Category Archives: Uncategorized

suggestive name

Definition | Meaning:

  1. A brand name which suggests or refers to the category of the good or service in question, but which does not actually describe it.

Compare | See:

  • descriptive name
  • allusive name
  • metaphoric name

sound symbolism

Definition | Meaning:

  1. The semantic qualities a given sound or combination of sounds suggests in and of itself.

Example | Illustration:

  • The high vowel /i/, as in the word ‘pea’, sounds small.
  • The low vowel /a/, as in ‘father’, sounds large.

sound pattern

Definition | Meaning:

  1. A permissible combination of distinctive sounds or phonemes in a given language.

Example | Illustration:

  • ‘Sl-’ (as in the Slurpee slushy soft drink brand) fits the English sound pattern and is therefore considered not difficult for an English speaker to pronounce.
  • ‘Sb-’ (as in the Sbarro Italian restaurant brand) does not fit the English sound pattern and is therefore considered by English speakers to be foreign and/or difficult to pronounce.

sociative morpheme

Definition | Meaning:

  1. An element of a compound brand name which does not normally occur outside of that compound.

Example | Illustration:

  • Ocean Spray Cran•Apple brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Cherry brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Grape brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Mango brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Raspberry brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Strawberry brand juice
  • Ocean Spray Cran•Tangerine brand juice

Compare | See:

  • morpheme

simile

Definition | Meaning:

  1. A figure of speech in which an explicit comparison is made between two unlike objects via a construction such as like, as, than, similar to, resembles, etc.

Example | Illustration:

  • The former Chevy slogan ‘Like A Rock’ is a simile for ‘tough’.

root

Definition | Meaning:

  1. The semantic kernel from which a set of words is derived by phonetic, morphemic, and/or semantic change.

Example | Illustration:

  • The shared semantic kernel of the words ‘black’, ‘blue’, ‘blond’, and ‘blush’ is the Indo-European root *bhel-, which originally referred (several thousand years ago) to the colors seen in a fire.

Compare | See”

  • semantics

referent

Definition | Meaning:

  1. The concrete object or concept symbolized by a brand name.

Example | Illustration:

  • The shared referent of Coca-Cola, Coke, and ‘The Real Thing’ is the Coca-Cola brand soft drink.