Aim and objectives of the study

This study mainly focuses on the metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English with reference to those in Vietnamese from cognitive perspective The objectives are as follows

- To identify and describe metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English with reference to those in Vietnamese

- To find out similarities and differences in the use of metaphors in food and drink advertising slogans in English and those in Vietnamese

1.3 Research questions

The study answers two research questions:

1) How are metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English with reference to those in Vietnamese?

2) What are similarities and differences between metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English and those in Vietnamese?

1.5 Scope of the study

In a scope of a minor study, it is impossible for the researcher to cover all English and Vietnamese advertising slogans in general and advertising slogans for food and drink products in particular Consequently, in this study only 50 food and drink advertising slogans (25 slogans in English and 25 slogans in Vietnamese) with metaphorical expressions are collected from different sources including

advertised from 2000 to 2015 Slogans which do not express any metaphorical

concept and do not belong to food and drink categories are not described and analyzed in the study

As the application of metaphors in advertising slogans is quite huge and diversified, and the number of slogans has been increasing year after year, the analysis is supposed to be selective rather than comprehensive

1.6 Significance of the study

This study has attempted to investigate different metaphors employed in food and drink advertising slogans in English with reference to Vietnamese Theoretically, the study is hoped to have provided thorough investigation so as to support or contradict the already-existing theories on the subject matter For example, there is a theory in which metaphor is thought to be a property of words and to be a linguistic phenomenon; according to another theory, metaphor is a property of concepts, and not of words

In social life, metaphors can be useful They lead to a kind of an intimate atmosphere between the speakers This creates a link based on same or, at least, similar experiences and interests As a matter of fact, metaphors used in advertising slogans can help attract consumers, arouse their interests, and promote the selling power of the product Although there are many studies concerning metaphors and advertising slogans, this study may help advertisers and marketers create more effective advertising slogans and provide researchers, teachers, and learners with different ways of approaching cultural issues, communicative competence, and the use of many figures of speech Collecting slogans in English and Vietnamese seems to be not a very difficult task However, that finding out slogans with metaphorical expressions and analyzing them in four groups according to concept of metaphor to analyze and understand their messages they convey from cognitive perspective has created one significant point for the study Furthermore, that the use

of metaphors in two languages is contrasted to find out the similarities and differences is another significance of the study

1.7 Organization of the study

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION serves as an explanation for the reason why the study is conducted, and worth being carried out In addition, the study also states

a brief account of relevant information including the rationale, aim and objectives, research questions, research methods, scope, significance, and organization of the study

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW begins by stating the definition of metaphor, the typical classification of metaphor by Lakoff and Johnson This is followed by other ways of meaning transference and advertising slogans This chapter also reflects different previous studies of metaphors in advertising

Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY refers to the research approach used in the study and the methods of collecting and analyzing data to help the researcher achieve the best results in the study

Chapter 4: METAPHORS IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISING SLOGANS describes and analyzes metaphors used in slogans in English from cognitive perspective with reference to those in Vietnamese

Chapter 5: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION presents main findings and discussion

Chapter 6: CONCLUSION summarizes main findings and provides the implications of the study to the creating process of advertising slogans in general and food and drinks slogans in particular, limitations, and some suggestions for further studies

To sum up, chapter 1 explains for the reason why the study is conducted, and worth being carried out The study also states a brief account of relevant information

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a theoretical background and a brief of key terms related

to the issues of the study: metaphor and advertising slogans

2.1 Definitions of metaphor

Metaphor expressions abound in most aspects of life, such as in daily conversations, in literature, and in advertising There are several definitions of metaphors

Aristotle, who was first to provide a scholarly treatment of metaphors, gives a

more detailed definition of the term metaphor He said that a metaphor ”consists in

giving the thing a name that belongs to something else; the transference being either from genius to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species,

or on the ground of analogy.” (Gibbs 1994: 210)

Richards, I.A (1929, 1936, 1938) went further He gave a terminology which is still used nowadays when talking about metaphors For him a metaphor has two

terms, called topic and vehicle The latter one is the term used metaphorically These two terms have a relationship called ground (Gibbs 1994: 211)

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that describes a subject by asserting that it is, on some point of comparison, the same as another otherwise unrelated object Metaphor is a type of analogy and is closely related to other rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via association, comparison or resemblance including allegory, hyperbole, and simile

