VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
_________________ DƢƠNG BÍCH THUẬN LEXICAL REITERATION IN THE LANGUAGE
OF ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

(LẶP TỪ VỰNG TRONG NGÔN NGỮ QUẢNG CÁO SẢN PHẨM CÔNG NGHỆ
THÔNG TIN VÀ TRUYỀN THÔNG: NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH ANH-VIỆT) M.A Minor thesis Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60 22 15
Hanoi-2012

Hanoi-2012
vi

TABLE OF CONTENT

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALTY i
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii
ABSTRACT iii
LIST OF FIGURES iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS v
TABLE OF CONTENT vi

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1. RATIONALE 1
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY 2
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2
4. METHODS OF THE STUDY 2
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY 4
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY 4

PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5
1. 1 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES 5
1.2 OVERVIEW OF ADVERTISEMENTS AND ADVERTISING LANGUAGE…6
1.2.1 Advertisement 6
1.2.1.1 Definition 6
1.2.1.2 Functions 8
1.2.1.3 Categories of advertisements 8

VIETNAMESE 29
viii

3.1 SIMILARITIES 29
3.1.1 Popularity ………………………………………………………………… 29
3.1.2 Flexibility 31
3.1.3 Kind of reiterated items 33
3.1.4 Combination with other rhetorical figures 34
3.2 DIFFERENCES 34
3.2.1 Coinage in ICT product advertisements in English 34
3.2.2 Loanwords in ICT product advertisements in Vietnamese 34

PART III: CONCLUSION 36
1. RECAPITULATIONS 36
1.1 Popularity 36
1.2 Flexible use 36
1.3 High reiterating frequency of brand names and striking features of ICT
products 36
1.4 Diverse combination with other rhetorical figures 36
1.5 Different choices in making creative advertisements of ICT products 37
2. IMPLICATIONS 37
3. LIMITATIONS 37
4. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 38

REFERENCES I
APPENDIXES VI
APPENDIX 1 VI
APPENDIX 2 X
1


and the Internet. In fact, no mater where we are, at home, at work or away on holiday,
we can not refuse to encounter them. However, because of their massive popularity, we
often take them for granted and rarely do thoughts of advertising origin or language
pop into our mind though they do deserve some recognition.
Thus, this paper seeks to make some investigation into the language of advertisements
of ICT products or lexical reiteration in the language of ICT product advertisements in
English and Vietnamese, specifically. As such, the use of lexical reiteration in the
language of ICT product advertisements in the two languages will be compared to
facilitate our catching up the message of an advertisement in this field.
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
This study is targeted at:
2.1 Investigating how many subtypes of lexical reiteration are used in the
language of ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese
2.2 Pointing out some similarities and differences between lexical reiteration in
the language of ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
When conducting this paper, I would like to address two following research
questions:
3.1 How many subtypes of lexical reiteration are employed in the language of
ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese?
3.2 What are the similarities and differences in lexical reiteration in the
language of ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese?
4. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The study is a descriptive investigation because it “involves a collection of techniques
used to specify, delineate, or describe naturally occurring phenomena without
experimental manipulation” (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989:124) This research type aims to
3

“find out more about a phenomenon”, here lexical reiteration in the language of
advertisements of ICT products in English and Vietnamese and “capture it with

 Classify them into different groups on the basis of lexical reiteration subtypes
they fall into
 Work out the similarities of reiterated items in these advertisements
 Point out their differences
5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Within the scope of this study, just lexical reiteration classified by M.A.K Halliday and
Hasan (1976:278) is taken into consideration. The study makes no efforts to cover
advertisements of all kinds in English and Vietnamese but ICT product advertisements
in the magazines and on the Internet in these two languages only.
6. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
Part I: Introduction represents the rationales, the aims, the research questions, the
methods, the scope, and the design of the study.
Part II: Development
Chapter 1 presents the theoretical background of the study.
Chapter 2 explores lexical reiteration in Vietnamese and English
advertisements of ICT products.
Chapter 3 points out several similarities and differences between
lexical reiteration used in Vietnamese and English
advertisements of ICT products.
Part III: Conclusion sums up the study outcomes, points out the implications and
limitations of the study as well as suggests ideas for further research. 5

