On the Linguistic Characteristics of Branding English 商标英语的语言特点.doc

商标英语的语言特点On the Linguistic Characteristics of Branding EnglishABSTRACTIn the circulation of commodities, brand is a symbol of a commodity. Naming a successful brand to promote the commodities and to foster a good and healthy company image is the main way of digging international market potential and accelerating international trade development. If marketing is a war, a successful brand is the key to win the war. There are a great variety of differences between Chinese culture and western culture. A successful Chinese translation of an English brand is of prime importance in the market of China, and vice versa. Only when we pay much attention to the linguistic characteristics of a brand and use proper translating strategies and techniques, can we translate the brand successfully. In this paper we present an analytical study of the linguistic characteristics of branding English in terms of culture, linguistics and rhetoric. Therefore, we can realize the significance and the regulations of naming an English brand, and understand the cultural connotation of an English brand.This paper is divided into four parts. Firstly, we introduce the history, culture and the three development stages of brand naming. Secondly, we analyze the linguistic characteristics of branding English. Thirdly, we summarize the five principles of brand naming. And lastly we arrive at a conclusion that the study of branding English is of great significance. Keywords: brand, branding English, linguistic characteristics 摘 要在商品流通中,商标是代表商品的符号。借助商标宣传商品,树立良好的企业形象, 已成为各国挖掘国际市场潜力和促进国际贸易发展的重要途径。如果把营销比喻成一场战役，那么成功的品牌名称就像一面不倒的军旗。中华文化与西方文化差异较大,因此外国品牌要打入中国市场,必须慎重考虑其翻译问题，反之亦然。然而对品牌名称进行翻译，就必须了解其语言的特点，采用恰当的翻译策略和技巧，这样才能使商标英语翻译表达得恰如其分。本文通过研究商标英语的语言特点，从其不同文化角度，语言修辞角度等进行论述，从而得出商标命名的意义和规范，理解商标的文化内涵。本文分为四大部分：第一部分，介绍商标命名的历史文化，及其发展的三个重要时期；第二部分，从语言学角度分析了商标名称的语言特点；第三部分，总结当今社会商标命名的五大原则； 最后得出研究商标英语具有重大意义的结论。 关键词：商标； 商标英语； 语言特点 CONTENTSAbstract摘要1 Introduction11.1 The Definition of Brand11.2 The History of Brand11.3 The Three Development Stages of Brand Naming32 The Linguistic Characteristics of Branding English.62.1 Morphological Characteristics62.1.1 Acronym and Initialism72.1.2 Backronym72.1.3 Clipping92.1.4 Compounding102.1.5 Ellipsis112.1.6 Haplology112.1.7 Morphological Borrowing122.1.8 Reduplication122.2 Rhetorical Characteristics132.2.1 Alliteration132.2.2 Allusion142.2.3 Metonymy152.2.4 Mimesis162.2.5 Oxymoron162.2.6 Synecdoche172.2.7 Tautology183 The Five Principles of Brand Naming204 Conclusion21References22Appendix23Acknowledgements251 Introduction1.1 The Definition of BrandA brand name is a complex symbol representing a variety of ideas or attributes, not only by its sound and/or its meaning but also through association it has built up and acquired as a public object over a period of time (Gardner and Levy 1955). A brand name is also the foundation of a brand image. A carefully created and chosen name can bring inherent and immediate value to the brand (Kohli and LaBahn 1997).Brand is the image of the product in the market. Some people distinguish the psychological aspect of a brand from the experiential aspect. The experiential aspect consists of the sum of all points of contact with the brand and is known as the brand experience. The psychological aspect, sometimes referred to as the brand image, is a symbolic construct created within the minds of people and consists of all the information and expectations associated with a product or service.People engaged in branding seek to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique. A brand is therefore one of the most valuable elements in an advertising theme, as it demonstrates what the brand owner is able to offer in the marketplace. The art of creating and maintaining a brand is called brand management. Orientation of the whole organization towards its brand is called brand orientation.1.2 The History of Brand The word “brand” is derived from the Old Norse brandr, meaning “to burn.” It refers to the practice of producers burning their mark (or brand) onto their products. Although connected with the history of trademarks and including earlier examples which could be deemed “protobrands” (such as the marketing puns of the “Vesuvinum” wine jars found at Pompeii), brands in the field of mass-marketing originated in the 19th century with the advent of packaged goods. Industrialization moved the production of many household items, such as soap, from local communities to centralized factories. When shipping their items, the factories would literally brand their logo or insignia on the barrels used, extending the meaning of “brand” to that of trademark.Bass & Company, the British brewery, claims their red triangle brand was the world's first trademark. Lyles Golden Syrup makes a similar claim, having been named as Britain's oldest