A systemic functional linguistic analysis of english advertising slogans of cars

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entited A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

ĐANG THI THU HUONG

Field: English Language Code: 8220201

Hanoi, 2020

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY

M.A THESIS

A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ADVERTISING

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entited A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF CARS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2020

Dang Thi Thu Huong

Approved by SUPERVISOR

Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Phan Van Que for his guidance and continuous help throughout the completion journey of this thesis The momentous support given by Dr Phan Van Que is indescribable and his persistent patience is of a top-notch appreciation that will be always remembered

Also, I would like to thank my beloved husband for his never- ending encouragement and extra-ordinary guidance I am mightily thankful for his sincere support and precious effort shown from the beginning up till the end of the completion of this research

Last but not least, a special thank is dedicated to my family and my friends who instantaneously helped me through my hard times

ABSTRACT

One of the ways to promote certain products is through advertisement Advertisements may appear in brochures, magazines, newspaper, radio, television and also internet The interesting thing from advertisements is the language they use They frequently use persuasive language in order to attract the consumers or buyers One of the ways to persuade the consumers or buyers is using interesting slogans The aim of this study was to analyze the slogans’ language in terms of transitivity system and the images based on multimodality theory This qualitative research is conducted

on a total of 76 life insurance slogans chosen from car company’s official website The study aims at giving readers a brief description and analysis of advertising slogans and their accompanying images The analysis was based on a combined framework of Halliday‟s SFL and Kress and Leeuwen‟s Multimodality theory The study firstly tries to investigate transitivity to clarify six main types of processes: material, mental, relational, behavioral, verbal and existential processes Secondly, image-text relations were expounded based on Systemic Functional theory across semiotic modes The findings indicated that advertisement designers employed various linguistic devices to attract customers In these slogans, material, relational and mental processes are the most frequently applied The paper also figures out that images help extend or add new meaning to the verbal text Thus, the language use and images in advertising slogans consist of different distinctive features to enable advertisers to communicate with customers The paper hopefully will entail useful implications for the use of language and other modes of communication

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: The three metafunctions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday

(1978, pp 36-58) 14

Figure 2: The image of co-tangential circles 14

(Halliday and Martin, 1993, p 25) 14

Figure 3.1: Introduction to Functional Grammar (Halliday, 2004: 219) 26

Figure 4.1: The percentages of 6 different processes 30

Table 2.1: Types of relational process 16

Table 2.2: Relational Attributive Clauses 16

Table 2.3: Relational Identifying Clauses 17

Table 2.4: Types of Beneficiary and Range functions 19

Table 2.5: Types of circumstantial element 19

Table 4.1: The frequency of occurrence of all the techniques 30

Table 4.2: Illustration of Material Process 31

Table 4.3: Structure of Mental Process 34

Table 4.4: Illustration of Relational-attribute Processes 35

Table 4.5: Illustration of Relational-identifying Processes 36

Table 4.6: Illustration of Existential processes 37

Table 4.7: Illustration of Behavioral processes 38

Table 4.8: Illustration of 12 pictures based on Representational meaning 42

Table 4.9: Illustration of 12 pictures based on Interactive meaning 46

Table 4.10: Illustration of 12 pictures based on Compositional meaning 51

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study 2

1.2.1 Aims 2

1.2.2 Specific Objectives: 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Significance of the study 3

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Review of previous studies 5

2.2 Theoritical background 6

2.2.1 Advertising 6

2.2.2 Slogans 9

2.2.3 Systemic Functional Linguistics 10

2.3 Theoretical framework of the study 15

2.3.1.Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics 15

2.3.2 Visual Analytical Framework 20

2.4 Summary 24

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 25

3.1 Research approach 25

3.2 Methods of the study 25

3.3 Data collection and data analysis 25

3.3.1 Data collection 25

3.3.2 Data analysis 26

3.4 Summary 28

CHAPTER 4: ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF CARS FROM SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE 29

4.1 Analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics 29

4.1.1 Material process 31

4.1.2 Mental process 34

4.1.3 Relational process 35

4.2 Analysis based on Multimodality theory 40

4.2.1 Representational meaning 41

4.2.2 Interactive meaning 46

4.2.3 Compositional meaning 51

4.3 The implications for teaching and learning English advertising slogans of cars 54

4.4 Summary 54

CHAPTER 5.CONCLUSION 56

5.1 Recapitulation 56

5.2 Concluding remarks 56

5.3 Limitation of the research 57

5.4 Recommendations and suggestions for further research 58

REFERENCES

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

Together with the development of the world, thousands of new products and services are introduced everyday, which are in need to find an effective way to reach customers Most of products including food, beverages, medicines, airlines services, are presented to the public via mass media namely television, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, radio, etc Consequently, manufacturers take advertisements into consideration as a key tool to spread their goods worldwide Advertisements play a crucial role in economic, sociological and psychological viewpoints Using advertisements is considered the solution of seeking a channel for organizations or companies to reach out the world with their messages Slogans are taken as the heart

of advertisements and cover the most focusing points sent to customers by the advertisers However, the question to create a good and successful slogan to bring in customers’ mind the image of the product and encourage them to buy is not always

at ease Therefore, with advertisers, the art of using some valuable words in slogans requires a deep understanding of phonology, lexicology, syntax and other elements Language in the field of advertising has drawn considerable attention because advertising helps inform customers about quality brands in the market and promote sales for companies, so advertising should be fascinating, exciting and creative Slogans are considered the heart of an advertisement so the language of advertising slogans is pervasive, influential and ubiquitous Slogans can be catchy phrase or short sentences which help corporations or businesses tell the world what makes their products or services different Indeed, creating a successful slogan is real art of language use Theoritically, the language of advertising has been studied by several scholars from different sub-fields of linguistics One of the most reowned studies on the language of advertising was conducted by Geoffrey N Leech (1996), who described British television advertising from a liguistic point of view In his study, Leech developed the concept of “ Standard Advertising English” by listing the most prominent and widespread characteristics in his research of advertisements Although some common linguistic features of advertising in English have been revealed in his research, those features of a specific product have not been mentioned In Vietnam,

some linguists such as Mai Xuan Huy (2005) with Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lý thuyết giao tiếp have also noticed the importance of advertising language

but his study analyzes some aspects only Practically, in teaching and studying

English, especially conversational English and advertising slogans in particular, teachers and students only focus on linguistic features, which leads to the insufficent understanding of advertising slogans

