Proceedings Names in the Economy III, Amsterdam, 11-13 June 2009
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Edited by Reina Boerrigter and Harm Nijboer Names as language and capital Names as Language and Capital Proceedings Names in the Economy III, Amsterdam, 11-13 June 2009 http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/nite/ Editors: Reina Boerrigter and Harm Nijboer Cover, layout and design: Ineke Meijer, Meertens Instituut ISBN/EAN: 978-90-70389-00-0 Meertens Instituut PO Box 94264 1090 GG Amsterdam [email protected] All articles in this book are copyright © 2012 by the Meertens Instituut and their respective authors and may be redistributed provided that the articles remain intact, with this copyright message clearly visible. Under no circumstances may the articles be resold or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the Meertens Instituut or their respective authors. Content Reina Boerrigter and Harm Nijboer Preface: Names as language and capital 3 Angelika Bergien Cultural and regional connotations of company names in local contexts 7 Paola Cotticelli Kurras, Alfredo Trovato and Vania Vigolo Brand name and brand image between linguistics and marketing 13 Ilari Hongisto and Paula Sjöblom Names as valuable resources in the music market 32 Irina Kryukova Rebranding in Russian ergonymy as a matter of sociolinguistics 41 Katharina Leibring From Backmans Blommor to Hairstyle by Lena: the use of personal names in the names of small companies in Sweden 48 Fengru Li A sociolinguistic inquiry into Chinese brand naming behaviors: moral dilemmas, constraining hieroglyphs and economic aspirations 58 Erhard Lick and Holger Wochele Croque McDo, CBO and Donut zucchero. A contrastive analysis of product names offered by fast food restaurants in European countries 64 Antonia Montes Fernández A gender-based study of product names in the cosmetic sector 75 Andreas Teutsch Speakability of trademarks 82 An Vande Casteele A semantic description of company names in Spanish business-related newspaper articles 93 1 Andrew Wong and Will Leben English words in international brand names: proceed with caution 104 Antje Zilg The remains of the name - how existing brand names are used in the formation of new names 111 List of contributors 125 2 Names as Language and Capital Reina Boerrigter, Harm Nijboer This book contains a selection of papers that Names act in several ways as capital. They were presented at the third edition of the sym- act as resources in the production of goods and posium Names in the Economy. This sympo- services and in the creation of economic op- sium was held in Amsterdam in June 2009 and portunities and other forms of capital. Fur- continued the tradition of the Names in the thermore, there is a growing awareness that Economy meetings held in Antwerp in 2006 the value represented by names can be ac- and in Vienna in 2007. The objective of these counted for and that they should be consid- meetings was to offer a platform to the grow- ered as assets by themselves. That names act ing number of scholars, especially onomasti- as capital is most obvious in the case of brand cians and linguists, dealing with names and names. In the modern world economy brand naming in the fields of commerce and econ- names embody a huge sum of capital. It is omy. shown every year when Business Week maga- zine draws a list of the hundred most valuable Within the broad topic area of ‘names in the brands worldwide. The almost traditional economy’ each of these meetings tried to fo- number one of the list, Coca Cola, was esti- cus on a more specific field of interest. At the mated in 2007 at a total value of 65.3 billion first edition of Names in the Economy in Ant- US dollar, an amount that exceeds the Gross werp there was a specific focus on economic Domestic Product of countries like Bangla- history, while the Vienna meeting payed at- desh, Vietnam and Croatia. Follow ups in the tention to potential crossovers between ono- list are hardly doing any less. The total value mastics and business strategies. At the Am- of the top ten global brands was estimated in sterdam symposium we highlighted the theme 2007 at a tantalizing amount of 411.7 billion ‘names as language and capital’. We felt that US dollar, that is more than the GDP of de- despite the large body of scholarly literature veloped countries like Belgium, Sweden and on topics like ‘brand value’ and ‘brand equity’ Switzerland. within the field of business economics (e.g. Franzen 2007), these topics remain to a great Of course, beside names brands are made up extent neglected by scholars studying names of typography and graphic design as well, from disciplines like linguistics, cultural an- and the aforementioned estimates might suf- thropology, and the like. On the other hand, fer from inaccuracies. But even if the value of due to the considerable impact