Phonological Features of Slogans in English Mirna Vidakovic

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PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

SLOGANS IN ENGLISH AND THEIR
TRANSLATION INTO SERBIAN
MIRNA VIDAKOVIû
Outline
This paper investigates the phonological features of advertising slogans
in English and the problems encountered in the process of translating them
into Serbian. The research is based on a corpus of 370 slogans in the
categories of food and drink, from the 1980s to the present day. The
analysis focuses on the creative exploitation of sound patterns, which
include alliteration, assonance and rhyme, as well as sound symbolism in
its two manifestations – onomatopoeia and phonesthesia. The second part
of the paper deals with the translation of these advertising slogans into
Serbian, by addressing the procedures which can be used to render as
effectively as possible the phonological creativity and wit of the original
slogans.1
1. Phonological features of advertising slogans

Copyright @ 2009. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
When analysing phonological properties of advertising slogans, one

can quote Myers (1994: 2), who says that "advertising makes us aware of
language the way poetry does". He explains this claim in the following
way: "We usually assume that language is transparent, that we can express
ourselves through it without the exact words and sounds mattering. Poetry
often tries to break down this transparency, with the rhythm and rhyme
and other patterns that make us respond to the form, even if we do not
1
This paper presents a part of a submitted MA thesis entitled "Reklamni slogani na
engleskom jeziku i njihovo prevoÿenje na srpski" – "Advertising Slogans in
English and Their Translation into Serbian".
EBSCO : eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 9/24/2019 3:51 PM via KOBSON - SERBIA
AN: 539674 ; Cubrovic, Biljana, Paunovic, Tatjana.; Ta(l)king English Phonetics Across Frontiers
Account: s4801949.main.eds
118 Phonological Features of Advertising Slogans in English
All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
analyse it" (Myers 1994: 31). Furthermore, he compares advertisements

with jokes, because they both also manipulate the language form in a
similar way. "Most jokes fall flat when the punch line is changed even
slightly" (Myers 1994: 31). The same can be said about advertisements.
2. Sound patterns
Advertising slogans and advertisements in general are characterized by
the frequent use of sound patterning devices, such as alliteration,
assonance and rhyme. These features contribute to the establishment of
formal connections between the words and phrases, reinforce the meaning
relations, create an aesthetic effect and add to the memorability of slogans.
2.1. Alliteration
Alliteration is defined as the repetition of the same consonant sound or
consonant cluster in a sequence of words. It is especially prominent in
stressed syllables at the beginnings of words: Top people take the Times,
Wet and wild, Sniskers satisfies. This device "underlines the acoustic
expressiveness" of a slogan (Živkoviü 1992: 14) and, as a result, makes it
easy to remember. Myers (1994: 33-34) notices that not all sounds have
the ability to create a special alliterative effect, i.e. "some sounds stand out
more than others", and are consequently more common in alliteration.
Such are the plosives /S/, /E/, /W/, /G/, /N/, /J/, which are produced after a
complete closure in the vocal tract is suddenly released, so that the air
escapes explosively, and the nasals /P/ and /Q/, which are produced with
the soft palate lowered while there is a complete closure in the mouth, so
that the air exits through the nose. The following slogans prove this claim:
(1) Keep it cool. (7-up)