As a result, a study on systemic functional linguistic analysis of English advertising slogans of cars can be of great value A number of researches have been conducted

on advertising slogans, but advertising slogans on cars is still an open field An investigation into these slogans will hopefully reveal interesting features in language used in car slogans and meanings of images That’s the reason why the author chooses

to conduct a research into English advertising slogans of cars

1.2 Aims and Objectives of the study

1.2.1 Aims

This study is carried out with the aim of helping teachers and students understand the systemic functional linguistic analysis of English advertising slogans of cars and also the meanings and functions of the images accompanying with the slogans

1.2.2 Specific Objectives:

The objective of this study is to describe and analyse characteristics of language used

in English advertising slogans of cars from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective Another objective of the study is to investigate images accompanying these slogans to figure out their meanings and functions The results of the study will provide some implications for English teachers and learners

1.3 Research questions

This study is carried out with the aim to describe and analyze characteristics of language used in advertising slogans for cars from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective Then, images accompanying these slogans are also investigated to figure out their meanings and functions based on multimodal analysis In order to achieve these aims, the following questions are addressed:

1 What are the characteristics of language use in English advertising slogans of cars from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective?

2 What are the meanings and functions of the images included in English advertising slogans of cars on multimodal analysis?

3 What are implications for teaching and learning English advertising slogans of cars?

1.4 Methods of the study

The study is conducted with the use of qualitative and quantitative methods in combination with the descriptive method Firstly, each slogan is analysed based on linguistic aspects: length, word choice, tense, voice, and advertising techniques Then, transitivity process in each slogan is identified to provide the meanings, functions of images as well as the linkage between verbal and visual modes of communication Some techniques are used such as data collection and data analysis

1.5 Scope of the study

This study aims at concentrating on verbal advertisements in 75 English written advertising slogans of cars from 6 countries with different cultures all over the world

For the purpose of this thesis, the biggest type of advertising - Internet will be

introduced It is multimedia based and as such serves the exchange of text, graphics and sound data There are several types of internet advertising such as banners, pop-

up windows, buttons or animations whose primary purpose is to get the viewer´s attention and persuade them to visit advertiser´s website Due to the limitation of time and the limited scope of a minor M.A thesis, this study does not make an analysis of all aspects of language but focuses on analyzing these slogans’ language in terms of transitivity system and the images based on multimodality theory

1.6 Significance of the study

- Theoretically, the study discusses the characteristics of language use in English

advertising slogans of cars from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective and meanings and functions of the images included in advertising slogans of cars on

multimodal analysis

- Practically, the result of the study helps teachers and students understand the

systemic functional linguistic analysis of English advertising slogans of cars It also helps advertisers create more and more unique, fascinating and impressive slogans

1.7 Structure of thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters:

Chapter 1, Introduction, aims at giving the background of the study, including the

rationale, the aims and objectives of the study, research questions, scope, significance and organization of the thesis

Chapter 2, Literature review, presents a review of previous research, including the

Systemic Functional Linguistics and multimodal discourse analysis This chapter also presents the concepts, types and functions of an advertisement as well as the language

used in it, the definition of slogan and how to evaluate a slogan, and a review of previous research as well

Chapter 3, Methodology, offers an explanation on the choice of data, analytical

frameworks, and tools in the study

Chapter 4, Findings and discussion, analyzes car advertising slogans in terms of

transitivity system, images accompanying these slogans are also investigated based

on multimodality theory

Chapter 5, Conclusion, gives a brief summary of the main content presented in the

thesis, concluding remarks, limitations of the study and provides some suggestions for further studies

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of previous studies

There are a lot of researches which have been conducted in every aspect of the advertising in English, many of which cover the features of advertising language In terms of linguistics, the language of advertisements has been thoroughly studied Geoffrey N Leech (1966) provides a comprehensive introduction to advertising discourse by investigating the language of complementary advertisements in

“English in advertising: A linguistic study of advertising in Great Britain” In terms

of strategic goals, Vestergaard ans Schroder (1985) claims that there are five strategic

goals that should be achieved by advertisers in “The language of advertising” The

language of advertising was later studied by Toolan (1988) with the provision of

guideline of standard features of English advertisements in “Discourse of advertising” There are also some researches which only focus on some certain features in advertising language Typical examples are “ Selling America: Puns, language and advertising” by Michel Monnot (1982), “Pictorial Metaphor in advertising” by Forceville ( 1998)

In Vietnam, advertising language has received considerable attention and been

studied by many linguists, most notably Mai Xuan Huy (2005) with Ngôn ngữ quảng cáo dưới ánh sáng của lý thuyết giao tiếp (Advertising language in light of communicative theory) The study made major contributions to providing better

understanding of advertising language However, it just analyzes some aspects of advertising language such as figures of substitution, style, and conceptual metaphor The previous studies cover all aspects of linguistics, their results reflect only representatives of advertising slogans of many products, not a specific one Indeed, the language of advertising slogans of cars is still an open subject which needs more fully detailed ananysis As a result, an investigation into linguistic features of English advertising slogans on cars from Systemic Functional Linguistic should be highly appreciated

To sum up, the researcher has clarified fundamental features of SFL and Multimodality theory used in advertising slogans Besides, the definition of advertisements and slogans are also included A review of previous research helps the author avoid unnecessary duplication This will be useful for the researcher to carry out the next step

2.2 Theoritical background

2.2.1 Advertising

2.2.1.1 Defining the Concept of Advertising

Dyer defines advertising in its simplest sense as “drawing attention to something or notifying somebody of something”(2) The verb “advertise” is derived from Latin

