Brand Name Adaptation in Brazilian Portuguese and
Mandarin
Stephanie Kenyon Johnson
Abstract
Adapting brand names in foreign markets is increasingly becoming a pertinent and urgent
practice amongst multinationals. With the growing presence of the Brazilian and Chinese
economies, it is important to understand how consumers linguistically process foreign
brands in order to devise successful market entry strategies that will expand the BRIC
consumer base. This study concluded that stops are the preferred initial sound, CV is the
most common syllable shape, stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable in Mandarin and
on the penultimate in Portuguese, and arbitrary meaning is prominent amongst the global
brands. Furthermore, data analysis shows that brand prestige can be linguistically
determined.
Keywords: global brands, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin, stress, luxury brands
1. Introduction
Consumers’ first interaction with a product or company is through its brand. The
relationship that can stem from that initial encounter can depend on that first impression.
Consumers respond to brand names, their phonological properties, their semantic content,
and when brands are translated into a foreign language, that translation plays an
important role in adhering to the rules of the language and in establishing the brand’s
ethos correctly. The linguistics behind brand naming sheds a new light on understanding
how brand names are perceived, adapted into the local register, and remembered as some
of our favorite products.
1.1 Objective
In an evermore globalizing economy, if companies are to survive, they need to stand out.
To attract consumers in a foreign market to buy your product, the consumer must
resonate with your brand. The BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) represent
a massive potential for growth and investment for foreign companies. In 2007, the BRIC
nations accounted for 42% of the world’s population, at an average annual growth rate of
7% their economies represent 26% of the world’s GDP and continue to grow at an
alarming rate (Mangalorkar, Kuppuswamy & Groeber 2007). Developing at tremendous
speed, the BRIC nations are also consuming at an equal ferocity, in 2009, BRIC
consumers spent about $4 trillion and reported having increased their spending by $500
billion every year (Yueh & Patterson 2010).
The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of how brand
names are adapted into Brazilian Portuguese and Mandarin. The countries of Brazil and
China were selected for this study from amongst the other BRIC nations for two separate
reasons, economic and linguistic. Economically, China ranks first and Brazil second
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amongst the BRIC nations in terms of GDP (Wilson, Burgi & Carlson 2011), and both
countries have the highest growth rate in the luxury sector (China, 35%; Brazil, 20%) in
comparison to other developing economies (Luxury Goods Worldwide Market Study
2011). Linguistically, both China and Brazil have historically limited linguistic influence
from the English-speaking world, unlike India who was once a colony of Britain and
whose official language is also English. By analyzing how the language rules of the
respective languages influence the adaptation of brand names, we will come to see how
they evolve through a phonological and semantic lens.
A descriptive approach is adopted throughout this research, studying how 100 of
the world’s most valuable brands are linguistically adapted into Brazilian Portuguese
(BP) and Mandarin Chinese (MC) rules.
2. Research Methodology
2.1. Sample
The 100 brands included in the sample reflect the top one hundred most valuable global
brands in terms of their current earnings and forecasted revenues. In order to arrive at the
final list, rankings from four different sources (Businessweek, Interbrand, BrandFinance,
and BrandZ) over a three-year period (2009 through 2011) were used to determine which
brands were consistently among the most valuable.
2.2. Methodology for choosing brands
The brand list used throughout this research is composed of brands that meet three
criteria: first, how often a brand appeared across the four lists, second, if the brand
represented a consumer product and, third, if the consumer product belonged to a ‘luxury
brand’. Using the first criteria, the four lists were placed along side each other and
whenever a brand appeared on a list, it received a score of one, except in the case of the
BrandZ ranking, where if a brand appeared on that list, it received a score of two because
it is the most recent. By ranking solely on the score of each brand, 27 brands scored the
highest, a 5, 21 scored a 4, and 12 scored a 3, which was the cut off score for selecting
brands. With 61 brands scoring 2 and 43 scoring the minimum 1 point, the second criteria
needed to be used.
Brands that scored a 2 or below that represented services (i.e. financial institutions,
electricity, and telecommunications)1 were excluded because they were not a consumer
product. Brands that represented tangible commodities (i.e. apparel, food and beverages,
and personal care) as well as businesses where consumer can purchase a product (i.e.
restaurants and supermarkets) were included in the final list.
The third factor that narrowed the final contenders was whether the brand was
considered to be a ‘luxury brand’. The term ‘luxury brand’ is understood as a brand that
sells both a tangible and intangible asset; showcasing high-quality and high-cost products
as well as offering aspirational qualities that transcend social status and settle on the
emotionally gratifying (Kennedy 2011). The products themselves span across many
1
Unless the brands had already scored a point of 3 or above.
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categories of consumer goods; apparel, accessories, beverages (alcoholic), cars, and
personal care. The complete list of the 100 brands used throughout this study – ranked in
alphabetical order – can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 – Top 100 global brands
3M
Colgate
Jack Daniels
Pepsi-Cola
Accenture
Corona
Johnnie Walker
Philips
Adidas
Credit Suisse
Johnson and Johnson
Polo Ralph Lauren
Allianz
Danone
JPMorgan
Porsche
Amazon
Dell
Kellogg’s
Prada
American Express
Disney
KFC
Puma
Apple
eBay
Kleenex
Rolex
Armani
Ferrari
L’Oreal
Samsung
Audi
Ford
Lancôme
Santander
Avon
Gap
Lexus
SAP
AXA
GE
Louis Vuitton
Shell
Barclay's
Gillette
Marlboro
Siemens
Blackberry
Goldman Sachs
McDonald’s
Smirnoff
BMW
Google
Mercedes-Benz
Sony
BP
Gucci
Microsoft
Starbucks
Budweiser
H&M
Moët & Chandon
Tiffany & Co.
Burberry
Harley Davidson
Morgan Stanley
Toyota
Burger King
Heineken
Nestle
UBS
Canon
Hermès
Nike
UPS
Carrefour
Hewlett-Packard
Nintendo
Visa
Cartier
Honda
Nissan
Volkswagen
Chanel
HSBC
Nivea
Walmart
Cisco
IBM
Nokia
Xerox
Citi
Ikea
Oracle
Yahoo
Coca-Cola
Intel
Panasonic
Zara
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3. Study of the Top 100 Global Brands
3.1 Data Source
The 100 global brands used for this study come from around the world, represent
different product categories, and possess unique linguistic features. Of the 100 brands, 45
are from the United States, 45 from Europe, 9 from Asia, and only one is from Central
America (see Figure 1 and Table 2).
Figure 1 – Geographical distribution of top 100 global brands
Table 2 – Distribution of top 100 global brands
Country of Origin No. of Brands Examples
1
U.S.A
45
Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Disney, Nike, eBay
2
Germany
12
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Adidas
3
France
10
Louis Vuitton, L’Oreal, Chanel, Danone
4
Japan
8
Toyota, Honda, Sony, Canon, Nintendo
5
U.K.