(2) Drink Canada Dry. (Canada Dry)
(3) They're deliciously different. (Findus Crispy)
(4) Make mine Moxie. (Moxie)
(5) Taste the tang in Tango. (Tango)
(6) The totally tropical taste. (Lilt)
(7) Bring out the Branston! (Branston)
(8) My Goodness, my Guinness. (Guinness)
(9) Your best bet for a fuller flavour. (Carling)
(10) Caution: ketchup has kick. (Heinz Kick's)
(11) Put a tiger on your team! (Frosted Flakes)
(12) Tic Tac. Surely the best tactic. (Tic Tac)
Mirna Vidakoviü 119
In addition, Myers (1994: 33) points out that alliteration involves not
just identical sounds, but similar ones as well. Based on the place of
articulation, the plosives /S/, /E/, /W/, /G/, /N/ and /J/ can be paired in the
following way: bilabial /S/ and /E/, alveolar /W/ and /G/, and velar /N/ and
/J/; the first in each pair being a voiceless sound, the second its voiced
counterpart. The joint occurence of the sounds from the pairs creates a
special acoustic effect.
For example, alliteration in Crammed with graham (Golden Grahams),
involves the velar plosives, voiceless /N/ and voiced /J/. In the slogan
Before it can become a Heinz bean, every raw bean is tested by a light
beam (Heinz), alliteration includes another pair of very similar sounds, /P/
and /Q/. These phonemes are nasal according to the manner of articulation,
but they differ with respect to the place of articulation: /P/ is bilabial while
/Q/ is alveolar.
Another interesting observation is that some of the slogans with
recurrent consonant sounds inevitably resemble tongue twisters, a type of
a word game in which successive words contain the same or similar
sounds, and the aim is to say them as quickly as possibe, without making a
mistake (e.g. She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore) (Crystal 1996: 65). For
example:
(1) You'll never put a better bit of butter on your knife. (Country
Life)
(2) Time out for tiny little tea leaves in Tetley Tea. (Tetley)
(3) Take a tip and tip a Tech. (Tech)
(4) A frozen fish for a fuller flavour. (Eskimo)
2.2. Assonance
Assonance represents the repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of

words, with the aim of making the utterance sound more expressive and
musical. It is especially prominent in stressed syllables. This phonological
device is a common feature in poetry, but can be detected in other
language registers as well. Myers (1994: 34) cites examples of assonance
from political slogans (I like Ike), brand names (Coca-Cola) and
advertising slogans (Gillette – the best a man can get). According to him,
assonance works only "with vowels in stressed syllables" (Myers 1994:
34). Furthermore, Myers (1994: 34) notices that, compared with
alliteration, assonance creates a more subtle effect, and, as a result, can
often go unnoticed.
The examples of assonance in advertising slogans:
(1) Golden moments. (Ferrero Rocher)

(2) Too good to share. (Rolo)
(3) The great tasting fibre provider. (Nestle Fibre)
(4) Beanz meanz Heinz. (Heinz)
(5) Get Rich quick. (Kenco Rich)
(6) We will sell no wine before it's time. (Paul Mason)
(7) It's every kid's wish come true. (Sprinkle Spangles)
(8) Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids. (Trix)
(9) For strains, sprains and hunger pains. (Findus Wok)
2.3. Rhyme
Rhyme, as Turner (1973: 66) says, is more easily recognized than
defined. In most references it is viewed as the repetition of all sounds
following the last stressed consonant, in two or more successive words (for
example: believe – receive, motion – lotion) (Turner 1973: 66; Myers
1994: 34). In connection with this, Turner (1973: 66) points out that the
words bear and bare also rhyme. However, not all linguists would agree
with this statement. Rhyme is a common feature of poetry, and of popular
and traditional sayings (Živkoviü 1992: 655). It is also encountered in
advertisements. "When the radio advertising began in the 1920s, rhyme
became the main component of the jingle" (Myers 1994: 35). We find it in
advertising headlines and slogans, though less frequently when compared
to the earlier phases of advertising. "Rhymes today are used more
cautiously, perhaps because they carry associations with the mindless
hardsell", says Myers (1994: 35).
Here are the examples of rhyme:
(1) The time is right for Pepsi light. (Pepsi)

(2) Be free, drink RC. (RC Cola)