All these definitions have in common that they speak of two terms which a related to each other because of the similarities they have, but they also limit the function of metaphors to embellish the language (Baldauf, C 1997: 14)

Traditional concept can be briefly characterized by pointing out five of its most commonly accepted features

- Metaphor is a property of words; it is a linguistic phenomenon

- Metaphor is used for some artistic and rhetorical purpose, such as when

Shakespeare writes “all the world’s a stage”

- Metaphor is based on resemblance between the two entities that are compared and identified

- Metaphor is a conscious and deliberate use of words, and you must have

a special talent to be able to do it and do it well Only great poets or eloquent speakers can be its masters

- It is also commonly held that metaphor is a figure of speech that we can

do without, we use it for special effects, and it is not an inevitable part of everyday human communication

According to Galperin (1981), metaphor is a relation between the dictionary and contextual logical meanings based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties of two corresponding concepts Metaphors play an important role in defining our everyday realities

In cognitive linguistics, metaphor is defined as understanding one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain A source domain that is typically concrete is used to explain a target domain that is typically abstract Lakoff and Johnson view metaphor as a systematic conceptualization of certain domains of experience in terms of other domains of experience (Lakoff & Johnson 1980: 139) They also come from a cognitive perspective of metaphor, explaining how metaphor changes our views, and they rely upon the cognitive components in their theory, focusing on human thought processes According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003: 4), metaphor exists everywhere and plays an important role in everyday life

It exists not only in language but in thought and action as well The mapping is primary It sanctions the use of source domain language and inference patterns for target domain concepts The language is secondary In other words, metaphor is central to our thought, structures our thought, and is the process of embodied cross-domain mapping

In short, Lakoff and Johnson challenged the deeply entrenched view of metaphor by claiming that:

- Metaphor is a property of concepts, and not of words

- The function of metaphor is to better understand certain concepts, and not just some artistic or esthetic purpose

- Metaphor is often not based on similarity

- Metaphor is used effortlessly in everyday life by ordinary people, not just by special talented people

- Metaphor, far from being a superfluous though pleasing linguistic ornament,

is an inevitable process of human thought and reasoning

- Lakoff and Johnson showed convincingly that metaphor is pervasive both in thought and everyday language

In this study, the investigation of metaphor is based on the two definitions by Galperin and Lakoff, the former of which serves our exploration to seek the words and expressions denoting metaphor based on the association of similarities whereas the latter is useful in seeking the conceptual schemata‟s for metaphor in a variety of aspects of life in different genres

2.2 Classification of metaphor

There are different ways of classifying metaphors From cognitive perspective,

it is better to comprehend metaphors in Lakoff and Johnson‟s classification

According to Lakoff and Johnson, metaphors can be divided into conceptual

metaphor (with three basic subtypes: ontological metaphor, structural metaphor,

and orientational metaphor), mixed metaphor, and new metaphor

domain The conceptual domain from which we draw metaphorical expressions to understand another conceptual domain is known as the source domain The conceptual domain that is understood in this way is the target domain In other words, the source domain is used to understand the target domain Normally the target domain is more abstract and the source domain is more concrete (Kövecses

2002: 4) Take conceptual metaphor “Life is a journey” as an example Here, the

concept of journey (the source domain) is used to understand the highly abstract concept of life (the target domain) This conceptual metaphor is not directly used in

everyday life but is realized by metaphorical linguistic expressions (Kövecses 2002:3), such as the following:

He‟s without direction in life

I‟m where I want to be in life

I‟m at a crossroad in my life

The mapping of a source domain onto the target domain is the way metaphor transfers meaning from one area to another A mapping is the systematic set of correspondences that exist between constituent elements of the source and the target domain For example, there is a set of mappings between the source and the target

in the conceptual metaphor “Life is a journey” (Kövecses 2002:6)

Source: Journey Target: Life

the travelers → the people

companions → friends

guides → people who give us suggestions

the starting point → birth

distance covered → events experienced

the obstacles encountered → the difficulties met

different roads → different choices

the destinations and stops → the goals and achievements

the end of the journey → death

It can be seen from the example above that the constituent elements of the

conceptual domain “Journey” are in systematic correspondence with constituent elements of the conceptual domain “Life”

