Phonetic Symbolism in Advertising

Running head: PHONETIC SYMBOLISM 1

Phonetic Symbolism in Advertising

Evelyn Pulkowski

CSD: 470-Senior Inquiry—Research Essay

Fall 2013

Augustana College

PHONETIC SYMBOLISM 2

Acknowledgements

I would first and foremost like to thank Dr. Jakielski for all of her patience, wisdom, and

guidance, and overall, the shear amount of work and energy she put into supporting me. I would

also like to thank my friends who motivated me when I did not think I could do this work

anymore. I especially want to thank my fellow students who went on this journey alongside me

and provided support, as well as the CSD staff that has been with since the start of this academic

journey.


Advertising

Advertising is a part of our everyday life and cannot be ignored. From the moment we

wake up, we are susceptible to the influence of companies and organizations and it is nearly

impossible to avoid some advertising during a daily routine. An advertisement can be placed

almost anywhere: newspapers, buses, radio, magazines, online, etc. Advertising is a highly-

organized institution that is able to reach people in many places of the world. Simply defined,

advertising is to draw attention to something or to inform a person regarding some sort of

information (Danesi, 2008). The primary function of advertising is to introduce a variety of

consumer goods and impart information that consumers use to make brand choices (Frith, 1998).

But advertising does much more than just introduce a product, it affects the behavior and culture

of people.

Advertising has social, cultural, and economic effects. Social scientists have conducted

many studies in an attempt to measure these effects and they repeatedly found that we are

influenced by advertisements. Advertising is considered a science because it relies on marketing

science, psychological research methods, and statistics to measure its effects on consumer

behavior (Danesi, 2008). Myers (1999) sums the research findings by saying that the effects of

advertising are real but unpredictable. Americans see so many advertisements, approximately

3,000 a day, that it is almost impossible to find focus groups consisting of individuals who have

not been exposed to advertising (Danesi, 2008). Most of us could think of a familiar slogan or

jingle off the top of our head if asked. We might even be able to think of a time when we bought

a product because we were persuaded by an advertiser’s statements. Although there is debate


among researchers as to the extent that advertisements affect us, there is consensus among them

that advertising is a cultural phenomenon.

American culture is a reflection of our advertising. The effects of advertising have been

so profound that it has affected everything from our food preference to our body image.

Advertisers tell us what our needs and desires are and then promise to fulfill them with their

products. As a result, we have become a consumer-based society, believing the purchasing of

products will fulfill the American dream. In this paper, the term society refers to the aggregation

of people within a specific community, which in this case will denote American society. The

term culture will be used to signify the behaviors, expectations, and values of a society.

Advertisements are so powerful and suggestive in their nature because they are designed

to manipulate the consumer. Advertisers have admitted to this and researchers have shown that

exposure to advertisements cause change in people’s attitudes, values, or behavior (Dyer, 1989).

How, then, are advertisements able to have such an effect? It is because advertisements play into

the ‘id” of the consumer (Berger, 2004). First proposed by the psychologist Sigmund Freud, the

id represents our unconscious level of human psyche. Advertisers tap into the unconscious level

of human psychology because it is the part of us that strives for immediate satisfaction and

fulfillment of desires. Berger suggests this cognitive influence causes the persuading effect on a

consumer’s behavior.

Advertisements have gone as far as affecting the way language is used in our culture.

Mass marketing, the promotional strategy under which advertising is a subset, uses condensed

grammar that promotes conciseness (Dyer, 1989). This leads to less cognitive effort from the

consumer, as well as changing conceived definitions. In consumer-based language, love means a

person who is willing to buy presents, especially jewelry, for his or her significant other. A beer


company might define friendship as a group of people able to bond over its brand of beer. The

lack of cognitive effort influenced by abridged grammar also can affect our level of

metacognition by decreasing our critical thinking in reaction to our environment. Especially with

today’s rise in popularity of tabloids, which use simple and straightforward language, we come

to expect truth in what we read. Therefore, a consumer who sees a toothpaste commercial

promoted by a dentist is less likely to consider that it is simply an actor portraying a dentist. The

consumer then would feel more confident in purchasing that toothpaste, even if the message is

based in falseness. Along with the social and cultural effects, there are also economic

implications of the advertising industry.

America changed from an agricultural economy to a production economy when the

Industrial Revolution developed in the United States following the Civil War (Fowles, 1996). As

discussed by Sivulka (1998), machines were available to produce items at an amazingly rapid

rate and for the first time, it was cheaper to buy an item than to make it at home. Thousands of

new jobs were created that led to a labor shortage, which required women to enter the work

force. This new sector of the population contributing to the work force not only affected the

economy, but it also had cultural effects that changed the way women were viewed by society.

As manufacturing increased, so did the industry of advertising. More jobs were created

and more money was spent on the promotion of products. Thus, advertising is responsible for

economic prosperity due to the number of jobs it provided, the investment opportunities it

created, and its contribution to tax revenues (Sedivy & Carlson, 2011). The economy also

benefits from advertising because it is used as a way of protecting manufacturers and distributers

to ensure allocation of products and creating consumer demand (Dyer, 1982). Effectively,

advertising perpetrates supply and demand. The law of supply and demand, a basic concept of


economics, states that the availability and desire of an item affects the price of that item (Kirzner,

2000).

Until this point in our discussion, the term advertising has been used when describing

what is actually a complicated system. Advertising is a component of marketing, which falls

under the business of public relations. The umbrella term for these three terms is

communication. A broad definition of communication is the conveyance of a message between a

sender and receiver. Public relations is the system that exists to increase communication and

understanding between an organization and the public (Danesi, 2008). Public relations is the

profession employing techniques to promote positive and favorable images of people or firms

(Dyer, 1989).