“advertere,” which literally means to turn towards A Goddard confirms this, saying that “adverts are texts that do their best to get our attention, to make us turn towards them” (17)

The definition that will be applied to advertising throughout this thesis was formulated by Keller and Kotler as follows: “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services Advertisers include not only business firms but also charitable, non-profit and government agencies” (578) However, this thesis will specifically concentrate on the slogans of printed, billboard, and online forms of advertising in order to characterize the language of advertising According to Trehan, the constituents of an advertisement are: headlines, subheads, illustrations, slogans, text or body-copy, blurbs, boxes or panels, identification marks, closing ides (120)

A headline is referred to as “the words in the leading position of an advertisement and, generally, 20% of the readers do not go further than reading headlines” (Trehan 121) Headlines are presented in a larger type font and stand out graphically

2.2.1.2 Advertising objectives

Some argue that advertising turns society into a group of wasteful, self-centered, and materialistic people by creating false needs and appetites and encouraging the consumption of superfluous goods that are unable to satisfy even the most basic needs Sedivy states that “advertising is regenerative because it creates entirely new wants and desires, ones that never visit our neurons were it not for advertising” (11) From the very beginning of its existence, advertising was used to introduce and promote goods, events, and even people The objectives of advertising are not limited

to boosting sales of the specific company; nowadays, advertising is applied in a much broader context As Dyer points out: “Advertising has become more and more involved in the manipulation of social values and attitudes, and less concerned with the communication of essential information about goods and services “(1)

Dyer continues by equating advertising functions to those which usually religion and art fulfill; modern advertising operates on the same level as myths in the primitive

societies, providing people with simple explanations that are supposed to guide their way of life and thinking (2) Consequently, two types of advertising can be distinguished: commercial and non-commercial

Muller specifies the advertising objectives, where the word communication is key to this thesis, as follows: The general goal of advertising is to transmit information to a specific group of recipients in order to achieve the desired effect Accordingly, the task of advertising is to systematically plan, design, coordinate, and control all communication activities of an organization (5)

To enhance the selling potential of the product or idea the copywriter must make several crucial decisions: first, what register to use, second, what vocabulary to employ, and third, how to use the language in a creative manner This thesis aims to characterize the advertising language by analyzing the linguistic techniques that copywriters utilize in slogans in order to achieve their communicative purpose

2.2.1.3 Characteristics of Advertising language and its Functions

Leech denotes the language of advertising as loaded language, implying its intention

to skew the audience’s perception of the message (25) The audience, when reacting

to advertising, is consequently acting in a desired and expected way These characteristics correspond with the main goal of advertising, which is described by McQuarrie: “communication of meaning is secondary, audience response is primary” (8)

To achieve the desired audience response, the language of advertising should comply with the criteria of an effective act of verbal communication Roman Jakobson determined six language roles, according to which an effective act of communication can be described:

* The Referential Function describes a situation, an object, or a mental state and is

oriented toward the context

* The Emotive Function does not change the denotation of the utterance, but adds

the information about the internal state of the speaker and orientates toward the addresser

* The Conative Function engages the addressee directly and is represented in

imperatives and vocatives

* The Phatic Function serves to establish, discontinue, or prolong the

communication

* The Metalingual Function is used to describe and discuss the language itself

* The Poetic Function focuses on the message for its own sake (Sebeok 350377)

Particularly for advertising, the conative and referential functions are crucial, as they are intended to get people to act in a way the advertiser desires The slogan must accomplish the following subordinate stages before this is possible:

* Attract attention – The phatic function serves for these purposes

* Convince – By appealing to reason with the help of the referential function or

emotion by using the emotive function (Hébert)

In order to fulfill its functions, an advertisement must also meet the criteria of a successful persuasive text According to Leech, they are:

* Attention value – it must be in the limelight, and it relies on the unconventional

usage of language

* Listenability/readability – it must be pleasurable and easy to read in order to

maintain the interest it has evoked

* Memorability – the text must be recognizable

* Selling power – it also must facilitate the customers to buy and promote the

advertised item or idea (27-31)

Goddard states that in order to make the text persuasive, “copywriters have to find ways to shout at us from the page” (11) The next sub-chapters will shed light on the major linguistic, rhetoric, and communicative principles applied by copywriters in their slogans in order to make their texts bear the characteristics of a persuasive text

As with any practice applied to advertising, may it be rhetoric, stylistics, or semiotics,

it must identify all possible means and options available: “in each case, we are setting

out the palette of options from which the advertiser may (must) choose” (McQuarrie 5)

2.2.1.4 Advertising techniques

To make direct appeal to the customers, different advertising techniques are applied

to creation of necessary illusion of superiority and effectiveness for the product being advertised Advertisers often use special words or phrases called ‘weasel words’ Besides vague words, scientific evidence and rhetorical question are also used In terms of stylistic features, it may be common to use persuasive vocabulary, neologisms, imperatives, repetition, homophony, pun, hyperbole, syntactic parallelism, association and glamorization

2.2.2 Slogans

2.2.2.1 Defining the Concept of Slogans

A slogan is defined as the “catch phrase or group of words that are put together to identify a product or company brand” Slogans are a vital part of marketing and have been used to help promote business and engage with customers Most slogans are memorable phrases that may use devices such as metaphors, alliteration or rhymes with simple, vibrant language Sometimes, people may use the terms ‘’tagline’’ and

‘’slogan’’ interchangeably; indeed there are differences between two terms A tagline

is a short, powerful phrase that is associated with the company’s name It represents the products or services’ tone and feeling brought to the customers It is often part of

a company’s graphics (e.g the logo or the letter) Figliulo et al, (2015) claim that ‘’A tagline tends to be a communications device and is used by the brand when it’s communicating to customers’’ Taglines tend to be about the company, whereas slogans tend to be more about the products, the marketplace, the consumer and a need

met The word slogan comes from a Scottish word meaning ‘’battle cry’’ – the slogan

goes with the ‘’battle you are waging right now’’ That means slogans are often used

only for one product, or one campaign A slogan may change regularly according to different campaigns to advertise a specific aspect of a product or service, while a company tagline is used consistently for a company as a whole Because slogans often change, they are usually current and modern and give an impression of being new and trendy; they are designed to be a ‘’hook’’ However, sometimes when a brand starts out, the slogan and tagline are one and the same With these above features, when developing a slogan people have more room to be creative The key point is to make sure the slogan catchy, memorable and reliable; slogans also should consist of emotional attachment, effectively reflecting the brand image