Metaphorical entailments, a common property of conceptual metaphors, are produced when rich additional knowledge about a source is mapped onto a target

(Kövecses 2002: 94) For example, in the metaphor “An argument is a journey”,

the constituent element that the journey happens along the road is mapped to the progress of an argument, but we also have the additional knowledge that sometimes

we can leave the main path and stray from it

Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003) identify three categories of conceptual

metaphors: ontological metaphor, structural metaphor and orientational metaphor 2.2.1.1 Ontological metaphor

Ontological metaphors can also be understood as entity and substance metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 2003:26) It is is perceived as a metaphor in which

“an abstraction, such as an activity, emotion, or idea, is represented as something

concrete, such as an object, substance, container, or person” This means that we

can “refer to them, categorize them, group them, and qualify them” (Lakoff and

Johnson 2003:26) Take the “Inflation is an entity” metaphor (Lakoff and Johnson

2003:27) as an example Inflation is understood as an entity and it enables us to refer to and qualify it in the following sentences (Lakoff and Johnson 2003: 27):

Inflation is lowering our standard of living

Inflation is hacking us in to a corner

Among all the physical objects, human thoughts and characteristics may be the most familiar physical entity to us As a result, a wide range of abstract concepts are conceptualized as human beings Personification can also be conceived as an extension of ontological metaphors, for the reason that the source domain is furthered specified as a person and human characteristics are applied to nonhuman

entities (Lakoff and Johnson 2003:35) The above “Inflation is an entity”

metaphor can sometimes be written as “Inflation is a person” based on the

following examples (Lakoff and Johnson 2003: 34):

Inflation has attacked the foundation of our economy

Our biggest enemy right now is inflation

In a detailed manner, this metaphor is further classified into container

metaphor, where one concept is represented as having an inside and outside, and

capable of holding something else, and entity metaphor, in which an abstraction is

represented as a concrete physical object, or maybe a person (personification)

Another subtype of ontological metaphor is substance metaphor via the use of

which, an abstract entity such as idea, emotion, event or activity is represented as a solid material As can be seen in the following examples, these kinds of ontological metaphors are quite clearly illustrated:

Life is empty for him (Container metaphor)

Her ego is very fragile (Entity metaphor)

Inflation is eating up our profits (Personification)

There was a lot of good running in the race (Substance metaphor)

2.2.1.2 Structural metaphor

Structural metaphors are “cases where one concept is metaphorically

structured in terms of another” (Lakoff and Johnson 2003: 14) In structural

metaphors, rich structure knowledge is provided by the source domain for the target concept By the structure of the source, the speakers are able to understand the target The understanding process happens when the elements of the source are conceptually mapped onto the elements of the target (Kövecses 2002: 33) For example,

Here, love is structured according to journey and we can get the following mappings in this metaphor:

Source: Journey Target: Love

2.2.1.3 Orientational metaphor

According to Lakoff and Johnson (2003: 14), orientational metaphor

“organizes a whole system of concepts with respect to one another” since “most of

them have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, shallow, central-peripheral” The cognitive function of orientational metaphor is a

deep-series of target concepts coherent in our conceptual system It could sometimes be

called a “coherence metaphor” Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial

orientation; for example, an upward orientation characterizes certain target concepts, while their opposite concepts are characterized by a downward

orientation

“Happy is up”; “Sad is down”: I‟m feeling up today He‟s really low these days

“Good is up”; “Bad is down”: Things are looking up Things are at an all-time

same sentence, to express the same concept Mixed metaphors is divided into impermissible mixed metaphors which conflict because they serve different purposes and permissible mixed metaphors which do not conflict with each other because they serve the same purpose, and/or exhibit a correlation with each other Mixed metaphors often, but not always, result in a conflict of concepts

In the following sentences, a mixture of the argument-as-journey and argument-as-container metaphors is presented The first three sentences are acceptable; however, the last two are marginally acceptable

At this point our argument doesn‟t have much content

In what we‟ve done so far, we have provided the core of our argument

If we keep going the way we’re going, we‟ll fit all the facts in

We can now follow the path of the core of the argument

The content of the argument proceeds as follows…

2.2.3 New metaphor

Metaphor can be regarded as “an essential characteristic of the creativity of

language” or “deviant and parasitic upon normal use” (Ortony 1993: 2) Metaphors

used in creative works, such as literary works, advertisements and films, are different from metaphors in our everyday life They are usually more creative and

new In Lakoff and Johnson‟s affirmation, “such metaphors are capable of giving a

new understanding of experience Thus, they can give new meaning to our pasts, to our daily activity, and to what we know and believe.”

