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English in Tamil: the language of advertising KA N T H I M AT H I K R I S H N A S A M Y The global and the local in southern India ADVERTISING has come a long way, from ped- is of course normally very positive, emphasiz- lars in the market square extolling their goods ing why one product stands out ...

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English in Tamil: the language of advertising KA N T H I M AT H I K R I S H N A S A M Y The global and the local in southern India

ADVERTISING has come a long way, from pedlars in the market square extolling their goods to glossy mags full of innuendo and making extensive use of verbal and non-verbal devices to attract consumers. In India, copywriters make extensive use of English words and phrases in advertisements in a variety of ways. This paper examines the use of English in television and print advertising in the Tamil language. A cursory examination of Tamil advertising shows that the language of advertising does not follow rigid rules: it makes optimal use of possible resources from a wide variety of styles.

Introduction ‘The great art in writing advertisements is the finding out a proper method to catch the reader’s eye; without which a good thing may pass over unobserved’ (Addison, 1710). ‘Words used in their proper order and in a pleasing manner would readily be accepted and obliged by the world’ (Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil poet, c.100 BC: Kural, 648, when highlighting the importance of effective communication). Semiotics is vital in mass media as it analyses and effectively decodes verbal and non-verbal communication at every level. It pierces beneath the superficial gloss of an advertisement to reveal that every advertising copy evolves out of a conscious manipulation of languages and a deliberate selection of sign. Language has a powerful influence over people and their behaviour. This is especially true in the field of advertising. The choice of language to convey specific messages with the intention of influencing people is vitally important. Language helps people identify a product and remember it. The language of advertising

is of course normally very positive, emphasizing why one product stands out in comparison with another. Advertising language may not always be ‘correct’ language, in the normal sense: comparatives, for example, are often used when no real or direct comparison is made. A successful ad is expected to accomplish five functions: attracting attention, commanding interest, creating desire, inspiring conviction, and provoking action. (cf. Jefkins, 1973; Vestergaard & Shrodder, 1985). The effective use of language stimulates the consumer’s desire, and ads that use easily read eye-catching phrases – with their salient point(s) emphasized – are more popular. A tremendous economy with words, catchy phrases, and gripping slogans appeal to customer psychology, at the same time as the ad-makers use word-triggers to evoke a desired response. Ads, as it were, with their jingles and musical phrases verbally hypnotize the customers. Advertisements take the liberty of modify-

KANTHIMATHI KRISHNASAMY is currently pursuing a doctoral thesis on code-mixing among Tamil college students, in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai (formerly Madras), India. She has a Master’s and an M.Phil in English language and literature from the University of Madras, and a post-graduate diploma in journalism and mass communication. She has taught in various colleges. Her research interests include English in India, bilingualism, psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics, and she has published on code-mixing, especially between English and Tamil. Her two-year-old daughter’s progress in talking is now drawing her towards studies in language acquisition. Email

DOI: 10.1017/S0266078407003094

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English Today 91/92, Vol. 23, Nos. 3&4 (July/Oct 2007). Printed in the United Kingdom © 2007 Cambridge University Press

ing and distorting language to suit their ends. They may simplify a pedantic word, create an entirely new word, change usages, and employ special words to arouse special images. Advertising may change a spelling, and take nouns and treat them like adjectives, endowing them with both comparative and superlative degrees. And ad-makers have a special fondness for rhyme and alliteration and make free use of clichés.