(3) For mash get Smash. (Smash)
(4) Once you pop you can't stop. (Pringles)
(5) Don't be vague, ask for Hague. (Hague)
(6) Why ask why? Try Bud dry. (Budweiser)
(7) WotalotIgot. (Pringles)
(8) Jack's back. (Jack-in-the-box)
(9) Can't resist the Mist! (Arbor Mist)
(10) You wish it, I dish it! (Sprinkle Spangles)
(11) Perfection in confection. (Thorntons)
2.4. Rhythm
The use of alliteration, assonance and rhyme in slogans (and in
general) is closely related to rhythm, which is defined as a "perceived
regularity of prominent units in speech" (Crystal 1991: 302). The term
"prominence" refers to "the degree to which a sound or syllable stands out
from others in the environment", and is associated with the stress
(stressed/unstressed), the length (long/short) and the pitch (high/low)
(Crystal 1991: 302). English belongs to stress-timed languages, i.e.
"stressed syllables recur at regular intervals of time, regardless of the
number of intervening unstressed syllables" (Crystal 1991: 329; Collins
and Mees 2005: 115-116). This property is also known as isochrony or
isochronism, and can be illustrated by the following example: The
consequences of his action are several – the unstressed syllables following
con- are pronounced more rapidly that those following ac-. Isochrony is
seen as a great advantage as far as advertising slogans are concerned.
Combined with the sound patterning devices such as alliteration,
assonance and rhyme, it comes to prominence even more, helping to create
catchy and memorable slogans. Myers (1994: 3) cites the Aero slogan: It's
the air in your aero that makes you go o, in which the stress pattern (two
unstressed syllables followed by a stressed syllable), assonance (/eԥ/ in Air
and Aero), and rhyme (Aero and o), make this slogan stick in our minds
without any doubts. Also, in the slogan WotalotIgot (Pringles), the
pronoun I is uttered more rapidly in order to achieve the regular stress
intervals.
2.5. Sound symbolism

Crystal (1996: 180) says that "the phonetic properties of English
sounds are an important source of special effects", i.e. English sounds

possess acoustic qualities which we can relate to both acoustic (e.g.
noises) and non-acoustic (e.g. size, brightness) experiences from our
surroundings. We refer to this phenomenon as sound symbolism. Although
the idea of the sound–meaning correspondence dates back to ancient
times, it has been given more attention only in the past few decades. The
theory of arbitrariness of linguistic signs, defined by de Saussure, was
dominant for a long time. However, some recent studies have provided
considerable evidence to prove the existence of the "natural
expressiveness" of sounds. Among the linguists who have dealt with this
phenomenon, we can mention Marchand (1969) and Shisler (1997), who
described sound symbolism, presented its manifestations and produced a

dictionary of sounds and their related meanings.
Shisler (1997) differentiates four main types of sound symbolism:
Corporeal or expressive symbolism. The term refers to the sounds
such as a grunt, a cough, a hiccup, a cry and the like, which do
not play a syntactic role in a sentence (e.g. oh, achoo).
Synesthetic symbolism. The term represents "the use of sound to
symbolize something that is not sound" (Shisler 1997). It can be
manifested through the use of different intonation patterns, which
can add "involved or detached, emotional or unemotional,
friendly or cold, enthusiastic or sarcastic" (Shisler 1997)
connotations to a word, a deeper voice, to convey the property of
largeness or importance of a word or utterance, and the like.
Onomatopoeia or imitative sound symbolism. The term refers to
the sounds used to imitate the noises from the world around us,
such as click (a short sharp sound as when the door is closing),
cockoo (the bird and the sound it produces) or bang (a loud noise,
as when you hit something). It often relies on phonesthetic
properties of sounds, which are described below.
Phonesthesia or phonetic symbolism. The term is related to the
use of phonesthemes, i.e. sounds or sound clusters which are
directly associated with certain meanings. For example, the
consonant cluster /JO/ expresses the meaning of light and shining,
as seen in gleam, glisten, glitter, glow, glare, and the cluster /NZ/
conveys the meaning of shaking and unsteadiness, as in quaver,
quake and quiver.
Advertisers have recognized the potential of sound symbolism, or to be

more precise, the role that onomatopoeia and phonesthesia play in

influencing consumers. We come across these kinds of sound – meaning
connections in product names: Corn Pops, Reese's Puffs, Cocoa Puffs,
Cookie Crisp, Rice Krispies, Honey Smacks, Schweppes as well as in
advertising slogans, which are the subject of the following analysis. The
research is based on the works of Marchand (1969) and Shisler (1997).
In the corpus we can identify sound symbolism related to the following
sounds:
/S/, /RS/, /VQ/ and /HS/:
(1) Once you pop, you can't stop. (Pringles)
(2) Gotta have my Pops. (Corn Pops)