In order to create new metaphors, several devices have to be employed in the reworking of normal and everyday language These include extending, elaborating, questioning, and combining (Kövecses 2002: 47) Here only extending, elaborating and combining will be explained since these three appear most frequently in the material that is described and analyzed in chapter 4

2.2.3.1 Extending

Extending is recognized when a new conceptual element is introduced in the source domain to an already existing conventional metaphor and the ordinary

conceptual metaphor is expressed by new metaphorical linguistic expressions Take the following linguistic expressions as examples (Kövecses 2002: 47):

Two roads diverged in a wood, and

I took the one less travelled by

In the middle of life’s road

I found myself in a dark wood

It can be seen that the conventional metaphor “Life is a journey” is utilized

and at the same time the ordinary metaphor is expressed in a new way The novelty added is in this case by using and extending conventional metaphors Despite the very same destination both roads lead to, there is one road less or more traveled

than the other and one‟s road may go through a dark wood An “unused” element is

added in the creative process (Kövecses 2002: 47)

2.2.3.2 Elaborating

Quite different from extending, in elaborating, people elaborate on an already existing element of the source in detail rather than adding a new element to the source domain (Kövecses 2002: 47)

According to Lakoff and Turner (1989: 67-69), Horace‟s metaphorical

expression “eternal exile of the raft” is used to refer to death The conventional

metaphor “Death is departure” is reflected in this expression, but is elaborated by

detailing the type and means of departure (exile and raft) It includes details instead

of adding new elements from the source

2.2.3.3 Combining

To create novel metaphors, several conventional everyday metaphors can be

combined in a single metaphorical linguistic expression It is said to be “perhaps the most powerful mechanism to go beyond our everyday conceptual system” (Kövecses

2002: 49)

Example: You took away the light of my life

In this sentence, light is understood as a substance that can be took away and life is understood as a substance that has light At least there are two conventional

metaphors combined here, namely “Life is a substance” and “A life time is a day” The combination of conventional metaphors thus enables the creation of new

ones

2.3 Metaphor versus other ways of meaning transference

2.3.1 Metaphor versus simile

Galperin (1981) gives the comparison between simile and metaphor Both similes and metaphors link one thing to another A simile is a comparison using

“like” or “as” while functional words like “like” or “as‟‟ are ellipses in metaphors

A metaphor creates a relationship directly and leaves more to the imagination With

simile A is like B With metaphor A is B In Vietnamese, words are simile là, như,

giống như, tựa như, như là, như thể…

Metaphor: “Life is a journey”

Simile: “Life is like a journey”

2.3.2 Metaphor versus metonymy

Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 36) explain that metaphor and metonymy are different kinds of processes Metaphor is principally a way of conceiving of one thing in term of another Metonymy, on the other hand, has primarily a referential function In other words, one entity is used to stand for another Metonymy is not only merely a referential device, but also serves the function of providing understanding

Galperin (1981) distinguishes the stylistic device based on the principle of identification of two objects called metaphor while metonymy is the stylistic device based on the principle of substitution of one object for another Another difference between metaphor and metonymy is that a metaphor acts by suppressing an idea while metonymy acts by combining ideas Metaphor is used for substitution and condensation, while metonymy is used for combination and displacement

2.4 Advertising slogans

2.4.1 Definitions of slogans and adverting slogans

According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995: 1349),

“a slogan is a short easily-remembered phrase used by an advertiser, a politician, etc.”

