A Linguistic Study of Brand Names of Oral Care Products in Thailand
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Abstract
Linguistics plays a crucial role in brand names of products to persuade consumers. Oral care products which are necessary items of humans’ health worldwide seem to have English brand names because of the language of modernization and marketing. This qualitative and quantitative research thus studies the way brand names of domestic and imported oral care products in Thailand are linguistically formed. It aims to analyze word formation strategies and semantic characteristics in the brand names of domestic and imported oral care products in the country. A total of 62 brands were morphologically examined using Yule's (2010) theory and were semantically investigated using Leech's (1981) work. The results showed that the oral care products are branded with different word formation processes – coinage, borrowing, compounding, blending, conversion, derivation (affixation), and multiple processes. Moreover, their brand names are outstanding as they have affective, social, conceptual, connotative, reflective, collocative, and thematic meanings. Overall, this study contributes to an understanding of linguistic elements and conveys the brand’s image and values presented in the oral care products in Thailand. This will also enrich the prominence of English in branding in the oral care industry.
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