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English in Tamil: the language of advertising

Kanthimathi Krishnasamy

English Today / Volume 23 / Issue 34 / October 2007, pp 40 49DOI: 10.1017/S0266078407003094, Published online: 23 October 2007

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0266078407003094

How to cite this article:Kanthimathi Krishnasamy (2007). English in Tamil: the language of advertising. English Today, 23, pp 4049 doi:10.1017/S0266078407003094

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DOI: 10.1017/S0266078407003094 40 English Today 91/92, Vol. 23, Nos. 3&4 (July/Oct 2007). Printed in the United Kingdom © 2007 Cambridge University Press

ADVERTISING has come a long way, from ped-lars in the market square extolling their goodsto glossy mags full of innuendo and makingextensive use of verbal and non-verbal devicesto attract consumers. In India, copywritersmake extensive use of English words andphrases in advertisements in a variety of ways.This paper examines the use of English in tele-vision and print advertising in the Tamil lan-guage. A cursory examination of Tamil adver-tising shows that the language of advertisingdoes not follow rigid rules: it makes optimaluse of possible resources from a wide variety ofstyles.

Introduction

‘The great art in writing advertisements is thefinding out a proper method to catch thereader’s eye; without which a good thing maypass over unobserved’ (Addison, 1710). ‘Wordsused in their proper order and in a pleasingmanner would readily be accepted and obligedby the world’ (Thiruvalluvar, a Tamil poet,c.100 BC: Kural, 648, when highlighting theimportance of effective communication).

Semiotics is vital in mass media as it analysesand effectively decodes verbal and non-verbalcommunication at every level. It piercesbeneath the superficial gloss of an advertise-ment to reveal that every advertising copyevolves out of a conscious manipulation of lan-guages and a deliberate selection of sign.

Language has a powerful influence over peo-ple and their behaviour. This is especially truein the field of advertising. The choice of lan-guage to convey specific messages with theintention of influencing people is vitally impor-tant. Language helps people identify a productand remember it. The language of advertising

is of course normally very positive, emphasiz-ing why one product stands out in comparisonwith another. Advertising language may notalways be ‘correct’ language, in the normalsense: comparatives, for example, are oftenused when no real or direct comparison ismade. A successful ad is expected to accom-plish five functions: attracting attention, com-manding interest, creating desire, inspiringconviction, and provoking action. (cf. Jefkins,1973; Vestergaard & Shrodder, 1985).

The effective use of language stimulates theconsumer’s desire, and ads that use easily readeye-catching phrases – with their salient point(s)emphasized – are more popular. A tremendouseconomy with words, catchy phrases, and grip-ping slogans appeal to customer psychology, atthe same time as the ad-makers use word-trig-gers to evoke a desired response. Ads, as it were,with their jingles and musical phrases verballyhypnotize the customers.

Advertisements take the liberty of modify-

English in Tamil: the languageof advertising KANTHIMATHI KRISHNASAMY

The global and the local in southern India

KANTHIMATHI KRISHNASAMY is currentlypursuing a doctoral thesis on code-mixing amongTamil college students, in the Department ofHumanities and Social Sciences at the IndianInstitute of Technology, Chennai (formerlyMadras), India. She has a Master’s and an M.Philin English language and literature from theUniversity of Madras, and a post-graduate diplomain journalism and mass communication. She hastaught in various colleges. Her research interestsinclude English in India, bilingualism,psycholinguistics, and neurolinguistics, and she haspublished on code-mixing, especially betweenEnglish and Tamil. Her two-year-old daughter’sprogress in talking is now drawing her towardsstudies in language acquisition. Email<[email protected]>

ENGLISH IN TAMIL: THE LANGUAGE OF ADVERTISING 41

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

The hegemony of English

In multilingual India, under the impact of glob-alization and economic rationalism, English isincreasingly competing with the indigenouslanguages. According to Crystal (1997), the useof English in ads began early, from the time‘when the weekly newspapers began to carryitems about books, medicines, tea, and otherdomestic products’. Advertisers adapt languageto their own use and the English language isknown for both an extensive vocabulary andwide global appeal. As a result, an Englishname may lend an aura of chic prestige to abusiness, suggesting that it is part of the inter-national scene, follows the latest trends, and isup-to-date and with the newest ideas (Ross,1997).