2.2.2.2 Features of a good slogan

The best business slogans have mass appeal A tagline that is witty, appealing to the ear or calls people to action can help spark interest in a company A slogan needs to

be focused specifically on the individual characteristics of the company to be an effective part of marketing efforts Craft a phrase that connects with customers and keeps them thinking of the business

Memorable

The best slogans have mass appeal as they are able to connect with their audience For instance, "good to the last drop" and "a diamond is forever" stick in the mind as

these phrases are succinct and make a strong statement about the product People remember the slogans that relate to their lives and have meaning

Jingles

Slogans that use rhymes and rhythms, or both, can be very successful They are particularly effective when they can be sung, as in jingles Examples of some famous sing-along slogans are "We bring good things to life" and "You deserve a break today." Create a jingle that will have your customers humming along with it

Length

The length of a slogan is a factor worth considering The majority of slogans are short quick blurbs use as few words as possible, such as "Mmm, mmm good" and "Stronger than dirt." Some taglines, however, succeed with quite a few words such as "When it absolutely positively has to be there overnight." In cases like these, the slogan works with many words because of its strong message

Clarity and Message

Clarity and a message are two things necessary in advertising If your customers don't understand your slogans, they will forget them along with your company Work on slogans that convey meaning instantly such as "We make it happen" and "Right store, right price." According to the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, successful slogans convey a message to their audiences

Humor

A company that displays a sense of humor in its advertising is remembered If you can make your slogans humorous, they have a better chance of catching on Take for example, a slogan for a muffler company that says "No appointment necessary We hear you coming.”

Emotion

Often the best way to connect to customers is through emotions Your slogan will bring in business if you find a way to make a personal connection Consider these famous taglines and their effects on the human psyche: "You're in good hands,"

"Discover what's possible," "Technology at the speed of life" and "Make believe." https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/features-slogan-5762.html

2.2.3 Systemic Functional Linguistics

2.2.3.1 An over view of SFL

A modern approach to combining accurate descriptions of the grammatical patterns

of language with their function in context is that of systemic functional grammar, an

approach originally developed by M.A.K Halliday in the 1960s and now pursued actively on all continents Systemic-functional grammar is related both to feature-based approaches such as Head-driven phrase structure grammar and to the older functional traditions of European schools of linguistics such as British Contextualism and the Prague School While many of the linguistic theories in the world today are concerned with language as a mental process, SFL is more closely aligned with Sociology: it explores how language is used in social contexts to achieve particular goals In terms of concept, systemic refers to the view that language is viewed as a network of interrelated systems or set of choices for making meanings; functional suggests that the focus is on function rather than form Language is viewed as a practical means of expressing meanings rather than as an abstract set of relations According to Matthiessen & Halliday (1997), SFL can be characterized as an

‘’applicable’ linguistics theory, which means it is designed to have the potential to be applied to solving problems that arise in communities around the world SFL is also well-known for its application in different fields such as healthcare, computational linguistics, translation, multimodal studies, education, and scholars are always discovering new areas of application (Matthiessen, 2010) In recent years, SFL has become helpful in different fields such as linguistics, language education, child language development and media discourse

2.2.3.2 Traditional grammar compared to Systemic functional grammar

The SFG model builds on the idea of language use as functional, linked to the purposes for which humans use language in the many social contexts they inhabit; for example, to explain (as we have seen above), to entertain, to instruct, to describe The grammar is organised into three ‘bundles of functions’ or ‘metafunctions’ which relate to the major functions language plays in our lives:

- enabling us to represent our experience of the world (the ‘experiential’ function);

- enabling us to interact with others in the world (the ‘interpersonal’ function); and

- enabling us to create coherent and cohesive texts (the ‘textual’ function)

It is evident that the choice of a model of grammar is not simply a matter of

‘traditional’ or ‘functional’ It is more a matter of what we want the model to do for

us and our students If, for example, our students need simply to learn the structure

of English sentences with a focus on syntactic accuracy, drawing on familiar (though basic) terminology shared throughout the profession, then a traditional grammar will probably suffice These days, however, there is considerable pressure on teachers of

English as well as subject teachers with large numbers of students in their classes to

go beyond ‘well-formed sentences’ and to help their students operate successfully in

a range of discourse contexts This is where SFG has struck a chord among many practitioners, in that it provides a more ‘comprehensive package’, informing all areas

of the language curriculum rather than being taught as a discrete ‘topic’

Compared to structural linguistics featured by Leonard Bloomfield in the United States during 1930s and 1940s, SFL is quite contrasting Halliday claims that the central concern of linguistics should be the study of the language through meaning, which is not the same with Bloomfield’s theory in American linguistics (Matthiessen

& Halliday, 1997) Bloomfield is in favor of the need for linguists to study oral language instead of analyzing written documents because the documents, for example, do not fully represent a spoken language due to the fact that language undergoes changes over time and what something means today might have meant a different thing altogether in the past (Hall & Koerner, 1987)

In addition, systemic functional linguistics presented by Michael Halliday and transformational generative grammar (TGG) featured by Noam Chomsky are distinct

in many respects Indeed, SFL studies language through meaning (function) while TGG is a fully influential and developed version of linguistics through form

2.2.3.3 The key elements of SFL

Central to SFL is the use of systems, used to represent the choices present in making

an utterance The three systems related to the three metafunctions are: Transitivity, Theme/Rheme and Mood & Modality

Ideational (experiential and logical) meanings construing Field are realised

Lexico-Grammatically by the system of Transitivity This system interprets and represents our experience of phenomena in the world by describing experiential meanings in terms of participants, processes and circumstances

