American Automobile Names

American Automobile Names Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors der Philosophie an der Fakultät Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften der Technischen Universität Dresden vorgelegt von Ingrid Piller Betreuer: Prof. Dr. H. Sauer Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Names of means of transport 14 1.2 Automobile names as trade names 19 1.2.1 The commercial viewpoint 22 1.2.2 The legal viewpoint 34 1.2.3 The linguistic viewpoint 37 1.3 The automobile in American society and culture 45 1.3.1 Economy 45 1.3.2 Environment 47 1.3.3 Family life 50 1.3.4 Literature and popular culture 51 1.4 The corpus 57 2 American automobile designations and their constituents 60 2.1 The constituents 61 2.1.1 Model year designation 61 2.1.2 Manufacturer designation 62 2.1.3 Series and model designation 68 2.1.4 Body type designation 72 2.2 The syntagma 76 2.2.1 Syntactic relations 76 2.2.2 What is the "real" automobile name? 85 2.2.3 The use of articles with automobile designations 90 2.3 Non-verbal automobile designations 92 3 The form of American automobile names 99 3.1 Simplexes: the type Eagle 102 3.2 Syntagmatic word-formation 110 3.2.1 Compounds 111 3.2.1.1 Noun + Noun: the type Country Club 115 3.2.1.2 Noun + Noun with ambiguous structure: the type Catalina Brougham 119 3.2.1.3 Noun + deverbal agent noun: the type Pacemaker 121 3.2.1.4 Noun + /s,z/ + noun: the type Scotsman 122 3.2.1.5 Adjective + noun: the type Quicksilver 122 3.2.1.6 Zero-derivations from phrasal verbs: the type Runabout 122 3.2.1.7 Noun + zero-derived deverbal noun: the type Sunshine 123 3.2.1.8 Other compound nouns 123 3.2.1.9 Compound adjectives: the type Thoroughbred 124 7 3.2.2 Neo-classical compounds: the type Argonaut 124 3.2.3 Prefixations: the type Bicentennial 125 3.2.4 Suffixations: the type Adventurer 127 3.3 Non-syntagmatic word formation (coinages) 131 3.3.1 Acronyms: the type GTO 132 3.3.2 Blends: the type Studillac 137 3.3.3 Clipping, word manufacture and reduplication 138 3.4 Phrases 139 3.4.1 Combinations with numerals: the type 024 De Tomaso 140 3.4.2 Adjective modifying noun: the types American Buckboard and Baby Grand 143 3.4.3 Letter and numeral: the type 300 SS 144 3.4.4 Combinations with letter(s): the types E Class and Aries K 145 3.4.5 Others 146 3.5 Proper nouns 147 3.5.1 Place names: the type Aspen 148 3.5.2 Personal Names: the type Ford 149 3.5.3 Others 151 3.6 Non-established borrowings: the type Allante 151 3.7 Numerals: the type 210 157 3.8 Graphemic variation 160 3.9 Comparison with other trade names 163 4 The meaning of American automobile names 166 4.1 Meaning in consumer products 166 4.2 Metonymy 175 4.2.1 Place for car 177 4.2.1.1 Proper nouns: the type Manhattan 178 4.2.1.2 Descriptive place designations: the type Farm-O-Road 184 4.2.2 Characteristic for car 184 4.2.2.1 The car is named after a technical characteristic: the type Electric 185 4.2.2.2 The car is named after a general intensifier: the type Super 186 4.2.2.3 The car is named after a specific intensifier: the type Intrepid 186 4.2.2.4 The car is named after another characteristic 187 4.2.3 Producer for car: the type Ford 188 4.2.4 Purpose for car 190 4.2.4.1 The purpose is racing: the type Grand Prix 191 4.2.4.2 Purpose other than racing: the type Heavy-Duty 192 8 4.2.5 Part for whole 195 4.2.5.1 The car is named after its engine: the type Advanced Six 195 4.2.5.2 The car is named after a part other than the engine: the type Mark IV 197 4.2.6 "Totum pro parte": the type Rebel Line 198 4.3 Metaphor 200 4.3.1 The car is a human being 203 4.3.1.1 The car is a person of distinguished rank: the type Monarch 208 4.3.1.2 The car is a person of unconventional life-style: the type Marauder 212 4.3.1.3 The car is a person of a certain provenance: the type New Yorker 215 4.3.1.4 The car is a traveling person or a person moving in a certain way: the type Sundancer 218 4.3.1.5 The car is a person with other characteristics 220 4.3.2 The car is an animal 222 4.3.2.1 The car is a bird: the type Eagle 