The use of English in advertising has there-fore, on the one hand, set the stage for linguis-tic innovations, adaptations, and loantranslations while on the other it poses prob-lems of intelligibility. Use of English has stimu-lated syntactic innovations and violations ofselectional restrictions within English andwithin the languages that absorb it directly orindirectly.

It is an accepted fact that English acquired itsglobal status as a consequence of the economicdomination achieved by the English-speakingworld. As a result, the lingua franca of India isusually English, which is perceived by adultsand teens alike as both socially and profession-ally important across this vast multilingualnation. The prestige value of the languageremains one of the primary reasons for usingEnglish terms in India: they are trendy in virtu-ally every field: ‘Teenagers pick out Englishexpressions from the music they listen to; busi-nessmen feel a need to demonstrate their mas-tery of commercial English; TV and newspaperjournalists want to make it clear that they arenot lagging behind’ (Smith, 1997). And in theworld of advertising there is an indispensable

preference across cultures for English as onemember in many pairs of languages (cf. Mar-tin, 2002).

Data

The data for this study are drawn from televi-sion and print advertising in the state of TamilNadu. The ads are taken from popularly readTamil magazines (Kumudam, Kungumam,Aananda Vigatan and Mangaiyar Malar), Tamilnewspapers (Dinamani, Thinathanthi, Dina-malar), and commercials broadcast in Tamilchannels (Sun, Jaya, Raaj, Raaj Digital Plus,Podigai, and Vijay). The TV commercials wererecorded in a Sony TCM 200 DV voice recorderwith Philips cassette and later transcribed. Theadvertisements selected are from a broaderpool and illustrate linguistic anomalies which Iwish to explore.

Each advertisement is treated as a single dis-course unit, and the ads usually have the fol-lowing components: product (brand) name;attention-getters, jingles, and body copy; andpunch line, signature line, or slogan.

Playing with words

Advertisements make great promises whileusing a great economy of words, and their cre-ators seek to hypnotise an audience or reader-ship verbally by making the ads proactive andevocative. Catchy slogans, jingling songs andmusical phrases also serve to sway the con-sumer, and figurative language and literarydevices come in chunks that are meant to stayin the viewers’ minds for a long time. Suchtechniques as punning, oxymoron, and hyper-bole are employed by ad-men to lure customersfor their clients. [See also Tables 1, 2, and 3.]

The pun is a figure of speech which consistsof deliberately confusing similar words orphrases for rhetorical effect and playing withthe several possible meanings that many wordshave. Webster’s dictionary defines a pun as ‘thehumorous use of a word or phrase so as toemphasize or suggest its different meanings orapplications, or the use of words that are alikeor nearly alike in sound but different in mean-ing; a play on words’ (Webster’s American Fam-ily Dictionary, 1998). We may note here inpassing that Webster’s second meaning in thisdefinition is a phrase in its own right with thesame meaning and use as the word pun itself.[See Table 1.]

42 ENGLISH TODAY 91/92 July/October 2007

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that com-bines two contradictory terms. The word isfrom Greek and its meaning is itself oxy-moronic: oxy- ‘sharp’, moron ‘dull’. Ad-mentend to like the rhetorical effect of contradic-tion: for example, Matiz is the brand name of acar, and an advertising line used for it is oxy-moronic: ‘The Big Small Car’ (a phrase whichsuggests that it may be small but it packs apunch and is roomy as well). Comparably, theLML Select II is a scooter which, the ad-menclaim, ‘moves you standing still, thrills you onthe move’.

Hyperbole is another poetic or literarydevice used by designers of ads for deliberateeffect, as in the following ad for gold jewellery:

Product name Mustafa Gold Mart, Jewellery1

Advertising copy Add some real spark to the festival of lightsthis year. Take home the jewellery of yourdesire at never before easy buying options.Only Mustafa makes sure that the goldensmile always stays with you.