Interpersonal meanings are realised Lexico-Grammatically by systems of Mood &

Modality The Mood system is the central resource establishing an exchange between interactants by assuming and assigning speech roles such as giving or demanding goods and services or information Thus the giving of information or goods and services is grammaticalised as declaratives, questions are grammaticalised as interrogatives and commands as imperatives

Textual meanings are concerned with the interaction of interpersonal and ideational

information as text in context Lexico-Grammatically textual meanings are realised

by systems of Theme/Rheme Theme/Rheme selections establish the orientation or angle on the interpersonal and ideational concerns of the clause

Or, putting all this together (Eggins, 2004, p 111):

The field of a text can be associated with the realisation of ideational meanings; these

ideational meanings are realised through the Transitivity systems of the grammar

The mode of a text can be associated with the realisation of textual meanings; these

textual meanings are realised through the Theme/Rheme systems of the grammar

The tenor of a text can be associated with the realisation of interpersonal meanings;

these interpersonal meanings are realised through the Mood /Modality systems of the grammar

The ways in which human beings use language - the meanings that we can make with language - are classified by Halliday (1978, pp 36-58) into three broad categories

or metafunctions (Bloor & Bloor, 2004, pp 10-11)

Language is used to organise, understand and express our perceptions of the world and of our own consciousness This function is known as the ideationalfunction The ideational metafunction is about the natural world in the broadest sense, and is concerned with clauses as representations The ideational function can be classified into two subfunctions: the experiential and the logical The experiential function is largely concerned with content or ideas The logical function is concerned with the relationship between ideas

Language is used to enable us to participate in communicative acts with other people,

to take on roles and to express and understand feelings, attitude and judgements This function is known as the interpersonal function The interpersonal metafunction is about the social world, especially the relationship between speaker and hearer, and is concerned with clauses as exchanges

Language is used to relate what is said (or written) to the real world and to other linguistic events This involves the use of language to organise the text itself This is known as the textual function The textual metafunction is about the verbal world, especially the flow of information in a text, and is concerned with clauses

as messages

Figure 1: The three metafunctions of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday

(1978, pp 36-58)

From the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics, the oral and written texts

we understand and produce have their particular linguistic form because of the social purposes they fulfil The focus is not on texts as decontextualised structural units in their own right, but rather on the relationships between texts and the social practices they realise

SFL, then, treats language and social context as complementary semiotic levels, related by the concept of realisation The relationship between language and social context has been represented using the image of co-tangential circles (Halliday and Martin, 1993, p 25)

Figure 2: The image of co-tangential circles (Halliday and Martin, 1993, p 25)

2.3 Theoretical framework of the study

2.3.1.Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics

A Material Processes: processes of doing

Material processes are processes of ‘doing’ They express the notion that some entity ‘does’ something – which may be done ‘to’ some other entity In the material processes, there are two participants role, namely: actor and goal, for example:

Material process relates to bodily, phisically, and materially One identification criteria for material process is that they can be probed by asking ‘what did X do?’ and ‘what happened to X?

B Mental Processes: processes of sensing

1 Perception (seeing, hearing, etc.)

2 Affection (liking, fearing, etc.)

3 Cognition (thinking, knowing, understanding, etc.)

In the mental processes, there are two participants, namely:senser (the conscious being that is feeling, thinking, or seeing) and phenomenon (which is ‘sensed’ – felt, thought or seen) Let’s see the example below:

Senser

Process:

cognition Phenomenon

Mental process relates to emotionally, intelecturally, and sensority They are probed

by asking about mental reaction; about thoughts, felling, and perceptions It makes more sense to ask ‘what do you think/feel/know about X?

C Relational processes: processes of being

There are three types of relational process in the clause, namely:

a) Intensive ‘x is a’ (establishes a relationship of sameness between two

entities)

b) Circumstantial ‘x is at a’ (defines the entity in terms of location, time, manner)

c) Possessive ‘x has a’ (indicates that one entity owns another)

Each of these comes in two modes:

Attributive (‘a is an attribute of x’)

In this mode, there are two participants, namely: carrier and attribute

Identifying (‘a is the identity of x’)

In this mode, there are two participants, namely: identified and identifier

The six possible classifications of relational processes in terms of modes and types

are given below:

Table 2.1: Types of relational process mode

Peter has a piano

The fair is on Tuesday

Tom is a leader:

the leader is Tom the piano is Peter’s Peter’s is the piano tomorrow is the 10th: the 10th is tomorrow Further examples of the relational process modes and their types are given in tables below:

Table 2.2: Relational Attributive Clauses attribute of:

quality (intensive) John is / looks great

circumstance Prof Halliday was in the lecture theatre

(circumstantial) the celebrations last all day

possession the computer is / belongs Ahmad's / to Ahmad

Carrier Process Attribute

Table 2.3: Relational Identifying Clauses

identification by:

(intensive) David Garrick played Hamlet

(circumstantial) his gold takes up the entire box

Identified Process Identifier

D Behavioral processes

It should be mentioned here that behavioral processes stand between material and mental processes Partly as a result of this, some of us may find it difficult to distinguish

* between behavioral process verbs and material process verbs on the one hand,

* between behavioral process verbs and mental process verbs on the other

a Intransitive (it has only one participant) and

b Indicates an activity in which both the physical and mental aspects are inseparable and indispensable to it

In this process, there is only one participant, namely: behaver (the agent who behaves), example:

Buff neither laughs nor smiles

behaver process

E Verbal processes

These are processes of saying The participants of the processes are: sayer (participant who speaks), receiver (the one to whom the verbalization is addressed), verbiage (a name for the verbalization itself) There is however one other type of verbal process,

in which the sayer is in sense acting verbally on another direct participant, with verbs

such as: insult, praise, slander, abuse, and flatter This other participant will be

referred to as the target For example:

Sayer Process: verbal Receiver Verbiage

And also the example for

Target:

I ‘m always praising you to my friends

Sayer Process: verbal Target Recipient

F Existential processes

These processes represent that something exists or happens These clauses typically

have the verb be, or some other verb expressing existence, such as exist, arise,

followed by a nominal group functioning as Existent (a thing which exists in the process) The existent may be a phenomenon of any kind, and is often, in fact, an event For example:

Process Existent: event

G Other participant functions

There are two other participant functions in the English clause, namely: Beneficiary and Range Beneficiary is the one to whom or for whom the process is said to take place It appears in material and verbal process Let’s see the table below :

Table 2.4: Types of Beneficiary and Range functions

Process Beneficiary function Example (the underlined

Material a) The recipient, is one a) I gave my love a ring

that goods are given to b) Fred bought a present

b) The client, is one that for his wife

Verbal The one who is being John said to Marry

Material a) Expresses the domain over

which the process takes place b) Expressing the process itself

a) Ray climbed the moutain

b) Fred played the piano Verbal The element expressing the

class, quality, or quantity what is said

He made a long speech

H Circumstantial elements

To know more clearly about the elements, let’s see the table of examples below:

Table 2.5: Types of circumstantial element

Type Categories Example ( the underlined words)

a) My mother went by bus b) It was snowing heavily

c) It went through my head like an earthquake

b) Purpose c) Behalf

a) For want of a nail the shoe was lost b) For the sake of peace

c) I’m writing on behalf of Aunt Jane

animent

a) Comitative b) Additive

a) Fred came with Tom b) Fred came instead of Tom

2.3.2 Visual Analytical Framework

The overwhelming importance of visual communication in the modern world leads to attract people’s attention towards visual as well as verbal They even highlighted the importance of implication of visual literacy in education due to the dominance of the verbal over the visual in educational systems As opposed to Barthes (1977), Kress and van Leeuwen (1996:17) believe that visual component of

a text is not dependent on the verbal text and their message is organized independently.Kress and van Leeuwen modified termsof Halliday’s three metafunctions and choose Representational, Interactive and Compositional instead of ideational, interpersonal, and textual respectively to be used in analysing visuals

2.3.2.1 Representation

Analysing visual components of a text from the ideational perspective, Kress

and van Leeuwen (2006) introduced “representation” analysis which is drawn on

Halliday’s metafunctional theory Representation analysis falls into two categories: Narrative and Conceptual in the sense of the realization of process which identifies

participants doing and happenings These processes are engaged with represented participants which can be people, things or places and perhaps with circumstances

in which the events or actions are being illustrated

The distinguishing factor between “narrative” and “conceptual” is the presence and absence of vectors respectively The vector is a diagonal line that is formed

by limbs, eyelines, bodies, or tools indicating “is connected to”, “is related to” or “is conjoined to” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006, p.59)

2.3.2.1.1 Narrative Processes

Like material processes in the transitivity system, Narrative processes have two participants namely, “actor” and “goal” Indeed, Narrative processes are produced when there is a vector connecting two participants and shows they are “doing something to or for each other” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006:59) In other words, Narrative processes “serve to present unfolding actions and events, processes of change, transitory spatial arrangements” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996:56) They define Actor as “the participants from whom or which the vector departs and which may be fused with the vector to different degrees” (ibid) The other participant in this process whom the vector is pointed to is called the “goal” In these types of processes, the represented participants are related with some sort

of physical action Transactional and non-transactional are two main categories

in these processes In the latter one, there is no action directed towards anyone

or anything as there is only one participant However, in the former one, transactional, there is more than one participant and something is exchanging between them According to the participants engaged and the types of vector, Narrative process can be differentiated as follows:

- Action process: A vector which is shaped by either an arrow or illustrated

element to relate Actor and Goal

- Reaction process: In these processes, there is a reaction between the participants

which is realized through the eyeline of a participant (reactor) and is formed by a vector, to the receiving participant which is called Phenomenon

- Mental process: Mental processes are referred to the vectors which are being

highlighted from speakers to their thoughts and connect the Senser and Phenomenon (Royce, 1999)

- Verbal process: Shaping a vector, “an arrow-like protrusion of a dialogue

balloon” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006:75) connects the Sayer to the utterance

- Conversion process: A process in which a participant “is a goal with of one

participant and the Actor with respect to another”(Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006:75)

2.3.2.1.2 Conceptual Processes

Kress and van Leeuwen(1996:56) argue that Conceptual processes “represent participants in terms of their generalised and more or less stable and timeless essence”.These processes are to some extent similar to the attributive process in SFL

transitivity system as they manifest “process of being” (Halliday, 2004; Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006) Three types of Conceptual processes in visuals are defined

by Kress and van Leeuwen: Classificational, Analytical, and Symbolic Processes

As it is highlighted above, there is not any vector to determine conceptual process

of an image

In Classificational structure, participants are related to each other “in terms of a kind

of relation, or a taxonomy”(Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006:79) In such a structure,

each of the participants is presented as a Superordinate and the other ones will be Subordinates of that participant (Royce, 1999)

Analytical processes refer to the relation the participants have in an image “in terms

of part-whole structure” (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006:87) In this case, the

participant who represents the ‘whole’ is called the Carrier while the other

participants which are the parts of the whole and characterize the Carrier are termed

as Possessive Attributes

The final category in Conceptual Representations is Symbolic processes In other

words, Symbolic processes are about what a participant means or is in connection with the symbolism or messages conveyed by the participant relations

illustrated In these processes the Carrier is the participant whose meaning is

established in the relation whereas the participant which represents the meaning or identity is called the Symbolic Attribute (Royce, 1999)

2.3.2.2 Interactive

Interactive meaning deals with attempts visuals make to address their viewers In other words, there are some resources in visual forms of communication which form and keep the interaction between the producers and the viewers or readers Contact, distance and point of view are the three elements in which this relationship is interpreted through

The ways images address their viewers either directly or indirectly and what they simultaneously want them to accomplish is the main focus of the visual resources

used to form and keep Contact between the viewer and the image Indeed, the

viewers or readers and the represented participants make a connection through vectors such as eyelines and gestures in order to provide “offer or “demand”