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

This first chapter presents an overview of advertisements, advertising language, ICT

advertisements in English and Vietnamese. She points out lexico-grammatical and
textual features which are the characteristic of the travel advertisements in English and
Vietnamese in order to improve Vietnamese advertisements and help them meet both
commercial and cultural ends as well as to effectively adapt the travel advertisements
written in English by the Vietnamese professionals to meet English speaking target
readership.
The most recent research on this issue was carried out by Bui (2012) who analyzes
linguistic features of advertising language used in English slogans for food and drink
products on the phonological, lexical, semantic and syntactic levels.
1.2 OVERVIEW OF ADVERTISEMENTS AND ADVERTISING LANGUAGE
1.2.1 Advertisement
1.2.1.1 Definition
The term “advertisement” owes its origin to the classical Latin word “advertere” which
means “to turn” or to “face to”, using the Latin prefix “ad-” (to, in addition), derived
from the word “vertere” (to turn; turn, turn around; change) (Retrieved from
Later
on, it became a term employed to indicate whatever draws attention or informs
something.
There are different definitions of advertisements. Lord and Thomas (1900:9) gave the
very first definition which was considered to change the history of advertising i.e.
advertisements were “salesmanship on paper”. This definition was provided a long
time before the advertisements of radio, television and the Internet came into being, so
7

it is inappropriate in modern time. In addition, advertisements may be considered “a
public notice designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of
marketable goods and services” (Vestergard and Schroder, 1985:2) or “paid public
messages designed to describe or praise a product” by Arjun Kumar Bhatia
(2000:273). These definitions are not perfect, either, sadly speaking, because it is quite
easy to find many non-paid or non-marketable things advertised like a volunteer

attempt to develop product or company loyalty, provide information to ease the
customer‟s decision-making process, and develop awareness among the targeted group
about potential offerings that are available to consumers. In short, advertising aims at
benefiting the producer, educating the consumer and supplementing the salesmen.
Above all, it is a link between the producer and the consumer.
1.2.1.3 Categories of advertisements
There are a number of ways to classify advertisements into different categories. In this
study I would like to take the most popular criterion into consideration i.e. means of
advertising. According to , advertising media are
“the means through which advertisements are delivered to the target audience”, using
words, speech, and pictures such as press, television, radio, billboards, the Internet, etc.
Hoang (2005) presents different means of advertisements with their own pros and cons.
Major means pointed out in her study can be described in brief in the table below.
MEDIUM
ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES

1. Television

 Large audience reaching in short
time
 Vivid messages conveyed by
using visuals, language, sound
and motion simultaneously
 High cost, especially at
special time and channels
 Short exposure

9


 Featuring sections and articles for
certain advertising items
 Low cost
 Short life span of ads
 Uncertainty that the
desired audience will see
ads in specific date
 Difficulty for readers
when an ad has long text
or small font words
6. Direct
mailing
 More information
 No competing product
advertised
 No restriction in time, size,
color
 Possibility of mails‟ being
unchecked or marked as
spam
 High cost

Figure 1: Advantages and disadvantages of means of advertising
10

1.2.2 Features of advertising language
Advertisers use various linguistic means at their disposal to attract target audience‟s
attention. Within the scope of this study, a small number of these linguistics features in
advertisements are discussed briefly and separately.
1.2.2.1 Lexical features

o Neologism
The creativity of advertising language is best seen in its extensive use of neologisms-
the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words. Generally,
neologisms can be categorized as coinage, anagrammatic spelling, and loanwords．
Coinage
New words or phrases created by means of imitation are not rarely seen in English ads.
Such newly-coined words and phrases may suggest that the product advertised
possesses peculiar qualities as well as the value of novelty.
E.g. “Hi-fi, Hi-fun, Hi-fashion, only from Sony.”
(Sony Audio advertisement)
Anagrammatic spelling
Due to the great number of ads, it is unquestionably important for the advertiser to
make his advertising text unusual and memorable. He can do this by using unexpected
letter, such as -q,-x, or -z, or deliberately altering the spelling of words. For example,
the slogan of an ad by Heinz has been put this way “Beanz Meanz Heinz”. (Heinz
baked beans advertisement)
Loanwords
If an advertisement emphasizes the product‟s quality or the origin abroad, loanwords
would be the best choice for it.
E.g. “Order it in bottles or in canners.
12

Perrier with added je ne sais quoi.”
(Perrier beer advertisement)
The manufacturer uses a sentence with French words at the end, “je ne sais quoi” (“I
don‟t know what”) in order to stress the French flavor of this beverage.
1.2.2.2 Syntactical features
As a special branch of language, advertising language should be concise and attractive
simultaneously with certain syntactical characteristics. This part will cover sentential
and clausal features employed in advertisements as stated by Zhu (2006).

