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

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

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 QẢNG 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
Supervisor: Dr. Kiê
̀
u Thi
̣
Thu Hƣơng

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

1.2.2 Features of advertising language 10
1.2.2.1 Lexical features 10
vii

1.2.2.2 Syntactical features 12
1.2.2.3 Rhetorical figures 12
1.3. OVERVIEW OF ICT AND ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS 14
1.4 LEXICAL REITERATION 15
1.4.1 Definition 15
1.4.2 Classification 17
1.4.2.1 Repetition 17
1.4.2.2 Synonym or near synonym 17
1.4.2.3 Superordinate 18
1.4.2.4 General word 18
CHAPTER 2: LEXICAL REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS
IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE 20
2.1 LEXICAL REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS IN
ENGLISH 20
2.1.1 Repetition 20
2.1.2 Synonym or near synonym 21
2.1.3 Superordinate 22
2.1.4 General word 23
2.2 LEXICAL REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENT IN
VIETNAMESE 23
2.2.1 Repetition 23
2.2.2 Synonym or near synonym 27
2.2.3 Superordinate 27
2.2.4 General word 28
CHAPTER 3: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEXICAL
REITERATION IN ICT PRODUCT ADVERTISEMENTS IN ENGLISH AND

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

PART I: INTRODUCTION

This session carries the goal of providing the readers an overview of the study,
consisting of the reason why the author chose this thesis, the aims of the study, the
research questions, the method, the scope and the design of the study.
1. RATIONALE
The term “global village” first appeared in “Understanding Media: The Extensions of
Man”, a work by McLuhan (1964:106) to describe closer contact between different
parts of the world, with increasing possibilities of personal exchange, mutual
understanding and friendship between “world citizens,” as well as creation of a global
civilization. Indeed, information and communication technology (ICT) is breaking
through geographical barriers and distance, integrating the entire world into a village.
We now have access to information about global events and news as and when they
occur. In the 14th minute of the EURO 2012 Final, Andrés Iniesta got the ball and
passed it to Cesc Fàbregas. Cecs beat Giorgio Chiellini to the end line and then passed
the ball to Silva. This player headed it into the upper left corner, giving Spain a 1-0
lead. We definitely saw all of these simultaneously with all spectators at the Olympic
stadium thanks to a TV, an Internet-connected personal computer or a smart phone of
any kind.
Distance has obviously become a thing of the past. Everything not only comes closer
but also rolls faster. Something modern today may get out of date right the next day.
Generations of personal computers, from desktop and then laptop to tablet PCs or
versions of iPhone developed one by one are examples of this fast-changing world. No
one wants to be lag behind. We, therefore, should keep pace with the development of
the ICT world.
Luckily, information about these products is nowhere but right around us, in
advertisements of all kinds. Right from morning till night we come across a number of
2

advertisements in newspapers, in magazines, on the roads, in shops, on the radio, TV

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

detailed information” (Wisker, 2001: 118)
First, the study explores which subtypes of lexical reiteration appear in advertisements
of ICT products in English in Vietnamese and sees what is often reiterated in such ads.
Second, it examines measures of frequency, here, of the occurrence of the subtypes of
lexical reiteration in English and Vietnamese advertisements of ICT products. Thus,
this study uses a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods to answer its
two research questions.
Moreover, comparative and contrastive methods are utilized to point out the
similarities and differences in the use of lexical reiteration in the language of ICT
product advertisements in English and Vietnamese.
As for data collection, 30 English advertisements of ICT products and 30 others in
Vietnamese are picked at random from magazines like “Maximum PC”, “PC World
Việt Nam - Thế Giới Vi Tính”, “Thế Giới Số” and “Tin Học và Đời Sống” issued from
2008 up to now and on the Internet, mostly homepages of ICT products, accessed at the
same period of time, are taken into consideration.
Next, advertisements which make use of lexical reiteration in each language are
gathered into different groups, namely repetition, synonym or near synonym,
superordinate and general word (i.e. four subtypes of lexical reiteration as classified by
Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 278) and taken into consideration in separate sessions.
To find out the popularity and frequency of lexical reiteration subtypes used in English
and Vietnamese advertisements of ICT products, advertisements with this means of
lexical cohesion will be enumerated and classified into its groups. Necessary
measurement will be conducted to find out the proportion of each group in each
language.
4

The steps of the study are in the order as follows:
 Collect 30 ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese respectively
from magazines or the Internet
 Pick out ICT product advertisements with lexical reiteration in each language