Punch line Our fireworks sparkle forever.

The use of adjectives and adverbs in distinctiveways is a key part of the language of advertis-ing. Writers of ads will do whatever is likely tohelp sell the product, and do not hesitate to setaside both lexical appropriateness and gram-maticality to get some high-level socio-

TABLE 1: Some puns in commercial advertising

Rotomac a pen ‘Your right hand right 1 correct, suitable; 2 most people’s in success’ stronger hand; 3 a play on ‘write’ and on

holding the right pen in one’s hand

Phoenix shoes ‘First in India to sole 1 the undersurface of a shoe; 2 single, create a sole impact one, only; 3 a play on the uniqueness of the in sport shoes’ product(s) in question

Perk a bar of ‘Whenever hunger strikes 1 (verb) happens; 2 (noun)chocolate strikes’ deliberate work stoppages

Khaitan a fan ‘The fan of India’ fan 1 a devotee of an activity or of aparticular performer; 2 an apparatus withrotating blades

BSL suitings ‘suits real men’ suit 1 be appropriate for; 2 a set of men’sgarments

Brand Product Punch line or slogan The word play

Fig 1: Two ads showing the use of hyperbolic English


psycholinguistic effects. For instance, theadjective ‘smart’ may appear in such phrases assmart nutrients, smart wash, smart kitchen*,

and smart financial solutions, and ads makeunstinted use of superlatives. To show thattheir brand is superior, the language employed

TABLE 2: Exaggeration in ads

BPL a television set ‘Believe in the Best’

Philips a television set ‘Let’s make things Better’

Sansui a television set ‘Better than the Best’

Four Square King cigarettes ‘Live Life Kingsize’

Raymond Suitings ‘The complete man’

MRF Tyres ‘The ultimate riding experience’

Gillette Vector Plus razor blade ‘The best a man can get’

Dukes a kind of biscuit ‘Full tank energy’

Indigo Plus a car ‘Because we like to carry our world with us’

Veega Land an amusement park ‘Excitement as never before’

Nokia a cell phone ‘See new, Hear new, Feel new’

Premier A mixer grinder ‘Cute smarter life partner’

Brand name Product Punch-line

TABLE 3: A hybrid style

Kungumam The Tamil Weekly Best Kannaa Best

Amul Shakti a health drink Ippothu tasteil health marainthulathu

Coromandel super power cement Miga cirantha blended cement*

Gold Winner vegetable fat Qualityaana Vanaspathi

Maruti a car Yellaame fit pannirum

Johnsons a baby powder Baby soft sarumam idayathai thirudividum

Pepsi a soft drink Intha ullam kekuthey more

Krackjack a biscuit Oru ticketla rendu jolly

Dukes a biscuit Asaiku No tada

Kishkintha an amusement park Once more polaamaa daddy

Point little master a wet grinder Size perusu prize sirusu

Onida television Oxygen illama life yedu

Junior Horlicks a health drink Yana brain romba special aache

Sunsilk shampoo Smooth and silky, kalai mudal iravu varai

Sowbagya wet grinder Maavu araikirathu romba easy

Amrutanjan Dragon Liquid Balm Vegamaana Action udanadi Relief inithalaivalikku bye bye

Sprite a soft drink Cleara irrukkaa

Mirinda a soft drink Jollyku taste ithaandaa

Brand name Product Punch-line


to fascinate consumers is full of superlativesand comparatives. A lexicon is used in the adsthat provides a remarkably positive and per-suasive description of the product. The abun-dant use of strong adjectives gives them a‘glowingly attractive description’ (Leech,1966). Exaggeration, intended to create astrong impression or for emphasis, is visiblyused in umpteen numbers of ads these days.