225 4.3.2.2 The car is a carnivorous mammal: the type Cougar 227 4.3.2.3 The car is a horse or another hoofed mammal: the type Mustang 228 4.3.2.4 The car is a fish or a reptile: the type Cobra 230 4.3.2.5 The car is an insect or an arachnid: the type Hornet 230 4.3.2.6 The car is part of the body of an animal: the type Wing 231 4.3.3 The car is a man-made object (other than a car) 231 4.3.3.1 The car is another means of transport: the type Golden Rocket 232 4.3.3.2 The car is a weapon: the type Arrow 236 4.3.3.3 The car is a sign of distinction: the type Crown 237 4.3.3.4 The car is another man-made object 237 4.3.4 The car is an element or phenomenon of unanimated nature 239 4.3.4.1 The car is an atmospheric phenomenon or an energy: the type Thunderbolt240 4.3.4.2 The car is a kind of wind: the type Tempest 241 4.3.4.3 The car is a celestial body or a constellation: the type Bolide 242 4.3.4.4 The car is another element or phenomenon of unanimated nature 243 4.3.5 The car is a supernatural being: the type Spirit 244 4.4 Iconic Names 247 4.4.1 Symbols of technology: the type XX-500 249 4.4.2 Symbols of "foreignness": the type Parisienne 250 4.4.3 Folk-etymology (secondary motivation) in iconic names 252 4.5 Descriptive designations 254 4.5.1 Unmodified descriptive designations: the type Brougham 255 4.5.2 Modified descriptive designations: the type Classic Roadster 257 4.5.3 The "descriptive designation" is a bound lexeme: the type Oldsmobile 261 9 5 Variation in American automobile names 263 5.1 Diachronic variation in American automobile names 263 5.1.1 The names used in the various periods 264 5.1.2 Diachronic variation in the form of American automobile names 269 5.1.2.1 Diachronic variation in the types of syntagmatic word-formations 270 5.1.2.2 Diachronic variation between established and non-established formations 272 5.1.2.3 Diachronic variation in the types of phrases 273 5.1.3 Diachronic variation in the meaning of American automobile names 274 5.1.3.1 Diachronic variation in the types of metonymies 276 5.1.3.2 Diachronic variation in the types of metaphors 277 5.2 Variation according to manufacturer 279 5.2.1 The names used by the various manufacturers 280 5.2.2 Variation in the form of the names 284 5.2.2.1 Variation in the types of syntagmatic word-formation according to manufacturer 285 5.2.2.2 Variation in the use of established and non-established formations according to manufacturer 286 5.2.2.3 Variation in the type of phrase according to manufacturer 287 5.2.2.4 The use of alliteration by various manufacturers 287 5.2.3 Variation in the meaning 288 5.2.3.1 Variation in the type of metonymy according to manufacturer 289 5.2.3.2 Variation in the type of metaphor according to manufacturer 290 5.2.4 High- and low-ranking makes in comparison 290 6 Summary 292 List of Figures 295 List of Tables 297 Bibliography 299 Appendix: The Corpus 317 Manufacturer designations 317 Series designations 318 Model designations 328 10 1 Introduction As early as 1933 a comittee of the U.S. government noted that the rise of the automobile was likely to transform language: It is probable that no invention of such far reaching importance was ever diffused with such rapidity or so quickly exerted influences that ramified through the national culture, transforming even habits of thought and language.1 While a number of studies have, in the meantime, dealt with the automobile's influence on the habits of thought and on society in general2, literature on the way it has affected habits of language is rather scarce. Apart from Aronoff's (1981) study of American car names as a semantic field only a passing mention here and there has come to my attention. One of the more extensive of these is Werkman (1974: 231ff), who compares trademarks for brassieres, perfumes, automobiles and cigarettes in France, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. He analyses their construction patterns, their linguistic origin, the product information they contain and their psychology.

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