The hegemony of English In multilingual India, under the impact of globalization and economic rationalism, English is increasingly competing with the indigenous languages. According to Crystal (1997), the use of English in ads began early, from the time ‘when the weekly newspapers began to carry items about books, medicines, tea, and other domestic products’. Advertisers adapt language to their own use and the English language is known for both an extensive vocabulary and wide global appeal. As a result, an English name may lend an aura of chic prestige to a business, suggesting that it is part of the international scene, follows the latest trends, and is up-to-date and with the newest ideas (Ross, 1997). The use of English in advertising has therefore, on the one hand, set the stage for linguistic innovations, adaptations, and loan translations while on the other it poses problems of intelligibility. Use of English has stimulated syntactic innovations and violations of selectional restrictions within English and within the languages that absorb it directly or indirectly. It is an accepted fact that English acquired its global status as a consequence of the economic domination achieved by the English-speaking world. As a result, the lingua franca of India is usually English, which is perceived by adults and teens alike as both socially and professionally important across this vast multilingual nation. The prestige value of the language remains one of the primary reasons for using English terms in India: they are trendy in virtually every field: ‘Teenagers pick out English expressions from the music they listen to; businessmen feel a need to demonstrate their mastery of commercial English; TV and newspaper journalists want to make it clear that they are not lagging behind’ (Smith, 1997). And in the world of advertising there is an indispensable

preference across cultures for English as one member in many pairs of languages (cf. Martin, 2002).

Data The data for this study are drawn from television and print advertising in the state of Tamil Nadu. The ads are taken from popularly read Tamil magazines (Kumudam, Kungumam, Aananda Vigatan and Mangaiyar Malar), Tamil newspapers (Dinamani, Thinathanthi, Dinamalar), and commercials broadcast in Tamil channels (Sun, Jaya, Raaj, Raaj Digital Plus, Podigai, and Vijay). The TV commercials were recorded in a Sony TCM 200 DV voice recorder with Philips cassette and later transcribed. The advertisements selected are from a broader pool and illustrate linguistic anomalies which I wish to explore. Each advertisement is treated as a single discourse unit, and the ads usually have the following components: product (brand) name; attention-getters, jingles, and body copy; and punch line, signature line, or slogan.

Playing with words Advertisements make great promises while using a great economy of words, and their creators seek to hypnotise an audience or readership verbally by making the ads proactive and evocative. Catchy slogans, jingling songs and musical phrases also serve to sway the consumer, and figurative language and literary devices come in chunks that are meant to stay in the viewers’ minds for a long time. Such techniques as punning, oxymoron, and hyperbole are employed by ad-men to lure customers for their clients. [See also Tables 1, 2, and 3.] The pun is a figure of speech which consists of deliberately confusing similar words or phrases for rhetorical effect and playing with the several possible meanings that many words have. Webster’s dictionary defines a pun as ‘the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words’ (Webster’s American Family Dictionary, 1998). We may note here in passing that Webster’s second meaning in this definition is a phrase in its own right with the same meaning and use as the word pun itself. [See Table 1.]

ENGLISH IN TAMIL: THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

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TABLE 1: Some puns in commercial advertising Brand

Product

Punch line or slogan

The word play

Rotomac

a pen

‘Your right hand in success’

right 1 correct, suitable; 2 most people’s stronger hand; 3 a play on ‘write’ and on holding the right pen in one’s hand

Phoenix

shoes

‘First in India to create a sole impact in sport shoes’

sole 1 the undersurface of a shoe; 2 single, one, only; 3 a play on the uniqueness of the product(s) in question

Perk

a bar of chocolate

‘Whenever hunger strikes’

strikes 1 (verb) happens; 2 (noun) deliberate work stoppages

Khaitan

a fan

‘The fan of India’

fan 1 a devotee of an activity or of a particular performer; 2 an apparatus with rotating blades

BSL

suitings

‘suits real men’

suit 1 be appropriate for; 2 a set of men’s garments

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines two contradictory terms. The word is from Greek and its meaning is itself oxymoronic: oxy- ‘sharp’, moron ‘dull’. Ad-men tend to like the rhetorical effect of contradiction: for example, Matiz is the brand name of a car, and an advertising line used for it is oxymoronic: ‘The Big Small Car’ (a phrase which suggests that it may be small but it packs a punch and is roomy as well). Comparably, the LML Select II is a scooter which, the ad-men claim, ‘moves you standing still, thrills you on the move’. Hyperbole is another poetic or literary device used by designers of ads for deliberate effect, as in the following ad for gold jewellery:

Product name Mustafa Gold Mart, Jewellery1 Advertising copy Add some real spark to the festival of lights this year. Take home the jewellery of your desire at never before easy buying options. Only Mustafa makes sure that the golden smile always stays with you. Punch line Our fireworks sparkle forever.