brand, with its green and gold packaging having remained almost unchanged since 1885.Cattle were branded long before this; the term “maverick”, originally meaning an unbranded calf, comes from Texas rancher Samuel Augustus Maverick who, following the American Civil War, decided that since all other cattle were branded, his would be identified by having no markings at all. Even the signatures on paintings of famous artists like Leonardo Da Vinci can be viewed as an early branding tool.Factories established during the Industrial Revolution introduced mass-produced goods and needed to sell their products to a wider market, to customers previously familiar only with locally-produced goods. It quickly became apparent that a generic package of soap had difficulty competing with familiar, local products. The packaged goods manufacturers needed to convince the market that the public could place just as much trust in the non-local product. Campbell soup, Coca-Cola, Juicy Fruit gum, Aunt Jemima, and Quaker Oats were among the first products to be 'branded', in an effort to increase the consumer's familiarity with their products. Many brands of that era, such as Uncle Ben's rice and Kellogg's breakfast cereal furnish illustrations of the problem.Around 1900, James Walter Thompson published a house ad explaining trademark advertising. This was an early commercial explanation of what we now know as branding. Companies soon adopted slogans, mascots, and jingles that began to appear on radio and early television. By the 1940s, manufacturers began to recognize the way in which consumers were developing relationships with their brands in a social/psychological/anthropological sense.From there, manufacturers quickly learned to build their brand's identity and personality, such as youthfulness, fun or luxury. This began the practice we now know as “branding” today, where the consumers buy “the brand” instead of the product. This trend continued to the 1980s, and is now quantified in concepts such as brand value and brand equity. Naomi Klein has described this development as “brand equity mania”. In 1988, for example, Philip Morris purchased Kraft for six times what the company was worth on paper; it was felt that what they really purchased was its brand name.Marlboro Friday: April 2, 1993 - marked by some as the death of the brand - the day Philip Morris declared that they were to cut the price of Marlboro cigarettes by 20%, in order to compete with bargain cigarettes. Marlboro cigarettes were notorious at the time for their heavy advertising campaigns, and well-nuanced brand image. In response to the announcement Wall street stocks nose-dived for a large number of “branded” companies: Heinz, Coca Cola, Quaker Oats, PepsiCo. Many thought the event signaled the beginning of a trend towards "brand blindness" (Klein), questioning the power of “brand value”.1.3 The Three Development Stages of Brand namingFor the history of brand names, the stages of brand naming can be divided into roughly three sections in their development as follows:1. Naming after Proper NamesBeginning from mid 19th century up to early 20th century, most of the brand names are named after company founders, place names, inventors, etc. Naming a business after proper names has been a very common practice in the past and even in today. Proper names generally include the surnames, place names, historical names, myth names, legendary names, etc. Using proper names as brand names can bring us a sense of history, culture and tradition, and thus a feeling of trust and reputation. But today, this practice is not as popular as it was in the 19th century, because of stipulations of trademark laws and marketing considerations.(1)Using Surnames - Surnames generally include the personal names of company founders, inventors, important persons, myth figures, legendary figures, etc. When surnames are used as brand names, they usually acquire a secondary meaning. Using surnames as brand names makes people feel that a human is standing behind the product, it is individual and friendly. e.g., “Gillette”, the top brand of mens shaving utensil, was named after King Camp Gillette, product inventor and company founder. “Levis” jeans first appeared during the 1860s as a symbol of clothing culture. “Levis” is named after a German immigrant, Levi Strauss, who made this kind of hard clothing for gold miners during the Gold Rush in American history. “Lipton”, a tea brand name, was named after Sir Joseph Lipton, who made contribution to the spread of tea dinking in Britain. “Nike” is the goddess of victory, as a brand for sports shoe; it conveys a positive image of victory. (2)Using Place Names - In the past, place names were commonly used as brand names, such as the place names of city, mountain, river, scenery, etc. Quite often, companies like to use the place names of company locations or product origins, such as Nokia, Champaigne, and Cognac. Imaginary place names can also be used such as Eden Vale, Shangri-La, and Avalon. e.g., “Avon”, a famous brand name of women cosmetics, was taken from Avon, originally the river name of Stratford-on-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. Because the company founder was a keen admirer of Shakespeare, so he chose “Avon” as his brand name. Nokia, Finnish brand for telecom products, first appeared in the 1860s. “Nokia” is a small mountain village in Finland where the company was first located. (3)Using Other Proper Names e.g., “Olympus”, the brand of Japanese electronic products, derived from a proper name, Olympus, the place where gods lived. 