Umpteen present-day products claim to sur-pass all their rivals not only in their captivatingads but also by branding their products bymeans of powerful names incorporating partic-ularly potent English words, as in: All Out(mosquito repellent), Clinic All Clear (a sham-poo), Surf Excel (a washing powder), RinSupreme (soap for washing), and Ultra Clearsil(a cream for pimples) are some such productnames.

The language used in advertising is power-ful, linguistically attractive words being usedto attract customers’ attention. Indeed, attimes linguistic violations are adopted andatypical language used.

Ad 1 Product name Samsung, Home Appliances Body of copy They PINning, They WINning

So why you waiting?Samsung BUYing, PIN SMSing,Prize WINning.

Punchline Samsung PINning Toh Winningoffer

Breaking grammatical rules is a popular andsuccessful strategy among advertisers, whofind it valuable and advantageous because ithelps in marketing. The violations are inten-

tional, in order to get an audience used to jin-gles and rhymes. Young adults and teenagersare fascinated by anything that promises theman exciting experience and fun, as the follow-ing ad for Limca demonstrates.

Ad 2

Product name Limca (a soft drink)Jingle Fun times, Limca times

Crazy thirst, lazy thirstPunchline Veri Veri lime ’n’ lemoni

This ad promises energy, youthfulness and arelaxed mood, while the spelling of very is ‘veri’and of lemony is ‘lemoni’: all these and theshortened ’n’ in effect cater to the lingo ofteenagers, the rhyme crazy and lazy has a jin-gling effect, and the alliterative list lime,lemoni, lazy and limca flows strongly. Rule-breaking of this kind helps the advertisementdraw the reader directly back to the product.

Comparably, the advertisement for the softdrink Slice shows a boy playing pranks andteasing a girl during their schooldays. The cli-max however shows the boy (much later)proposing to her by putting a ring in the softdrink – and she notices the ring only after com-ing to the end of the drink. Although the girlenjoys the boy’s naughtiness she can some-times be irritated by it. The boy gets fun out ofirritating the girl – and the punchline says‘Simple joysin adhiga rasanai’ (‘more excite-ment’). Here joysin is a typographical adapta-tion of ‘joys in’, perhaps suggesting that thetwo of them have been together from child-hood and will remain together all their lives,jointly (‘joysin’).

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


The English used in such advertising is sim-ple and colloquial, not formal and complex. Ituses imperative verb forms (such as see, watch,use), second-person pronouns (you, your), andindeed clichés (now or never; never before) tohold the consumer’s attention and interest.The English language is a marvellous tool inthe hands of such ad-makers: an entire made-to-order vocabulary used ‘to sell the sizzlerather than the steak’ (Pei, 1970). And,throughout, there is a degree of domination byEnglish in Tamil advertising – in both commer-cials and print.

A mixed style: bilingual ads

The media recognize the importance of bilin-gualism. Advertisers make creative efforts totarget bilinguals through the mixed code theyuse. Such code-mixing is the transfer of lin-guistic units across languages, is a commontechnique in India, and has a potent rhetoricaleffect. It is part of the ad-men’s desire to be cre-ative: to add colour to a message, fill possiblelanguage gaps, and persuade consumers in the‘right’ direction. English words pepper ads inthe vernacular languages of India and are notbaffling to an average educated Indian. AsKachru (1994) puts it, ‘English continues tocontribute lexical stocks to various languages.’Besides the lexical gaps that particularly moti-

vate borrowing, two other reasons that Kachrucites are the social neutrality of English and aperception that English is effective.

In India it is a language of prestige, so thatdropping an English word into a Tamil ad isfelt as more persuasive. The mixing of two ormore linguistic systems is also not unusual inTamil advertising, and with English the adver-tisers can ‘think and act both global and localat the same time’ (Bhatia, 2000). The twoscripts, English and Tamil, are used in theproducts and in company names or labels andsometimes even in the linguistic message orpunch line. Ads 3 to 9, below, amply displaysuch a use of English words in Tamil ads thatare written in Tamil script.

Ad 3

Product name Mirinda, Soft drinkPunch line Vaayukku kudu nalla use. Translation Put your mouth to proper use.