The use of adjectives and adverbs in distinctive ways is a key part of the language of advertising. Writers of ads will do whatever is likely to help sell the product, and do not hesitate to set aside both lexical appropriateness and grammaticality to get some high-level socio-

Fig 1: Two ads showing the use of hyperbolic English

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TABLE 2: Exaggeration in ads Brand name

Product

Punch-line

BPL

a television set

‘Believe in the Best’

Philips

a television set

‘Let’s make things Better’

Sansui

a television set

‘Better than the Best’

Four Square King

cigarettes

‘Live Life Kingsize’

Raymond

Suitings

‘The complete man’

MRF

Tyres

‘The ultimate riding experience’

Gillette Vector Plus

razor blade

‘The best a man can get’

Dukes

a kind of biscuit

‘Full tank energy’

Indigo Plus

a car

‘Because we like to carry our world with us’

Veega Land

an amusement park

‘Excitement as never before’

Nokia

a cell phone

‘See new, Hear new, Feel new’

Premier

A mixer grinder

‘Cute smarter life partner’

TABLE 3: A hybrid style Brand name

Product

Punch-line

Kungumam

The Tamil Weekly

Best Kannaa Best

Amul Shakti

a health drink

Ippothu tasteil health marainthulathu

Coromandel super power

cement

Miga cirantha blended cement*

Gold Winner

vegetable fat

Qualityaana Vanaspathi

Maruti

a car

Yellaame fit pannirum

Johnsons

a baby powder

Baby soft sarumam idayathai thirudividum

Pepsi

a soft drink

Intha ullam kekuthey more

Krackjack

a biscuit

Oru ticketla rendu jolly

Dukes

a biscuit

Asaiku No tada

Kishkintha

an amusement park

Once more polaamaa daddy

Point little master

a wet grinder

Size perusu prize sirusu

Onida

television

Oxygen illama life yedu

Junior Horlicks

a health drink

Yana brain romba special aache

Sunsilk

shampoo

Smooth and silky, kalai mudal iravu varai

Sowbagya

wet grinder

Maavu araikirathu romba easy

Amrutanjan Dragon

Liquid Balm

Vegamaana Action udanadi Relief ini thalaivalikku bye bye

Sprite

a soft drink

Cleara irrukkaa

Mirinda

a soft drink

Jollyku taste ithaandaa

psycholinguistic effects. For instance, the adjective ‘smart’ may appear in such phrases as smart nutrients, smart wash, smart kitchen*,

and smart financial solutions, and ads make unstinted use of superlatives. To show that their brand is superior, the language employed

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43

to fascinate consumers is full of superlatives and comparatives. A lexicon is used in the ads that provides a remarkably positive and persuasive description of the product. The abundant use of strong adjectives gives them a ‘glowingly attractive description’ (Leech, 1966). Exaggeration, intended to create a strong impression or for emphasis, is visibly used in umpteen numbers of ads these days. Umpteen present-day products claim to surpass all their rivals not only in their captivating ads but also by branding their products by means of powerful names incorporating particularly potent English words, as in: All Out (mosquito repellent), Clinic All Clear (a shampoo), Surf Excel (a washing powder), Rin Supreme (soap for washing), and Ultra Clearsil (a cream for pimples) are some such product names. The language used in advertising is powerful, linguistically attractive words being used to attract customers’ attention. Indeed, at times linguistic violations are adopted and atypical language used. Ad 1 Product name Body of copy

Punchline

Samsung, Home Appliances They PINning, They WINning So why you waiting? Samsung BUYing, PIN SMSing, Prize WINning. Samsung PINning Toh Winning offer

Breaking grammatical rules is a popular and successful strategy among advertisers, who find it valuable and advantageous because it helps in marketing. The violations are inten-

tional, in order to get an audience used to jingles and rhymes. Young adults and teenagers are fascinated by anything that promises them an exciting experience and fun, as the following ad for Limca demonstrates. Ad 2 Product name Jingle Punchline

Limca (a soft drink) Fun times, Limca times Crazy thirst, lazy thirst Veri Veri lime ’n’ lemoni

This ad promises energy, youthfulness and a relaxed mood, while the spelling of very is ‘veri’ and of lemony is ‘lemoni’: all these and the shortened ’n’ in effect cater to the lingo of teenagers, the rhyme crazy and lazy has a jingling effect, and the alliterative list lime, lemoni, lazy and limca flows strongly. Rulebreaking of this kind helps the advertisement draw the reader directly back to the product. Comparably, the advertisement for the soft drink Slice shows a boy playing pranks and teasing a girl during their schooldays. The climax however shows the boy (much later) proposing to her by putting a ring in the soft drink – and she notices the ring only after coming to the end of the drink. Although the girl enjoys the boy’s naughtiness she can sometimes be irritated by it. The boy gets fun out of irritating the girl – and the punchline says ‘Simple joysin adhiga rasanai’ (‘more excitement’). Here joysin is a typographical adaptation of ‘joys in’, perhaps suggesting that the two of them have been together from childhood and will remain together all their lives, jointly (‘joysin’).

Fig 2: The use of ungrammatical language for the sake of rhyming

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The English used in such advertising is simple and colloquial, not formal and complex. It uses imperative verb forms (such as see, watch, use), second-person pronouns (you, your), and indeed clichés (now or never; never before) to hold the consumer’s attention and interest. The English language is a marvellous tool in the hands of such ad-makers: an entire madeto-order vocabulary used ‘to sell the sizzle rather than the steak’ (Pei, 1970). And, throughout, there is a degree of domination by English in Tamil advertising – in both commercials and print.

A mixed style: bilingual ads The media recognize the importance of bilingualism. Advertisers make creative efforts to target bilinguals through the mixed code they use. Such code-mixing is the transfer of linguistic units across languages, is a common technique in India, and has a potent rhetorical effect. It is part of the ad-men’s desire to be creative: to add colour to a message, fill possible language gaps, and persuade consumers in the ‘right’ direction. English words pepper ads in the vernacular languages of India and are not baffling to an average educated Indian. As Kachru (1994) puts it, ‘English continues to contribute lexical stocks to various languages.’ Besides the lexical gaps that particularly moti-

vate borrowing, two other reasons that Kachru cites are the social neutrality of English and a perception that English is effective. In India it is a language of prestige, so that dropping an English word into a Tamil ad is felt as more persuasive. The mixing of two or more linguistic systems is also not unusual in Tamil advertising, and with English the advertisers can ‘think and act both global and local at the same time’ (Bhatia, 2000). The two scripts, English and Tamil, are used in the products and in company names or labels and sometimes even in the linguistic message or punch line. Ads 3 to 9, below, amply display such a use of English words in Tamil ads that are written in Tamil script. Ad 3 Product name Punch line Translation

Mirinda, Soft drink Vaayukku kudu nalla use. Put your mouth to proper use.

Ad 4 Product name Punch line Translation

Tractor Emulsion paint Idu paarka mattum thaan costly. It only appears to be costly.

Ad 5 Product name Punch line

Cinthol soap pala thalaimuraigalaaga ungal skin specialist.

Fig 3: Mixed language (Cinthol, Crystal and Coromandel cement)

ENGLISH IN TAMIL: THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING

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Fig 4: English words in Tamil script (Pankajakasturi, Airtel) Translation

Your skin specialist for several generations.

...