(3) Snap! Crackle! Pop. (Rice Krispies)
The phoneme /S/ is a powerful and piercing plosive, made by a sudden

parting of the lips, so that the airstream rushes out through the mouth
explosively. Hence, it is used to convey the bursting and loud noises, as
seen in words pop, puff and punch. The final cluster /RS/ expresses the
shortness, abruptness and the explosive quality of sounds, as in flop and
plop. Used in pop, snap and stop, these phonemes imitate short and
explosive sounds we produce while eating, for example, crisps or corn
flakes. The cluster /VQ/, as in snap, occurs in words denoting the sound and
movement of the mouth, nose and face, such as sniff, snore and snout. The
word snap also contains the final cluster /HS/, which is related to the
striking sounds, as in clap, tap, flap, rap and snap. This description of
phonesthemes can lead us to the conclusion that advertisers pay special
attention to the phonological aspect of phonemes and the semantic
implications they carry. By using certain phonemes, it is possible to
convey a sense of speed and dynamics, and to immitate the sounds which
are created when, for example, we pour milk over Rice Crispies (Snap!
Crackle! Pop!), or when we eat Pringles (Once you pop, you can't stop)
and Corn Pops (Gotta have my Pops). It is also interesting to mention the
translation of the slogan Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Kellogg's Rice Krispies)
into other languages, because it proves that sound symbolism is, to a
certain extent, a universal phenomenon. What is more, the following
translations show how the same or similar sounds can be related to the
same or similar meanings:
(1) Japanese: Snappa! Crakka! Poppa!

(2) Finnish: Riks! Raks! Poks!
(3) French: Cric! Crac! Croc!
(4) German: Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!

(5) Romanian: Kim! Kan! Kum!
(6) Italian: Pif! Pof! Paf!
(7) Spanish: Pim! Pum! Pam!
/NU/:
(1) Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Rice Crispies)

(2) Crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery. Butterfinger. (Butterfinger)
(3) The crunch always gives you away. (Cap'n'Crunch).
Marchand (1969) and Shisler (1997) associate this cluster with

unpleasant sounds, for example crash, crack, crush, crash. In the slogans
for Rice Crispies, Butterfinger and Cap'n'crunch it is used to immitate the

sound that we produce while eating these products.
/J/
(1) More gluggable, less bubbable. (Still Tango)
This slogan contains a nonce formation gluggable. Although we will

not find it in dictionaries, we can derive its meaning from the phonestheme
/J/, which frequently occurs in words denoting the throat sounds, such as
gulch, gulp, gaggle and guggle. Therefore, we can assume that the
meaning of gluggable is related to the consumption of the advertised
beverage, or to be more precise, to the passage of the drink down the
throat. In addition, the suffix -able indicates that we cannot stop
consuming this drink that easily.
/W/
(1) Taste the tang in Tango. (Tango)

(2) Tingling tang, bubbles-sparkles. (Sparkling Tango)
(3) Tang – it's a kick in a glass. (Tang)
(4) They're tangy on your tongy. (Nik Naks)
The phoneme /W/ is related to the following meanings: a strike against

the body, as in tap, tink, tinkle, tingle, tick, tattle, tip, ting, emotions, as in
tackle, tangle, tumble, topple, consuming alcohol, as in tiff, tipple, tipsy,
topsy-turvy and so on. In the slogans above, the phonestheme is used in
tang and tangy to denote the strong sharp taste or smell of the products. At
the same time it expresses the excitement and surprise related to their
consumption: tingling tang, tangy (on your) tongy.
/ǨX/
(1) Polo, the mint with the hole. (Polo)
The diphthong /ǨX/ in polo and hole, which corresponds to the letter o
is obviously related to the candy shape. The shape of the leter o, as well as
the shape of our lips when pronouncing the diphthong, resemble the shape
of the candy. Thus, we encounter both sound and letter symbolism in this
slogan.
In conection with this phenomenon, we can also mention the slogans:
There's a whole lot of good in those little "o"s and The one and only
Cheerios (Cheerios), because of the obvious relation between the grain

shape and the letter o, as well as the way we pronounce this letter in
whole, lot of, those, "o"s, one, only and Cheerios.
There are a few more examples of sound symbolism in the corpus:
(1) Things that make you go "mmm". (McDonald's)