Marketing is a further specialization that focuses on product development, sales

promotion, merchandising, advertising, and market research (Bogart, 1996). Marketers estimate

the demand for products and services and describe the characteristics of potential customers and

measure future sales (Leiss, Kline, Jhally, & Botterilll, 2005). There are two main strategies of

marketers. The first is to promote a product as widely as possible, and the second is to test the

efficacy of advertising techniques by studying consumer preference and possible consequences

of price advertising (Fisher, 1993).

Propaganda and public service announcements sometimes are mistaken as advertising.

Although these areas sometimes overlap, they are separate entities. Propaganda is the craft of

spreading doctrines, views, and beliefs reflecting specific interests and ideologies (Danesi,

2008). For example, social, philosophical, and political messages serve as propaganda.

Americans are more familiar with political propaganda because of iconic figures such as Uncle

Sam and Rosie the Riveter from World War II. Propaganda and advertising are very similar in


the sense that they are both meant to influence people’s views, opinions, beliefs, or actions

(Danesi, 2008). Propaganda is also similar to public service announcements, which are funded

by a government to inform its citizens about health, safety, and environmental change (Green,

2012). Public service announcements commonly seen in the U.S. are anti-smoking and anti-

drunk driving campaigns.

Advertising also needs to be distinguished from popular culture. Popular culture is

expressive content often relayed as a performance (Danesi, 2008). The focal point that discerns

popular culture is that it typically elicits pleasure upon reception. In other words, popular culture

is entertainment. Examples are reality television shows, blockbuster movies, music charted on

the Billboard top 100, music performances such as the MTV Awards, and certain books (Fowles,

1996). Not everything that is popular or mainstream can be considered popular culture. An

important qualification for something to be considered popular culture is that the object is met

with disdain from much of the society (Fowles, 1996). Using this criteria, E.L. James’ Fifty

Shades of Grey could be considered popular culture, but Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice

would not. Controversial shows such as Family Guy and South Park also would be classified as

popular culture. Advertising most commonly occurs within popular culture because

advertisements pay for the cost of commercial television and radio, as well as 75% of magazine

costs, all of which are common distributers of popular culture (Danesi, 2008).

To better understand advertising and how influential it is on our lives, we can look at its

origins. Advertising has existed since 3000 B.C.E, with evidence from Babylonia that symbolic

signs were placed above stores to advertise the store itself (Danesi, 2008). The Greeks and

Romans advertised in the simple form of a public crier, who shouted the products of local traders

and shopkeepers (Dryer, 1982). Pictures also were commonly used to attract attention because,


like in Babylonia, many people could not read. It was not until 1477 that the first advertisement

appeared in English, which was a result of the impact of the Gutenberg printing press (O’Barr,

2010). The Johannes Gutenberg printing press is the most significant development in the

expansion of advertising. This machine changed the way in which people thought about

communication. More people began to learn to read and write as the new printing press enabled

the development of the first written forms of advertising (Sivulka, 1998).

The first mass medium was the newspaper, which appeared during the sixteenth century

but grew in popularity during the eighteenth century, leading to flourishing publishing trades in

both the United States and European countries (Danesi, 2008). Partnership between companies

and newspapers quickly formed when the potential for reaching audiences through newspapers

was realized. However, early advertisements were aimed at the wealthy and rarely depicted

common household products, but rather lavish items like wigs and elixirs or remedies (Dyer,

1989). Advertising initially was directed towards the wealthy because they could afford the

products or services and the wealthy had the means to learn reading and writing. During the

early expansion of advertising, much of the population still could not read because the wealthy

only accounted for a select few. This led to a slow start for American advertising when

Europeans started to colonize the New World.

The roots of American advertising began with the efforts of English businessmen to

attract investors and settlers to the New World (Sivulka, 1998). European colonists brought the

concept of advertising, which had a slow start because printing equipment was expensive and

many colonists could not read. By the eighteenth century, though, advertising increased because

of the need for recruiting slaves and land, as well as providing information regarding the

American Revolution (Sivulka, 1998).


Shortly after the end of the American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution developed in

America (Sivulka, 1998). Advertising up until this point, in both the United States and European

countries, had been small scaled and localized because of the longer distances separating towns.

After the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, when advertising was simple and

straightforward, came the need for national advertising and the brand-naming of products

because of the rising factory productions (Danesi, 2008). To survive economic downturn, many

small companies merged to widen their range of products (Dyer, 1989). Once these companies

formed, company executives realized they needed a way to ensure that there would be a market

for their products once manufactured, and came to the solution of mass advertisement. Along

with the expansion into mass advertisement was the explosion of mass production.

Mass producing items changed the economy in numerous ways. Print advertisement

already had become a social fixture, but the changing American culture needed a different style

of advertising presentation to increase its efficiency (Danesi, 2008). This began the start of

modern advertising as we know it today, with concise and abridged messages to quickly convey

meaning. Company executives also realized the importance of branding as a means of

distinguishing their product from similar ones on the market (O’Barr, 2010).

The key to successful advertising is to create a successful brand name (Green, 2012).

Advertisements would be purposeless if they did not have a name for the product being

promoted. Naming products influences feelings of familiarity among consumers because we

transfer emotions and characteristics to words (Myers, 1999). A brand name should suggest

something desirable about a product and its performance (Sivulka, 1998). A brand name also

should fit the product and when a company picks a product name, possibilities can range from

the name of the manufacturer to a word that describes the product. For instance, many fashion


designers name their brand after themselves. Gucci and Louis Vuitton are two very famous

examples of this. Executives also may pick a name for a product that conveys an attribute of the

item. Smuckers jam illustrates this by its success, because their name conveys the attribute of

smacking lips and influences the consumer to pick that label (Danesi, 2008). The importance of

brand names involves studying phonetics to make sure that the attributes the company wants

portrayed actually are represented. Phonetics in brand names will be the focus of later chapters

because brand names are one of the most important aspects of advertising.