 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

and lexical reiteration. Understanding this background knowledge will prepare us in
the investigation presented in the latter chapter where lexical reiteration in the language
of ICT product advertisements in English and Vietnamese is explored.
1. 1 REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
Together with the pervasion of advertisements, more and more studies have been
conducted to explore advertising language in general and that of ICT product
advertisements in particular.
Leech (1966) examines standard advertising language in his research “English in
Advertising: A Linguistic Study of Advertising in Great Britain”. According to Leech,
disjunctive grammar, the low frequency of function words, complexity of nominal
groups and simplicity of verbal groups are some of the most distinctive properties of
advertising language.
Dyer (1982) investigates advertising as a kind of communication in modern societies,
which involves both cultural and economic context for discussion.
Cook (1992) investigates the discourse of advertising. He offers a comprehensive
introduction to advertising discourse by examining the language of complementary
advertisements.
Vietnamese scholars also work on advertising language and its features from different
perspectives.
Mai (2000) carries out his doctoral dissertation in advertising language, laying the
foundation for a number of studies worked on later. In this dissertation, he studies
major features of advertising language in light of communicative theory (semantics-
applied linguistics of advertisements discourses).
6

Nguyen (2004) conducts a study on cohesive devices in ICT advertisements to fulfill
her M.A course in English linguistics. She works out cohesive devices in ICT
advertisements, realizes the meaning of these devices in ICT advertisements and finds
out features of ICT ads to catch up the main message.
Ton (2005) continues on this topic by investigating the discourse analysis of travel

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

environmental protection campaign.
Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary (2003: 23) defines “advertisement” as “a notice,
picture or film telling people about a product, job or service”. This definition indicates
that an advertisement can take a wide range of forms, and not only products but also
jobs or services are advertisement targets. However, it does not cover all the aspects of
an advertisement; it states the form and the purpose of an advertisement only.
According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), an advertisement is
“Any announcement or persuasive message placed in the mass media in paid or
donated time or space by an identified individual, company, or organization”.
(Retrieved from
Four features of an advertisement can be pointed out from this definition. First of all,
advertisements either inform or influence the consumer to take certain action. Second,
the message is conveyed through many different kinds of mass media with the target of
reaching a large audience of potential consumers. Third, advertisements can be paid for
or at no charge. Finally, the sponsor is identified. Therefore, compared to others, the
definition offered by the AMA seems to be most precise and comprehensive.
There is another point that we should notice when exploring the language of
advertisements. People often define advertising along with the term “marketing” or PR
(public relations). Advertising is not marketing; rather, it is another tactic, besides PR,
that is used by marketers to communicate messages to their customers and other
stakeholders.
8

1.2.1.2 Functions
An advertisement informs, persuades, and/or reminds customers of business and
organizational offerings such as products, services, campaigns, jobs and so on.
Ogden and Rarick (2010:2) point out that advertising can create an immediate
response (e.g., “only two days left in the sale”) or can be used to keep the product
and/or business/organization‟s name in front of the consumers so that they remember
the product, service, or organization when they are out shopping. Advertising should

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

2.Radio
 Wide coverage
 Modest cost
 No extensive preparation of
tangible illustration
 No visual impact on the
target market


3. Internet
 A wide variety of information
 Low cost
 Ability to reach a global audience
 Lack of intrusiveness
 Possibility of links‟ being
ignored
4. Magazine
 Ability to reach specific target
audience
 Capability of showcasing the
products with sophisticated images
and full-color, glossy format
 Greatly high cost

5. Newspaper
 Wide circulation and the degree of
frequency accessible to the
audience (published daily)
 Ability to reach large audience

 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

This session deals with lexical features of word using in advertisements, including the
use of monosyllabic verbs, weasel words, favorable words, personal pronouns and
neologism as presented by Zhu (2006).
o Use of monosyllabic verbs
A simple advertisement is intended not only to arouse the reader‟s attention and
interest, but also to make consumers remember it right after the first time they heard it.
The most common way of reaching this is using popular monosyllabic verbs.
E.g. “Have a break, have a Kit Kat.”
(Kit Kat advertisement)
o Use of weasel words
The expression “weasel word” is aptly named after the egg-eating habits of weasels. A
weasel will suck out the inside of an egg, leaving it appear intact to the casual observer.
Upon examination, the egg is discovered to be hollow. Words or claims that appear
substantial and attractive upon only first look are called “weasel words.” Those words
are made great use in advertisements. Commonly used weasel words include “help”,
“acts”, “works”, “up to”, “as much as”, “refreshes”, “comforts”, “fights” and so fourth.
E.g. “Probably the best beer in the world.”
(Carlsberg advertisement)
o Use of favorable words
As the purpose of advertising is to describe the quality of products, favorable words,
especially adjectives, are often employed in advertisements.
11

E.g. “Toshiba. Leading Innovation.”
(Toshiba advertisement)
o Use of personal pronouns
The use of personal pronouns is extremely common, especially “you” and “we” in
order to narrow the gap between the advertiser and the reader.
E.g. “We live to deliver.”
(FedEx advertisement)

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).