2. Naming after Dictionary Words Beginning from early 20th century to mid 20th century, most companies just chose a good word from the dictionary as brand names. Generally speaking, these words have favorable, positive meanings, able to suggest product benefits to customers. Dictionary words are existing ones. It is quite simple to choose from the dictionary. Generally speaking, dictionary words that have good inherent semantic meanings can be widely used. Mostly commonly used dictionary words are animal and plant names and adjectives, etc. e.g., “Pampers”, “Safeguard”, “Apple”, “7-Up”, and “Jaguar”. 3. Naming after Coined Words From mid 20th century onwards, most of the brand names are coined, not chosen. Proper names are prohibited to register as trademarks; good dictionary words are less and less available to companies. Naming after proper names and dictionary words may be easier and less time-consuming, but there are many restrictions and limitations on them. Proper names are relatively few in number, and lack of distinctiveness, and may not be registered. Dictionary words may be good, but there are fewer and fewer words in the dictionary available for new brand names, because most of them have been registered as trademarks. Due to the above reasons, today, most of the companies turn to coined words, or neologisms, to be used as brand names and trademarks. Today the prevailing approach is to make, or to coin new names that do not exist in the language.Neologisms have been considered as the preferred source for brand naming, widely used in modern commercial world. A neologism is also called a coined word. It is a newly-made word that does not exist in the language or in the dictionary. For example, “Kodak” is a neologism while “Pampers” is not. 2 The Linguistic Characteristics of Branding English Linguistically, names are developed by combining morphemes, phonemes and syntax to create a desired representation of a product.Morphemes differ from words in that many morphemes may not be able to stand alone. The Sprint name is composed of a single word and a single morpheme. Conversely, a brand like Acuvue is composed of two morphemes, each with a distinct meaning. While “vue” may be able to stand as its own word, “acu” is seen as a prefix or a bound morpheme that must connect to a free morpheme like “vue.”Phonemes are minimal units of sound. Depending on the speakers accent, the English language has about 44 phonemes. In product naming, names that are phonetically easy to pronounce and that are well balanced with vowels and consonants have an advantage over those that are not. Likewise, names that begin with or stress plosive consonant sounds B, hard C, D, G, K, P or T are often used because of their attention-getting quality. Some phoneme sounds in English, for example L, V, F and W are thought of as feminine, while others such as X, M and Z are viewed as masculine.Syntax, or word order, is key to consumers perceptions of a product name. Banana Republic would not carry the same meaning were it changed to “Republic Banana.” Syntax also has significant implications for the naming of global products, because syntax has been argued to cross the barrier from one language to another. (See the pioneering work on Universal Grammar by Noam Chomsky)Some specific product naming characteristics, including a combination of morphemes, phonemes and syntax are shown below.2.1 Morphological Characteristics Morphology, as a branch of linguistics, is thus the study of the internal structure, forms and classes of words. Morphology studies the minimal units of meaning-morphemes and word-formation processes. In linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new word. Word formation is sometimes contrasted with semantic change, which is a change in a single word's meaning. The line between word formation and semantic change is sometimes a bit blurry; what one person views as a new use of an old word, another person might view as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form. Word formation can also be contrasted with the formation of idiomatic expressions, though sometimes words can form from m