Ad 4 Product name Tractor Emulsion paintPunch line Idu paarka mattum thaan costly. Translation It only appears to be costly.

Ad 5Product name Cinthol soapPunch line pala thalaimuraigalaaga ungal

skin specialist.

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


Translation Your skin specialist for severalgenerations.

Ad 6Product name Prince JewelleryPunch line ammi midikka ready aana oru

condition. Translation ‘I’m ready to step on the grinding

stone [a custom in Tamil Hindumarriage] but on one condition.’

Ad 7Product name Nokia, a cell phone

Punch line one touchil connect aagidungal.[mixed language, Tamil script]

Translation Get connected in one touch.

Ad 8

Product name Crystal, InnerwearPunch line Unga stylee maaridum. [mixed

language, Tamil script]Translation Your style will change.

Ad 9Product name Venus, Water heater

Fig 4: English words in Tamilscript (Pankajakasturi, Airtel)

Punch line Differentaana Idea (mixedlanguage, roman script)

Translation A different idea.

In the original versions of the above ads, thepunch line is entirely in Tamil script, includingthe English words ‘use’, ‘costly’, ‘skin special-ist’, ‘ready’ and ‘condition’, at times with Tamilgrammatical adjuncts, as in ‘touchil’, ‘stylee’,‘differentaana’. In the following ads, the punchline is entirely in Tamil script.

Ad 10Product name Complan, a health drink [roman

script]Punch line [English] Extra Growing Power

[in Tamil script]

Ad 11 Product name RmKv SareesPunch line Indha Colour Promise [mixed

language, roman script]Translation This colour promise

Ad 12Product name Pankajakasthuri [traditional

Ayurvedic medicine]Punch line [English] Breathe Easy [in Tamil

script]

Ad 13 Product name Airtel [Mobile services]Body copy Network prachanaiya? Maarungal

indre Airtelukku.

Translation Network problem? Change todayto Airtel.

Punch line [English] Best network. Best rate.[in Tamil script]

Use of English in the Tamil media enlarges andexploits the available stylistic range, and makesthe language appealing. Instead of one languagewith some borrowings here and there two entirehybridizing codes become available, enabling awide range of novel combinations. Even so, how-ever, English is restricted to single words andshort phrases, and the success of an ad dependson such attention-getters as metaphor andhyperbole (cf. Vestergaard & Schroder 1985) aswell as rhyme, rhythm, assonance, consonance,and alliteration (cf. Cook 1992, Grunig 1990).

The purpose of the English in Tamil ads is toattract attention, as in ads 13 (above) and 14(below), in which popular Tamil actors sing or narrate the qualities of a product in mixedlanguage.

Ad 14 Product Fair and Handsome (in English: a

skin cream)Song Pengal fairness cream yeduthu

aiaiaiyaa use pannaadaFair and handsome yaarukku?Yedaiyum moodi maraikkaathaaanukku.Don’t use girls’ fairness cream,For who is fair and handsome?


Fig 5:Dinamalar:Mixedscript

For a man who doesn’t hideanything.

Punchline Hai Handsome, Hai Handsome.

Ad 15Product Coca ColaCopy ...intha drink romba safe, so

ungalukku yeppolam thonuthointha coca cola kudichi enjoypannunga. (mixed narration)

Translation ‘This drink is very safe, sowhenever you feel [like it] drink Coca Cola and enjoy.’

Just about every product that is manufacturedin Tamil Nadu or in any other part of the coun-try or is imported has its name written in Eng-lish. A mix of Tamil and English is seen even inadvertisements for local household goods.Indeed, even in domestic and household mat-ters that are culturally sensitive a mix of Tamiland English in advertising is becoming a norm.This style of advertisement has also crept intosome products associated with Tamil tradition,such as pattu saree (a local kind of sari). ATamil classical singer who appears in theadvertisement for Pothys Paramparaa Pattuhums a classical raga followed by a popularTamil film song whose tune is based on thatraga. She continues: ‘But I like this. Paaram-bariyathudan pudusu kalanda applause thaan.Yennaku pattu yevulavu pidikumo pattumavulavu pidikum…(I like pattu and songequally),’ going on to describe the qualities ofthe sari, which is the product of a combinationof traditional pattu and a modern syntheticuppata jacquard. This ad represents a fusion ofclassical and popular Tamil music, of kinds ofmore or less traditional garments, and of theTamil and English languages.