In general, a slogan is 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 In other words, a slogan is 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

According to Whittier (1958: 11), 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

Rein (1982: 49) defines an advertising slogan as a "unique phrase identified

with a company or brand" It is often a summarized "big idea" which gives the

product or the company a concept in the contracted form and "ties together all of

the elements in an advertising campaign" (Rein, 1982: 54) A slogan has "to say something about the product uniqueness or values" and it "should command attention, be memorable and be brief" (Rein, 1982: 54)

2.4.2 Purposes of advertising slogans

According to Abreu et al (2005: 42), slogans can be used for the following

general purposes:

- To express especially the main advantage of the product

- To identify clearly the advertised product

- To attract the addressee‟s attention

The reason why a slogan commonly appears together with the

logo of the product is to ensure that if customers get nothing from the

advertisement, they can get from the slogan instead Moreover, in a

printed advert, a slogan often comes next to the logo as an example

of KFC‟s

In case readers just have a glance at the most noticeable position in the paper, the logo, they must have a look at the slogan at the same time so in this way, advertisers may reach their purpose of transmitting the key message of the advertisement

2.5 Previous studies of metaphor in advertising

Due to the interdisciplinary nature and the massive exploitation of metaphors

in advertising, quite a vast amount of research has been so far carried out Below are some examples

Elizabeth M Anderson (1998) has investigated the use of metaphor in line advertising The research provides advertisers beneficial competitive information when developing an on-line presence It finds out the most common type of metaphor used in on-line advertising in 1998 In evaluating the metaphor usage of commercial web sites, it is verbo-pictorial, clickable, and working metaphors that are the most effective and present the least risk to advertisers on the web It also presents the difference between metaphor usage in shopping versus non-shopping web sites and the influencing factors that account for these differences However, metaphor and subtypes of metaphor used in on-line advertising have their own characteristics and different ways of analysis No comparison or reference to other languages is presented in the research

on-Chennan Yu (2009), from Kristianstad University College, has analyzed metaphors in food advertising slogans The study identifies and analyzes both the conceptual metaphors and the creative metaphorical linguistic expressions used in

20 slogans in English and the possible reasons why a certain source domain is

slogans in English and those in other languages in the study The approach of the study is not clearly mentioned, and data analysis is not presented as well

In Vietnam, Nguyen Thi Chi Mai (2010) studied metaphorical expressions in English advertising slogans from the semantic approach The study focuses on analyzing the employment of different types and sub-types of metaphors in the advertising industry, and has also proven both the highly frequent use of metaphors

in advertising slogans The study identifies the frequency of different metaphor types exploited in slogans to find out conceptual metaphor, especially ontological metaphor, is most favored by advertisers and marketers, investigates the target domain, source domain and metaphor concepts in each slogans to discover the strengths (or weaknesses) of each metaphor type when applied in advertising, and places the analysis of each metaphorical slogan in its group context to see that new metaphor represents the smartest choice for each classification of products However, the study primarily deals with researching matters from a semantic approach, and there is no comparison or reference to advertising slogans in Vietnamese

Bui Thi Kim Ngan (2012) conducted a descriptive analysis of linguistic features of advertising language used in English slogans for food and drink products from semantic approach The study investigates 112 food and drink English slogans

in print advertisements in the phonological, lexical, syntactic and semantic aspects

to draw out the most significant linguistic features of advertising language used in these English slogans There is no Vietnamese slogan included in the analysis to make a comparison of the use of advertising language between these two languages

To sum up, in chapter 2, metaphor, types and subtypes of metaphor, other ways of meaning transference, advertising slogans and their purposes, and previous studies

of metaphors in the field of advertising are presented as a theoretical background of this thesis, which mainly focuses on metaphors used in slogans in the field of food and drink advertising in English from cognitive perspective, with reference to those

in Vietnamese

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter deals with the methods used in this study It consists of some sections involving the research approach, data source, data collection procedure, and data analysis interpretation

3.1 Research approaches

Descriptive method is mainly used “to describe systematically the facts and

characteristics of a given population or area of interest, factually and accurately”

(Isaac & Michael, 1981:18) As stated earlier, this kind of research helps the

researcher “describe naturally occurring phenomena” and then obtain information concerning the correct status of the phenomena and describe “what exists” with

respect to variables or conditions of a situation Seliger and Shohamy (1989:124) A

variable “is a characteristic or attribute of an individual or an organization that (1)

researchers can measure or observe (2) varies among individuals or organization studied” (Creswell, 2005:118)

One reason for choosing descriptive research suitable for this study is that it can provide description of meanings of food and drink advertising slogans The purpose of this kind of research as it is introduced by Wisker (2001) is to find out more about a phenomenon and to capture it with detailed information