It's the right one, the Doublemint gum.”
(Double mint gum advertisement)
o Reversal
As McQuarrie & Mick (1996) put it,
“The rhetorical operation of reversal combines elements that are mirror images
of one another in an expression. A characteristic of a mirror image, of course, is
that it repeats the original, but in reverse. […] The English language permits
semantic as well as syntactic reversals, in the form of binary pairs in which one
term might be thought of as the reverse or opposite of the other (i.e. high/low,
easy/tough)”.
This rhetorical figure can easily found in many advertisements. Note how, in Tide
advertisement, the parallelism is created to make a simple but effective slogan.
E.g. “Tide‟s in. Dirt‟s out.”
(Tide advertisement)
o Substitution
The two authors McQuarrie & Mick (1996) also state,
“The rhetorical operation of substitution selects an expression that requires an
adjustment by the message recipient, aimed at grasping the intended content.”
14

Three dimensions were pertinent to the analysis of advertising language include:
exaggerated/understated claims (e.g., hyperbole); absence/plenitude of expression
elements (e.g., ellipsis) and strong/weak assertive force (e.g., rhetorical question).
E.g. “Adds amazing luster for infinite, mirror-like shine.”
(Brilliant Brunette shampoo advertisement)
Here in this advertisement, the adman exaggerates the quality of his shampoo by
saying that it‟s going to bring customers smooth hair with “infinite, mirror-like shine”.
1.3. OVERVIEW OF ICT AND ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS
ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. It is no longer an
unfamiliar concept. However, there is not a universally accepted definition of ICT.

All advertisements of ICT products exploit technical terms of ICT. The wording in
these advertisements tends to be simple but exact, which proves to be the language of a
branch of natural sciences. Moreover, images and sounds are taken great use of in ads
of this field. We‟ll further explore this in the next chapter of the study to have a better
insight in advertisements of ICT products.
1.4 LEXICAL REITERATION
1.4.1 Definition
Halliday & Hasan (1976:324) propose four types of cohesive relation as presented in
the table below.
Representation in
linguistic system
Type of
cohesive relation

Semantic

Lexicogrammatical
(typically)
Conjunction
Additive, adversative,
causal and temporal
relations, external and
Discourse adjuncts:
adverbial groups,
prepositional groups
16

internal

Reference


Figure 2: Cohesive relations by Halliday and Hassan (1976:324)
As for lexical cohesion, it includes reiteration and collocation. The former is defined
as follows by Halliday & Hasan (1976:278),
“Lexical reiteration is a form of lexical cohesion which involves the repetition of
a lexical item at one end of the scale; the use of a general word to refer back to a
lexical item at the other end of the scale; and a number of things in between the
use of synonym or superordinate”.
Hatim & Mason (1990:234) use the term recurrence to express the repetition of
lexical items and consider it a phenomenon that creates a cohesive effect.
17

However, recurrence may be used with pro-forms i.e. substitution of the reiterated
item by a pronoun.
From the definition of lexical reiteration presented above by Halliday & Hasan
(1976:278) we can see that lexical reiteration consist of four subclasses- repetition,
general word, synonym and superordinate-which will be discussed in the following
session.
1.4.2 Classification
1.4.2.1 Repetition
Repetition which involves the restating of a lexical item is the simplest form of lexical
cohesion.
E.g. “There was a large mushroom growing near her, about the same height as
herself; and, when she had looked under it, it occurred to her that she might as
well look and see what was on the top of it. She stretched herself up on tiptoe, and
peeped over the edge of the mushroom.”
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976:278)
1.4.2.2 Synonym or near synonym
Lexical cohesion results from the choice of a lexical item that is in some sense
synonymous with a preceding one to avoid unnecessary repetition.


No.
Reiterated item

Reiterating item
Type of lexical cohesion
i
a boy
the boy
repetition
ii
the lad
synonym
iii
the child
superordinate
iv
the idiot
general word

Figure 3. Examples of lexical reiteration subtypes
19 Summary
In conclusion, Chapter 1 has dealt with four main issues. The first part presents related
studies by some foreign and Vietnamese authors. The second one gives an overview of
advertisements and advertising language. General information about ICT and
advertisements of ICT products is described in brief in the third part and the fourth part
of this chapter sets the general knowledge of lexical reiteration, covering its definition

20 CHAPTER 2: LEXICAL REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT
ADVERTISEMENTS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE

2.1 LEXICAL REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS IN
ENGLISH
As presented in the previous chapter, lexical reiteration includes four subclasses,
namely repetition, synonym or near synonym, superordinate and general word as
classified by Halliday and Hasan (1976:278). Now we will take a careful look at how
these four subtypes are exploited in English advertisements of ICT products. Just 10
advertisements of ICT products with lexical reiteration out of 19 are presented here due
to the limitation of time. Regarding the whole list of ICT English product
advertisements (30 in total, 19 advertisements with lexical reiteration), please take a
look at appendix 1. The ad number is its order in the appendix.
2.1.1 Repetition
Repetition is often found in advertising language of English ICT products. As observed,
repeated words belong to different parts of speech. Repetition can happen with a noun
phrase, as in:
(4) “These moments are beautiful.
These moments are perfect.
These moments are Canon.”
(Canon camera advertisement)
This advertisement stars Avril Lavigne singing her song entitled “Innocence” and the
adman creates the message of the product based on the song lyrics:
“The innocence is brilliant
I hope that it will stay
This moment is perfect