The examples 16–19 have their slogan orpunch line written in a mixed script: that is,some of the punch line is written in Englishand some in Tamil.

Ad 16

Product Dinamalar, a newspaper [name inTamil script]

Punch line Sundaynaa rendu [mixedlanguages and scripts]

Translation On Sunday it’s two.

Ad 17

Product Britannia Cream BiscuitsPunch line Treat thaan vaangiduvome [in

mixed script]

Translation We will get a treat out of you,or We will buy a treat/biscuit:(the expression being capable of interpretation in two ways)

Ad 18Product BIG 92.7 FM, RadioPunch line Ketkalaam, Pesalaam, Life

Kondadalaam [in mixed script]Translation You can listen, you can speak, you

can enjoy life.

Ad 19Product Veet, hair removerPunch line Semma (‘smooth’, in mixed script)Translation Very smooth.

Table 3 contains a list of ads that mix Tamil andEnglish words and sometimes scripts.

Conclusion

Advertisements take the liberty of modifyingand distorting the language to suit their pur-pose. When the verbal hypnotism of the adver-tising succeeds, brushing with Colgate becomesa toothsome treat. The advertiser’s skill dwellsin presenting facts in a ‘slanting’ way. Theadvertising agencies are said to be ‘creativedepartments’ of ‘verbal magic’ and ‘verbal skul-duggery’ (cf. Hayakawa, 1990). The presentstudy provides evidence that English is perva-sive in Tamil advertising. The volume of Eng-lish that appears in Tamil ads demonstratesthat consumers must have a knowledge of Eng-lish sufficient enough for them to makeinformed choices. Some ads do not relyentirely on English or Tamil but on the two co-existing on an equal footing. Though somewords and phrases can be easily rendered inTamil, English seems to be preferred. There isno one-to-one correspondence between lin-guistic choices and the advertising function inmost of the ads.

English is used in a Tamil advertisement as acommunicative strategy with various motiva-tions. In the print and visual media we can seeits domination. English is used to address thereader as an international, career-orientedworker. Words and phrases such as tomorrowand future technologies suggest that the readeris future-oriented: being an English-knowing,English-using Indian is one of the most signifi-cant characteristics of ‘being modern’ in Indiatoday.



English in advertising has become a part ofculture and is not even perceived as an extraor-dinary event by lay people. Mixing English withIndian languages is a mechanism for construct-ing modernity: for bilinguals, it is not an alienlanguage but part of their active verbal reper-toire. The use of English with its innovationscreates a space for hybridity in which the globaluses of English help create local effects (Bhatt2003). Bilinguals of this kind are not passiveconsumers of so-called canonical StandardEnglish varieties, but active participants in theprocess of creating localized uses of English.

Indian commercials are notably influencedby English, which is used in abundancebecause it provides creativity and novelty. Eng-lish in TV commercials both reflects the lingoof the present-day generation, serves as anattention-getter, and fulfils sociological, lin-guistic, and psychological functions in the dis-course of advertising. In such a bilingualenvironment ad-makers have a versatile reper-toire of varieties at their disposal.

Advertising fascinates most people. It flirtswith their lives, seduces them, and leaves themwith images and dreams. To fulfil such dreams,people work harder, earn more and then spendmore (Tiwari, 2003). On one side is the use ofEnglish for linguistic innovation, as a commu-nicative strategy, while on the other is the issueof greater or less intelligibility. How intelligibleare these ads to the uneducated or less edu-cated who have not had much direct exposureto English? Whether the ads are understood –fully or partly or not at all – by their intendedreaders is a highly debatable issue. Yet theycontinue to be used. �

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