Royce (1999) claims that visual resources would be able to find out to what extent

there is a Social distance between the represented participants and the viewers Kress

and van Leeuwen argue that the size of frame can be used to convey a feeling to

the viewer of their social closeness in terms of the represented participants Therefore, the variety of shots: very close-up shot, long shot, close-up shot, medium shot can establish the social distance between the image and the viewer For example, the head and the subject’s shoulders are only depicted in close-ups whereas the participant is fully represented in long shots (Francesconi, 2011)

These techniques can also be useful when the participants represented are

complete strangers to the viewers Power is another significant element in interaction

between the viewers of an advertisement and the represented participants Therefore, low and high angle shot would highlight the overwhelming power of the represented participants over the viewer and vice versa

2.3.2.3 Compositional

Kress and van Leeuwen relate the compositional features in multimodal texts

to the principles of layout or the “way in which the representational and interactive elements are made to relate to each other, the way they are integrated into a meaningful whole” (Kress and van Leeuwen 1996:181) Information value, salience and framing are three significant criteria in compositional analysis (Kress and van Leeuwen, 1996, 2006)

The horizontal axis in a visual is of importance as they produce a left-right distinction

in the structural meanings within multimodal compositions (Royce, 1999) In this regard, the right is referred to New information which is not yet known and need to be established or to be made explicit However, Given information is illustrated on the left as they are well-established and known Indeed, the given

is something that has been presented or mentioned earlier Kress and van Leeuwen claim that sequence of information in verbal is more or less similar

to the horizontal structuring of visual layout

Similar to the horizontal axis, the vertical axis play an important role in visuals as they generate a top-bottom distinction in the structural meanings This differentiation can be explored through various methods like colour saturation, framing, salience Kress and van Leeuwen emphasize that the top of the text is a place where the Ideal information (or abstract conceptual) is presented to the viewer or reader while the Real (concrete) information is conveyed through the bottom Centre and Margin are the terms Kress and van Leeuwen adopt for central spaces and outer edges in visuals and multimodal texts They are of great importance as they signal the viewer to the nucleus of the information in the text Besides these elements,

Salience refers to the viewer ability in order to find out the importance of various elements in a visual comparing to other elements Thus, the position of elements

in background or foreground, their size, and tonal contrasts make them to be Salient in a text

Another aspect of composition is Framing which deals with the connectedness

or boundedness of the elements, the frame or frame lines in a visual Different graphic techniques are utilized in a text to help the viewer perceive the elements presented as connected or disconnected from each other There are other ways such as “use of discontinuities of colour hue” or “saturation or the use of empty space” Royce (1999) argues that weak framing in magazines propose that the elements should be viewed together as part of the same piece of information, one completing the other (Meurer, 2010) whereas strong framing would suggest separateness or distinctness and being an independent piece of information (Meurer, 2010) Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) proclaim that there is an aim behind every choice made by image maker when they put the elements in the top or bottom, left or right in a visual

According to what has been explained above, investigating the processes in the English slogans of cars from the systemic functional perspective would help us to better understand the types of communicative purpose imbedded in printed media.It might also highlight what actions are portrayed in language and images

to attract the costumers

2.4 Summary

To sum up, the researchers has clarified fundamental features of SFL and Multimodality theory Besides, the definition of advertisements and slogans are aslo included Theoretical frameworks used in this study were also presented in this chapter Based on the previous studies, it is concluded that some researches have been conducted in advertising slogans but they haven’t covered all aspects and this research will attempt to fill this void by using SFL and Multimodality theory and theoritical framework mentioned above

Qualitative approach is a scientific method of observation to gather non –numerical data while focusing on meaning-making This often occurs through "case study, personal experience, introspection, life story, interview, artifacts, and cultural texts and productions, along with observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts." This type of research answers questions related to why or how a certain phenomenon may occur, rather than how often it occurs There are images also that are used in this research study and the researcher analyzes the context in which the images are used and draw inferences from them

3.2 Methods of the study

Descriptive method was used in order to conduct this research Since the objective of the research is to find out some characteristics of language use in advertising slogans

of cars from Systemic Functional Linguistics perspective, all the chosen slogans were investigated so that the linguistic aspects appear in them After that, those features were put into separate categories in order to be employed through systemizing the length, word choices, tense, voice, and advertising techniques

Qualitative method was also used in the thesis in analyzing slogans in terms of transitivity system, and images in terms of multimodality theory To fulfill the focus

of the study, six types of transitivity process in each slogan are identified The paper also provides the meanings, functions of images as well as the linkage between verbal and visual modes of communication After all, the main findings of the

research are expected to be drawn

3.3 Data collection and data analysis

3.3.1 Data collection

Famous car brands all over the world were selected as the sources of data because

of their large number of creative and popular slogans for each launched advertising campaign They are all reliable, well-known and gain enormous prestige among the

readers in English speaking countries and in Vietnam as well The main data for analysis are 75 car slogans from six countries They are all in English and collected from car companies’s official websites The author chooses these sources since they are secure, informative and sufficient for the analysis

There are huge ranges of car advertisement components available on the websites; however, the author just focuses on the advertisements’ slogans and their accompanying images As investigated, all other editorials, comments, instruction, direction, warnings are completely excluded from the data Within the scope of an

MA minor thesis, it is supposed that 75 slogans would be sufficient for a relatively comprehensible analysis The ways these slogans are presented through art (accompanying images) are also assessed

3.3.2 Data analysis

3.3.2.1 According to Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics

After collecting the data, then it will be classified based on the process types of transitivity proposed by Halliday There are three principal types of process: material, mental, relational and three subsidiary process types: behavioural, verbal, and existential The sample of each process types are given as the representative data as following

Figure 3.1: Introduction to Functional Grammar (Halliday, 2004: 219) 3.3.2.2 According to Multimodal theory