Qualitative method is intended to provide an overview of the conceptual metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English (with reference to

Vietnamese) Shank (2002: 5) defines qualitative research as “a form of systematic

empirical inquiry into meaning” By systematic he means “planned, ordered and public”, following rules agreed upon by members of the qualitative research

community By “empirical”, he means that this type of inquiry is grounded in the world of experience “Inquiry into meaning” says researchers try to understand how

others make sense of their experience Denzin and Lincoln (2000: 3) claim that

qualitative research involves an interpretive and naturalistic approach “This means

make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them”

In the ground-breaking work “Metaphors We Live By” (1980), Lakoff and

Johnson showed that metaphors are in fact a fundamental, structuring mechanism in the way we interact with and perceive the world around us; a linguistic phenomenon

so common and easily accessible that we often do not notice that something is in fact a metaphor

Quantitative method is used to calculate the frequency of concepts, types and subtypes of metaphors, and items of food and drink advertising slogans used Contrastive analysis is also applied in this thesis to find out similarities and, especially, differences between metaphors used in food and drink advertising slogans in English and those in Vietnamese

3.2 Research samples

3.2.1 Data source

English slogans as samples for this research were mainly from one of the

most famous and reliable advertising slogan websites in the UK, adslogans.co.uk, available from: www.adslogans.co.uk [accessed November 2015] Websites were

chosen as the source of slogans because of easy availability and adslogans.co.uk

was selected for this research due to its enormous database of world-famous slogans

in a wide variety of fields such as food, drink, fashion and style, travel and tourism, household equipment, and technology Moreover, nearly most of all advertising slogans listed in this website were advertised in the UK and the US where English is used as the first language so the choice of language use must be taken into great consideration by advertisers and therefore the analysis of these slogans might reveal some interesting facts of advertising language which was considered the central point of this research The reason for such a choice of advertising slogans advertised

in English-speaking countries, especially in the UK and the US, also depended on the belief that English has become an international language; therefore the fact that

it is utilized as a means to translate advertising slogans from other languages into English is obviously natural

In the website, advertising slogans are classified into different decades and in

each period of time, all slogans are listed together with their brand names, products, advertising media including television, outdoor, print, and radio, the year and

location in which they were advertised Thanks to this way of categorization, the

researcher found it easier to narrow down the scope of the study and select the most appropriate slogans to analyze in the research

Other sources include:

- Textart Database (2015) [Online] Available from:

http://www.textart.ru/database/slogan/list-advertising-slogans.html

[Accessed November 2015]

- Wikipedia (2015) [Online] Available from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page [Accessed November 2015]

- Google (2015) [online] Available from: http://www.google.com [Accessed November 2015]

3.2.2 Description of research samples

All the advertising slogans chosen for the research in the websites were supposed to fulfill the criteria hereafter:

- Being an advertising slogan for a food or drink product (e.g., cereal, soup, beer, milk.)

- Containing metaphorical linguistic expressions

- Being advertised in the English-speaking countries, especially in the UK

or the US, and in Vietnam

Regarding those criteria, 50 food and drink slogans were chosen and they were distributed quite equally between food and drink categories The detailed description of advertising slogans chosen as research samples are presented in Table 3.1 below It can easily be seen that advertising slogans chosen for analysis

belonged to a wide variety of food and drink sub-categories, which helped the researcher gather more abundant information

Categories and Sub-categories Slogans in

English

Slogans in Vietnamese Total Food: including baby foods, biscuits, cereals,

pizzas, cheese, soup, sauce, bread, milk,

sandwiches, snack foods, and noodles

Drinks: including alcoholic drinks (beers,

wines, and coffee) and non-alcoholic

beverages (soft drinks, energy/sports drinks,

mineral water, and tea)

Table 3.1: Information on food and drink advertising slogans used for research

analysis

3.3 Data collection procedures

The procedures of data collection involved three following phases

Phase 1: Advertising slogans for food and drink products were collected from the

Internet

Phase 2: A selection was carried out basing on the preset criteria The ones that did

not contain metaphorical linguistic expressions were left out

Phase 3: 50 food and drink slogans (25 slogans in English and 25 slogans in

Vietnamese) were chosen for analysis

3.4 Data analysis procedures

After 50 slogans for food and drink products are collected, they are identified and categorized into four groups, according to their target domain, source domain,

and metaphorical concept: “Life is an entity/substance”, “Feeling/Desire is an entity/substance”, “States/ Characteristics are locations”, and “The product is

an entity/substance”

