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Title:
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American Automobile Names
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Author:
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Ingrid Piller
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Homepage:
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http://www.languageonthemove.com
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Degree Awarded:
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Technische Universität Dresden
, Department of English and American Studies
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Degree Date:
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1996
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Applied Linguistics
Text/Corpus Linguistics
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Subject Language(s):
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English
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Director(s):
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Hans Sauer
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Abstract:
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This investigation into the nature of American automobile names collected in a corpus of more than 2000 such names sets out by studying the place of automobile names in general language. Being trade names various disciplines are concerned with automobile names, especially economics, the law, and linguistics. Their viewpoints on trade names are summarized. The importance of automobile names as household words is stressed by a brief summary of the influence of the automobile on American society and culture.
The formal lingual items used as automobile names are simplexes (e.g. Ace), syntagmatic word-formations (e.g. Airway), non-syntagmatic word-formations (e.g. AMX), free syntactic phrases (e.g. American Buckboard), proper nouns (e.g. Cambridge), non-established borrowings (e.g. Avanti), and numerals (e.g. 300) in various portions. All these types are studied in detail. The etymology of the simplexes, the frequency of certain word-formation types that are rather rare in general language, and the use of uncommon phrase types, for instance, suggest that automobile names are similar to other parts of the vocabulary used for specific purposes. Graphemic variation, a phenomenon considered as being of enormous importance to trade names by many scholars is also studied, and it is shown that it does not play a vital role with automobile names. A comparison with the form of other trade names shows that automobile names exhibit patterns similar to a corpus for all kinds of products but differ widely from names used for drugs and chemical fibres such as 'Azo Gantanol'. While the referents of automobile names i.e. automobiles themselves are rather similar to each other, the sense of automobile names may differ widely. These differences are due to the use of semantic transfer in metonymic (e.g. Malibu), metaphorical (e.g. Eagle) and iconic name (e.g. XK-1), which occur in varying portions. Descriptive names (e.g. Commercial Car) also occur. Together with an introduction to meaning in consumer products, these four groups of names are studied in detail. While metaphorical automobile names draw to a large extent on metaphorical concepts well-established in our society and in general language such as 'the car is a human being' (e.g. Marauder) or 'the car is an animal' (e.g. Mustang), some metonymic concepts used, especially 'purpose for car' (e.g. Turnpike Cruising), are extremely uncommon in general language.
The variation of the formal and semantic types of series designations through time and according to manufacturer is then studied. It is found that names used before 1942 differ to a certain extent systematically from those used after 1945, and that names used on high-ranking makes such as Cadillac, Lincoln, and Packard also differ to a certain extent systematically from those used on other makes. Although a great deal of variation is found with both variables, no further tendencies, or systematic variation, are discovered. The use of alliteration and of names from a particular semantic field such as 'birds' may be used to contribute to the corporate identity of a certain manufacturer.
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Page Updated: 27-Nov-2009
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