(2) M'm! M'm! Good. (Campbell's)
(3) Smaxey makes breakfast the happiest meal of the day. (Sugar
Smacks)
The onomatopoeic exclamations Mmm and M'm! M'm! are used to

show that we enjoy the taste of a particular type of food. The same
meaning is expressed by the word smack, which immitates the sound
produced when we press together and then open the lips with a short loud
noise.
At the end of this research we can conclude that sound symbolism is
most frequently used in the slogans advertising breakfast cereals, and, to a
lesser degree, in the slogans belonging to the category of non-alcoholic
drinks. As Shisler (1997) puts it, "the sound has proven to be a profitable
tool in the never-ending struggle to manipulate people". It attracts
consumers' attention, reinforces the meanings of words and aids
memorability of slogans.
3. Theoretical introduction to the translation

of advertising slogans
The second part of the paper deals with the translation of advertising
slogans into Serbian, by addressing the procedures which can be used to
render as effectively as possible the phonological creativity and wit of the
original slogans.
It has already been mentioned that due to the use of sound patterns as
well as sound symbolism, advertising slogans resemble poetry. The issue
of translatability of poetic discourse has been discussed for centuries, and
the view has been quite pessimistic. According to Jakobson (1959: 238),
since "the formal aspects of the linguistic code became part of the meaning
… translation proper is impossible." We can only apply creative
transposition (cited in Hatim and Mason 1994: 13).2 i.e. transposition
2
"Transposition or shift is a translation procedure involving a change in grammar"
(e.g. the change of word order, number and the like) (Newmark 1988: 85).
which goes "beyond linguistic differences and can be regarded as general

options available for stylistic consideration" (Newmark 1988: 85–87). In
other words, when we translate poetry we tend to create new independent
poems (Newmark 1988: 85-87).
Another point that has to be made about advertising slogans is that they
belong to the vocative (Hatim and Mason 1994: 157), i.e. instructional text
type (Newmark 1988: 48), whose aim is to influence the way people think
or behave. When translating such texts "equivalent effect is not only
desirable, it is essential", says Newmark (1988: 48). Bezuidenhout (1998)
also highlights the importance of the equivalent effect of the advertisement
translations on the target receivers. She even says that "the same meaning
is not necessarily sought, but the same effect." Actually, "the meaning and
form are an inseparable unit" and "the translator should attempt to find a
compromise by giving the one aspect total dominance over the other
within a given situation" (Bezuidenhout 1998).
The analysis that follows will show us how it is possible for a
translator to find a balance between these two aspects in slogans that
excessively use the phonological element to reinforce the meaning and
create a special effect.
4. Translation of advertising slogans

When slogans heavily rely on the use of alliteration, assonance or
rhyme, it is usually impossible to convey both the equivalent message and
the sound pattern, which is illustrated by the following examples:
(1) alliteration: The totally tropical taste. (Lilt) – "Potpuno tropski ukus".
(2) assonance: Golden moments. (Ferrero Rocher) – "Zlatni trenuci".
(3) rhyme: Jack's back. (Jack in the box fast food) – "Džek se vratio".
(4) rhyme: Heat it, eat it. (Campbell's) – "Zagrej i pojedi".