6
HSBC, Smirnoff, Barclay’s, Johnnie Walker
6
Italy
4
Prada, Armani, Ferrari, Gucci
7
Switzerland
4
UBS, Credit Suisse, Nestlè, Rolex
8
Netherlands
3
Philips, Heineken, Shell
9
Spain
2
Zara, Santander
10 Sweden
2
Ikea, H&M
11 Finland
1
Nokia
12 Ireland
1
Accenture
13 Korea
1
Samsung
14 Mexico
1
Corona
TOTAL 100
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3.2 Data Analysis
The 100 brand names were linguistically analyzed using the following four criteria:
Selection of Initial Phonemes
Each phoneme has a distinctive phonetic quality even though they might be represented
differently orthographically. Take for instance the two brands, Kleenex and Colgate. Each
starts with a different letter, k and c, respectively, but both are acoustically identical to the
phoneme /k/. The decision to focus only on the initial sounds of words comes from the
findings of previous studies on sound symbolism (Vanden Bergh 1983; Vanden Bergh et
al. 1987; Klink 2000) showing that brand names that begin with plosives are more easily
recognizable and recalled. To study the acoustic properties of brand names, consonants
were classified into five groups: stop/plosives [p, t, k, d], fricatives [f, v, s], nasals [m, n],
approximants [y, l, r], and affricates [tʃ, dʒ].
Syllable Structure
Brand names vary in length, ranging from monosyllabic (e.g. Ford) to possessing up to
six syllables (e.g. American Express), though the majority of brands have two or three
syllables. In the case of acronyms, certain brands contain letter names and are syllabified
according to how many letters are in the brand (e.g. IBM, aɪ- biː-ˈɛm), while others are
pronounced as words (e.g. Ikea, aɪ-ˈki-jəә) and are syllabified accordingly. The syllable
structure can be the simple CV.CV sequence (e.g. Visa) or also a mix of syllable shapes,
as in CVCCC.CV.CVC (i.e. Volkswagen). Syllable structure plays an important part in
identifying and predicting locations for stress.
Semantic Type
Brands can be categorized according to the relationship between the brand name and the
product. Using the classification created by Wu, Chan and Huang (2007: 142), the 100
brands are broken down into descriptive, suggestive, and arbitrary names. Descriptive
names express the functions and characteristics of the product, such as General Electric.
Suggestive names only imply certain functions or benefits of the product, for instance
Google and Allianz. Finally, arbitrary names are those that hold no connection between
the name and the product itself, these most often include borrowed terms, such as
founders’ names (Philips) and existing words (Lancôme, borrowed from ruins of the
castle Le Château de Lancôme)
Stress
A brand name can be parsed into rhythmic units called feet, which can have one, two, or
three syllables, though three-syllable feet are somewhat rare. The most common foot type
is the disyllabic foot and in said foot, there will be a prominent syllable, this is the
stressed syllable. When assigning stress, there are two types of feet, trochaic and iambic.
Trochaic feet bear stress on the left-most syllable, for instance, in the brands Citi and
Gucci. Iambic feet, on the other hand, bear stress on the right-most syllable, seen in
Chanel and Hermès.. Different languages have different stress systems. In English nouns,
stress falls on the right-most heavy syllable of a word, otherwise, the default pattern is on
the antepenult position (or penult in disyllabic words) (Harris 1994: 43). In Mandarin, the
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default stress position is on the first syllable (Duanmu 2000: 136-144), whereas in
Portuguese (Mateus and d’Andrade 2000: 109) and Italian (Krämer 2009: 5) it is on the
penultimate syllable, and in French (Anderson 1982: 537), stress falls on the final full
syllable. We will see in later sections the variations of stress when brand names are
phonologically adapted into a new stress system.
3.3 Findings and Discussion – Original Brand Names
Stops are the preferred initial sound in original brand names
The data shows that out of the 100 brands, 82 begin with consonants and only 18 begin
with vowels. The ratio of consonants to vowels in English is of approximately 4:1, which
is in line with the ratio of brands that begin with a consonant to those that begin with a
vowel. The proportion of consonant-initial to vowel-initial brand names reflects general
English phonotactics, but the selection of phonemes does not. A study by Schloss (1981)
indicated that 54% of brands in 1979 started with the letters c, p, k, and yet only 19% of
words in the English inventory began with those letters. In this research (see Figure 15),
we find that of the five acoustic categories, stops have the highest frequency with 32%
(e.g. k in Kleenex), followed by fricatives with 29% (e.g. s in Starbucks), nasals with 12%
(e.g. m in McDonald’s), approximants with 9% (e.g. l in Louis Vuitton), and finally,
affricates with only 6% (e.g. j in Johnson & Johnson) in word-initial position. The
findings are consistent with other studies conducted by Vander Bergh et al (1987) and
Huang, Chan and Wu (2008), where one third of the brand names begin with a stop.
There are two possible reasons as to why stops are so prevalent amongst brand names.
First, Huang et al. argue that stops [p b t d k g] are common amongst languages and are
easy to pronounce. Second, Vandern Bergh (1983) argues that the burst of air produced
by stops has a greater impact than other consonantal sounds and this may lead to higher
recognition and memory of brand names.
Table 3 – Distribution of initial sounds in top 100 global brands
Category
Frequency Individual Sounds
Stop
32
k
p
g
d
b
t
10
6
4
3
7
2
Fricative
23
f
3
v
2
Nasal
12
m
6
n
6
Approximant
9
y
3
j
0
Affricate
6
tʃ
0
dʒ
6
Vowel
18
a
14
e
1
TOTAL
100
θ
1
ð
0
s
9
w
1
l
4
r
1
i
2
o
1
u
0
z
2
ʃ
2
ʒ
h
0
4
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CV is the most common syllable type
Across the 100 brands, analyzed according to three possible syllabifications (American
English, Brazilian Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese), the most common syllable type
was CV. Table 4 summarizes the findings:
Table 4 – Distribution of syllable types
Total
14
(5.98%)
Other types
(CCVC, VCC,
CVCCC
31
(13.25%)
Brazilian
187
34
25
Portuguese (71.37%) (12.97%) (9.54%)
0
(0%)
16
(6.1%)
262
Mandarin
Chinese
30
0
(13.04%) (0%)
CV*
American
English
CVC*
V
125
64
10
(53.42%) (27.35%) (2.34%)
189
8
(82.17%) (3.47%)
3
(1.3%)
CVCC
234
230
*monophthongs and diphthongs were counted as one vowel (V). CV, consonant-diphthong sequences
(CVV), CVC, and consonant-diphthong-consonant cluster sequence (CVVCC), are included in the values
listed
The popularity of the CV syllable occurs because it is one of the syllables that is accepted
in all languages, making it the ideal syllable shape (Kager 1999). As the table above
demonstrates and the linguistic literature concurs (Finegan 2004), the second and third
most popular types of syllables are that of CVC and V, respectively. In the case of
Mandarin as well as Korean and Japanese, the only permissible syllable shapes are CV,
CVC, and V (Wu, Chan & Huang 2007: 146). Despite Kager’s earlier claim, one would
perhaps predict that the most common syllable type should be the simplest, in which case,
V and not CV would have to be predominant. When looking at the data, only the minority
of syllables are of the V type. This apparent discrepancy can be explained through a
cross-linguistic preference outlined by Kager. When a language has syllables that lack an
onset, then the same language will also have cases of syllables that have onsets, therefore,
the presence of an onset is classified as an unmarked case compared to its absence (Kager
1999: 93). Thus, because no language explicitly forbids onsets the preferred syllable type
will be CV rather than V. Global brands should keep this information in mind when
creating a new brand name that will be readily accepted by the local phonological rules
and be easy for the consumer to pronounce, such as Coca-Cola (CV-CV-CV-CV). A study
by Argo, Popa and Smith (2010) explains how sound repetition, made possible in part by
the string of identical syllable shape, instills a positive experience in consumers
influences their behavior. Meanwhile, brands such as Flickr and Scribd that at first glance
appear to be difficult to pronounce because they violate English orthographic rules but
are still able to be uttered and accepted as a brand name because they adhere to English
phonotactics.
Arbitrary meaning is prominent in brand names
Of the 100 brands, 68 have an arbitrary meaning, 21 are descriptive, and only the
minority of 11 brands bears a suggestive connotation. When looking at the origin of
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brand names, this result is unsurprising given that 37 brands bear their founder’s name
and the remaining brands with arbitrary meaning represent a personal name (e.g.
Starbucks), a location (e.g. Amazon), or a pre-existing word (e.g. Canon) that does not
demonstrate a link with the product’s services or ethos.
Stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable
For the purpose of identifying an overarching stress pattern, the five monosyllabic brands
(Dell, Shell, SAP, GAP, and Ford) were excluded from this portion of the study. The
findings that follow reflect what occurs in the remaining 95 brands. The results show that
the overwhelming majority of global brands follow the English stress pattern, where
stress is located on the rightmost heavy syllable or on the antepenultimate (or penultimate
in disyllabic words). This finding comes at no surprise given that 52% of the brands
themselves are of English origin. Table 14 offers a detailed summary of the data:
Table 5 – Stress according to syllable type in American English pronunciation
No. of
Stress Pattern
Examples
Exceptions
Syllables
2
penultimate
Sony, Kellogg’s, Honda,
Chanel, Hermès,
3
antepenult
Starbucks, Yahoo
Cartier,
Tiffany, Microsoft, Marlboro,
Ferrari, Corona,
Heineken, Amazon
Nintendo, BMW
4
penultimate*
Johnnie Walker, Panasonic
Mercedes-Benz
5
antepenult*
Harley Davidson
N/A
6
rightmost heavy
American Express
N/A
*with only one exception (i.e. Mercedes Benz) stress falls on the rightmost syllable for both four and five
syllable words. The stress pattern has been classified as penultimate and antepenult respectively because
all of the four syllable brands are in fact compounds of two disyllabic words, where stress falls on the
penultimate syllable (further discussion to follow). As for five syllable brands, they too are a string of
monosyllabic, disyllabic, or trisyllabic words, and therefore, the stress falls on the antepenultimate
syllable, regardless of weight.
Although the majority of brands do adhere to the English stress pattern, there are a few
exceptions. All French brands in disyllabic syllables2 (Chanel, Hermès, Cartier, Louis
Vuitton, Möet Chandon) maintain the French default stress on the final full syllable of a
word.
Of the 12 acronyms, one is monosyllabic (SAP3), two are disyllabic (GE and BP),
six are trisyllabic (IBM, BMW, H&M4, UPS, KFC, UBS), and only one has four syllables
2
A French brand that adheres to the English antepenultimate stress pattern is the dairy company
‘Danone’, where the final e is not pronounced: [ˈda.non]. A full discussion on why this occurs is found in
Section 3.6.
3
In certain varieties of American English, the German software technology company SAP is
pronounced as a monosyllable: [sap], or as a trisyllabic word: [ɛs.ei.piː]. In this study, SAP is considered to
be monosyllabic.
4
despite the brand only having two letters, it is pronounced with three syllables: [eiːtʃ.əәnd.ˈɛm].
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(HSBC). The remaining acronym is Ikea, which stands for the founder’s name (Ingvar
Kamprad), the farm where he grew up on (Elmtaryd), and his home parish in Sweden
(Agunnaryd). Despite its morphology, it is pronounced phonologically as a trisyllabic
noun [aɪ.ˈki.jəә] and is treated as such throughout this study. Of the 11 acronyms (having
now excluded Ikea), stress falls in disyllabic brands on both syllables, secondary stress on
the first and primary stress on the final. In three and four syllable acronyms, stress falls
on the pronunciation of the final letter (e.g. [keɪ.ɛf.ˈsiː] KFC and [eiːtʃ.ɛs.biː.ˈsiː] HSBC),
or on the first syllable of the final letter (e.g. [biː.ɛm.ˈdʌ.bəәl.yu] BMW).
In trisyllabic brands, many exceptions occur. First, we have the presence of two
Italian brands (Ferrari and Armani), whose default stress is either on the penultimate
syllable in disyllabic words (e.g. [ˈgu.tʃi] Gucci and [ˈpra.dəә] Prada) or on the
penultimate heavy syllable (Krämer 2009: 56), which is the case of Ferrari and Armani
because of the long vowel, as depicted in the diagram below:
‘ferrari’ (CV.CV:.CV)
σ
‘armani’ (VC.CV:.CV)
σ
O
N
O
c
v
c
f
e
ɾ
σ
N
v
v
a
σ
σ
O
N
O
N
O
c
v
c
v
c
ɾ
i
a
ɾ
m
σ
N
v
v
a
O
N
c
v
n
i
The remaining trisyllabic brands adhere to stress on either the antepenultimate syllable
(e.g. Tiffany) or on the rightmost heavy syllable (e.g. Adidas, pronounced with two
schwas leaving the penultimate syllable as heavy [əә.ˈdi.dəәs]). In non English named
brands, such as Toyota, Corona, Ikea, and Nintendo, where stress falls on the penultimate
syllable, we can reason that this occurs because of vowel lengthening, in the case of Ikea,
a heavy syllable due to the coda consonant in Nintendo, or a slight diphthongization in
Toyota and Corona. This difference in pronunciation causes the nucleus to branch
yielding a heavy syllable which, when uttered in an English context, will attract stress.
In four, five, and six syllable brands, we find the same pattern that occurs in
disyllabic brands. Since all of the brands are a compound of names (e.g. HewlettPackard), preexisting words (e.g. Panasonic), a sequence of words (e.g. American
Express) or a string of words and names (e.g. Polo Ralph Lauren), the stress occurs in the
penultimate syllable of each word. In a brand such as Johnnie Walker, we see that
primary stress is found on the penultimate syllable of the second word (e.g.
[dʒɔ.ni.`wɔ.kəәɹ]) and secondary stress on the penultimate syllable of the first word
([´dʒɔ.ni.wɔ.kəәɹ]). As for American Express, primary stress falls on the final syllable of
the word ‘express’, because the mid vowel [ɛ] is a short vowel with a closing consonant:
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‘express’ (VC.CCCVC)
σ
σ
N O
ɛ
k
O
s
p
N O
r
ɛ
s
3.4 Findings and Discussion – Portuguese Adaptation of Global Brands
The Portuguese adaptation of the global brands does not differ radically from the findings
presented in Section 3.3., stops are the preferred initial sound and CV is the most
common syllable type. With none of the brands needing to be translated into a new
writing system, the statistics revealing the prominence of arbitrary meaning still holds.
The key difference occurs in the pronunciation of the brands as well as a difference in
stress pattern.
3.4.1 Phonological Processes in Brazilian Portuguese. There are four phonological
processes that occur in the BP adaptation of the 100 global brand names,
diphthongization, velarization, stop affrication, and epenthesis.
Diphthongization only occurs once, in 3M, pronounced in monitored speech as
[tɾes-emɨ] but in unmonitored speech as [tɾeiz-emɨ]. Velarization occurs in the following
fourteen brands:
mɛkɨ donoudʒɨz
McDonald’s
gugou
Google
ĩtɛu
Intel
mauboɾo
Marlboro
ɐpou
Apple
dɛu
Dell
goudmãn saks
Goldman Sachs
ʃanɛu
Chanel
loɾeau
L’Oreal
ʃɛu
Shell
dʒõni wɔker
Johnnie Walker
vouksɨvagẽ
Volkswagen
dʒɐkɨ dãnieuz
Jack Daniels
pɔlu ʁaufɨlɔɾẽ
Polo Ralph Lauren
We see velarization occur post-vocalically and in certain word-final positions, prevocalically. This process in consistent with velarization of Portuguese words as well,
such as soldado [sowdadu] ‘soldier’.
Stop affrication takes place in the following sixteen brands:
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maikɾosɔfɨtʃɨ
Microsoft
mɛkɨ donoudʒɨz
McDonald’s
dʒiznei
Disney
ʒilɛtʃɨ
Gillette
goudmãn saks
Goldman Sachs
bʌdʒɨwaizeɾ
Budweiser
fɔrdʒɨ
Ford
kougatʃɨ
Colgate
adʒidɐz
Adidas
audʒi
Audi
tʃifãni
Tiffany
kaɾtʃie
Cartier
krɛdʒitʃɨ swisɨ
Credit Suisse
waumartʃɨ
Walmart
meɾsedʒɨz bẽnz
Mercedes-Benz
ɦaɾlei deividʒɨsõn
Harley Davidson5
There are other brands that bear affricates in BP pronunciation (e.g. Gucci and
Accenture), but these are not the result of stop affrication and are thus not included in the
list above. As Mateus and d’Andrade (2000: 15-16) explain, stop affrication occurs in
the presence of [i], though it must be stressed that the vowel must be present in speech
not necessarily in the orthography. Take for example brands like Ford and McDonald’s,
where there is no trace of [i] in the orthography but it appears in the Portuguese
pronunciation of these brands because coda stops are disallowed in the language. In order
to reconcile the existence of foreign words that do end in a stop, a barred-i is inserted
which creates an environment for stop affrication to occur.
The last phonological process is also the one that occurs the most across the global
brands. Epenthesis has the following 20 occurrences:
maikɾosɔfɨtʃɨ
Microsoft
mɛkɨ donoudʒɨz
McDonald’s
ʒilɛtʃɨ
Gillette
sãsuŋgɨ
Samsung
fɔɾdʒɨ
Ford
kougatʃɨ
Colgate
waumaɾtʃɨ
Walmart
bʌdʒɨwaizeɾ
Budweiser
krɛdʒitʃɨ swisɨ
Credit Suisse
kɛlɔgɨs
Kellogg’s
sapɨ
SAP
pãnasonikɨ
Panasonic
vouksɨvagẽ
Volkswagen
blakɨbeɾi
BlackBerry
gɛpɨ
GAP
ismiɾɨnɔfɨ
Smirnoff
dʒɐkɨ dãnieus
Jack Daniels
istaɾ bʌkɨs
Starbucks
buɾgeɾ kiŋgɨ
Burger King
pɔlu ʁaufɨlɔɾẽ
Polo Ralph Lauren
5
the letter h is silent word-initially in Portuguese but is articulated as [ɦ] in loanwords.
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We see the epenthetic vowel [i], realized word-initially before a fricative-plus-nasal or
fricative-plus-stop cluster in Smirnoff ([ismiɾɨnɔfɨ]) and Starbucks ([istaɾbɐkɨs]), and as a
barred-i word-finally and in word-medial consonant clusters. As explained in the earlier
paragraph, stop codas are not accepted in the Portuguese so an epenthetic vowel is
inserted. Azevedo’s (2005) research shows that an epenthetic vowel can also occur
between consonant clusters, either word-medially or in word-final position (because
Portuguese disallows for consonant cluster in coda position). We see exactly this in
brands such as Microsoft, Budweiser, and Smirnoff. In such cases, the barred-i can be
devoiced to the point of deletion among BP speakers who have a higher rate of
proficiency in English. In brands ending in a stop-plus-fricative cluster, such as
McDonald’s ([mɛkɨ donoudʒɨz]), Kellogg’s ([kɛlɔgɨs]) and Starbucks ([istaɾbʌkɨs]), we
see the epenthetic vowel occurring between the sequence rather than after the cluster. In
Portuguese, the only consonant clusters that occur without an epenthetic vowel are
plosive-plus-liquid and fricative-plus-liquid sequences in the onset position because they
occur in the same syllable. When clusters occur word medially or word finally, they are
often split into two separate syllables. The underlying structure of the Portuguese syllable
holds an empty nucleus position in between consonant clusters (Mateus & d’Andrade
2000: 44). Furthermore, the letter s might appear to occupy the coda position but in fact is
in the onset of the next syllable (Harris 1994). A brand like Kellogg’s is syllabified as
follows:
Kellogg’s (kɛlɔgɨs)
σ
σ
σ
σ
σ
σ
O N
O N O N
O
O N
k
l
s
k
ɛ
ɔ g ∅
σ
σ
O N O N
ɛ l
ɔ g
ɨ
O
s
What is also worth mentioning is that in brands that are two words, where at least one
word ends in a stop (e.g. Jack Daniels) or a compound (e.g. BlackBerry), the epenthetic
vowel is used to demarcate the word boundary.
3.4.2 Stress in Portuguese. Stress in the Portuguese variations of brand names are not
identical to their English counterparts. There are similarities among certain syllable types,
but there are exceptions, namely caused by nasal vowels. Unlike in the English
pronunciation of a brand such as Lancôme, Portuguese utters the name with two nasal
vowels and where the syllabification for Lancôme in English is CVC.CVC, in Portuguese
it is CVn.CVn, where Vn stands for a nasal vowel. Table 6 is a summary of the findings:
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Table 6 – Stress according to syllable type in Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation
No. of
Stress Pattern
Examples
Exceptions
Syllables
2
penultimate
Puma, Lexus, Samsung, Disney
BP, Yahoo, Nissan
3
penultimate
Colgate, Volkswagen, Danone
L’Oreal, Oracle
4
penultimate
Johnnie Walker, Panasonic
Mercedes-Benz
5
antepenult
Harley Davidson, Jack Daniels
N/A
6
mid vowel ɛ
American Express, HSBC
N/A
The overarching pattern in disyllabic and trisyllabic syllables is of penultimate stress. An
exception to this generalization is Yahoo, which in English has antepenultimate stress but
in Portuguese appears in word-final position because all words ending in /u/ are stressed.
As with the American English analysis of stress, acronyms and French brands bear stress
(in the case of acronyms, primary stress) on the final syllable and for Italian brands the
default pattern is on the penultimate. In Portuguese, there are two groups of vowels that
affect the position of stress, nasal and mid vowels.
The data overwhelmingly shows that stress is attracted to nasal vowels. With few
exceptions, primary stress was found in all brands containing a nasal vowel, such as Avon
[a-'võ], Honda ['hõ-dɐ], Nintendo [nĩ-'tẽĩ-du], and Möet Chandon [mo-e-ʃã-'dõ].
Exceptions to this rule are the two financial institutions JP Morgan [ʒei-pi-'moɾ-gã] and
Morgan Stanley ['moɾ-gã-'istãn-lei]6 that retain their original articulation in Portuguese,
possibly to indicate brand prestige. When a brand has two nasal vowels, as is the case of
Lancôme [lã-'kõ], stress occurs on the final syllable.
Mid vowels are also stress magnets. In disyllabic brands, stress shifts from final to
penultimate based on the presence of a mid vowel [ɛ] or [ɔ]. A vivid example of this
phenomenon is the shift in stress in Rolex [Ro-'lɛks] and Lexus ['lɛ-ksus]. A brand like
Kellogg’s, pronounced in Portuguese with two mid vowels, has two possible realizations,
either ['kɛ-lɔ-gɨs] or [kɛ-'lɔ-gɨs]. Remember that the default stress in Portuguese is on the
penultimate syllable, but we see that with the presence of a mid-vowel, the speaker has a
choice on where to place stress. There is also a preference to place stress on the mid
vowel than on a nasal vowel. In the case of Intel, a disyllabic syllable with a nasal vowel
and mid vowel, stress should fall on the penultimate syllable, instead, we find stress in
word-final position with the mid vowel [ɛ], [ĩ-'tɛu].
In four syllable brands we find the same pattern that occurs in disyllabic brands
because the brands are two disyllabic names. For five syllable brands, an interesting
pattern emerges. All five brands hold stress on the antepenultimate syllable, regardless of
vowel quality:
6
Though it is worth noting that ‘Stanley’ of Morgan Stanley holds secondary stress on the first
nasal syllable: móɾ-gã-'istãn-lei. Also important to mention is that ['istãn-lei], is the only instance where a
nasal consonant follows a nasal vowel because when producing the liquid [l], the nasal [n] is inevitably
articulated.
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McDonald’s
mɛ-kɨ-'do-nou-dʒɨz
Panasonic
pã-na-'so-ni-kɨ
Jack Daniels
dʒɐ-kɨ-'dã-ni-euz
Harley Davidson
ɦaɾ-lei-'dei-vi-dsõ
BMW
be-eme-'da-be-liu
What might explain this consistency in stress is that stress falls on the first syllable of the
second word in the compound, which in the original pronunciation of these brands is the
penultimate syllable for a disyllabic word. In the only two examples of six syllable
brands, HSBC and American Express, we see that stress falls on the mid vowel [ɛ]: [a-ga'ɛ-si-be-se] and [a-'mɛ-ɾi-kã-e-'kspɾɛs], respectively.
3.5 Findings and Discussion – Mandarin Adaptation of Global Brands
There are more phonological differences between global brands that are adapted into
Mandarin than into Portuguese largely caused by the phonographic versus logographic
distinction. This being the case, global brands that are adapted into Mandarin often alter
their initial phonemes, syllable type, semantic content, and stress. The results have
demonstrated that the preferred syllable type across all languages mentioned in this study
is CV, but further data analysis reveals that when brands are converted into Mandarin,
initial phoneme preference alters, semantic type vary drastically depending on the chosen
translation method, and stress to tone adaptation also differ based on the desire to be
faithful to the original pronunciation and/or to exude prestige.
3.5.1 Initial Phoneme Preference in Mandarin. When brand names are translated into
Mandarin, they often lose their original pronunciation. When comparing the distribution
of initial phonemes of brands in their original state and in their MC form we see a slight
change in rank. Stops and fricatives occur most often with 26% each (e.g. s in si1 ke1
‘Cisco’ and p in ping2 guo3 ‘Apple’), followed by approximants with 18% (e.g. r in ri4
chan3 ‘Nissan’), affricates with 10% (e.g. q in que4 chao2 ‘Nestlè’), and nasals with 9%
(e.g. m in mai4 dang1 lao2 ‘McDonald’s’). What does occur in Mandarin as well as in
the original brands is the predominance of consonants over vowels, 89 consonants and
only 11 vowels. Table 7 is a detailed distribution of the phonemes:
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Table 7 – Distribution of Initial Sounds of 100 Brands in Mandarin
Category
Frequency Individual Sounds
Stop
26
p
ph
t
th
k
(b)
(p)
(d)
(t)
(g)
9*
2
5
1
5*
Fricative
26
f
v
θ
s
ʂ
(f)
(v)
(th)
(s)
(sh)
5
1*
1*
8*
1
Nasal
9
m
n
(m)
(n)
6
3
Approximant 18
j
w
l
r
(y)
(w)
(l)
(r)
6*
3
5
4
Affricate
10
Vowel
11
TOTAL
100
ts
(z)
1
a
9*
tsʰ
(c)
0
e
0
tʂ
(zh)
0
i
1*
tʂʰ
(ch)
0
o
1
tɕ
(j)
6
u
0
kh
(k)
4
ɕ
h
(x) (h)
4
6
tɕʰ
(q)
3
* indicates brands that were not translated and that retain the original phoneme (i.e. BP, GAP, Visa, 3M,
SAP, UPS, IBM, H&M, eBay)
3.5.2 Phonological Processes in Mandarin
3.5.2.1 Epenthesis and Deletion – Final Stop Adaptation. One key factor in brand name
adaptation is the adjustment of English final stops into the permissible Mandarin coda
structure. Mandarin does not allow for codas other than the nasals [n] and [ŋ], leaving
brands with the option for vowel epenthesis or consonant deletion. Of the 100 brands
surveyed, there were 16 occurrences of final stops, 3 of which were remedied by vowel
epenthesis and 13 through consonant deletion:
Vowel Epenthesis:
Hewlett-Packard (HP) /eiːtʃ.piː/
Philips /fɪ-lɪps/
Jack Daniels /ʒak.da.ni.ʌls/
→
→
→
/hui pu/
/fei li pu/
/jie ke dan ni/
Consonant Deletion:
Gillette /ʒɪ.lɛt/
→
Budweiser /bʌd.waɪ.zəәɹ/
→
Harley Davidson /haɹ.leɪ.deɪ.vɪd.səәn/ →
/ji lie/
/bai wei/
/ha lei dai wei sen/
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The decision to either insert a vowel or delete a consonant can be determined via the
linguistic model of Optimality Theory (OT), where different grammars rank universal
language constraints to produce the surface form. Research by Dong (2010) proposes that
English non-monosyllabic words that are adapted into Mandarin adhere to the following
ranking of constraints: IDENT (SB) >> BSW >> D >> K >> MAX-IO (C); DEP-IO (V)
(Dong 2010: 2). Below is a detailed explanation of the rankings and how they affect the
global brands:
1. IDENT (SB) − preserve the syllable boundary of input; for Harley
Davidson, /ha.lei.dai.wei.sen/ is preferred over /ha.lei.dai.wei.de.sen/ due
to the preservation of the /d.s/ syllable boundary.
2. BSW − balanced syllable weight within a prosodic word; for Harley
Davidson, /ha.lei.dai.wei.sen/ and not /ha.lei.dai.wei.de.sen/ is chosen,
because the former but not the latter satisfies BSW. In brands that end
with the fricative [s], they can choose to retain the fricative (voiced or
voiceless) and insert an epenthetic vowel (e.g. Siemens /xi men zi/ and
Adidas /a di da si/) or delete it, as is the case of Philips /fei li pu/.
Whatever the decision, the importance is to remain faithful to BSW.
3. DELETE − if a final stop is in a stressed syllable, delete it; for
Budweiser and Gillette, we see the final stops being deleted:
/bʌd.waɪ.zəәɹ/→/bai wei/ and /ʒɪ.lɛt/ → /ji lie/, respectively. Dong proposes
the opposite, that if a stressed syllable contains a stop, it must be kept, but
if that were the case, Budweiser and Gillette would be realized in
Mandarin as /bai de wei/ and /ji lie te/, but that does not occur.
4. KEEP − if a final stop occurs in word-final position, keep it; this
explains why for Hewlett-Packard (HP), Philips, and Jack Daniels, the
final stop is preserved via the epenthetic vowel: /hui pu/, /fei li pu/, /jie ke
dan ni/, respectively.
5. MAX-IO (C) – do not delete the final stop consonant.
6. DEP-IO (V) – do not insert a vowel.
3.5.2.2 Liquid Adaptation. The liquids [r] and [l] are adapted into Mandarin either by
deletion or liquid alternation. There are 34 occurrences of [r] in the global brands and the
overarching pattern of the rhotic [r] is that it becomes the dental [l] in syllable initial
position, while [r] is deleted in medial and final positions. There are 11 occurrences of [l]
in final position, where the liquid is realized as an epenthetic syllable er in disyllabic
brands, while in all other instances it is deleted. A summary of the above discussion can
be found in Table 8:
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Table 8 – Liquid [r] and [l] Adaptation into Mandarin
Examples
[r] → [l]
[r] → [Ø]
Syllable initial (9)
Syllable medial (5)
Syllable final (20)
TOTAL occurrences 34
Rolex, Corona
Armani, Burberry,
Carrefour, Santander
[l] →/er/
[l] → [Ø]
Syllable final (3)
Syllable final (8)
TOTAL occurrences 11
Intel, Chanel, Walmart
Jack Daniels, Google
The widespread adaptation of the rhotic consonant in MC occurs because despite the
similar orthographic representation, the phonological realization is quite different. In the
English pronunciation of brands, /r/ is realized as an alveolar approximant while in
Mandarin, /r/ occurs as a retroflex approximant, where the tongue tip is curled up. In
terms of place of articulation, the alveolar approximant and the liquid [l] have more in
common than the retroflex approximant, therefore, in an attempt to retain the original
phonological features of foreign brands, Mandarin speakers opt for converting the
English r into l. Of the 9 instances where the rhotic occurs in the initial position, only
four brands (Blackberry, Oracle, Xerox, American Express) do not conform to the
generalization because they undergo brand meaning extension (see section 3.5.3 for a
discussion on translation methods) where there is no attempt to retain the original
pronunciation. There were 25 occasions where the rhotic is deleted all together, either in
medial or final position. In medial position, the brands Marlboro, Credit Suisse, and
Microsoft underwent brand meaning extension making it not possible to determine
whether the rhotic would remain, while Prada and Walmart made an attempt to remain
faithful to their pronunciation. An epenthetic vowel was inserted after the plosive in
Prada, and the rhotic, now in the initial position, converted into an [l], yielding /pu la da/.
As for Walmart, the brand deleted the final consonant cluster, realized as /wo er ma/. It is
important to remember that the Chinese syllable structure is far more restrictive than that
of English, thus, borrowed terms often adapt their syllable structure in order to preserve
pronunciation (Guo 1999: 193). In the case of Prada and Walmart, we see exactly that,
although the pronunciation remains the disyllabic brands are now trisyllabic due to liquid
adaptation.
The liquid [l] is realized as /er/ in three disyllabic brands, Intel /ying te er/, Chanel
/xiang nai er/, and Walmart /wo er ma/. This adaptation occurs because Chinese codas
allow for [r] but not [l], so the best option is to replace one liquid for the other. Brands
like L’Oreal and Google are also disyllabic and end in an [l], but choose to drop the
liquid rather than adapt it in order to remain faithful to the original sonority of the brand.
We see that the goal amongst these brands is to maintain the original sonority, so each
adapts according to their individual name. For the remaining brands, they underwent
brand meaning extension or dual adaptation branding and the liquid was lost in the
process.
3.5.3 Methods of Translation. Due to the phonological differences between IndoEuropean and Sino-Tibetan languages, as well as the divergences in writing systems,
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foreign companies should consider translating their brands according to the phonological
and semantic preferences of the Chinese culture. It is worth mentioning that not all
brands translate their names into Mandarin, such as IBM, H&M, SAP, UPS, eBay, GAP,
BP, Visa, and 3M. This is probably due to the fact that the aforementioned brands are on
the whole acronyms and are known in their abbreviated form. For monosyllabic brands
such as GAP, eBay, and Visa, the choice to remain faithful to their original orthography
might be because they can be easily pronounced in Mandarin. Furthermore, companies
such as eBay and Visa, who are globally recognized and have a prominent presence in ecommerce, need to remain consistent to their customer base. The decision not to translate
these brands might come as an attempt to retain the same URL in the global online
marketplace regardless of the customers’ language. For brands that do choose to translate
their name, Alon, Littrell, and Chan (2009) explain that companies do so in one of the
following four ways:
Table 9 – Methods of Foreign Brand Translation into Mandarin
Same Meaning
Different Meaning
Different Sound
brand meaning extension
dual adaptation branding
(literal translation)
Similar Sound
dual extension branding
brand feeling extension
(transliteration)
Brand meaning extension can be understood as the literal translation of a brand name,
where different characters and sounds are used to convey the exact meaning of the
product or brand. Notable examples include GE /tong1 yong2 dian4 qi4/ 通用电气,
meaning general electricity; Oracle /jia3 gu3 wen2/ 甲骨文, meaning oracle, and Burger
King /han4 bao3 wang2/ 汉堡王, literally meaning burger king.
Dual extension branding attempts to retain the original pronunciation of the brand
and select characters with the corresponding phonemes but no relevant meaning.
Examples include Adidas /a1 di2 da2 si1/ 阿迪达斯; Walmart /wo4 er3 ma3/ 沃尔玛;
KFC /ken3 de2 ji1/ 肯德基; and Armani /a1 ma3 ni2/ 阿玛尼. Companies who choose to
translate their brand using the dual extension strategy are normally strong global brands
that are not looking to localize their brand via the name, instead, they use advertising to
convey the intended meaning (Alon, Littrell, & Chan 2009: 135).
Brand feeling extension attempts to preserve the brand sound and chooses specific
characters that will not only sound similar but that will also generate a new meaning. The
new semantic content of the Mandarin version of a foreign brand is meant to express
connotations of the product so that the brand will be memorable for consumers (Yang
2008: 399). Marketing research emphasizes on the advantages of having a brand whose
meaning can describe and suggest product features because they can be easily
recognized, recalled, and preferred (Kohli & Suri 2000; Klink 2001; Kohli, Harich &
Leuthesser 2005). Memorable examples are Coca-Cola /ke3 kou3 ke3 le4/ 可口可乐
meaning delicious happiness; Mercedes-Benz, often uttered as Benz /ben1 chi2/ 奔驰,
meaning dashing speed; Rolex /lao2 li4 shi4/ 劳力士, meaning working giant, and BMW
/bao3 ma3/ 宝马, which means treasure horse. If we compare the two automobile
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companies Mercedes-Benz and BMW through a socio-linguistic lens we can understand
the importance of semantic choice when translating a foreign brand name into Mandarin.
In Chinese culture, certain nouns and adjectives carry a masculine or female connotation,
for instance, the adjective /piao4 liang4/ 漂亮, meaning beautiful, is used to describe
women while the adjective /shuai4/ 帅, meaning handsome, is used to describe men.
Linguists Li and Shooshtari (2003) propose that the Mercedes-Benz brand exudes
masculine qualities because ‘speed’ connotes male properties while BMW exudes
femininity with the image of a horse. Their proposal is not unfounded, being that BMW
is one of the top selling cars amongst affluent Chinese women (Alon, Littrell & Chan
2009: 137).
Finally, dual adaptation branding does not attempt to retain the original sound or
meaning, opting instead for a novel phonetic and semantic realization. This strategy of
translation could be useful for brands that have a difficult name to pronounce in
Mandarin, for example, Marlboro /wan4 bao3 lu4/ 万宝路, meaning ten thousand
treasure roads. The new semantic content does not describe the product attached to the
name, instead, it describes or suggests the brand’s ethos as well encoding a positive
connotation to the name. Several studies on positive symbolic terminology in Chinese
brands (Chan & Huang 1997; Chang & Huang 2001a; Chan & Huang 2001b; Huang,
Chan & Wu 2008) stress the importance of having a positive semantic content in a brand
name. The use of words that denote pleasing features or aspirations is a tradition that is
witnessed outside of the branding arena, as is the case of the Mandarin name for the
United States of America, /mei3 guo2/ meaning ‘beautiful nation’. This tradition remains
in Chinese brands, with mention of horses, that represent strength and speed, seen in
brands such as BMW and Puma, and with reference to jade, that represents beauty and
purity seen in the luxury brand Gucci.
Of the 100 brands, nine do not have a Chinese written version, so the total sample
of brands whose method of translation will be analyzed is 91. A summary of the findings
can be seen below:
Figure 2 – Distribution of Method of Brand Name Translation in Mandarin
Distribution of Brand Name Translation Method into
Mandarin (%)
brand meaning extension
(literal translation)
12 (13%)
dual extension branding
(transliteration)
38 (42%)
dual adaptation branding
brand feeling extension
31 (34%)
10 (11%)
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From the chart above, we can see that the preferred method of translation is brand feeling
extension and the least favored is the dual adaptation branding. Research by Schmitt, Pan,
and Tavassoli (1994), found that Chinese consumers find it easier to remember a brand if
they can associate the auditory cue (i.e. pronunciation) with a visual cue (i.e. Chinese
characters) and the data reflects this with over 40% of the brands making an attempt to
link a foreign sound with a local meaning. Despite the literature stressing the importance
of a semantic content in the Chinese script, this does not mean that sound is not important
in Mandarin. If we refer to the data in Figure 2, notice that over 75% of brands made an
effort to retain their original brand sound, either through meaningful characters or not.
The ideal method of translation is one that can retain the original sound and express
product features in the Chinese characters.
5.5.4 Stress to Tone Adaptation. In loanword adaptation, brands must not only adapt
their phonetic properties but also their prosodic ones. Stress in foreign words are mapped
into their tonal equivalent in Mandarin, though it is important to mention that there is no
precise formula that computes which type of stress or accent correlates to one of the four
Chinese tones. Research in the area of stress to tone adaptation (Wu 2006: 230) has
uncovered the following trend of English stress to Mandarin tones:
(1) stressed monosyllabic words are adapted to Falling (4th) Tone
(2) initial stressed syllables in disyllabic words are usually adapted to a High (1st)
or Rising (2nd) Tone
(3) when initial syllables do not bear stress, tone assignment will resort to
acoustic similarity
Looking at the five monosyllabic brands, only three have a disyllabic Chinese written
equivalent, Dell, Ford, and Shell. Of these three, both Ford (/fu2 te4/ 福特) and Shell
(/qiao4 pai2/ 壳牌) have the 4th tone, while Dell (/dai3 er3/ 戴尔) resorts to acoustic
similarity. In order to determine whether Wu’s findings hold with the global brands used
in this study, we will look at the 47 disyllabic brands. There are a total of 27 brands
(57.4%) that are stressed in the first syllable and are adapted into either first or second
tone, 5 are either acronyms or do not have a Chinese character representation, and 22 are
translated into Mandarin. Of the 20 disyllabic brands (42.6%) that do not adhere to Wu’s
second point, 14 brands are acoustically similar to their original pronunciation while 6
brands are not:
Acoustically similar
Nokia
Google
Gillette
Nike
Ikea
/nuo4 ji1 ya4/
/gu3 ge1/
/ji2 lie4/
/nai4 ke4/
/yi2 jia1/
Zara
Yahoo
Audi
Cartier
Prada
/sa4 la1/
/ya3 hu3/
/ao4 di2/
/ka3 di4 ya4/
/pu3 la1 da2/
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/suo3 ni2/
/gu3 qi2/
Lancôme
Walmart
/lan2 kou4/
/wo4 er2 ma3/
Hermès
Porsche
Nestlé
/ai4 ma3 shi4/
/bao3 shi2 jie2/
/que4 chao2/
Acoustically dissimilar
Honda
Xerox
Avon
/ben3 tian2/
/fu4 shi4 shi1 le4/
/ya3 fang1/
These six acoustically different brands are perhaps unfaithful to their name because they
have chosen to alter their semantic content, which affects the choice of Chinese
characters.