Brand naming is just one of the techniques advertisers use. To catch and to keep our

attention, advertisers use images, color design, words, and music (Reichert, 2003). They also

pull from culture and politics for memorable and eye-catching themes. Even though it is highly

criticized, sex is a common theme for advertisements and has been since the 19th century. Even

if we find sex in a commercial offensive, our attention is caught and we start to talk about the

product or company. Repetition also is commonly used to ensure that consumers remember the

message (Green, 2012). Slogans in particular are used in advertisements for repetition (Sivulka,

1996). A strategy employed when creating advertisements is the principle of “AIDA,”which

stands for attention, interest, desire, and action (Green, 2012). All of these strategies, though,

would be without effect if company executives did not have anywhere to place their

advertisements for the masses.

Advertising in our present day relies entirely on the media for distributing its messages

(Leiss, Kline, Jhally, & Botterilll, 2005). “Media” is the plural form of medium and is defined as

the means through which something is conveyed or transferred (Katz, 2003). The main channels

of media are television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. The media can be broadly

divided into either print or electronic. All media, from email to skywriting, falls into one of


these two classifications. Advertising and the media have relied on each other since the printing

of newspapers, but technology has revolutionized where we see advertisements by making them

more ubiquitous. Now it is impossible to go online without encountering advertising because it

has become commonplace, even on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. These

constant changes in the world and technology mean that advertising does not remain stagnant.

Advertising went from having only a few channels of media to having so many that the average

American is unable to go through a day without encountering thousands of advertisements.

The influence from advertising has led to an American society full of consumer goods

and services, and places where these goods and services are sold. Many people find the constant

bombardment of advertisements frustrating, but without advertising, millions of jobs would be

lost. Advertising offers employment in fields from public relations to the social sciences. The

history of advertising reflects just how much of an impact advertisements have had on our

culture. Some researchers such as Sedivy and Carlson (2011) believe that our society has been

manipulated by advertising, but in reality, our culture is a reflection of advertising just as

advertisements are a mirror of our culture. Company executives may aim advertisements at the

id of human psyche to create a desire for products, but consumers ultimately have the choice of

whether or not to buy a product.


The Phonetics of American English

Communication is one of the most important ways in which humans connect with one

other. A primary means of communication is through speech. Bauman-Waengler (2009) defined

speech as the exchange of verbal information. Speech can be subcategorized into speech sounds

and phonemes. Speech sounds are individual units of speech production and phonemes are the

smallest speech unit able to establish meaning (Bauman-Waengler, 2009). Phonemes convey

meaning on their own and when combined with other phonemes into words. Phonemes are

powerful in their ability to carry meaning and to evoke emotions. To understand phonemes one

needs to know how they are studied and categorized. In this chapter we will review the basics of

phonology, the study of speech sounds in American English.

Speech sounds include consonants and vowels. Consonants are productions with

significant articulatory constriction (Bauman-Waengler, 2009). Vowels are produced with a

relatively open vocal tract, meaning that there is no significant constriction in the oral cavity.

When the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used to examine consonants and vowels in

American English, we find that there are 26 consonants and approximately 16 vowels.

Consonants and vowels are further classified, each with their own specifications.

Consonants

Consonants are categorized by the location of constriction and by degree of closure

(Bernthal & Bankson, 2004). Place of articulation specifies the location of constriction, and

manner of articulation describes the degree or type of closure. Consonants also are described as

voiced or voiceless. Voiced consonants are when the vocal folds are vibrating during

production, and voiceless speech sounds have no accompanying vocal fold vibration. The

following list is of all of the voiced and voiceless consonants in American English: /p, b, m,


w, f, v, θ, ð, t, ɾ, d, n, s, z, l, r, ʧ, ʤ, j, ʃ, ʒ, k, g, ŋ, ʔ, h/. When discussing place of

articulation and manner of articulation, there are specific terms used to describe where and how

consonants are produced.

The following discussion on place of consonants begins at the anterior-most articulators

moving to the posterior-most articulators. The most anterior place of articulation is bilabial. The

bilabial consonants /p, b, m, w/ are made with both lips touching or approximating closely.

Labiodental consonants are produced with the upper teeth on the lower lip; the labiodentals

are /f/ and /v/. Next are the interdental consonants / θ/ and /ð/, which are produced with the

tongue between the teeth. Alveolar consonants occur with the tongue tip or blade on the alveolar

ridge; more consonants are produced at the alveolar ridge than any other place (Ladefoged &

Johnson, 2011). Alveolar consonants include /t, ɾ ,d, n, s, z, l, r /. Retroflex consonants are

produced when the tongue tip is curled up and back, so its production is more like a specific

gesture than an actual place of articulation. The only retroflex consonant is /r/; however, it

should be noted that /r/ is listed under two places of articulation because /r/ can be produced as a

retroflex or as an alveolar. The next place of articulation is alveo-palatal, which is when the

tongue tip begins at the alveolar ridge and moves back toward the hard palate. The alveolar

consonants are /ʧ/ and /ʤ/. Palatal consonants /j, ʃ, ʒ/ are produced with the tongue

approximating the hard palate. Velar consonants are produced when the tongue contacts the

velum. Velar contacts include /k, g, ŋ/. Last is the most posterior place of articulation: glottal.

The glottal consonants /ʔ, h/ are the result of air moving through the glottis with no

supralaryngeal articulators involved in their production.