(5) rhyme: The time is right for Pepsi Light. (Pepsi) – "Pravo je vreme za
lajt Pepsi".
The first three slogans have been translated literally, retaining the
message while losing the sound effect. Transposition has been applied to
the last two slogans: the full stop has been replaced by the conjunction "i"
(eng. and) in the Campbell slogan, and the adverb has been moved to the
initial position in the Pepsi slogan.
Sometimes, however, by applying different translational procedures
and playing with the target language lexicon, it is possible, to a greater or
lesser degree, to achieve both the semantic and phonological equivalence.
(1) Schhh! You know who? (Schweppes) – the slogan begins with Schhh,
which reminds us of the product sch – Schweppes, but, at the same
time, this exclamation is homophonous with ssh, /Ȓ/, meaning shush,
which is used to call our attention. Such homophony does not exist in
Serbian – the equivalent of shush in Serbian is "pst". What is suggested
here is to retain the Schhh, because, in that way, we can keep a much
closer relation with the product than by translating it as "pst".
Therefore, we can translate the slogan as: "Schhh!…znaš ko je?"
(2) Get your tingue in a twost. (Typhoo) – in addition to sound symbolism
and alliteration, this slogan contains the vowel swap within the play of
words. By switching the places of ‘o’ and ‘i’ in tongue and twist, the
advertisers have emphasized the effect that this drink has on us, i.e. on
our sense of taste – it makes our tongue twist. If we translate the slogan
as "Na jeziku jezdi", we have slightly altered the semantic aspect of the
slogan (the tea does not twist our tongue but hovers over it) while
retaining the similar phonological effect (repetition of the initial sounds
in jeziku jezdi).
(3) The sweet smell of success. (Macallan) – if we translate this slogan
literally so as to keep the same meaning: "Slatki miris uspeha", we
cannot recreate the alliterative effect of the original slogan, but the
recurrent s still makes a special acoustic impact on the target audience.
(4) Taste the tang in Tango. (Tango) – this slogan contains two sound
patterning devices: alliteration and assonance. If we translate it as
"Oseti oštar ukus Tanga", (where tang is translated as sharp taste), we
have achieved the equivalent message with a slightly weaker
phonological effect than in the original creation (the translation
contains only assonance involving o).
(5) Taste the thunder. (Thumps up) – if we translate this slogan as "Okusi
oluju", we have retained the sound pattern (though alliteration has been
replaced with assonance) by slightly altering the semantic aspect of the

message: the word storm (serb. "oluja") has been used instead of the
word thunder. Yet the sound symbolic phoneme t has been lost.
On rare occasions, however, the slogans can be translated literally,

keeping the equivalent sound effect:
(1) The one and only Cheerios. (Cheerios) – "Jedan jedinstveni

Cheerios".
(2) Put a tiger on your team! (Frosted Flakes) – "Ubaci tigra u tim".
(3) Tic Tac. Surely the best tactic. (Tic Tac) – "Tic Tac. Sigurno najbolja
taktika".
In the following passage we analyse the slogans containing nonce

formations based on the phonological similarity of the constituent
lexemes.
(1) Be Cointreauversial. (Cointreau): Cointreau (the brand name) +

controversial.
By transfering the brand name and literally translating the other

constituent (controversial – "kontroverzan") it is possible to recreate the
blend and translate the slogan as "Budi Cointreauverzan".
(2) You'll find there's no Camparison. (Campari): Campari (the brand

name) + comparison.
In this blend we can apply the similar translation procedure as in the

previous example. We can transfer the brand name (Campari) into Serbian,
translate the noun comparison as the adjective comparative (serb.
"komparativno"), and then combine these two lexemes to get
Camparitivno. Finally, the translation of the slogan can be: "Neuporedivo
Camparitivno".
(3) Satis-Smack-tion. (Honey Smacks): the middle part of the lexeme

satisfaction, has been replaced by Smack, taken from the brand name.
It is not possible to recreate this nonce formation in Serbian. However,