Multimodality as a field of research conceives of representation and communication

as relying on a multiplicity of modes, all of which have been socially developed as

resources to make meaning Modes such as gesture, sound, image, colour, or layout, for example, are conceived as sets of organized resources that societies have developed – each to a greater or lesser level of articulation in different social groups – to make meaning and to express and shape values, ideologies, and power relations When in combination with speech and/or writing, they are not a mere accompaniment of, or support to verbal language, as labels such as para-/extra-linguistic or non-verbal might suggest; rather, each concur with a specific functional load to the meaning made by the overall text – and as such they deserve attention Based on the theory of SFL, Kress and Van Leewen figure out that all semiotic modes may present three meta-functions: the ideational meta-function, the interpersonal meta-function, and the textual meta-function

The ideational meta-function is described as ‘’the ability of semiotic systems to represent objects and their relations in a world outside the representational system

or in the semiotic systems of a culture’’ To achieve this function, representational structure should be considered through narrative processes and conceptual processes When narrative patterns presents ‘’unfolding actions and events, processes of change, transitory spatial arrangements’’, different kinds of narrative processes may be Action processes, Reactional process, Speech process, Mental process, Convention process, and Circumstances as well By investigating these processes, structural features will be revealed: transactional or non-transactional; actional or reactional; verbal or mental Then ‘’conceptual processes’’ represent

‘’participants in terms of their class, structure or meaning’’ There are three main types of conceptual representations: classificational processes, analytical processes, and symbolic processes

Interpersonal meta-function is described as the ability of representing ‘’a particular social relation between the producer, the viewer and the object represented’’

Considering the second meta-function, some dimensions are suggested such as the image and gaze, social relations, and attitude and power The image act and gaze

clarifies two kinds of image: Demand and Offer Social relations determine the distance; these relations are categorized: close personal distance, far personal distance, close social distance, and far social distance In terms of attitude and power, the selection of an angle – a ‘’point of view’’ may imply different categorizations: the involvement and detachment; the viewer power, equality or representation power

Textual meta-function is defined ‘’different compositional arrangements to allow the realization of different meanings’’ There are three ‘’interrelated systems’’:

Information value, Salience and Framing Information presented through images

arrangement, varies from left and right, top and bottom, center and margin Salience and Framing are both investigated through maximum or minimum connection (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996)

3.4 Summary

In conclusion, in chapter three, the methodological issues were presented in details Firstly, the research approach is mentioned to show the way to investigate into the frequency of the occurrence of some linguistic phenomena among the slogans of some world famous car companies and answer questions related to why or how a certain phenomenon may occur, rather than how often it occurs Secondly, in the research methods, qualitative and descriptive methods were used to conduct the thesis In this chapter, data collection and data analysis were also presented The population of the thesis is a collection of 75 advertising slogans of car in English from the database of advertising slogans in websites of cars companies throughout several recent years The study is conducted to give readers a brief description and analysis

of advertising slogans and images which accompany these slogans Within the framework of an M.A thesis, the researcher cannot cover all aspects of language use;

we therefore limit it to a manageable scope: analyze slogans in terms of transitivity system, and images in terms of multimodality theory The analysis is conducted qualitatively through 3 main steps First, each slogan is briefly analyzed based on linguistic aspects: length, word choices, tense, voice and some advertising techniques Then, to fulfill the focus of the study six types of transitivity process in each slogan are identified The paper also provides the meanings, functions of images

as well as the linkage between verbal and visual modes of communication After all, the main findings of the research are expected to be drawn

CHAPTER 4: ADVERTISING SLOGANS OF CARS FROM SYSTEMIC

FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

4.1 Analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics

A printed advertisement may consist of two components: image and text Among them slogans are regarded as a part of text, which are created to appeal to the reader’s emotions and convince them into buying the product Indeed, the choice of language

to convey specific messages with the intention of influencing people is very important Though image and organization in advertisements exert a great impact on the consumer, it is the language that helps people identify a product and remember it

In this section the author first analyzes the slogans in terms of length, and then some advertising techniques

After a study of 75 slogans from 6 car companies, the following findings are drawn out In terms of length the medium length for a slogan is about 6 words Among them, slogans which are shorter than 5 words just account for 36%; the number of eight-worded and more than eight-worded slogans is outnumbered with 64% The long-form slogans may probably be preferred because of the rich and multi-layered meaning conveyed The length of a slogan is a factor worth considering Previously,

it is quite common that when it comes to slogans, “the shorter the better” However,

it may change in cases like these, the slogans are formed with many words to create strong messages and evoke customers’ emotion Regarding the types of sentences, short simple sentences are the most popular one with more than 90% Slogans should

be short and simple; complicated and clumsy ones are not highly appreciated A concise style may make slogans memorable

Advertisers are likely to employ various advertising techniques to attract attention, engage minds and change what people may think

Advertising techniques Frequency of

Table 4.1: The frequency of occurrence of all the techniques

There are 75 selected slogans which aim at delivering messages from car companies

to potential customers Before analyzing advertising slogans based on transitivity system, the researcher needs to break complex sentences into simple clauses which involve a process and the participants in the process Then, these slogans consist of

85 clauses which are clearly numbered and illustrated in different types

Generally, Material processes considerably outnumber with nearly 60% in total Relational processes take the second place with 24% Then, mental processes account for 15% The other processes (verbal, existential and behavioral processes) rank the last at 1% These percentages may be presented more clearly in the chart below:

Figure 4.1: The percentages of 6 different processes

Process Transitivity

Material Mental Relational Others

4.1.1 Material process

Table 4.2: Illustration of Material Process

5 Dream Everyone an Audi

8 Drive You

Everything

We Do [Ford]

10 Drive You

Better Ideas [a Ford]

14 Rest The best

15 Go [You]

Further ( place)

16 Make

Your owm way

31 Can You

With a Nissan ( means)

With all the money you save (means)

36b Save You Money

39a Ask You It

44 Drive [You]

Your Dream

46 Live [You] Life

On your own lane ( manner)

50 Driving We excitement

51 Drive

The change

53 Open [You] Your mind

55

Buildin

g

A better way

To see the USA (cause)

That can make it breathe hard

62b Get

You [The client] It