Manner of articulation refers to the way the airstream is modified by the articulators

(Bauman-Waengler, 2009). The six manner classes of articulation in American English include


stops, nasals, glides, liquids, fricatives, and affricates. During a stop, the vocal tract initially is

obstructed, but upon release, a burst of energy is created as the air escapes through the mouth

(Kent & Read, 1992). Stops can be voiced or voiceless, and aspirated or unaspirated. Aspiration

is a period of voicelessness manifested as a breathy noise generated when air passes through the

partially closed vocal folds (Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011). Aspiration then follows the release

burst. Aspiration is distinguishable on a spectrogram as distinctive noise energy. The amount of

aspiration depends on the context in which the stop is produced. Voiceless stops in initial-word

position have the most aspiration, while stops in final-word position can be either aspirated or

unaspirated. Also, voiceless stops are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable, but not

when they follow /s/ (Baumen-Waengler, 2009). Stops in American English include /p, b, t,

ɾ, d, k, g, ʔ/. The voiceless stops are /p, t, k, ʔ/ and the voiced stops are /b, d, g/. A flap

(/ɾ/) is an allophone of /t/ and /d/. An allophone is a variation of a phoneme resulting from

contextual constraints that does not change the meaning of the phoneme or word (Singh & Singh,

1976). Stops can be felt during speech by holding your hand to your mouth while producing a

stop. The burst of air resulting from the stop should be felt on the hand.

The next manner class of articulation is nasal. Nasals are defined by a complete blockage

of the oral cavity, but, unlike stops, the velum is lowered so intraoral pressure does not build up

(Chomsky & Halle, 1968). Speech sounds typically travel from the lungs and leave via the oral

cavity, but in nasal production the air is directed through the nasal cavity by the lowered velum

(Singh & Singh, 1976). In American English, the nasals /m, n, ŋ/ are all voiced. This is

because the open nasal passage does not allow enough pressure build-up to inhibit vocal fold

vibration (Chomsky & Halle, 1968).


The next manner class of articulation is glide and labeled as such because the articulators

“glide” during production. The movement made during production of a glide closely resembles

that of vowel production (Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011). Kent and Read (2004) defined a glide as

a consonant that has a gradual change in articulation. This means that one articulator is close to

another during production but the vocal tract is not narrowed to the point of creating a turbulent

airstream (Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011). The two American English glides /w, j/ both are voiced

and always followed by a vowel (Bernthal & Bankson, 2004).

Some researchers place glides and liquids together in a category called approximants.

This is because a liquid has a similar “moving” motion as do glides. As with glides, there is little

intraoral air pressure build-up for the production of liquids, which allows for a smooth flow of

air (Bernthal & Bankson, 2004). The consonants /r, l/ are liquids in American English.

The last two manner classes are fricatives and affricates. Fricatives are made with a

narrow constriction, which results in a harsh noise as it passes through the oral cavity (Bernthal

& Bankson, 2004). Fricatives occur because the passive and active articulators approximate

each other so closely that air is produced with significant pressure (Bauman-Waengler, 2009).

Some fricatives also are called sibilants, meaning that there is more acoustic energy and more

high-frequency components compared to other fricatives. Sibilant fricatives include /s, z, ʃ, ʒ/.

The remaining fricatives are /f, v, θ, ð, h/. The voiceless fricatives are /f, θ, s, ʃ, h/ and the

voiced fricatives /v, ð, z, ʒ/.

An affricate is a stop that is immediately followed by a fricative (Ladefoged & Johnson,

2011). In the production of affricates, the articulators come together for a stop and, instead of

coming fully apart, slightly separate to form a fricative. During production, the velum is raised,

resulting in air pressure build-up, which then is slowly released as a fricative (Bauman-


Waengler, 2009). The voiceless affricate is /ʧ / and the voiced affricate is /ʤ/. Table 1 displays

all of the consonants in American English classified by place and manner of articulation, and

voicing.


Table 1

American English Consonants by Place, Manner, and Voicing

Manner

Place

Stops Nasal Glides Liquids Fricatives Affricate

Voicing Vls. Vd. Vd. Vd. Vd. Vls. Vd. Vls. Vd.

Bilabial p b m w

Labiodental f v

Interdental θ ð

Alveolar t ɾ d

n l r s z

Alveo-palatal ʧ ʤ

Palatal j ʃ ʒ

Velar k g ŋ

Glottal ʔ h

Vowels

Classification of vowels differs from that of consonants. A vowel is formed as sound

energy produced by vibrating vocal folds passes through an open vocal tract, which means that

all vowels are voiced (Bernthal & Bankson, 2004). We classify vowels based on acoustic output


as displayed on a spectrogram (Kent & Read, 1992). The resulting descriptions are used in

discussion of vowels: tongue height, tongue advancement, lip rounding, and lax/tense. Some

researchers, such as Bauman-Waegner (2009) and Ladefoged and Johnson (2011) use the terms

open and close instead of high and low to refer to the vertical axis of the tongue. The terms high,

mid, and low will be used in this paper to discuss the vertical axis of the tongue. Tongue height

refers to how high or low the tongue is in relation to the roof of the mouth; a high tongue height

results in a “closed” jaw posture and a low tongue height results in an “open” jaw posture.

Tongue advancement considers the horizontal plane within the intraoral space and describes how

forward or back the tongue is (Bauman-Waengler, 2009). Lip rounding is whether or not lip

rounding is present. Tense and lax are used to describe the degree of muscle involvement of not

only the tongue, but also of the entire articulatory system (Ladefoged & Johnson, 2011). Thus,

tense vowels use more muscle activity and are longer in duration than lax vowels (Bernthal &

Bankson, 2004). However, the use of the terms tense or lax also serve as a phonetic description

in the discussion of vowels.