3.6 Findings and Discusion – Stress as an Indicator of Brand Prestige
We have seen how the location of stress can vary across different syllables and vowels
depending on which language the brand are being pronounced. However, stress did not
vary in all of the one hundred brands surveyed and I will argue here that certain brands
remained faithful to their original stress as a way of indicating brand prestige. Luxury
brands try and uphold a level of exclusivity and maintain an ethos of originality because
that is part of what makes them luxurious and what motivates consumers to buy their
products. Luxury brands can be further classified according to their profitability as either
a star, aspiring star, waning, or dying luxury brand (Reddy, Terblanche, Pitt, & Parent
2008). A star brand is the ultra premium brand, having gross margins of over 70% while
also generating strong revenue. An aspiring star brand has a gross margin between 50%
and 70%, while a waning luxury brand has gross margins of between 30% and 50%, and
the dying luxury brand has gross margins of less than 30% (Ibid). Not having access to
this level of financial detail for every brand, the list of luxury brands used throughout this
study come from Reddy et al.’s report on luxury brand extension where the authors list
150 luxury brands, 19 of which are amongst the too global brands surveyed in this
research. The nineteen luxury brands are:
BMW
Louis Vuitton
Gucci
Johnnie Walker
Chanel
Rolex
Hermès
Porsche
Tiffany & Co.
Mercedes-Benz
Cartier
Möet & Chandon
Prada
Ferrari
Armani
Lancôme
Lexus
Burberry
Polo Ralph Lauren
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All of the luxury brands retained their original stress when pronounced in Portuguese,
with the exception of Rolex, which, as explained in subsection 3.4.2, is due to the mid
vowel that attracts stress. We have seen that the default stress in Portuguese nouns is on
the penultimate syllable, so brands like Tiffany, Cartier, and Burberry should bear stress
on the syllable before last, but that does not occur. In Mandarin, sixteen luxury brands
choose to remain faithful to their original pronunciation and of the three that do not
(Rolex, Hermès, and Porsche) they attempt to retain the sonority intact. Amongst the
luxury brands, there seems to be a pattern to go against a complete phonological
adaptation and a desire to sound foreign in a new market.
With Brazil and China’s economies booming, a growing number of the population
is increasing their purchasing power and now has the ability to purchase luxury items and
to become a luxury consumer. When aspiring luxury consumers purchase luxury goods,
they are in the store searching to buy more than a product, they are there to shop for a
luxury identity. The luxury consumer desires to not only have luxury but to embody the
idea of luxury as well (Bellaiche, Mei-Pochtler & Hanisch 2010: 10). Sociologist
Zygmunt Bauman explains that “consumers are simultaneous the promoters of
commodities and the commodities they promote” (Bauman 2007: 6), therefore, in order
to be a luxury consumer, it is not sufficient to possess a luxury product, one must be able
to validate its in-group status through linguistic means and pronounce the brand name
correctly. Customers in Brazil and China must adapt their way of speech in order to feel
as if they belong to the luxury world. In doing so, they momentarily switch from one
language system to another, a behavior described by socio-linguist Ben Rampton (1995:
280) as ‘crossing’:
Crossing, in contrast [to code-switching], focuses on code alternation by
people who are not accepted members of a group associated with the
second language they employ. It is concerned with switching into
languages that are not generally thought to belong to you. This kind of
switching, in which there is a distinct sense of movement across social or
ethical boundaries, raises issues of social legitimacy that participants need
to negotiate […]
The quickest way of identifying an outsider of the luxury world, a customer’s Shibboleth,
will be the mispronunciation of the brand name itself. To prevent such a blunder,
customers adapt their speech and cross into the brand’s linguistic territory in search of
social acceptance to legitimize their new luxury identity. What prevents stress from being
adapted into the Brazilian and Chinese linguistic market is the social prestige attached to
being able to discern which words are pronounced according to the local language rules
and which words are not. Luxury brands thrive on exclusivity, uniqueness, and rarity, and
being faithful to the original linguistic features in a foreign language market adds to the
brand’s luxury cache.
4. Conclusion
In this study, aspects of phonology and semantics were used to understand how brand
names are adapted into Brazilian Portuguese and Mandarin, shedding light on the
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possibilities and limitations that global brands have when entering the Brazilian and
Chinese markets. The findings show that what remains constant across the languages is
the preference to start a brand name with a stop and a CV syllable shape, while the key
differences are in semantic content and stress.
The differences in semantic content were due to the phonographic versus
logographic distinction. Chinese script expresses more than just sound, it also expresses
meaning, so when foreign brands were translated into Mandarin, the logographs were
often chosen to convey properties of the product in the brand name itself. The preference
amongst translated brand names was that of a name that not only encoded product and
brand features but that also had similar acoustic properties as the original pronunciation.
Several studies have shown that Mandarin speakers can recall brand names more readily
and develop an attitude as well as purchase intentions towards a brand if the characters
are semantically meaningful (Pan & Schmitt 1996; Schmitt & Zhang 1998; Tavassoli
2001; Zhang & Schmitt 1998, 2001). This should instruct companies planning on
launching a product in China to translate their name so that it retains the original
pronunciation while informing the consumer of characteristics associated with the new
brand. By doing so, consumers are more likely to remember the brand name and develop
positive attitudes towards the novel product.
Stress varied according to the languages surveyed. English has default stress on the
antepenultimate syllable, Italian and Portuguese on the penultimate, French in word-final,
and Mandarin – as proposed by Duanmu – on the left-most syllable of a word. In
Portuguese, nasal and mid vowels were identified as magnets for stress, often altering the
default stress position. In Mandarin, we saw how stress could be adapted into tone based
on the syllable length and location of stress, where brands made a conscious effort to
retain the original sonority. The consistencies pertaining to stress were found amongst
luxury brands. Unlike other product categories that had had brand names adapted
according to the local phonological language rules, luxury brands remained unscathed.
Phonological features changed depending on whether the brand was being uttered in a
Portuguese or Mandarin environment, but the stress remained faithful to the language in
which the brand originated. For example, French word-final stress, which is not the
default in English, Portuguese, or Mandarin, remained constant in all three.
The unwavering stress pattern coupled with the global prominence of luxury brands
compelled further research in the area of marketing and sociolinguistics to understand the
reason behind such an occurrence. The proposal is that luxury brands purposefully do not
alter their stress when entering a foreign market in an attempt to maintain their identity of
exclusivity and prestige. Wanting to perceive themselves while simultaneously wanting
to be perceived by others as members of an elite and exclusive group, luxury consumers
will cross into the foreign linguistic realm and adhere by the phonological rules of the
brand. Luxury brands hoping to enter foreign markets should first do extensive market
research to see whether other developing countries, such as Russia and India, would be as
receptive to this method of brand introduction. Of course, with BRIC nations starting to
develop their own brands that are being exported across the world, the issue of stress in
brand name adaptation is one that should be taken into account by marketers and one that
requires further research.
UCLWPL 2012
206
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