o Sentences
A large number of simple sentences can be found in advertisements. Complex ones are
infrequently selected because they will easily make readers feel bored.
E.g. “The future‟s bright. The future‟s Orange.”
(Orange advertisement)
o Clauses
The disjunctive clause which separates a long, complex sentence into several simple
ones by using full stop, dash, semi-colon, hyphen, etc is the most frequently employed
in advertisements. Those sentences are independent in form but are related in content.
The separated parts are usually the features of the product, so that they could
emphasize the good points of the product. This is the ad of Amtrak-a rail corporation in
the United States- which successfully exploited disjunctive clauses:
“Amtrak has created a new. Nationwide passenger rail system. Literally from the
ground up. A system that represented a viable alternative for people who fly. For
business or pleasure.”
(Amtrak advertisement)
1.2.2.3 Rhetorical figures
Rhetorical figures are often used to make the speech or writing vivid, impressive and
interesting. For this reason, advertisers often use various figures of rhetoric, including
13

repetition, reversal, substitution and destabilization as presented by Luu (2010) to
increase the appeal of an advertisement and to arouse consumers‟ interest of buying the
product. Frequently used figures of rhetoric are repetition, reversal and substitution will
be discussed briefly in the following part.
o Repetition
Repetition- saying something again- especially those of key words or sentences in
advertisements is used intentionally to emphasize what is being advertised. For
examples:
“Double your pleasure. Double your fun.

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.

Why is that so? Because the concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are
constantly evolving on an almost daily basis. It is difficult to keep up with the changes
- they happen with an incredible pace. As mentioned at the beginning of this study,
something modern today may get out of date right the next day. Let us focus on the
three words behind ICT, i.e. information, communication and technology only. From
these words, we can see that a good way to think about ICT is to consider all the uses
of all technologies to help individuals, businesses and organizations use information
and communicate with each other.
As such, ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or
receive information electronically and serve our communication such as computers,
television, telephones, emails, robots, softwares, hardwares, applications and so on.
But it is worth remembering that when you use your computer to play Solitaire, it is, of
course, not the use of ICT because in this process, no information is handled or no
communication takes place.
ICT plays a key role in business today. In fact, its use is now so widespread that it is
difficult to succeed without it. Rapid developments in the ICT sector in the last two
decades have produced a huge range of new products and services. These include
15

products such as personal computers (PCs), notebooks and fax machine, and services
such as e-mail, intranet and Internet. Business of all types and sizes use computer-
based systems like these because they offer way to work – one which saves time and
money. ICT is also employed in other fields of the society like education with e-
learning; politics with governmental e-conferences, economy with e-commerce, and
entertainment with music live shows, etc. It is, in fact, penetrating into all corners of
life to all walks of life and getting known mostly through advertising.
This study makes no attempt to define an advertisement of ICT product because it
doesn‟t make much sense but how to get the message that an ICT ad convey and its
roles in the sector as well the society does. The advertisements can introduce, modify
or declare a new product/application/service in ICT field.

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

Identification
by speech role
by proximity
by specificity (only)
Reference point

Personals
Demonstratives
Definite articles
Comparatives
Lexical cohesion
Collocation (similarity of
lexical environment)
Reiteration (identity of
lexical reference)
Same or associated lexical
items
Same lexical items;
synonym, super ordinate;
general word
Substitutions
Identify of potential
reference (class meaning)
in context of non-identity
of actual (instantial)
reference
Verbal, nominal or clausal
substitute
Verbal, nominal or clausal
ellipsis

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.

E.g. “Accordingly, I took the leave, and turned to the ascent of the peak.
The climb is perfectly easy.”
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976:278)
Near synonym can also be found in lexical reiteration like brand and sword in
“Then quickly rose Sir Bedivere, and ran,
And leaping down the ridges lightly, plung‟d
Among the bulrush beds, and clutch‟d the sword
And lightly wheel‟d and threw it. The great brand
Made light‟nings in the splendour of the moon…”
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976:278)
18

1.4.2.3 Superordinate
Superordinate terms are nouns that can be used to stand for an entire “class” or
“category” of things. For example, “vehicle” is the superordinate concept for “lorry”,
“automobile”, “bicycle”, and “tram”. Superordinate terms play an important role in
promoting cohesion by linking ideas either back to earlier pieces of text, or forward to
upcoming information.
E.g. Henry‟s bought himself a new Jaguar. He practically lives in the car.
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976:278)
1.4.2.4 General word
General words, like “man”, “people”, “creature”, “thing”, “stuff”, “business”, “matter”,
“question”, “idea” , “make”, do, etc also play their part in making cohesion.
These four subclasses of lexical reiteration are illustrated with the following example.
There is a boy climbing that tree.
i. The boy is going to fall if he doesn‟t take care.
ii. The lad is going to fall if he doesn‟t take care.
iii. The child is going to fall if he doesn‟t take care.
iv. The idiot is going to fall if he doesn‟t take care.
(Halliday & Hasan, 1976:279-280)

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
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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

and classification suggested by Halliday and Hasan (1976:278). All of these provide
the vital background for discussing how lexical reiteration is employed in Vietnamese
and English advertisements of ICT products in the upcoming chapter.

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