The procedure is as follows Firstly, the descriptive method is applied to describe meanings and ideas of metaphorical expressions Next, qualitative method

is used to examine data Then, quantitative methods deployed in collecting and processing the data were used to measure the frequency level of occurrence of each category and sub-category, such as target domains, subtypes of food and drink used

in slogans, kind of metaphors , and subtypes of conceptual metaphor After that, contrastive analysis is used to find similarities and differences between food and drink advertising slogans in English and those in Vietnamese

To sum up, in chapter 3, methods used in the study are mentioned Descriptive method is the main one; besides, qualitative method, quantitative method, and contrastive analysis are used This chapter also presents data source, research samples, procedures of data collection and data analysis

CHAPTER 4: METAPHORS IN FOOD AND DRINK ADVERTISING

SLOGANS

In this chapter, metaphors and possible ways of understanding advertising slogans in English for food and drink products are identified, described, and analyzed from cognitive perspective with reference to those in Vietnamese According to their target domain, source domain, and metaphorical concept, 50

slogans used in this study are classified into four groups: “Life is an entity/substance”, “Feeling/Desire is an entity/substance”, “States/ Characteristics are locations”, and “The product is an entity/substance”

4.1 “Life is an entity/substance”

“Life”, commonly understood as an entity, is a popular target domain in

advertising slogans since the advertisers want to convince the consumers that their products will make our life better, which might be the greatest motivation for them The advertising slogans in section 4.1 are mainly centered on the ontological

metaphor “Life is an entity/substance” There are 6 out of 25 slogans in English,

accounting for 24%, expressing this metaphor With reference to those in Vietnamese, the number of slogans expressing this metaphorical concept is 5 out of

25, accounting for 20%

Metaphor with target domain “life” used in slogans in English is analyzed as

follows

1e) The Coke Side of Life (Coca-Cola, 2006)

2e) Live on the Coke Side of Life (Coca-Cola, 2009)

Slogans 1e and 2e are from one of the world‟s most famous soft drink

brands, Coca-Cola As can be seen, the metaphorical linguistic expression “the

Coke Side of Life” appears in both of the two slogans to deliver the message that

Coca-Cola makes life different In both slogans, owing to the fact that there is too

little information provided, the target domain “life” here is understood as an entity

which cannot be defined However, at least certain characteristic of the entity can be

determined by looking into the word “side” “Life” is conceived as an object that

has at least two sides, opposite to each other: the good/bright/positive side and the

bad/dull/negative side Coca-Cola becomes different between the two sides Since

advertising slogans are designed to have positive meanings, the Coca side of life would probably mean the bright side of life

In 2009 the slogan was recreated by adding the phrase “live on” “Life” is

known to be conceptualized as an object that has a surface and living people are understood to be on this surface The understanding of people living on the surface has a connection with a very popular orientational metaphor making use of our spatial up-down image The state of people being energetic, alive and conscious is usually related to the upward orientation On the contrary, states like being asleep and dead are related to the downward orientation Slogan 2e tends to deliver a positive message that life with Coca-Cola is good and full of happiness

In the following three slogans, the abstract concept of “life” is also

conceptualized as a physical substance However, the difference is that a concrete

source concept “food” is introduced

3e) Life tastes good (Coca-Cola, 2001)

4e) Progresso A taste of the good life! (Progresso soup brand, 2000)

5e) Earth Grains Discover a healthier slice of Life! (Earth Grains bread, 2000)

The word “taste” is used as a verb and a noun respectively in slogan 3e and

4e We can eat food and thus experience different tastes of food Understood as

food, “life” is conceived of as something that can be tasted and have different kinds

of tastes

Both the literal and metaphorical meanings are contained in one expression

in slogan 3e and 4e Their literal meaning is that the product to sell tastes good and the same conceptual metaphor is used, but there is still a slight difference between the ways they are expressed Slogan 3e has a simpler linguistic expression It is rather clear that the advertisers want us to believe that by drinking Coca-Cola we