the works of brands has to be attributed for a considerable Pierre Bourdieu (1977, 1986, et al.) in the part to their graphical component and even if field of sociolinguistics, scholars from the lat- the aforementioned figures are somehow ex- ter disciplines have become quite familiar with aggerated, it is undeniable that brand names thinking of linguistic expressions and linguis- play a pivotal role in modern economies and tic competences as resources in a market of that they greatly contribute to the assets of linguistic exchanges. their owners. Brand names can be valued be- cause they act as resources in the production 3 of branded goods. Anyone with sufficient raw cess in the twentieth-century and contempo- materials and adequate machinery can produce rary music market. cola flavored soft drinks or hamburgers, but one can not produce Coca Cola or Big Macs Names acting as capital is not something new without owning those specific brand names. or specific to late capitalism (cf. Wengrow Although successful brands do not add any- 2008), although it is undeniable that the in- thing to the physical product, they do contrib- tense processes of globalization of the last ute to what all entrepreneurs seek to produce: decades did have a great impact on the scale value. Already in 1922 John Stuart, president and scope of this phenomenon. Recently of Quaker Oats Company, stated: “If this busi- some commentators even stated that global ness were to split up, I would be glad to take brands make up a new international language, the brands, trademarks and goodwill, and you a ‘lingua branda’ as it was called by Stanford could have all the bricks and mortar - and I linguist Geoffrey Nunberg (2009). As he ar- would fare better than you” (cited by: Rivkin gues, one does not need to know the Chinese & Sutherland 2004: 8). words for ‘softdrink’ and ‘chicken’ to order a Coca Cola and McNuggets in Beijing. Nev- Just like brand names, personal names and ertheless, this argument is definitely too ‘op- geographical names act as resources and as- timistic’. Linguistic and cultural characteris- sets. One of the differences, however, is that tics continue to play an important role in the these names often act as capital outside the use and development of brand names. This is formal (monetarized) economy, for instances demonstrated from different perspectives in in economies like the competition for pres- several contributions to this book. Fengru Li tige. The importance of names as ‘symbolic shows in her article that Chinese orthography capital’ is reflected in standing expressions and the symbolic value of each of its compo- like ‘defending one’s name’ and ‘having a nent characters have a tremendous impact on good name’. The awareness that names em- how brand names are perceived in China. In body things like reputation and prestige and the same vein Andrew Wong and Will Leben therefore (economic) opportunities was al- warn that the use of English as the interna- ready present in biblical times (Silver 1995: tional language of choice for developing new 42-45). “A good name is more desirable than brand names is not without problems because great riches; to be esteemed is better than many English words have changed meaning silver or gold,” says Proverbs 22:1. Prestige, after being borrowed into other languages. however, is also instrumental in the accumula- Andreas Teutsch points out that the speak- tion of wealth and the pursuit of material gain. ability of a trademark might differ from one In the seventeenth-century Dutch art market linguistic environment to another and he con- artist’s names had already become the main cludes that ‘the best language in business is markers of the artistic quality and the eco- always the customer’s language’. nomic value of paintings. And indeed it were names rather than references to specific art- Despite the fact that branding is becoming ists. In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century more and more a global business, brands are auction catalogues it was more important that still being used and given meaning in a na- a painting was a Brueghel than a painting by tional, regional or even local context. Paola a specific member of the large Brueghel fam- Cotticelli, Alfredo Trovato and Vania Vigolo ily (Jonckheere 2008; cf. Frow 2002). And in conclude in their contribution that it is quite this respect little has changed fundamentally often necessary for companies to adapt brand over the last centuries. As Paula Sjöblom and names to foreign markets, not only because Ilari Hongisto show in their contribution to the original associations may be lost in an- the present volume, names did continue to be other language, but also because of the differ- important resources in the competition for le- ent cultural contexts in which brand names are gitimacy, artistic prestige and economic suc- used.