High vowels are produced with the tongue close to the palate with the greatest amount of

tongue elevation, while low vowels have the smallest amount of elevation (Bauman-Waengler,

2009). Mid vowels are relative to the tongue height of other vowels, but they lie approximately

between the highest and lowest tongue elevations. Three terms are used to describe tongue

advancement: front, central, and back. During production of front vowels, the tongue is more

anterior in the mouth. In back vowels, the hump of the tongue is posterior in the mouth,

resulting in a narrowed upper pharynx (Bauman-Waengler, 2009). Central vowels are marked

by a tongue bulge positioned in the middle of the oral cavity. A vowel quadrilateral is used

commonly when explaining vowel placement. A vowel quadrilateral is a four-sided schematic


that shows the front-back and high-low positioning of vowels, as seen in Figure 1 (Bauman-

Waengler, 2009).

Figure 1

Monophthongs in American English Classified by Tongue Height and Tongue Advancement

Front Central Back

High

i u ɪ ʊ

High-Mid e o ɛ ə ɔ

Low-Mid æ a

Low

Vowels are further classified as monophthongs, diphthongs, and rhotics. Monophthong

means a single voiced sound (Kent & Read, 2004). In production of monophthongs, vowel

quality remains the same during pronunciation and the tongue and articulators are fixed

(Bauman-Waengler, 2011). In other words, monophthongs require a single tongue gesture.

American English monophthongs include /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, ə, a, u, ʊ, o, ɔ/.

Diphthongs are vowels that change in quality during production (Bauman-Waengler,

2009). They are composed of two distinct vowel elements that result in an audible change

during production. Diphthongs are described in terms of an onglide and offglide. The onglide is

the first portion of the diphthong and the offglide is the final portion (Kent & Read, 2004).

Rather than being composed of two distinct vowels, diphthongs are vowel sounds produced one

after the other in a rapidly gliding motion (Bauman-Waengler, 2011). Diphthongs are

phonetically transcribed using two vowel symbols that are connected and they are considered as


one entity. Diphthongs used phonemically in American English include /aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ/. The line

underneath connecting the two symbols is a ligature that represents the relationship between the

two vowels.

Rhotics occur when a vowel proceeds an “r” sound in one syllable. The resulting

articulation is called rhotacization, or what is said to be a vowel that is “r-colored” (Ladefoged

& Johnson, 2011). Rhotics can be produced in one of two ways: either with the tip of the tongue

raised near the alveolar ridge, or produced with the tongue tip behind the lower teeth and the

tongue body in a high-bunched position. Rhotics commonly used in American English

include /ɪr, ɛr, ɚ, ar, ur, ɔr/.

Purpose of this Research

Speech production can be studied by understanding consonants and vowels. Consonants

are described by place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voiced or voicelessness.

Vowels are categorized by tongue height, tongue advancement, lip rounding, and laxness and

tenseness. As discussed in Chapter One, advertisers use different techniques to promote a

product; the technique of brand naming often is based on phonetic science. The purpose of this

research is to determine how the phonetic qualities of consonants and vowels are used by

advertisers to form product names and increase product sales. In this paper, I will explore

answers to the following questions:

1. What phonetic based factors have been identified as having an effect on brand naming?

2. What is the evidence that these phonetic-based factors are employed by the advertisers?


Naming Brands

Debates have existed since the time of Plato regarding whether phonemes are arbitrary or

linguistically significant units. A girth of evidence, though, establishes the existence of phonetic

symbolism—the nonarbitrary relation between sounds and meaning (Lowrey & Shrum, 2007).

Phonetic symbolism is based on the idea that phonemes can evoke emotions, and research on

phonetic symbolism has surfaced in recent years. One specific area of phonetic symbolism

research that has grown popular is applying phonetic science in brand naming.

Sapir (1929) conducted the foundational experiment in phonetic symbolism. He first

coined the term phonetic symbolism when he noticed that participants in his study responded

similarly to different phonemes. He believed phonetic symbolism to be a psychologically-

measurable factor. Sapir tested the phonetic effects that American English vowels had on the

participants in his study. Some of the significant results obtained by Sapir included that /a/ was

more favored than /i/ because, as he hypothesized, /a/ is a “larger” vowel, and as such, has more

potential symbolism. Therefore, an object name including the vowel / a/ would be perceived as

larger than an object name with /i/, or even /e, ɛ, æ/. Sapir contributed these results to the

acoustic output of the vowels, which is shaped by the position of the tongue during production;

he called this the kinesthetic factor.

A follow-up study was conducted by Newman in 1933 in which he expanded upon

Sapir’s study. Newman initially began this study to disprove the results obtained by Sapir, but

instead obtained results that actually confirmed Sapir’s findings. Newman used 100 word pairs to

study the non-linguistic aspects of phonemes. He designed two scales to study the phonemic

effects of particular vowels and consonants: a scale of magnitude, how small or large a phoneme

is perceived to be, and a scale of brilliance, how bright or dark the phoneme is perceived to be


(Bentley & Varon, 1933). Newman believed these two scales were influenced by speech

production factors such as tongue placement, oral cavity resonance, size of the oral cavity, and

length of the sound. Newman used both objective and subjective data to show the effects of

phonemes on listeners. The objective findings were obtained by using the formula K = (Xe-Xc)

(2c)1/2, where K equals the scale distance between the stimulus value and the value of that

stimulus under a controlled condition, Xe is the experimental value corresponding to the

experimental proportion from the stimulus, Xc is used to measure the stigma-value of the

calculated proportion, and 21/2 is a constant related to the errors of the stimuli.

Like Sapir, Newman found that /a/ was symbolically larger than other vowels. Newman

concluded that vowels can be classified from small to large by considering the factors of the size

of the mouth opening during production, the tongue position within the mouth, and the vocalic

resonance frequencies measure acoustically. When considering place of articulation, Newman

ranked articulatory position on a magnitude scale as progressing from small to large in the order

of dental, labial, and palatal. An articulatory scale of bright-to-dark, though, was the opposite—

palatal, labial, and dental.

Another finding identified by Newman included that voiced consonants were perceived

to be larger than voiceless consonants because there more acoustic energy results from the

production of voiced consonants. An area of research that both Sapir (1929) and Newman

(1933) warranted as needing examination was that of phonetic perceptions of children. Both

researchers noticed that the children participating in their studies reacted similarly to the adult

participants, but believed that further research was needed to replicate this finding.

Baxter and Lowrey (2011) researched the effects of phonetic symbolism in children by

conducting two studies. Baxter and Lowrey hypothesized that children would not apply the


same meanings to phonemes as adults, because they have not yet acquired adult language.

Baxter and Lowrey believed phonemic symbolism effects would become more apparent as

children age and increase their phonological awareness skills. At the same time, these

researchers also attempted to replicate findings on adults that previously had been reported in the

research literature by Yorkston and Menon (2004), and Lowrey and Shrum (2007). Baxter and

Lowrey used the same product category (i.e., ice cream) as Yorkston and Menon to test two

different phonetic attributes on children aged six to twelve years. Baxter and Lowrey found that

back vowels were preferred for ice cream described as rich and creamy, and that front vowels

suggested ice cream that was icy and sweet.

In the first study, participants heard four word pairs that differed only by the vowel. The

words contained either a front or back vowel. Participants were divided into three groups based

on their level of phonological awareness. Within the groups, children were categorized by level

of reading development. One group specified their preference for word pairs that conveyed a

brand of ice cream that was rich and creamy, while the other group stated which word pairs

conveyed an ice cream that was sweet and icy.

Baxter and Lowrey’s second experiment was designed to test children’s perceived

phonemic attributes of toys. It was expected that front vowels would be attributed to a toy that

was small, soft, and light; whereas, back vowels would evoke thoughts of a big, hard, and heavy

toy. The results supported the researchers’ expectations, and once again the effect increased with

age. Although the effects in their study increased with age, the children showed associations

between sounds and attributes as early as five years of age.

Baxter and Lowrey also expanded on the research conducted in 2004 by Yorkston and

Menon. Yorkston and Menon attempted to understand the underlying process of sound


symbolism and hypothesized that if a brand name containing phonemes that represented

favorable attributes to the consumer, than he or she would have higher purchasing intentions. To

test this, Yorkston and Menon used the vowels /a/ and /i/ in the context of ice cream brand

names arbitrarily called Frosh and Frish. Hard consonants were avoided in the naming process.

The /a/ sound was hypothesized to convey an object that was big, dull, heavy, and slow,

while /i/ was hypothesized to symbolize an object that was small, light, sharp, and lively. They

proposed that when applied to ice cream attributions, /a/ should convey an ice cream that is

smoother, creamier, and richer than an ice cream name containing /i/.

Undergraduate students participated in Yorkston and Menon’s study. Participants first

were asked to read a paragraph about a new ice cream that was about to enter the market. Once

they were finished reading, the participants evaluated how much the brand name reminded them

of an ice cream, and listed attributes that were conveyed by the name. The researchers obtained

results that supported their hypothesis and strengthened the evidence supporting sound

symbolism.

Lowrey and Shrum (2007) expanded upon the experiments of Yorkston and Menon

(2004) by varying either product category or product attributes using multiple words, while

Yorkston and Menon tested only a single word pair and a single product category. Lowrey and

Shrum investigated front versus back sound effects, and positive versus negative vowel effects in

different product categories. Product categories in which vowel effects were tested included

beer, automotive vehicles, and tools. Under automotive vehicles, two-seater convertibles and

SUVs were chosen and for tools, knives and hammers were selected. The overall results were

that participants preferred particular brand names that contained vowels connoting a product

attribute. For example, front vowels were preferred for a two-seat convertible and a knife


because they connote lightness, speed, and sharpness. Brand names for beer that contained a

back vowel were thought of as rich and smooth, just as Yorkston and Menon found when naming

ice cream. Lowrey and Shrum also found that positive versus negative cannot be tested

congruent to front versus back because together, the two categories interfere with the results of

the opposite category. When tested separately, however, it was found that positive vowel sounds

were preferred for a beer described as cold and crisp, while negative vowel sounds conveyed a

beer that was mellow, smooth, and rich.

A majority of researchers examine the role of vowels in sound symbolism because they

are fewer in number and therefore easier to control during an experiment, but consonants carry

importance because of the high frequency of occurrence of consonants in words. Newman

(1933) showed the importance of consonants in his study and since then, many other researchers

have done the same. For example, research has shown that voiceless consonants are perceived as

smaller and less potent than voiced consonants, and that fricatives are perceived as smaller,

lighter, and faster than stops (Lowrey and Shrum, 2007). Vanden Bergh, Collins, Schultz, and

Adler (1989) found that brand names that starting with a stop are more easily recognized and

recalled than brand names starting with non-stops. Klink (2000) found that brand names with

fricatives are perceived as smaller, faster, lighter, and more feminine than stops. The same was

found when voiced and voiceless fricatives were compared; voiceless fricatives were thought of

as faster, softer, and more feminine. Voiceless stops, when compared to voiced stops, were

found to be considered smaller, sharper, more feminine, faster, and lighter.

Novel to his study, Klink accounted for one variable that no other researcher previously

had―the fact that a consumer most likely encounters a brand name visually rather than

auditorally. Thus, he provided word pairs to the 265 participants in his study visually.


According to Klink, the most important consideration for marketers is to first choose which

element of the product they would like emphasized. For example, if emphasizing the color of a

beer is important, marketers should look at vowels and/or consonants that have been found to

convey the product’s color. For example, if the beer is a light color, then a front vowel would be

the most appropriate in the brand name. Among the results that front vowels convey lighter

(relative to darker), Klink also found that front vowels convey the following attributes: light

(relative to heavier), small, mild, thin, soft, fast, cold, bitter, feminine, friendly, weak, and pretty.

However, to convey a brand name suggestive of strength, an initial stop would be most

beneficial (Vaden Bergh et al., 1984).

Many of the top name brands start with a stop and marketing researchers have revealed

that stop phonemes evoke recall and recognition (Vaden Bergh et al., 1984). For example, Coke

and Blackberry. Not only does Blackberry start with a stop, which helps in memory recall,

the /b/ is associated with reliability as well as a product that will be easy to use (Begley, 2002).

The hard sound of the consonant /k/ in Blackberry and Coke suggests a “daring” and “active”

product. The /i/, however, in Blackberry evokes speed.

Not only do marketers take into account the possible meanings and emotions connoted by

certain vowels and consonants, but when choosing a brand name they also consider how

inventive their brand name should be. Should the name be completely novel, or familiar to the

name of a similar product to evoke sense of security of purchase for the consumer? For example,

when McDonald’s executives decided to add specialty coffee drinks to their line of products,

they called them McCafé to retain the familiarity of the beloved fast food restaurant. Not only

did the company executives retain the consonants of the initial syllable of the company name,

they also called the blended coffee drinks frappé, which calls to mind Starbuck’s successful line


of frappuccinos. Peterson and Ross (1972) found that consumers associate certain phonemes

with certain product categories and marketers would be wise to choose a new brand name that

shares similar properties with pre-existing brand names within the same product category.

Building on familiar words may be beneficial because consumers already have positive feelings

about the words (Zhang & Schmitt, 2001). Kronrod and Lowrey (2012) cautioned, however, that

a company may be viewed negatively when it “borrows” characteristics from an existing brand

name.

Researchers and linguists have obtained other findings on phonetic symbolism effects.

For example, we know that phonemes evoke emotions because research has shown that short

vowels convey crispness and light-heartedness (Begley, 2002). Also, /l, s, v/ evoke pleasant

feelings and /r, p, t, d/ are associated with unpleasant feelings. Begley also discussed the roles

of fricatives. Fricatives such as /f, v, s, z/ are fast and connote speed, while sounds that come

to a complete stop /p, b, t, d/ imply slowness. The consonant /v/ is one of the most “energetic”

sounds in American English. In general, product names produced with an open vocal tract

throughout the name will connote relaxation.

A company that uses a brand name similar to an existing one also may create a problem

of confusion for the consumer. Bailey and Hahn (2005) conducted research in phonetic

similarity and confusability based on the problem that the more similar two things are, the larger

the degree of confusability. Regardless, marketers either may choose to make a variation on a

popular brand name, or to create a new and inventive brand name.

Creating a successful brand name rests on phonetically naming, and thereby, describing,

the qualities of a particular product that company executives want to highlight. A new brand of a

woman's cosmetic foundation about to be introduced to the market could be called “Glance”


because the /gl/ is related to several words denoting something visual (e.g., glance, glow,

glimmer, gleam) while the front vowel relays femininity and lightness (Lowrey & Shrum, 2007).

Or if a new bathroom cleaner is in the process of being brand named, a marketer might choose to

use a hard sounding phoneme such as /k/ to convey a product that is tough. It is of importance to

focus on the beginning sounds of a brand name because the word-initial syllable plays a primary

role in word recognition and recall (Kawahara, Shinohara, & Uchimoto, 2008). Based on the

research, an efficient bathroom cleaner could be called “Zuk-Off” because the /z/ sound implies

a product that works fast, /k/ suggests that it is tough, and the aggregated name semantically

indicates it will remove problem spots, as well as being a linguistic play on words. These

findings are summarized in Tables 2 and 3.


Table 2

Perceived Characteristics of Consonants

Consonant Perception

p Unpleasant, slow, small,b Slow, reliable, easy to use, relaxing, unpleasantm Medium, brightf Fastv Luxury, pleasant, fast, energetic, bigt Unpleasant, slowd Unpleasant, luxury, slows Small, bright, pleasant, fastz Luxury, fastl Small, bright, pleasantr Unpleasantk Bright, tough, daring, activeg Luxury

Voiceless stops Smaller, sharper, more feminine, faster, and lighter (than voiced stops)

Fricatives Smaller, faster, lighter, and more feminine (than stops)

Voiceless consonants Smaller and less potent (than voiced consonants)

Stops Easily recalled, strong

Voiceless fricatives Faster, softer, and more feminine (than voiced fricatives)

Positive vowels Cold, crisp

Negative vowels Mellow, smooth, rich


Table 3

Perceived Characteristics of Vowels

Vowels Perception

Front vowelsSmall, quick, and sharp, light (relative to heavier), light (relative to dark), mild, thin, soft, fast, cold, bitter, feminine, friendly, weak, and pretty, sweet, icy

Back vowels Large, slow, dull, rich, smooth

Short vowels Crisp, lighthearted

i Positive, big, fast, small, light, sharp, lively

e Positive

a Smooth, creamy, rich, big, dull, heavy, slow

u Large

o Large


Testing the Research: An Inquiry into Brand Naming of Vehicles

The Inquiry

In this chapter, both of the research questions will be focused on the names of three

specific types of vehicles: compact, luxury, and SUV. The research questions follow.

1. What phonetic-based factors have been identified as having an effect on brand naming?

2. What is the evidence that these phonetic-based factors are employed by the advertisers?

The phonetic based factors used by marketers are based on phonetic symbolism. To

answer the research questions, the following procedures were followed.

1. Identified compact, luxury, and SUV vehicles by going to autotrader.com, which had

cars organized by body type. Cars with names were randomly selected until there were five car

names for each type. Only car names that were words, real or made-up, were considered for

inclusion in this study.

2. Identified from the literature the consonants and vowels that have been found to denote

the concepts of compact, luxury, and large. A review of these sounds and findings by

researchers can be found in Table 4.1.

Table 4

Phonemes Conveying Compact, Luxury, and Large

Phonetic Symbolism Consonants Vowels

“Compact” p, s, l i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ

“Luxury” v, d, z, g

“Large” v u, ʊ, o, ɔ

3. Analyzed each vehicle name for evidence of phonetic symbolism.


Findings

All of the researched car names, except for the Dart, had at least one phoneme that

conveyed the body type of the car. Specific findings are discussed below and a summary can be

found in Table 5. A discussion of the findings follows.

Sedans. Sedans are thought of as compact cars that are easier to handle, lighter on the

road, and faster than larger cars. Because of this, one would predict that sedan car names would

incorporate phonemes that convey lightness (relative to weight), small, and fast. Results of the

analysis follow.

1. Equus—The front vowel and final /s/ convey that the car is small, light, and fast.

2. Accord—The sound /k/ implies an active car; however, /d/ implies slowness.

3. Dart— Semantically, this name implies that the car is fast; however, the phonemes

initial /d/ and final /t/ have been identified as denoting slowness.

4. Avalon— The initial front vowel conveys a car that is fast and light. The /v/ also implies

that the car is fast. The central /a/ also suggests a car that is big and slow.

5. Maxima—The initial /æ/ conveys speed and lightness of the car. The /m/ phonemes in

the name suggest a medium-sized car.

Luxury cars. People buy luxury cars when they want a little something extra in a drive.

Luxury car manufacturers use high-quality materials for the interior and exterior of these cars.

Results of the analysis follow.

1. Enclave—The initial /a/ implies a feeling of being rich and the /v/ connotes pleasant

feelings and luxury.


2. De Ville— Both /d/ and /v/ convey luxury, while /l/ conveys pleasant feelings. The /d/

also denotes slowness.

3. Escalade—The initial front vowel conveys a fast car and /s/ and /l/ both imply pleasant

emotions. The /d/ implies luxury.

4. Carrera—This name itself, while a made-up word, sounds exotic. The initial sound /k/

adds to that by implying the car is tough or active. The sound /a/ also conveys a car that

looks and feels rich.

5. Veyron—The sound /v/ conveys luxury and /a/ implies a car that looks and feels rich.

SUVs. SUVs are meant to seat a high number of people and hold many objects. The

name of an SUV that would be best would contain phonemes that imply largeness. Results of the

analysis follow.

1. Murano—The initial /m/ implies a medium-sized vehicle; however, /a/ and /o/ both

connote largeness.

2. Sorento—The final vowel /o/ is the only phoneme in this name that suggests largeness.

3. Tahoe— Both vowels in this name imply largeness.

4. Durango-—The medial /æ/denotes smallness but the /o/ suggests largeness.

5. Traverse—The /v/ suggests a large car; however, the front vowel and /s/ imply

smallness.


Table 5

Phonetic Symbolism in Vehicle Names

Brand Name Car Type Real or Made-up Word Phonetic Symbolism

Equus Sedan Real Yes

Accord Sedan Real Some

Dart Sedan Real No

Avalon Sedan Real Yes

Maxima Sedan Made-up Yes

Enclave Luxury Real Yes

De Ville Luxury Made-up Yes

Escalade Luxury Real Yes

Carrera Luxury Made-up Yes

Veyron Luxury Made-up Yes

Murano SUV Real Yes

Sorento SUV Real Some

Tahoe SUV Real Yes

Durango SUV Made-up Some

Traverse SUV Real Some


Discussion

Phonetic symbolism is a relatively newer concept in the marketing industry, but

researchers have found that phonemes have an effect on customers. Marketers who employ

phonetic symbolism are at an advantage over their competitors who do not. Although more

research needs to be conducted on determining the effects that individual phonemes have on

consumers, especially consonants, there is sufficient research existing from which company

executives and researchers can draw. Semantic symbolism also should be researched as it co-

occurs with phonetic symbolism. An example of the importance of semantic symbolism can be

seen in the naming of the Dart, which semantically implies a small vehicle able to move fast, but

phonetically the name defies any of these qualities. Contrastively, the importance of phonetic

symbolism is in the name Enclave, in which the phonemes together suggest a car that looks and

feels rich, and will make the owner feel indulgent.

There was only one car name, the Dart, that did not apply phonetic symbolism; all of the

other car names employed phonetic symbolism. These results are unlikely to be a coincidence,

but the conscious use of phonetic symbolism by company executives. This especially can be

seen by the name Enclave, in which several phonemes together suggest a car that looks and feels

rich, and will make the owner feel indulgent, whereas other names contained only one phonetic

symbolism component. The conscious application of phonetic symbolism is also evident by the

results that some names are chosen for both semantic purposes and for phonetic reasons. For

example, the Carrera semantically sounds exotic, and consequently expensive, but the name also

contains phonemes that emulate a product of luxury and quality. This inquiry demonstrated that

it can be difficult to parse the weighting of phonetic symbolism from semantic symbolism, and

vice versa.


Future researchers also will want to consider the effects of phonemes in different word

positions. The only finding thus far is that syllables in word-initial position aid in memory

recall, but the role of medial-word position and final-word position are not known. It also would

be interesting to know whether different manner and place of articulation act differently within

the same word-position.

Another point of discussion is the level of inventiveness employed by car manufacturers.

Company executives and manufacturers have the option to create an inventive name, or to

choose a similar-sounding name of an existing product. Although only five of the car names

were completely inventive, the other names were unique and/or often infrequently occurring.

This is yet another consideration that manufacturers must take into account. Regardless of

whether manufacturers invent a new name or choose a semantically-meaningful name, phonetic

symbolism is applicable to ensure a product name that evokes particular (and unconscious)

meaning in the consumer.


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Phonetic Symbolism in Advertising