we can translate the constituent lexemes separately and get Zadovoljstvo u
zalogaju (smack has been replaced by the word bite – "zalogaj"), i.e. we
can replace the wit of the nonce formation by a special sound effect
achieved by alliteration.
5. Concluding remarks
This analysis has shown which compromises have to be made in order
to meet the translation demands of the slogans whose meanings heavily
rely on sound patterns and sound symbolism. The emphasis has been put
on recreating the phonological effect, and the examples have shown that,
in order to achieve this goal, the semantic aspect of the slogans has to be
changed to a greater or lesser degree. Also, when it is not possible to use
the same sound patterning device, it can be replaced by another (e.g. the
use of assonance instead of alliteration). In some cases, however, it is
extremely difficult to find the adequate phonological solution, but due to
the powerful semantic impact of the message (advertising slogans use
metaphor abundantly), sometimes the loss of the special sound effect is not
that damaging.
References
Bezuidenhout, I. 1998. A Discursive- Semiotic Approach to Cultural
Aspects in Persuasive Advertisements. Retrieved from:
http://ilze.org/semio.
Collins, B. and I. Mees. 2005. Practical Phonetics and Phonology. New
York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
Crystal, D. 1991. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. 3rd edition.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Kristal, D. 1996. Kembriþka enciklopedija jezika. Beograd: Nolit.
Hatim, B. and I. Mason. 1994. Discourse and the Translator. London and
New York: Longman.
Marchand, H. 1969. The Categories and Types of Present-Day English
Word- Formation. 2nd edition. Wiesbaden: O. Harrssowitz.
Myers, G. 1994. Words in Ads. London: Edward Arnold.
Newmark, P. 1988. A textbook of translation. New York and London:
Prentice Hall International.
Shisler, B. K. 1997. The Influence of Phonesthesia on the English
Language. Retrieved from:
http://www.geocities.com/soho/studios/9783/phonpap1.html.
Turner, G. W. 1973. Stylistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Živkoviü, D., ed. 1992. Reþnik književnih termina. 2nd edition. Beograd:
Nolit.

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PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

1. Phonological features of advertising slogans

When analysing phonological properties of advertising slogans, one

analyse it" (Myers 1994: 31). Furthermore, he compares advertisements

(1) Keep it cool. (7-up)

Assonance represents the repetition of vowel sounds in a sequence of

(1) Golden moments. (Ferrero Rocher)

(1) The time is right for Pepsi light. (Pepsi)

(2) Be free, drink RC. (RC Cola)

2.5. Sound symbolism

sounds are an important source of special effects", i.e. English sounds

described sound symbolism, presented its manifestations and produced a

Advertisers have recognized the potential of sound symbolism, or to be

more precise, the role that onomatopoeia and phonesthesia play in

 /S/, /RS/, /VQ/ and /HS/:

(1) Once you pop, you can't stop. (Pringles)

(2) Gotta have my Pops. (Corn Pops)

The phoneme /S/ is a powerful and piercing plosive, made by a sudden

(1) Japanese: Snappa! Crakka! Poppa!

(4) German: Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!

(1) Snap! Crackle! Pop! (Rice Crispies)

Marchand (1969) and Shisler (1997) associate this cluster with

for Rice Crispies, Butterfinger and Cap'n'crunch it is used to immitate the

(1) More gluggable, less bubbable. (Still Tango)

This slogan contains a nonce formation gluggable. Although we will

(1) Taste the tang in Tango. (Tango)

The phoneme /W/ is related to the following meanings: a strike against

consumption: tingling tang, tangy (on your) tongy.

(1) Polo, the mint with the hole. (Polo)

Cheerios (Cheerios), because of the obvious relation between the grain

(1) Things that make you go "mmm". (McDonald's)

The onomatopoeic exclamations Mmm and M'm! M'm! are used to

3. Theoretical introduction to the translation

which goes "beyond linguistic differences and can be regarded as general

4. Translation of advertising slogans

(4) rhyme: Heat it, eat it. (Campbell's) – "Zagrej i pojedi".

replaced with assonance) by slightly altering the semantic aspect of the

On rare occasions, however, the slogans can be translated literally,

(1) The one and only Cheerios. (Cheerios) – "Jedan jedinstveni

In the following passage we analyse the slogans containing nonce

(1) Be Cointreauversial. (Cointreau): Cointreau (the brand name) +

By transfering the brand name and literally translating the other

(2) You'll find there's no Camparison. (Campari): Campari (the brand

In this blend we can apply the similar translation procedure as in the

(3) Satis-Smack-tion. (Honey Smacks): the middle part of the lexeme

It is not possible to recreate this nonce formation in Serbian. However,

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/S/, /RS/, /VQ/ and /HS/: