Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies

THE DISCOURSE OF ARABIC ADVERTISI!"

#RE$I%IAR& IVESTI!ATIOS'()
Adrian Gully
E*ETER
[ABSTRACT:] This article explores the discourse of commercial consumer advertising in the written
and visual media of Egpt! After setting advertisements in the context of genres and schemas" it
focuses mainl on the relationship #etween language and cultural representation within the discourse of
advertising! The paper places special emphasis on the role of intertextualit within the advertising
framewor$! %t also assesses the effectiveness of using different language levels in a given advertisement
or commercial" and loo$s at the deploment of rhetorical devices to reinforce the advertising message!
&An ad is not a tangi#le or sta#le entit' it is the dnamic snthesis of man components" and comes
into #eing through them&![(]
1. Introduction
The copwriter who is responsi#le for commercial consumer advertisements must
ma$e a num#er of conscious decisions to enhance the selling potential of a product:
for instance" the presentation of image' the most efficient use of time when
advertising through the spo$en media" or space when advertising in the written press'
and" of course" the most effective use of language! Ever individual is a consumer at
some point in his or her life" so it is no surprise that in a competitive product mar$et"
advertising techni)ues '+) are often fundamental to the success of a product! At the
forefront of these techni)ues is the &memora#ilit&factor *+eech ,-..:(-/! 0ow man
of us who were exposed to British television advertising in the ,-123s" for instance"
can still recall the famous &Bean4 5ean4 0ein4& endline *i#id!:6-/[7] for the
&0ein4&Ba$ed Beans advertisement!
%n addition to a general interest in the language and techni)ues of commercial
advertising"[8] there were two principal reasons which inspired the present writer to
examine more closel the discourse of Ara#ic in commercial advertisements! 9irstl"
some time ago % discovered a $itchen apron in a local store! :rinted on this apron was
an advertisement in Ara#ic for a #rand of corn oil containing the following noun
phrase:
zayt dhura af! &pure corn oil&
Although the advertisement was in a mainl &standard& form of written Ara#ic" this
particular phrase seemed to contain a mixture of standard and dialect forms' in other
words one would normall have expected the word &pure& to read af(in) in this
context![6]
Secondl" during m teaching career % have consistentl found advertisements to #e
an effective teaching medium! ;wing to their conciseness" the often contain an
a#undance of recurring grammatical structures which fre)uentl trou#le the learner of
Ara#ic at all levels! Examples of these are:
i/ the tamyz &specification& construction" used mainl as a comparative or
superlative! %t often occurs in car advertisements" for instance" to emphasi4e that a
ma$e of car is &the most comforta#le and the most luxurious& *al-akthar rahatan wa
l-akthar fakhamatan/ of its $ind!
ii/ the idafa ghayr haqqiyya &the unreal *or 3ad<ectival3 / idafa&! This ',) structure
is ver common in Ara#ic advertisements" often emphasi4ing the &)uic$ness& of a
product" such as sar al-dhawa!an& dissolves )uic$l& *&Coast& dried mil$"
U:,-=,2=-8/" or the &ease& of something" such as sahl al-iyana& eas to maintain&
*&5iraco& air>conditioning machines" H:(,=6=-8/ or sahl al-istimal & eas to use&
*&+as?d& lice>remover" H:72=8=-8/! According to @er *,-A(:,62/" ad<ectival
compounds &give uni)ueness" vigour and impact to the advertising message&![.]
iii/ the ma . . . min structure! A class of students once responded ver
enthusiasticall to a translation of the famous Rothmans to#acco slogan written on the
side of an ashtra which was passed around the classroom:
a"wad ma yumkin shira#uhu min ti!gh
&the #est to#acco mone can #u&
The students3 level of interest was pro#a#l increased # their familiarit with the
original English version" #ut the Ara#ic slogan served as an excellent model for the m
a . . . min structure # creating its own &memora#ilit& factor!
Advertisements are an important component of the anthropological element in
teaching the target culture![1] There are" of course" a num#er of tas$s that a teacher
can set students using advertisements as a focus! 9or instance" video recordings of
television commercials function as a ver useful form of &audio>motor units&"
providing a role>pla stimulus for students! ;n the other hand" written advertisements
ma #e manipulated in various was: for example" the teacher removes the picture
accompaning an advertisement and as$s the students to guess the product # reading
the attendant caption! Bith some assistance and practice this ma lead to the students3
writing a short caption for a picture" or even constructing their own advertisements!
5ore recentl" % have #egun to focus in the classroom on the rich cultural aspects of
advertisements![A] +anguage and culture are" of necessit" inextrica#l lin$ed" and
this nexus is particularl apparent in the world of advertising! %f one accepts Coo$3s
view *,--7:,/ that &discourse analsis views language '-) and context holisticall& " it
is eas to appreciate the importance of assessing contextual features" such as
paralanguage and intertextualit" within the framewor$ of advertising! %n Coo$3s view"
an analsis of advertisements that concentrates exclusivel on the use of language in
persuading the consumer to #u disregards their diversit and &the points of contact
the have with other discourse tpes" such as political propaganda" songs" poems" and
<o$es& *,--7:./! These &intertextual& elements seem to pla an important role in the
world of advertising generall" and we shall see later that Ara#ic advertising is no
exception to this!
Bith the foregoing remar$s in mind" one of the main o#<ectives of this paper will #e
to assess the effectiveness of language use in a selection of Ara#ic commercial
advertisements" and its relationship to the situational context" # examining some of
these extra>linguistic elements outlined # Coo$ *,--7:,C(/!
$. %ource material
5 current research into Ara#ic advertising has so far revealed man interesting
features a#out the Ara# copwriter3s use of discourse! This research has concentrated
principall on Egptian advertisements from two main sources: the written medium of
the press and maga4ines" and television commercials! Although certain linguistic
features and phonological schemes" such as rhme" are common to #oth these media"
the also offer different rewards for the linguist! Television commercials" in addition
to their uni)ue paralinguistic features" also contain a higher proportion of & #loc$& or
&dis<unctive& language *+eech ,-.7:(6./" owing in all pro#a#ilit to time restrictions!
All television commercials used in this stud ran for a maximum of fifteen or thirt
seconds!
Since these investigations have so far #een onl preliminar" #ased on a corpus of
approximatel one hundred and fift newspaper and maga4ine advertisements and
television commercials" material from countries other than Egpt has #een excluded!
Although m future research in this area ma well include advertisements containing
regional dialectal material from other Ara# countries" it is worth noting at this stage
that television commercials from Egpt seem to reflect the linguistic versatilit of the
Cairene dialect" which lends itself well to some of the characteristics of advertising
language" such as rhme" rhthm and a degree of unorthodox use of the language! %t
has #een noticea#le in the present writer3s o#servations of commercials on satellite
television" for example" that the fre)uent use of a &5odern Standard& Ara#ic in
preference to a dialect" or a mixture of these registers" has not lead us to the same
hpotheses or conclusions! As we shall see later" it is '.) often the mixing of registers
within one advertisement" particularl in television commercials" that creates an
especiall interesting linguistic environment!
&. 'd(ertisements as )style)* )register) or )genre)
The language of advertising is &loaded&" so it is not difficult to <ustif wh one should
stud the discourse of advertisements! 5ost people with an interest in advertising
would agree that its language often contrasts in stle and grammar with conventional
discursive usage! 0owever" it is important to stress that although the language of
advertisements displas an individual stle in much the same wa as other forms of
&minimal texts& *Ballace ,-A1:(-/" which we ma call &environmental print&
*i#id!:(8/Dfor instance" street signs or notices on pu#lic transportDit should not #e
viewed as an a#errant form of other varieties of the language *+eech ,-.7:(61/! %t is
true that the dependence of advertisements on the use of &dis<unctive& grammar" for
example" as in newspaper headlines *i#id!:(6./" is one of the distinguishing features
of advertising stle" #ut we would agree with +eech *i#id!:(61/ that &since the
characteristics of a stle are onl meaningful # reference to the language to which it
#elongs" the act of isolation should #e accompanied # an act of snthesis&! %n other
words" it would #e inappropriate to anal4e the language of advertisements as part of
a separate grammar" although as a genre it does displa some uni)ue characteristics!
%n order to consider advertising as a genre" we should consider its sociocultural
aspects! Ballace *,-A1:72/ assesses genres as &social events&! She concludes that the
term genre has more recentl #een extended to incorporate &the whole range of
culturall recogni4a#le tpes of language activit&" which includes advertisements!
Swales *,--2:67/ descri#es genres as &communicative events which are
socioculturall recogni4a#le&! This view reflects the more recent emphasis in genre
analsis on social purpose" which sets genre apart from the notion of &register&! ;ne
ma correctl tal$ of advertising as a register" #ut according to man this
categori4ation fails to ac$nowledge the vital sociocultural components" of which one
of the most prominent is & culturall recogni4a#le language& *Ballace ,-A1:7(/" that
is" language from which one can immediatel identif a given text as an
advertisement! This a#ilit depends on our possessing what are $nown as &schemas& !
&.1 )%chemas) and ad(ertising
&Schemas&" or &schemata& as the are sometimes called *i#id!:77/" allow us to identif
immediatel the tpe of text we are dealing with! %n Biddowson3s view *,-A7:78/"
the are &cognitive constructs which allow for the organi4ation '/) of information in
long>term memor&! Thus we are a#le to relate the general *and specific/ tpe of
language used in a given discourse" such as advertisements" to a general schematic
framewor$! Be can relate this to the Ara#ic situation # saing that when we see the
endline +az yaghsil akthar !ayadan & @a4 washes whiter& *for &@a4& washing
powder/" our schematic $nowledge confirms that we are dealing here with the
language of advertising" since in conventional discourse the comparative form should
#e lin$ed to a following noun phrase" which is a#sent here! %n this particular example
we ma as$: @a4 washes whiter than whatE
;f e)ual interest with regard to schematic $nowledge is the *sociocultural/ aspect of
#ehaviour in the target culture! %n other words" we should not <ust #e a#le to identif
and interpret certain facts a#out the information conveed in an advertising discourse"
#ut we should also &#e aware of a range of different attitudes to them" even if we do
not personall share those attitudes& *Ballace ,-A1:71C7A/! As an example of this we
ma cite the Egptian television commercial for a #rand of tea called al>FArGusa
&*the/ #ride&" in which there is neither a dialogue nor a voice>over presentation! The
scene is one of a oung woman dressed in white representing purit" that is" of the tea!
Bhereas in a 5uslim culture the impact of a #ride dressed in white connotes a#solute
purit" this connotation has #een partiall lost in man Bestern cultures as a result of
contemporar social values! %n this commercial" the following caption which finall
unfolds on the screen lends further credence to the view that the meanings we derive
from texts are &largel sociall determined& *i#id!:7A/:
yail ila haythu la yail ayy shay akhar
&it reaches the parts other teas cannot reach&
B elevating the )ualit of this #rand of tea a#ove all other #rands" one is left in little
dou#t a#out the importance of tea in *in this case/ Egptian societ! ;f e)ual interest
to the present writer" however" is that the copwriter appears to have #orrowed a
slogan which is used in British advertising to promote a well>$nown #rand of
alcoholic lager #eer" although one would not expect the Egptian viewer to ma$e this
connection![-] The success of this slogan in promoting the #rand of lager #eer in
Britain has pro#a#l persuaded '0) the copwriter of its potential to promote a widel>
consumed commodit in Egptian societ!
The advertising techni)ue emploed in this example leads us to thin$ immediatel of
the concept of intertextualit which was introduced earlier! %ntertextualit has #een
descri#ed neatl as &texts [which] are recognised in terms of their dependence on
other relevant texts& *0atim and 5ason ,--2:,(2/! Essentiall it amounts to &the
relationship #etween a text and the various languages or signifing practices of a
culture and its relation to those texts which articulate for it the possi#ilities of that
culture& *i#id!:,7," )uoting Coward and Ellis/! Therefore" one reason for the success
of an advertisement or commercial ma well #e the underling relationship #etween
its presentation and a literar association familiar to the target audience!
%n summar" the context of situation" that is" the social situation in which a statement
occurs" is a vital element in our interpretation of the message of advertisements! The
addressee must &draw on different levels of contextual $nowledge to interpret them&
*Ballace ,-A1:(-/! %ndeed" advertisements are one of the most prominent &culture>
specific& *i#id!:,1/ forms of discourse![,2] But it is not onl the situational context of
a statement that determines its form" and the wa it is interpreted" as 9oucault has
shown![,,] The ver#al context" that is" the position of a given statement in relation to
other statements which precede and follow it" is also a fundamental consideration in
this regard! %n the words of 9airclough *,--(:81C8A/" &one must ta$e a step #ac$ to
the discursive formation and the articulation of discursive formations in orders of
discourse to explicate the context>text>meaning relationship&! This relationship will #e
#orne in mind in the next section of this paper which deals with language levels and
rhetorical categories in Ara#ic advertising!
,. 'nalysis of the discourse of 'ra!ic ad(ertising
%t is true that the success of an advertisement depends" in no small part" on '1) the
linguistic dexterit of the copwriter! But the preceding discussion has attempted to
show that there are a num#er of interrelated discursive elements at pla within ever
advertisement! The a#ove>mentioned relationship #etween the situational and ver#al
contexts within Ara#ic advertising will pla a significant role in the following
analsis! The first issue to #e discussed in this section is code>switching" or code>
mixing!
,.1. -ode-switching.code-mi/ing
@uring the past decade or more" a su#stantial amount of research has #een carried out
into code>switching in Ara#ic![,(] Recent research in the field of sociolinguistics has
often included the categor of code>mixing as a separate variet of switching within
diglossic languages" although this distinction has not #een without controvers!
Crstal3s definition of code>mixing" for instance" is a little indeterminate! %n his view
it amounts to the transferring of linguistic elements from one language into another
*,--8:6-/! 0udson3s hpothesis *,--.:67/ is of more relevance" perhaps" to some of
the cases to #e discussed #elow! 0e suggests that code>mixing ta$es place where there
is no change in the situation *unli$e code>switching/! 9urthermore" he notes that
mixing seems to &sm#olise a somewhat am#iguous situation for which neither
language on its own would #e )uite right! To get the right effect the spea$ers #alance
the two languages against each other as a $ind of linguistic coc$tail& *i#id!:67/!
0olmes *,--7:8AC62/ prefers the term &metaphorical switching& to code>mixing
#ecause the latter ma #e interpreted as a sign of incompetence on the part of the
spea$er! %n 0olmes3 view metaphorical switching occurs" for instance" when a spea$er
wishes to upgrade his or her level of speech to demonstrate a higher standard of
education or linguistic a#ilit! %n other words" this ma appl to speech situations in
which &each of the codes represents a set of social meanings& *i#id!:8-/! This
interpretation seems to #e particularl relevant to the Ara#ic advertising situation" as
we shall see shortl! Another concept worth considering within the context of some of
the examples ta$en from Ara#ic advertising is that of &referentiall>motivated&
switching *i#id!:86/! This ta$es place #ecause the spea$er is striving for accurac
#etween the two languages" or levels" as the case ma #e! ;n the evidence found in
this stud" the sudden switch to a foreign expression" for instance" ma #e the most
effective means of conveing the connotative intent of a particular advertisement! '2)
;verall we prefer the term &code>mixing& *or metaphorical switching/ for the
purposes of this stud! %t must #e #orne in mind" of course" that the ma<orit of
examples entail a mixing of levels within the Ara#ic continuum" not a switching of
languages amongst" sa" #ilingual spea$ers! The contextual" and perhaps sociall"
motivated reasons for mixing" however" lead us to prefer this term over code>
switching which" in Eid3s view *,-AA:68/" occurs at specific sntactic &focal points&!
Bhat follows is a categorisation of the wide range of mixed levels used in Ara#ic
advertising which have #een identified as part of this stud!
,.1.1. 0eneral 1atterns for code-mi/ing in ad(ertisements.
There are a num#er of identifia#le patterns of language>level mixing in Ara#ic
advertisements! 5ost of these occur in television commercials" although a limited
num#er have #een found in written advertisements! The categories are as follows:
i/ Bhere Standard Ara#ic *SA/ is used throughout the advertisement" #ut the final
slogan is delivered in either Egptian Collo)uial Ara#ic *ECA/" or a h#rid version of
the two registers! This ma occur in either television or written media! This categor
applies particularl to commercials advertising products of a scientific nature" as in
the commercial for & 9ilopur& water filters! %n this television commercial a formal
level of Ara#ic is used to tal$ a#out the product" as the following excerpt shows:
idha ra#ayta ma yulawwith al-miyah tahta mighar fa lan tashra! al-miy
ah !idun flu!ur
&if ou saw the pollution in water under a microscope ou would not drin$
water without 9ilopur&
A voice>over then gives information a#out the product at the end of the commercial in
a mainl ECA register" #ut with the retention of a couple of SA features:
al-an is2tuwana !i talatn gineh . . . tina## suttumt litr yan litr mayyit ish-
shur! in-naqiyya !i khamas #urush
&a clinder now costs thirt pounds ! ! ! it purifies six hundred litres" and ou get a
litre of pure drin$ing water for five piastres&
Bhilst it is perhaps not surprising that scientific advertisements are presented in the
SA mode" we ma note @er3s point *,-A(:,8./ that copwriters often favour the
emploment of scientific>sounding terms #ecause the are li$el to impress the
audience: an example of this is & la#orator tests show&! The same could pro#a#l #e
said for Ara#ic advertisements" since '(3) the formalit of SA ena#les the copwriter
to create the same effect![,7] The advantage of using mainl ECA" however" in the
final voice>over is that it relates directl to what perhaps concerns people most: cost
and value for mone!
The next example from this categor perhaps reflects a switch of registers for a
different reason! %n this commercial for Eva s$in cream" the main #od cop is in SA
*including the preservation of SA relative pronouns" for instance/" #ut the endline is
delivered in ECA:
Hoice>over: maa a#ilati s!utlis (a *SA/ &with the famil of Eva
3Spotless3 *creams/&
Iroup of consumers: ma fsh mushkila *ECA/ &there is no pro#lem&
;ne of the possi#le reasons for the switching of registers here is that ma fsh
mushkila has #ecome one of the most popular expressions in ECA" perpetuated
perhaps # the large num#ers of foreigners who learn the expression almost #efore
anthing else![,8] %t is )uite common for an Egptian to sa this expression in a light>
hearted fashion when confronted with a foreigner attempting to learn his or her
dialect! An additional effect is achieved in this advertisement #ecause the expression
is said # a group of consumers" not # <ust one person!
Although examples of this tpe in written advertisements are relativel few" the
following endline for a product called &Jat al>K0ul#a& " which aids mil$ production
in #reast>feeding mothers" demonstrates that it ma also occur in press
advertisements! After a #rief description in SA of the #enefits of this product" the
script changes to ECA:
!alash tidawwar . . . wi qum radda
&no need to loo$ an further ! ! ! go and #reast feed& *H:72=8=-8/
ii/ Bhere the emphasis is on SA #ut the advertisement is interspersed with ECA
*written advertisements onl/! An example of this is the advertisement for &Ba#
Admiral& diapers *9igure ,/! Although the emphasis in the text is SA" exemplified #
the use of the SA passive forms tustakhdam [11] &it is used& and tu!a &it is sold&"
there is significant usage of ECA! The reader is apparentl drawn into the world of
&#a# realit& # the use in the text of the collo)uial word hufadat & diapers&" as
opposed to the possi#le" #ut admittedl unli$el" SA hifazat! *Behr ,-A2:,A2/! %t
could #e argued that after switching from the formal pream#le on these diapers to an
everda situation through collo)uial usage" the copwriter capitalises # ma$ing a
further important comment in the same register:
maysarra!sh wala nuq2tit mayya &*it/ does not
lea$ a drop of water&
This represents a rare occurrence of negation in the collo)uial form in written texts!
+ater in this advertisement we also find the ECA maa !! admral tiwaffar ! ! !
&with Ba# Admiral ou save ! ! ! &![,6]
iii/ The opposite to *ii/ a#ove *television commercials onl/" that is" where the main
register is ECA" #ut where a switch to SA occurs in order to give more information
a#out the product! A good illustration of this can #e found in the commercial for
&Cuddlies& diapers *see Appendix ,/:
kudlz !iyitkawwin min sa!a 2ta!aqat likay yu#akkid rahit wi gafaf 2tiflik
&Cuddlies have seven laers to ensure that our child remains comforta#le and
dr&
The reinstatement of the qaf in 2ta!aqat after it had #een pronounced earlier as
hamza" and the use of the con<unction likay" which would never occur in ordinar
vernacular speech" suggests an intentional raising of the level of speech! %n addition to
these features" the copwriter has also selected the SA vowelling for the ver#
yu#akkid ! 0owever" the voice>over reverts to ECA for the final part of the
commercial! %t is )uite conceiva#le in this instance" of course" that the use of ECA
reflects the intuitive choice of register # the native spea$er as she introduces the
product! The switch to SA could easil #e accounted for # the fact that the presenter
is now reading the more detailed elements of the #od cop! %n this case one would
expect an adherence to SA phonolog and sntax!
A further example of this categor can #e found in a different advertisement for &Eva&
s$in cream in which the commentator" using exclusivel SA" descri#es the positive
effect on the s$in of proteins contained in the cream! %n the #od cop of the
commercial man of the relevant case>endings are preserved" as in" for example: ! ! ! li
taghdhiyatiha wa ta2triyatiha &in order to '(+) nourish it and $eep it soft&![,.]
0aving descri#ed the product in this manner the commentator reverts to mainl ECA
as he addresses the female consumer directl:
istamilh yomiyyan . . .
&use it dail ! ! !
an!u!a kull(i) talat iyyam wa shuf n-natga
one tu#e ever three das and see the results&
iv/ Bhere the commercial is conducted in ECA" including interviews with consumers"
and the voice>overs are in ECA" #ut the final piece of information a#out the product is
given in SA! An example of this can #e found in the commercial for &Ariel& washing
powder" where the commentator adds the following:
iriyal al-mutawassi2t f thalathat ahgam mukhtalifa
&medium>si4ed Ariel comes in three different si4es&[,1]
;f particular interest in this example is that the commentator has switched from the
collo)uial register to SA" and even maintains the SA pronunciation for the numeral
*three/ which is ver unusual in commercials" as we shall see later! A li$el
explanation for this is that the copwriter wishes to create &attention value& # the
sudden change in the language level! +eech defines &attention value& as follows: &;ne
wa of provo$ing the consumer3s attention and curiosit is to present him with
something surprising and unexpected" and this can #e done as well # the unorthodox
use of language as # an other means ! ! ! perhaps a 3wrong spelling3" or a
grammatical solecism& *,-..:(1/!
*v/ Bhere there is clear evidence of some retention of ira! *case>endings/" a tpe of
advertisement uni)ue to television commercials! This '(,) ma occur in at least three
different contexts:
*a/ %n a formal presentation of a product in which the whole commercial is presented
in SA" as in the one for &Taft& hairspra :
al-shamsu sa2ti . . . himayatun kamila
&the sun is shining ! ! ! complete protection *for our hair/&
*#/ Bhere the language of the television commercial is strictl ECA #ut there are
occurrences of ira!* either for the purposes of rhthm or rhme! An instance of the
former occurs in the commercial for & Snac$& chocolate:
hittatun minnuh !i khamastashar #irsh(i) !ass
&onl fifteen piastres per #ar&
An interesting example of rhme occurs in a television commercial for ful
mudammis #eans:
ana kayyf ful an3 % ain3t foolin3 ! ! !
&%3m a connoisseur of ful* #elieve me ! ! !
ana kayyf ful mish ma#ulin
%3m a connoisseur of un#elieva#le ful&
The emploment of tanwn in its proper grammatical context as part of the )ualifing
ad<ective of the word ful in the genitive=o#li)ue case is remar$a#le here" especiall
given the predominant use of ECA in the commercial![,A]
*c/ See categor *iii/ a#ove" that is" the advertisement for Eva s$in cream!
*vi/ Bhere there is importation of foreign words or phrases! @er *,-A(:,82/ remar$s
that the function of the language of advertisements is not restricted to that of a sign
sstem" #ut that it can #e a sign in itself: in other words" some advertisements rel
more on the stle of the language than the actual content! Thus it could #e argued that
in the commercial for & LestlMe& oghurt" for instance" the use of English *admittedl
in this case to create a rhme/ further underlines the &European& nature of the product:
za!ad nestleh !i 2t-2tam il-lazz ! ! ! %f ou pleaseNN
&LestlMe oghurt with the delicious flavour ! ! ! if ou please&
The deploment of English in the ful #eans commercial mentioned a#ove is
significant #ecause it facilitates a pla on the words ful and foolin3! At the '(-) same
time" the use of Bestern language in this commercial underlines the association with
the name of the compan which manufactures the product" 34ada#iq 5alfurniy
a* lit: &California Iardens&!
%n addition to the preceding six categories there are also two tpes of advertisement in
which no mixing of registers occurs! These are as follows:
*i/ Bhere the register is SA throughout *mainl press advertisements/" particularl in
what might #e called &prestige& advertisements *+eech ,-..:A,/" such as those for
#an$s" airlines" or cars!
*ii/ Bhere ECA is used throughout the commercial" including the final slogan which
ma appear on the screen as a &super& *+eech ,-..:.2/ in Ara#ic script! The
following advertisements are examples of this:
*a/ a chocolate wafer #ar called &Snac$& with the following endline:
%nak wak wu . . . wayfir hathi!!uh
&Snac$ Bac$ Boo ! ! ! a wafer ou3ll love&
*#/ &Ariel& washing powder with the following endline *and &super&/:
nadafa tzaghlil &da44ling cleanliness&
An interesting illustration of the different phonemic and orthographic representations
of ECA and SA ma #e found in an advertisement for & ;mo& washing powder with
the following endline and &super& :
sha2tartuh f nazaftuh lit: &its cleverness is in its cleanliness&
The word for &cleanliness&" nazafa" is pronounced in the voice>over as nadafa" as in
the previous example"[,-] in spite of its SA orthograph in the &super&! This presents
a rather uni)ue pro#lem which will #e discussed later *see #elow" pp! ,-C(2/! '(.)
;n the #asis of these and similar examples it appears that the choice of register is
determined to a degree # the tpe of product! A further illustration of this can #e
found in a commercial for &5il$land& mil$ which is presented exclusivel in ECA!
The endline *as well as the & super&/ reads:
asas li awladik . . . wa humma !iyik!aru
&a #asis for our children ! ! ! as the grow up&
All the commercials in this categor are for non>technical products which are used or
consumed on a dail #asis! The use of the vernacular language is not surprising"
therefore" since the promotional aim would #e to reach as wide an audience as
possi#le! ;ne ma also o#serve how the copwriter in example *ii: a/ a#ove has
contrived a rhming and rhthm pattern to match the morphological pattern of the
ver#! This is particularl appropriate #ecause it creates a sound that would appeal to
children at whom the advertisement is presuma#l aimed!
,.1.$. 6he -ase for 7ducated %1oken 'ra!ic (7%')
The &Ba# Admiral& advertisement and the &Cuddlies& commercial cited earlier *see
also Appendix , and 9igure 7/ seem to pose a new pro#lem! %n some cases" sections
of television commercials appear to #e a direct representation of the written
information on a product: for instance" of what appears on its la#el" or a formal" ver#al
promotion of its superiorit" as in the television advertisement for &Oisma& shampoo
*Appendix (/ which is #ased on a dialogue in ECA #etween two women! At the
re)uest of the interested consumer" the lad who has tested the product announces the
following:
min khilal dirasat mustafda istamarrit sanawat adda tawaal khu!ar
a# it-tagml ila sham!u #isma al-gadd
&as a result of studies lasting a num#er of ears #eautification experts have
produced the new shampoo from 3Oisma3&
%n general this piece of discourse is devoid of an collo)uial sntactic features"
although it displas some ECA phonological traits such as the ECA &i& suffix vowel
in istamarrit" and the &i& vowel of the definite article! 0owever" it contains an
example of word order which undou#tedl #elongs to SA" that is" the ver# in the
singular preceding its *plural/ su#<ect: tawaal khu!ara# it-tagml ! ! ! ' and in the
choice of voca#ular it suggests an elevated form of spo$en Ara#ic! Also worth of
note in this connection is that later in the commercial the same spea$er sas the
following:
yagal ish-shar dhu !arq &ma$es the hair shine& '(/)
There is clearl an attempt here to continue the description of the product in a more
formal Ara#ic! The result" however" is an interesting one! The use of the &possessive&
dhu in the raf case is incorrect here according to the rules of SA" which would
re)uire it to #e in the na! case" namel" dha! Iiven that the dhal phoneme is
pronounced as a dhal" we ma assume that a SA rendition was intended! 0owever" if
the word had #een pronounced zu according to ECA phonologDand it should #e
noted that this word would onl #e used # educated spea$ers in an caseDthen the
grammatical case of the word would have #een unimportant! This suggests that the
conflict of registers in the mind of the copwriter has produced a h#rid" and in this
case" incorrect" form!
The language of the &Ba# Admiral& advertisement is similar to that of an audio
presentation of the tpe that would appear in television commercials' the &#loc$&
language used here is evidence of this! 0owever" an even more significant point is
that these two advertisements displa features of #oth ECA and SA that suggest" or
reflect" the existence of a h#rid form of language which is certainl not uni)ue to the
advertising situation: that of an Educated Spo$en Ara#ic *ESA/![(2]
%n 5itchell3s view *,-A.:,,/" &educated Ara#ic conversation constantl oscillates
#etween written and written>vernacular h#ridi4ation within the scope of a sentence"
phrase" or even word&! 0e adds that &ESA is not to #e seen as one of a series of
separate varieties ! ! ! #ut rather as created and maintained # the constant interpla of
written and vernacular Ara#ic&! The argument for the existence of an ESA in a written
advertisement can onl #e valid" of course" if we agree that its language constitutes an
accurate" written record of what could theoreticall #e a spo$en scenario! Consider the
following example from the Ba# Admiral advertisement:
al-alam kulluhu yatta"ihu ila l-qu2tn
&the whole world is turning to cotton&
This example represents SA in that the voca#ular does not displa an collo)uial
features" #ut the sntax could conceiva#l #elong to ECA" particularl through the use
of the emphatic kull! %n other words" it could #e '(0) read as al-alam kulluh
yattagih ! ! ! 5oreover" even the examples tiwaffar and maysarra!sh noted a#ove
would seem to fit the categor of ESA" since neither displas the widel>used
Egptian collo)uial non>past proclitic !i-![(,] 9urther evidence to support this
argument can #e found in Badawi *,-17/! According to his classification" the
language of this advertisement would pro#a#l represent the collo)uial language of
the highl educated person" ammiyyat al-muthaqqafn! %n Badawi3s view" this
register represents &the spo$en counterpart of the written fuha al-ar&
*0inds=Badawi ,-A.:ix/" which is particularl relevant to our argument here!
Another example that conforms to the theor of ESA #eing proposed here occurs in a
commercial for &Poda$ Iold& camera films! After a song in ECA" the voice>over
presents the following:
film kudak guld yu2tka arwa alwan al-alam . . . awwar !i aflam k
udak guld fa in kanit hilwa ti!#a kudak
&Poda$ Iold film gives ou the most wonderful colours in the world! Ta$e
pictures with Poda$ Iold and" if the turn out well" the must #e Poda$&!
Although a switching of codes from SA to ECA would seem to occur at the #eginning
of the sentence fa in kanit ! ! ! " the presence of the fatha as the stem vowel in
awwar *as opposed to the SA awwir/ suggests a vernacular infiltration at an earlier
point![((] The choice of the ver# yu2t in preference to the ECA yidd" and the
elative arwa as opposed to ahla or agmal" for example" gives a formal credence to
the nature of the product! The overall impression" therefore" is one of an admixture of
ECA and SA which could #e indicative of an ESA!
The following summar outlines some of the main patterns and categories identified
in the foregoing discussion on language levels and code>mixing! %n general it was
found that:
(i) In tele(ision commercials
*a/ ECA is favoured for dialogue #etween consumers" as one might expect!
'(1)
*#/ SA" including SA phonolog and sntax" is preferred for narrative
advertisements of a scientific nature!
*c/ ECA is often emploed in voice>overs" particularl" although not
exclusivel" for everda consuma#les or domestic products used in the home"
such as washing powders! ECA is also used in &famil& and domestic
situations" particularl in advertisements for children3s products!
*d/ SA *or ESA/ often occurs during the course of a commercial" whether in a
voice>over or as part of a scene involving consumers" to give $e factual
information a#out the product" either as though it were #eing read from the
la#el or as a direct account of how the product was produced!
(ii) In written ad(ertisements
*a/ some of the patterns identified a#ove also appl to written advertisements!
The use of the vernacular in print is #ecoming more widespread" and it is often
emploed to create the same connotative effect as in television commercials!
*#/ SA is" however" still the exclusive register of & prestige& advertisements!
,.1.&. 8honological )mi/ing)
Egptian collo)uial Ara#ic displas a num#er of phonological differences from SA
which are sometimes represented in advertising language" particularl on television!
Be have alread seen that the "m" for example" is alwas pronounced as gm" even
when the register is SA! The graphemic representation of this consonant" however"
presents no pro#lem! %t remains the same according to either pronunciation! The same
level of simplicit does not o#tain with some of the other consonants which re)uire a
different collo)uial pronunciation!
The consonant qaf retains its SA spelling in & supers& in television commercials even
when it is pronounced as a hamza! The word qirsh &piastre&" for instance" is usuall
pronounced according to the ECA phonological scheme" that is" #irsh" although it
appears in the &super& as qirsh! Another example of this can #e found in the &Ra#so&
washing powder commercial with the following endline:
il-mashuq (1ronounced mashu#) il-mutamakkin
&the capa#le washing powder&!
;ther consonants pronounced differentl in SA and ECA" however" ma appear
according to either scheme! %n a commercial for Ariel washing powder the za# of the
word nazafa & cleanliness& appears on the screen as a dad '(2) in accordance with
the ECA pronunciation of that word *nadafa/! 0owever" in a commercial for &
:ersil& washing powder the SA caption qimmat al-nazafa &the ultimate in
cleanliness& appears as a & super& #ut is read according to the ECA scheme" possi#l
#ecause the whole commercial is presented in that register! Bhilst this might not
present a pro#lem for the Egptian consumer" it does underline the dilemma facing
the copwriter!
;ne of the #est illustrations of this phenomenon % have encountered so far occurs in a
commercial for &Anchor Cheese& with the following endline *and &super&/:
kull(i) ghidha l-la!an a2t-2ta!
&all the nourishment of natural mil$&
;f particular interest here is that the commentator pronounces the word for
&nourishment& as gh9za" there# intending an ECA representation! 0owever" the
consonant dhal:which often #ecomes zayn in ECADis retained in the spelling" #ut
the hamza of the SA word" vi4!" ghidha#" is omitted! Bhat appears on the screen"
therefore" is a h#rid version which is neither a correct orthographic version of the SA
word" nor a true phonemic representation of its ECA variant!
,.1.,. ;e/ical "mi/ing)
To date % have found ver little evidence of code>mixing at the level of individual
lexemes! 0owever" the examples % have located so far are of some interest!
9irst" with regard to the adver#ial &onl& there is a propensit in television
advertisements delivered in ECA for the use of !ass" as in the commercial for
&Snac$& chocolate wafers" for instance:
khamastashar #irsh(i) !ass &onl fifteen piastres&
0owever" the more standard faqa2t also occurs in advertisements presented in pure
ECA" such as the one for &Snac$& chocolate #ars:
khamsa wi ishrn #irsh(i) faqa2t &onl twent>five piastres&
These two examples appeared consecutivel during one commercial slot" and it is
interesting that a different adver# should have #een used in each" although two ver
similar products were #eing advertised in almost identical language! A possi#le
explanation for the use of the more formal faqa2t is that it actuall appears on the
screen with the num#er" whereas !ass does not" although we have alread seen that
ECA now appears regularl in script on the television screen and in the written media!
%t was pointed out earlier" however" that the inclusion of a more formal word during a
commercial in '+3) ECA ma increase the &attention value&!
A close scrutin of a television advertisement for &Bic& pens also suggests an
intentional emploment of a SA word in the course of a & catch& song a#out the
product in ECA! ;n this occasion the copwriter has selected the word raf &fine& to
descri#e the ni# of the pen #ecause the context re)uires a word to rhme with mawa-
d &su#<ects&! %n accordance with the register of the commercial" one would have
expected the ECA variant rufayya" which is in fact used a few seconds later in
contrast to tikhn &thic$& *also to descri#e the ni# of the pen/! Qnderlining this
situation further" the following caption appears on the screen: sinn rufayya . . . sinn
tikhn &fine ni# ! ! ! *or/ thic$ ni#&! ;f course" the word rufayya could also #e read
here as raf! it is onl through its <uxtaposition with tikhn and the commentator3s
voice>over" therefore" that we $now ECA is intended!
The &conflict& #etween ECA and SA is perhaps #est represented in the television
advertisement for &:hilips& washing machines! The female presenter tal$s a#out the
product exclusivel in an ECA register" while various captions appear on the screen in
SA indicating man of the machine3s facilities! The SA daman khamas sanawat
&guaranteed for five ears& appears on the screen" as the presenter simultaneousl sas
daman khamas sinn! %n ECA" sinn is the more common plural for sana!
<. Idioms
@uring the course of this stud it has #een o#served that idioms alwas occur in the
vernacular form in all tpes of advertisements! %t is worth examining #riefl the effect
achieved # this choice of register!
%n advertisements" idioms pro#a#l occur in ECA in order to esta#lish familiarit with
the consumer! A useful example of this can #e found in a commercial for &:hilips&
washing machines in which the idiomatic caption shughl(i) ala mayya !ayda &
honest wor$& *0inds=Badawi ,-A.:A8(/ flashes intermittentl on the screen" and is
repeated aloud # a cartoon character! The important point a#out this choice is not
onl that it creates a mar$ed contrast with the SA register in which the commercial is
presented" #ut also that the word mayya &water&" and" in particular" its )ualifing
ad<ective !ayda &white&" reflect the level of cleanliness which one can expect for one3s
laundr when using this appliance! 5oreover" the image of water is especiall
appropriate for promoting an appliance of this tpe!
Advertisements of the written media are not the exclusive domain of SA! As we saw
previousl" the copwriter will select a collo)uial expression where appropriate! %n
addition to the earlier examples" we ma consider the following two words which
ma$e up an advertisement for a #rand of tea '+() called & Iawhara&" and which would
pro#a#l have an immediate effect on Egptian consumers:
hittit sukkara lit: &one piece of sugar& *H:72=8=-8/
B selecting the collo)uial word hitta for &piece& in preference to" sa" the SA
e)uivalent qi2ta" the copwriter immediatel enters the dail world of the consumer!
But the expression hittit sukkara has further significance since it also #ears the
idiomatic meaning &how lovel&! ;n a cultural level the expression is similarl
loaded" #ecause the average consumption of sugar in tea is ver high! This e)uation"
therefore" suggests that tea in the 5iddle Eastern culture is almost snonmous with
sugar! 9rom this #rief" #ut su#tle" advertisement" the consumer ma conclude that this
#rand of tea re)uires <ust one piece of sugar to #ring out the full flavour!
ECA ma also #e used in written advertisements to create a rhme"[(7] which again
occasions an immediate impact on the consumer" especiall when the ECA element is
idiomatic! An example of this ma #e found in an advertisement for a #rand of palm
oil called & al>La$hletein&" where the word nakhlaten &two palm trees& is followed
immediatel #:
al-hu!! f akliten &ou3ll love it immediatel& *H:72=8=-8/
=. )+is"uncti(e) language
+eech maintains *,-..:-7/ that dis<unctive grammar *or &#loc$ language&/ comprises
minor and non>finite clauses which do not re)uire a &finite predicator& *i!e!" a ver#/!
:erhaps the most significant difference #etween these clauses in dis<unctive and
discursive language is that in the latter the are dependent" whereas in the former the
function independentl! Single nominal groups of words or single adver#ial groups
ma" according to +eech" #e grammaticall independent! 0e adds that &either of these
groups ma in turn consist of a single word! %n other words" there is no limit to the
simplicit of a grammatical unit&!
The ma<or difference #etween the English language which +eech was descri#ing and
Ara#ic" of course" is that in the latter a ver# is not essential to form a grammaticall
complete sentence! Bhilst a two part sentence such as &for ou this summer! ! ! a
golden tan& is an independent minor clause in English" the following example ta$en
from a press advertisement for & Spar$le& shampoo is a not uncommon illustration of
a ma<or independent clause in Ara#ic: '++)
ilayki sham!u s!arkil al-"add
&for ou! ! ! new Spar$le shampoo& *H (A=6=-8/
Lotwithstanding this important difference #etween the two languages" there is no
dou#t that dis<unctive language is also a prominent feature of Ara#ic advertising!
5ore examples of this will #e seen later in the section on parallelism!
>. ?hetorical de(ices
+eech *,-..:,16/ selects rhme" alliteration and parallelism as &special patterns of
regularit& in advertising language! This section will examine the occurrence of a
num#er of rhetorical devices in Ara#ic advertising" in particular those of rhme and
rhthm! %t seems especiall appropriate to discuss these &schemes& *i#id!:,A./[(8]
with regard to Ara#ic" since the language #oasts such a rich tradition of orator dating
#ac$ to pre>%slamic times! As we shall see shortl" Ara# advertising copwriters often
use to full advantage the strict morphological forms of words in their language!
>.1 8arallelism
:arallelisms" or &formal schemes& *i#id!:,-2/" appear to #e as much a characteristic of
Ara#ic advertising as the are of English! %n +eech3s view *i#id!:,8./" parallelism is
one of the devices of & co>ordination at group ran$& level which he considers to #e &an
especiall cohesional factor in advertising language&"[(6] particularl in dis<unctive
language situations where &the group tends to #e the largest unit to pla a significant
role in communication&! The main effect of this device would seem to #e a
reinforcement of the )ualities of a product in an almost mnemonic fashion through a
repetition of linguistic patterns!
There are man examples of parallelism to #e found in Ara#ic television commercials
and press advertisements! As in English" this device is normall assisted # la>out!
Examples of parallelism in Ara#ic are exemplified # the following phrases ta$en
from the advertisement for &Spar$le& shampoo:
li l-shar al-duhn &for oil hair&
li l-shar al-"aff &for dr hair& '+,)
li l-shar al-ad &for normal hair&
A similar example was found in a press advertisement for &Toota& vehicles! The
techni)ue is enhanced # the printing of the ad<ective iqtiadiyya &economical& in
larger" #oldface tpe:
iqtiadiyya hna tashtarha &economical when ou #u it&
iqtiadiyya hna tastakhdimuha &economical when ou use it&
iqtiadiyya hna ta!uha &economical when ou sell it&
*O (8=(=-6/
:arallelism ma ta$e a num#er of forms! Consider" for instance" the following
example ta$en from an advertisement for a hair removing appliance called &9eminin&:
"awda la tuqaran . . . sir la yunafas
&incompara#le )ualit ! ! ! un#eata#le price& *H 72=8=-8/
%n this example" the parallel effect is created less # repetition of a $e attri#ute of the
product than # rhthm and parallelism of the two passive ver#s and the negative
particle la!
The following example of parallelism is ta$en from a television commercial for
&5il$land& oghurt:
miyya f l-miyya ha## &one hundred percent real&
miyya f l-miyya 2ta! &one hundred percent natural&
miyya f l-miyya 2tazig &one hundred percent fresh&
The placing of two ad<ectives in succession with similar forms" *ha## and 2ta!/"
is important for the continuit of rhthm and rhme! 5oreover" what can onl #e
appreciated from listening to the voice>over is the rhthmic effect created # the
precise staccato reading of each line!
The a#ove examples are not onl distinctive in their formal parallelism" #ut also
#ecause the displa a parataxis which is uncommon in discursive Ara#ic! :arataxis
in the advertising situation is not restricted to nouns and ad<ectives" #ut can also #e
found with ver#s" as in this advertisement for &+ipton& tea:
yu2than . . . yuq2ta . . . yulaff . . .
&*it is/ ground ! ! ! cut ! ! ! wrapped ! ! ! &*H 72=8=-8/
>.$. ?hyme and rhythm
Bhen assessing rhme and rhthm in Ara#ic advertising" two possi#le associations
immediatel come to mind! 9irst" the rhming effect in man '+-) advertisements is
created # a com#ination of long vowel plus consonant at the end of each line" or each
half of a two part slogan! This reminds us of some tpes of fol$ poetr" such as the
vernacular poetr of Ara#ia $nown as na!a2t" where a rhming pattern occurs at the
end of each hemistich! ;ne of man such examples can #e seen in a press
advertisement for &Braun& food processors:
kull al-taqdr f "awdat al-tahdr
&[our guests3] appreciation comes entirel from the )ualit of preparation& *H
72=8=-8/
;f particular interest here is not <ust the rhme created # the long & i& vowel plus r
a# in the final slla#les of taqdr and tahdr" #ut also the assonance occasioned #
the morphological smmetr of the ver#al nouns! %t was noted a#ove that Ara#ic lends
itself well to this tpe of scheme!
A second techni)ue used # the copwriters is #ased on rhming and rhthmic prose
techni)ues *sa"/ of the classical and neo>classical periods! %n advertising we find
examples such as two morphologicall similar words occurring in close contiguit!
An example of this can #e found in the following press advertisement for &Si>Si&
shampoo:
min al-inaya li l-himaya
&from care to protection& *H 72=8=-8/
The example displas assonance and rhme #ased on the fiala pattern which is
shared # man ver#al nouns of defective third consonant ver#s!
5an examples of this $ind can #e found in #oth television commercials and press
advertisements! 0ere is the signature line for the advertisement for &I5C& water
heaters:
takamul al-i"ada . . . a2tana l-riyada
&total excellence has made us pioneers& *D ,=6=-8/[(.] '+.)
Another interesting example is ta$en from the commercial for a #rand of #utter called
&Shahia&:
shahiyya zi!da 2taza . . . miyya miyya
&Shahia is one hundred percent fresh #utter
zi!da shahiyya . . . iz-zi!da ill hiyya
Shahia #utter is the real thing&
Borth of note here is that had the word miyya #een pronounced in its SA form"
namel" mi#a" it would not have #een possi#le to create a perfect rhme with the SA
feminine singular free>standing pronoun hiya! 0owever" the ECA variant hiyya
rhmes perfectl with miyya! %n this connection" there are other occasions when the
choice of ECA as the register for an advertisement ma well have #een influenced #
the ensuing rhme! %t is clear that an effective rhme can #e an important promotional
device for a product! Consider" for instance" the following commercial for &Iawhara&
tea:
shay shay shay . . . shuf 2tamuh gaml izzay
&tea" tea" tea ! ! ! see how wonderful it tastes&
An important aspect of this example is that ver few appropriate words in SA would
rhme with the word shay" #ut the expression izzay provides the copwriter with a
solution since it not onl rhmes perfectl with shay" #ut it also fits neatl here in its
normal post>posed sntactic position!
Another popular rhme scheme is #ased on the ad<ectival form fal *or sometimes
fil in ECA/! 9or instance" the slogan *and &super&/ for a commercial for & Eva& s$in
cream tells the user that the can experience the following:
ihsas gaml !ad(i) yom 2tawl
&a #eautiful feeling after a long da&
A further interesting example of this form occurs in the commercial for & Ra#so&
washing powder! The female presenter #egins # introducing two male characters"
one of whom has his clothes washed in &Ra#so&" and the other in an unmentioned
#rand of washing powder! The latter is introduced as:
a!u khall . . . hammuh ti#l
&A#Gu Phal?l ! ! ! is ver concerned&
%t is )uite conceiva#le that the character3s name" or even the notion of using such
characters" was created around the expression hammuh ti#l" which immediatel
imposes a negative impression of the &other& *unmentioned/ #rand of powder!
There are" of course" other morphological patterns which are put to good '+/) effect
# the copwriter! The promotional success of a press advertisement for & Qno&
electrical e)uipment rests mainl on the following introductor slogan:
al-daman al-shamil wa l-aman al-kamil
&total guarantee and complete safet& *H (A=6=-8/
%n this example" the participles *or ad<ectives/ shamil and kamil are closel related
in meaning" as are the nouns daman and aman! But more than this" these two pairs
of nouns and ad<ectives are #oth examples of "inas &paronomasia& in Ara#ic" or to #e
more precise" "inas naqi &incomplete paronomasia&! These two pairs are examples
of "inas lafz* in which the "inas components" that is" daman and aman" and sh
amil and kamil* contain the same num#er of consonants" and identical vowels![(1]
%n fact" the nouns daman and aman occur in this wa in a num#er of advertisements
for domestic appliances!
The categor of "inas lafz shares some characteristics with that of &pararhme&
identified # +eech *,-.-:A-/! %n his view" pararhme is one of the six main slla#le
sound patterns in which the initial and final consonants of two rhming words are
identical! %n "inas lafz an two consonants ma #e identical" so the following
example of pararhme ta$en from the endline *and &super&/ of the commercial for
&5il$Gana& cheese would also have #een an example of "inas lafz" #ut for the
difference in one vowel:
gi!na milkana . . . !i 2t-2taqa malyana
&5il$Gana cheese is full of energ&
The pararhme in this example is created # the words milkana and malyana! %t is
interesting to note that rhme and assonance is onl possi#le here # means of a
change in word order! Although the inversion is not sntacticall incorrect" the
resultant word order is less common and would normall onl occur for emphasis!
An example of a techni)ue often used in sa" literature" in which two partiall
snonmous and similar sounding nouns are placed in close proximit" can #e found
in an advertisement for &;lmpic Electric& ice>tan$s:
khayr rafq wa adq li kulli afrad al-usra
&the #est friend and companion for all mem#ers of the famil& *H (A=6=-8/
'+0)
A further illustration of this appears in a maga4ine advertisement for & IA;;H&
television and video e)uipment:
amma l-ura fa hiya f ghayat al-naqa# wa l-afa#
&the picture is of the utmost clarit& *5 6=,(=-8/
%n most cases a product3s name is not derived from an identifia#le root in the Ara#ic
language! 0owever" a copwriter3s a#ilit to create rhming schemes does not seem to
#e impaired # this fact! An example of this is the #rand of cheese called &5il$Gana&
mentioned a#ove! Consider also the following slogan from the television commercial
for & +as?d& lice>remover" for example:
laysd !i t-ta#kd huwwa l-mufd
&+as?d for sure is the one to use& *H (A=6=-8/
%n this example the copwriter emplos rhme for maximum mnemonic effect"
selecting nouns and participles #earing the ending >d! Another product with a name
that lends itself well to rhme is a multi>purpose cleaning li)uid called &+?4Ga&! There
are two separate commercials for this product with the following respective endlines:
lza . . . yikhall kull(i) haga lazza
&+?4Ga ! ! ! ma$es everthing reall nice&
or:
lza . . . mufaga#atuh lazza
&+?4Ga ! ! ! it #rings lovel surprises&
%n cases such as these" is at least a part of the slogan or signature line conceived of
#efore the #rand nameE %f the #rand name were alwas chosen #efore the slogan
perhaps it would not #e so eas for the copwriter to create appropriate and effective
rhmes to promote the product![(A]
There are also examples in which the sense of the signature line" or endline" appears
to have #een directed # the copwriter3s efforts to create a rhme scheme! ;ne such
instance is the commercial for &:ert :lus& shampoo" which ta$es the form of a
dialogue in ECA #etween two oung ladies! 0ere is the endline for this
advertisement: '+1)
sham!u 1irt i-ughayyar . . . yama !iyghayyar
&small si4e :ert shampoo ! ! ! see how much it changesN&
The implication here" of course" is that using this #rand of shampoo changes one3s hair
to ma$e it attractive! As the voice>over remar$s earlier:
li sh-shar ig-gazza! min gher aza!
&for attractive hair without an hassle&
0owever" there is little dou#t that the meaning of the endline displas a vagueness
which would #e unaccepta#le in non>advertising language!
%n addition to the use of certain regular morphological patterns in the language of
advertisements" the copwriter ma$es fre)uent use of specific tpes of grammatical
structures to conve the )ualities of a product! ;ne of these structures is the tamyz
&specification& mentioned earlier! Consider this cluster of such structures ta$en from
the & I5C& ad for water heaters:
al-aqwa ada#an . . . al-akthar wafran
&the #est performer ! ! ! the most economical
al-awthaq damanan . . . al-adman amanan
the most relia#le ! ! ! the safest&
There are two points to #e made here! 9irst" the wide range of ad<ectives in their
superlative form is emploed to create an effect which would not have #een possi#le
without the use of the tamyz construction! Second" and perhaps more significant" is
the metrical rhthm created # these structures!
Another grammatical structure which is used to good effect in Ara#ic advertising is
the idafa ghayr haqqiyya &unreal idafa& *also mentioned earlier/! A particularl
good example of this comes from a maga4ine advertisement for the &Saudi British
Ban$&! Two>thirds of the one>page advertisement is given over to a large picture of an
imposing modern #uilding #elonging to that compan! A#ove the picture is written in
large" #oldface tpe:
saud l-intima# &of Saudi origin&
and #elow it:
wa alam l-ada#
&and carries out its #usiness world>wide& *% 6=,,=-8/
The contiguit of these two structures creates a rhming effect #ased on the final >a#
of the ver#al nouns intima# and ada#" and highlights the national *and therefore
Ara#/ origin of the compan on the one hand and its '+2) enormous international
importance on the other![(-]
>.&. 'lliteration
%n its strictest sense alliteration onl occurs where there is repetition of the initial
consonant or consonant cluster" as in this example ta$en from +eech *,-..:,A1/:
&Built Better # Burco for ou&! +eech o#serves" however *,-.-:-(/" that it is &the
main stressed slla#le of a word which generall carries the alliteration" not
necessaril its initial slla#le&! ;nl one example of conventional alliteration was
found in the material used for this preliminar stud" a disappointingl low num#er
compared to" sa" English advertising where alliteration is a common device! The
following example is from the endline for the television commercial for &Snac$&
chocolate wafers:
snak . . . il-wayfir ish-sha#iyya ish-shahiyya min kad!ir
&Snac$ ! ! ! the naught" tast wafer from Cad#ur&
The alliteration here is created # the initial sh- phonemes of the words sha#iyya and
shahiyya! +eech *i#id!:-(/ calls this an example of &reverse rhme&" in which words
share an initial vowel sound in addition to the sound of the initial consonant or
consonant cluster![72]
@. %ynta/
There are man aspects of sntax in the language of advertising that merit a detailed
stud! This discussion will #e restricted to a few $e areas that illustrate an
unorthodox use of language" #ut which also show that apparent anomalies within the
sntax can often #e attri#uted to a deli#erate choice of one linguistic register in
preference to another!
@.1. 7lati(es (com1arati(es and su1erlati(es)
As one might expect" the use of the superlative is extremel common in advertising
language! Some examples of this have alread #een given *a#ove p!(/" so this
categor need not detain us here! ;f more interest within the elative categor is the
emploment of the comparative! ',3)
Iiven the restrictions imposed on the copwriter when comparing his or her product
to similar ones"[7,] it is not surprising that comparatives in advertising are normall
un)ualified! Be can sa" therefore" that their use is indeterminate! +eech *,-..:,.,/
remar$s that &comparative ad<ectives are vagueDalmost" one might sa" to the point
of meaninglessnessDwithout a standard of comparison&! Ieis *,-A(:-2ff!/" however"
maintains that constructions containing the un)ualified comparative are &elliptical&!
Several examples of indefinite comparatives were found in the material used for this
stud!
Consider" for instance" the am#iguit in the following endline ta$en from a television
commercial for &Poda$& camera films:
maa kudak anta ahla
&ou are more #eautiful with Poda$&
@oes one appear more #eautiful in a picture developed from &Poda$& films than from
other similar #rands" or is one more #eautiful in & Poda$& films than one is in realitE
;f course" although the potential for am#iguit is real" the sender would assume that
onl the former interpretation would occur to the consumer! The &@a4& washing
powder commercial mentioned earlier is similarl vague:
+az yaghsil akthar !ayadan
&@a4 washes whiter&
@oes &@a4& wash whiter than competing #rands" or whiter than earlier products
produced # the same manufacturer" or is it considered to #e more effective than
washing clothes with plain water" which might not #e such an unli$el activit
amongst poorer people in the 5iddle EastE[7(]
The following example is one of the #est illustrations of the cultural am#iguit that
ma accompan the use of the un)ualified comparative! %n a press advertisement for
the &Bhopper& meat #urger we find the following:
a2tya! li#annahu mashw &more delicious #ecause it is grilled& *O (2=,=-8/
This example raises a num#er of issues! 9irst" we cannot assume that the ',()
copwriter3s intention is the same as it might #e in a similar advertisement in a more
cholesterol>conscious western culture" namel" that grilled meat is healthier than" sa"
fried meat" although this cannot #e ruled out! Second" does the advertisement suggest
that the &Bhopper& #urger is #etter than other #urgers #ecause it is grilledE ;r could
it #e that the status of the #urger has #een elevated here to that of a more expensive
meat" such as ka!a!" which is a favourite dish of people throughout the Ara#>
spea$ing world" and which is normall grilledE
@.$. 6he ad(er!ial fa)aRt
%t was suggested earlier *p! (2/ that the distri#ution of either the SA faqa2t or ECA
!ass to render the adver# &onl" <ust& is not necessaril determined" in television
commercials at least" # the register in which the advertisement is presented! %n press
advertisements" no examples of !ass were found" #ut several occurrences of faqa2t
raised a significant point of word order! According to El>0assan *,-11:,(6/" &the
word = fa)aT = has no invaria#le position in Classical Ara#ic&' in other words it ma
occur directl after the su#<ect or following the predicate! El>0assan does not deal
with its occurrence in the initial position in a sentence!
%n the material used in this present stud the adver#ial faqa2t often occurred in the
initial position! Ta$e the following" for instance:
faqa2t akhsha! 2ta!iyya
&onl natural wood& *H (A=6=-6/
al-iqtiad al-haqq . . . faqa2t min sayyaratika tuyuta
&real econom ! ! ! onl from our Toota car& *O (8=(=-6/
faqa2t tuyuta wahdaha tahtafizu !i "awdatiha
&onl Toota alone maintains its )ualit ! ! ! &*O (8=(=-6/
There are two plausi#le explanations for this unconventional word order! El>0assan
*i#id!:,(8/ )uotes examples given # Blanc in his speech surve of faqa2t occurring
in initial position where one might have expected the collo)uial !ass! This suggests
that the position of faqa2t in the a#ove examples could well have #een determined #
the copwriter3s own stle of language" in particular # his own dialect! The other
possi#le influence on the word order here" of course" is a western language such as
English" of which the last two examples at least could #e a direct translation!
%n either case it is interesting that such examples should occur in written Ara#ic"
although one should not #e surprised at the adver#ial faqa2t appearing in sentence>
initial position in the spo$en medium" as we have <ust ',+) pointed out! But
conversel it is significant that faqa2t occurs more fre)uentl in &sentence>final
position& *i#id!:,(6/ in the spo$en commercials which were used for this stud!
The evidence here supports the view expressed earlier that there are a num#er of
language levels at wor$ in Ara#ic advertisements" which not onl reflect the culture>
specific o#<ectives of advertising as represented at the connotative level" #ut also
perhaps the conflict #etween what is intended to #e spo$en and what is purel for
reading purposes! 5ore than three decades ago +eech made the important o#servation
*,-..:.2/ that &the stle of cop in television advertising is having some effect on the
composition of press cop&! This would certainl seem to #e the case in Ara#ic
advertising in which there are so man possi#le language levels on the continuum!
@.&. -onditional clauses
The incidence of conditional clauses involving the main conditional particlesDin" idh
a" and lawDwas surprisingl small in #oth television and press advertisements! This
contrasts with British advertising" where the occurrence of the conditional
con<unctions & when& *with the sense of &whenever&/ and &if& is not onl common #ut
also generall involves a special function *+eech i#id!:,,./![77] %t is apparentl a
universal of advertising language that it contains a high num#er of independent
clauses" man of which are imperative clauses *i#id!:,(2/! Advertising copwriters
prefer to use coordinated clauses rather than dependent" or su#ordinate" ones! 9or this
reason the following tpe of sentence is ver common in Ara#ic advertisements:
"arri! wa iktashif . . . &sample and discover ! ! ! &
;f course" the underling meaning here is conditional" that is" &if ou sample *a
particular product/ ou will discover *a uni)ue taste" for instance/&! The following
example" which also implies a conditional element" is for &Sprite& cars:
in2taliq wa tadhawwaq mutat al-qiyada
&set off and savour the en<oment of driving& *HA& ,.=,(=-8/
The dou#le imperative appears to #e an important device in advertising rhetoric"
which the copwriter uses as a cohesive device to reinforce the )ualit of a product!
',,)
Another means of avoiding a conditional clause in Ara#ic advertising is to use a
nominal clause" as the following example ta$en from a television commercial
promoting a :ost ;ffice savings scheme demonstrates:
it-tawfr !i makta! il-!ard
&if ou save with the :ost ;ffice
filusak madmuna wi tzd
our mone is guaranteed and grows&
The advantage of selecting a noun in the first line in preference to a conditional
particle and a ver# is that it creates a parallel effect with the word filus" and
maintains a rhthm to complement the rhme of the final slla#les of each line!
The occurrence of conditional>tpe sentences with conditional particles in Ara#ic
advertising is not uncommon! %n a previous article" however" the present writer
suggested that the conventional rules pertaining to the use of conditional particles are
either fre)uentl ignored in modern written Ara#ic *Iull ,--7: 8AC62/" or have
#ecome su#<ect to a highl flexi#le writer3s licence! There is further evidence to
support this view in the language of advertising" particularl with regard to the
particles aynama and mahma!
@.,.1. anamGa &where(er)
According to the conventional rules of grammar" conditional particles should #e
followed # a ver# in either the past tense or the <ussive mood! 0owever" during the
course of this stud a num#er of examples were found which contravene this rule!
The particle aynama &wherever& is pro#a#l the most common conditional particle
in advertisements! %t is often used in contexts which demonstrate that the consumer
can en<o a product &wherever& he or she happens to #e! Although examples were
found in which the particle was followed # a ver# in the past tense" for instance"
aynama kunta &wherever ou are&" it is more common for it to #e followed # a non>
past tense of the ver# &to #e&" which in itself is a more recent development of SA! %n
this example ta$en from a commercial for &Hitrac& <am" there is a similar &violation&
of the conventional rule that in conditional sentences" a result clause which
commences with an imperative ver# should #egin with the particle faA
aynama takun tamatta !i (trak
&wherever ou are" [ou can] en<o Hitrac&
;n the other hand" if the intended register of this line is ECA then the sntax is not
unusual! The same o#tains for the following press advertisement for &+ipton& tea
which contains onl the following caption:
shay li!tun . . . al-awwal aynama takun ',-)
&+ipton tea ! ! ! the first wherever ou are& *H 72=8=-8/
%n this example it is clear that the present tense of the ver#" takun" has #een chosen to
create a rhme with the #rand name ;i!tun" #ut the reader is still una#le to ascertain
with certaint the intended register of this short advertisement!
@.,.$. mahmGa
A similar situation exists with the conditional particle mahma! The following
example is ta$en from a commercial for &9air& washing>up li)uid:
mahma d-duhun taqwa
&however resistant the grease"
fer alayha aqwa
9air is *alwas/ stronger&
%n this commercial the main text is in ECA! 9or the endline a#ove" however" the
copwriter appears to have selected a h#rid form of ECA sntax with SA
morpholog and phonolog! As a rule" the occurrence of the ver# in the first line after
its su#<ect would #e unaccepta#le in SA in clauses containing the conditional particle
mahma! Additionall" the conventional rules of SA re)uire the ver# following the
particle to #e in either the past tense or <ussive mood! %t would have #een ver
difficult" however" to create a rhme through the use of paronomasia without inverting
the sntax! :erhaps the ECA context of the commercial ma$es this infringement of
the conventional rules of sntax more accepta#le!
B. Cumerals
Blanc *,-.2:,21/ found that in the material collected for his stud of stle variations
in *educated/ spo$en Ara#ic all numerals remained in their collo)uial form! ;n the
other hand" El>0assan *,-11:,(8/ offers evidence from his corpus of Educated
Spo$en Ara#ic that the classical Ara#ic features of numerals are sometimes retained!
[78] %n general we have found that numerals occur in commercials in the vernacular
form" and in either a SA or vernacular form in written advertisements!
%n the maga4ine advertisement for &Coast& dried mil$ *9igure (/ the expression
&seventeen nutritional elements& is mentioned on three separate occasions! ;n the
#asis of what we have found concerning the wa in which ',.) num#ers are dealt with
in Ara#ic advertising generall" it is reasona#le to argue that the grammar related to
each occurrence of this phrase is determined # a different motive in each case! %n the
main text the numeral is given its full ClassicalDand StandardDAra#ic status *with
nunation of the na! case on the noun from num#ers eleven to ninet>nine/:
man minna la yatamanna sa!ata ashara unuran ghidha#iyyan as
asiyyan f mashru! wahid
&would an of us not li$e to have seventeen essential nutritional elements in
one drin$E&
There is nothing surprising a#out this conformit to standard usage" since this is a
straightforward narrative text highlighting the )ualities of the #rand of mil$ in
)uestion! %t was suggested earlier that texts *or ver#al presentations/ of this tpe
tpicall occur in SA! 0owever" we find later in this advertisement that the grammar
of the same phrase in the signature line displas collo)uial traits:[76]
hal! kust . . . sa!ata ashara unur ghidha# li l-a"sam . . . wa l-iz
am
&Coast 5il$ ! ! ! seventeen nutritional elements for the #od ! ! ! and #ones&
This accords with some of our earlier findings which demonstrate that man press
advertisements maintain the &presentation& stle of television commercials' in fact"
this is one example which could conceiva#l have #een ta$en from television! %n this
tpe of scenario the signature line is often delivered in a more vernacular register! As
for the inset picture" this is pro#a#l the scene that the viewer would see during the
narration of the main text! Again there is evidence that numerals appearing as &
supers& do not normall follow conventional grammatical rules![7.] The following
examples will support this notion!
%n the television commercials for &Snac$& chocolate #ars and &Snac$& chocolate
wafers" a price for each product flashes intermittentl on the screen! 9or the chocolate
#ars the price is khamsa wi ishrn #irsh &twent>five ',/) piastres&" while for the
wafers it is khamastashar #irsh &fifteen piastres&! %n neither commercial is the noun
#irsh given its full grammatical status *the na! case ending with nunation/! The
explanation for this is simpl that #oth commercials are narrated in ECA! 0owever" it
is interesting that this phenomenon appears in a &super&" and is not <ust spo$en! ;ne
possi#le" #ut unli$el" explanation for this could lie once more in +eech3s theor of
&attention value&!
9urther evidence that collo)uial Ara#ic ta$es precedence over SA in the
representation of numerals in advertising can #e found in the press advertisement for
&5iraco& air>conditioning sstems! A large #oldface headline announcing the two
main tpes of sstems offered # this compan is followed immediatel #:
ladayna l-ithnayn
&we have got them #oth& *D A=6=-8/
According to the conventional rules of SA" the noun for &two& should read here as al-
ithnan" in the raf case!
Another example of the use of ECA numerals in an exclusivel SA narrative occurs in
a television advertisement for &9arco& Roal Sell! The commentator announces the
availa#le potencies of the product # saing:
!i tarkz miyya aw miyyaten
&*availa#le in/ concentrations of one hundred or two hundred&
or the following:
!i tarkzin alin . . . suttumiyya
&in high concentration *of/ six hundred&
1D. Eurther cultural elements in the discourse of 'ra!ic ad(ertising
This paper has alread made fre)uent reference to Ara# culture as it is reflected in the
discourse of Ara#ic advertising! %n this final section" more attention will #e given to
the relationship #etween language *the ver#al context/ and culture *the situational
context/" as reflected in the materials % have used!
A useful starting point for this discussion is Suleiman3s article *,--7/" in which he
examined the #enefits of teaching culture to non>native spea$ers of Ara#ic through a
num#er of different media! %n the section on advertisements *i#id!:1AC1-/ he points
out how the often reflect &shifts in the political climate& within a countr! To
illustrate this he gives an example from a Saudi newspaper advertising a #rand of
men3s aftershave called &Q!S!A!& with the following caption: quwwat al-aifa
&strength of the storm&! This caption not onl creates an appropriate image of the
potenc of the product" ',0) #ut also evo$es the close relationship #etween the Qnited
States and Saudi Ara#ia after the Iulf Bar in ,--, through a reference to the &@esert
Storm& operation against %ra)i forces in Puwait!
;ne of the man devices availa#le to the copwriter is visual pun and metaphor"
although it is fair to sa that in the Ara#ic context the levels of su#tlet var a great
deal! %n the commercial for a #rand of ghee called & Balad?&" for instance" a woman is
dressed in the traditional attire of women in the countrside to correspond with the
name of the product! A further example from this categor is the commercial for FAr
Gusa tea *a#ove p! ./! The oriental music which accompanies this commercial" and the
pure" virginal connotations of the female dressed in #ridal attire" represent two ver
culture>specific associations in the 5uslim world! This tpe of commercial
corresponds to Coo$3s argument *,--(:8-/ that &man ads create powerful and
complex messages entirelDor almost entirelDthrough pictures and music" and are
virtuall language>free&! As we saw earlier" this commercial is language>free!
Another important feature of advertising discourse is paralanguage" which Coo$
defines *i#id!:,/ as &meaningful #ehaviour accompaning language& ! Bhilst it is true
that paralanguage is pro#a#l more immediatel associated with &live& presentation
#ecause of the factors of gesture" expression" or intonation" for instance" Coo$ has
shown that its value in written texts should not #e overloo$ed! 0e adds *i#id!:11/ that
&the num#er of was in which advertising exploits the paralanguage of writing is
staggeringl large&! An example of this can #e seen in the maga4ine advertisement for
&:ar$er @uofold& pens *O,-=,2=-8/ in which an Ara# of erudite appearance" wearing
a headdress" is pictured sitting at a des$ writing with one of these pens! Britten a#ove
him in a ver neat and mature hand>written script is the following:
inna fanna l-kita!a mithl al-talm . . . la tuqaddar qmatuha l-haqqiyya
illa !i l-nudu"
&the art of writing is li$e education ! ! ! its real value can onl #e appreciated
with maturit&
;ne assumes that the reference to &maturit& is aimed principall at the experience
and long>standing excellence of :ar$er pens" #ut also that the image of the Ara# in
headdress is intended to represent maturit through $nowledge and experience! The
handwriting used in this advertisement is significant #ecause it too represents
maturit" and in a culture where calligraph has #een elevated to a revered status
throughout histor it is sure to ma$e a greater impact on the addressee! The choice of
formal language in ',1) this advertisement is also significant" and is underlined
especiall # the use of the nominali4ing particle inna!
%n the commercial for ful #eans produced # the compan called &K0adGaTi) PGal?f
GurniGa& *a#ove" p! ,8/" the switch from ECA to American English would pro#a#l
onl ma$e an impression on middle>class" educated people" at whom this commercial
appears to #e aimed! The same applies to the use of tanwn in the commercial
descri#ed a#ove! Although ful #eans are an essential part of the Egptian staple diet
it is most unli$el that poorer" uneducated people could afford to #u the #rand of
#eans #eing advertised here! This language switch reflects" therefore" the tpe of
consumer for whom the product is intended! ;ther factors in the commercial help to
create the appropriate environment for the promotion of the product" such as the
Besterni4ed &cow#o& dress of the singers" and the catch tune which is again
sm#olic of the Best![71]
The su#tle incorporation of culture>specific features in advertising discourse is to #e
found in man Ara#ic advertisements! ;ne such example is the & American Express&
card advertisement with the following invitation to the consumer:
istamilha li shira# hadiyya li zaw"atika . . .
&use it to #u a present for our wife ! ! ! & *% 72=,(=-8/
The consumer is then invited to use the card to purchase a to for his child" or to
invite a friend to supper! These invitations evo$e the strong famil ties and hospitalit
which are a fundamental part of Ara# culture!
;ne of the most appealing examples of advertisements adopting the intertextual
approach is the one for &9ord Ranger& pic$>up truc$s! The advertisement is headed #
the following text in large #oldface *a further example of a paralinguistic device/ to
attract the consumer" and to <ustif wh he or she should #u one of these vehicles:
alf sa!a! . . . wa sa!a!
&one thousand ! ! ! and one reasons&
%n other words" there are &one thousand and one& reasons wh one should purchase
one of these pic$>up truc$s! B means of the apparent association with the stories of
the 6housand and Fne Cights *'lf layla wa layla/" the copwriter has #orrowed a
structure which has #een implanted in the minds of Ara#s for man centuries! This is
further evidence of the &inter>discoursal& techni)ue *Coo$ ,--(:,-2/" in which an
advertisement &contains ',2)the voice of another discourse tpe" as when [it] evo$es
$nowledge of a film or stor&![7A] %t is worth has also #een emploed to good effect
# some writers of modern Ara#ic literature! Su#<ects such as mtholog have #een
explored through reference to recurring motifs in ancient texts" and themes from the
6housand and Fne Cights have also #een incorporated in modern literar prose
wor$s! %n the material used for this stud we have alread seen how well>$nown
literar genres such as sa" and poetr have #een incorporated into advertising!
Cultural context" then" is vital for a wider appreciation of the significance of
advertisements! Three further categories of context identified # Coo$ *i#id!:,C(/ are
situation" participants and function! An example in which these categories are
fundamental to an assessment of an advertisement can #e seen in ver different
presentations on Egptian television of two #rands of washing powder ! %t ma
initiall seem unusual to set a commercial for a western #rand of washing powder in
the Egptian countrside" #ut the scene that was chosen for the &Ariel& commercial
features a long narrative # a lad from the poorer classes" with scenes of crowds of
local people and clean laundr #illowing in the wind! B contrast" we find a
commercial for a much cheaper #rand of Egptian washing powder called &Ra#so&
#eing advertised from the comforta#le home of an apparentl middle>class couple"
with a piano and good>)ualit furniture in the #ac$ground! %n this instance" we ma
presume that # switching the conventionall expected scenarios the sender is
attempting to illustrate that these #rands are suita#le for everone" in terms of cost in
the case of the &Ariel& example" and )ualit in the case of the &Ra#so& one![7-]
Another illustration of the relationship #etween text and context ma #e identified in
the morpholog of the ver#! Since Ara#ic is one of those languages reflecting gender
in the direct address forms" the use of imperative ver#s gives a clear indication of who
is #eing addressed # a particular advertisement! %n the &American Express&
advertisement" the imperative istamilha &use it& is directed principall at a male
audience" which creates the assumption that the man is more li$el to possess a credit
card! Similarl" it is perhaps not surprising that an advertisement for &:ower& air>
conditioning '-3) machines is directed at men" not <ust #ecause of the nature of the
appliance" #ut also #ecause of the name of the product which has machismo
connotations! ;n the other hand" one can see from the use of the feminine singular
imperative mood of the ver# that women are the principal addressees of
advertisements for domestic products" such as washing powders and shampoos!
%n spite of the outstanding )ualit of some Egptian products and wor$manship" there
remains a tendenc for copwriters to stress the &foreign& association with a product
where appropriate! 9or example" in an advertisement for &@aha#& women3s clothes the
main caption reads:
dhawq farans . . . qu2tn mir
&9rench taste ! ! ! Egptian cotton& *H (A=6=-8/
or for &OaUr BaGan& curtains and furniture covers:
ala ahdath al-adhwaq wa l-mudlat al-uru!iyya wa l-amrkiyya
&according to the most recent American and European tastes and designs& *H
(A=6=-8/
The following example for &Aracemco& sanitar>ware is also of this tpe:
inta" wa2tan mu2ta!iq li l-muwaafat al-uru!iyya
&national production *made/ according to European specifications& *H
72=8=-8/
Be shall end this paper # paing particular attention to one of the most interesting
commercials to present itself during this stud! The commercial for &Pnorr& stoc$
cu#es appears to encapsulate the essential relationship #etween text and context which
has #een the focus of much of this paper! %t ma$es use of a ver specific form of
intertextualit to achieve maximum effect!
%n this commercial" two chic$ens are discussing the versatilit of the product in a
light>humoured fashion! The are sitting in a $itchen inventing rhming riddlesDin
high>pitched cartoon tpe voicesDplaing the Egptian game of #afya" a form of
witt repartee in which one person #egins a riddle # ma$ing a statement" the
recipient poses the )uestion ishmina &whE&" and the person who made the original
statement formulates a repl which ma or ma not rhme with his or her original
statement" #ut which contains a pun![82] %n this commercial the $e promotional
effect is made" and maintained" '-() # a constant repetition of the words mara#it kn
ur &Pnorr stoc$&" followed # the name of a well>$nown Egptian dish whose
flavour would naturall #e enhanced" or not as the case ma #e" # the addition of
&Pnorr& stoc$! The )uestion ishmina is then followed # a repl that rhmes with
the name of the dish" irrespective of its nonsensical meaning! 9or example:
Chic$en ,: mara#it knur fi k-kosa &Pnorr Stoc$ with 4ucchini&
Chic$en (: ishminaG &BhE&
Chic$en ,: hat yakht !osa &Iive us a $iss" sister N&
or the following:
Chic$en ,: mara#it knur f l-mahsh &Pnorr Stoc$ with vine leaves&
Chic$en (: ishmina &BhE&
Chic$en (: ma yinfash(i) &That3s no goodN&
:erhaps the cleverest example of these exchanges is the following:
Chic$en ,: mara#it knur f l-mulukhiyya &Pnorr Stoc$ with mulu$hia&
Chic$en (: ishmina &BhE&
Chic$en ,: il-mara#a il-haddiyya &%ron Stoc$& *or &the %ron +ad&/
%n order to understand the pun on the last line here" one must have some awareness of
the political situation in Ireat Britain at the end of the ,-A23s when 5argaret
Thatcher was :rime 5inister! 0er reputation as the &%ron +ad& was also well>$nown
in the 5iddle East![8,]
;f particular interest in the commercial is that it was presuma#l aimed at women" et
the game of #afya is normall a male pastime! %n Egpt these ver#al exchanges
normall ta$e place at night around the hoo$ah pipe! %t seems li$el therefore" that the
aim of the commercial is to achieve maximum &attention value& # ma$ing a
predominantl male activit the focus of a commercial aimed at women!
11. -onclusion
This paper has ac$nowledged the importance of advertisements as a genre in their
own right" and has proposed the view that the discourse of advertisements '-+) is
often a reflection of the culture of its people! The techni)ue of intertextualit is often
fundamental to the promotional success of a commercial or advertisement! %t is true
that the message of an advertisement is more li$el to ma$e an impression on a
consumer if it contains more & attention value&! As we have seen" there are a num#er
of techni)ues availa#le to the copwriter to achieve this! Among the most important
of these techni)ues is intertextualit" which creates a sense of familiarit for the
consumer through a literar or musical association" for instance! This techni)ue might
prove ver effective in persuading him or her to purchase a product!
This stud has also tempted to show that although some linguistic features are more
li$el to #e found in the language of Ara#ic advertising than in other varieties of
Ara#ic" the language of the former should not #e seen as a violation of more standard
forms of the language! There is much wor$ to #e done on the current state of modern
Ara#ic itself" so it would #e inappropriate to argue at this stage that advertising
language is simpl an a#errant form of this!
Be have seen that the advertising copwriter often mixes linguistic levels" or codes"
and that in man cases one can identif patterns for these switches! A specific
linguistic code is often selected either for connotative or referential purposes" or to
create a rhme" for example" which might not have #een possi#le without switching
codes!
Some of the techni)ues emploed in Ara#ic advertising ma #e compared to those of
British advertising" #ut the fundamentall different structures of the two languages
means that a direct comparison would not necessaril #e the wa forward![8(] The
techni)ue of punning at the lexical level" for instance" is more common in English
advertising language! 9or example" the phenomenon of lexical &#lending&" so
common in British advertising" is scarcel to #e found in Ara#ic! Bhilst man
examples such as &Schweppervescence& *for &Schweppes& fi44 drin$s/ occur in the
former" ingenious coinings li$e Eantaish *for the fi44 drin$ &9anta&/ are rare in
Ara#ic![87] '-,)
5uch more could #e said a#out ver#al groupsDfor example" the use of tense and
aspect in advertisingDor nominal and ad<ectival groups *including collocations/" as
well as rhetorical features such as metonm! 5ore could also #e said on the use of
the imperative" such as the &direct& and &indirect& methods of addressing the
consumer" and its relevance to the concept of &interpersonal& meanings within a text!
[88] This could #e carried out within the context of &interdiscursivit&" as 9airclough
demonstrates *,--(:,,8C,,1 esp!/ in his analsis of an advertisement for Barcla3s
Hisa card! Bhat is at issue in this" and similar advertisements" is the &intertextual
relation #etween the financial information and advertising elements of the text&"
namel" the conflict #etween the conditions of use of this card" and the means of &
selling& it to the consumer! ;ne such techni)ue emploed # the copwriter is the
deli#erate avoidance of authoritative language in the form of o#ligation! %n this
advertisement" the copwriter has toned down the regulator parts of the text! %n
9airclough3s view *p! ,,1/" &this gives the sense of the two discourse tpes tring
uneasil to coexist in the text& !
At all events" these are <ust a few of the areas for further research! %t is onl through a
full appreciation of the inter>discoursal elements that the social and linguistic
significance of advertisements can #e #rought full to life! %t is hoped that this paper
provides the stimulus for more investigations into this fascinating field of stud! '--)
A44endi5 (
Transcript for &Cuddlies& diaper commercial
il-!e!ihat !itfaddal kudlz . . . sa!a 2ta!a#at wi astik . . .
kudlz !iyitkawwin min sa!a 2ta!aqat likay yu#akkid rahit wi gafaf 2tiflik . . . wi
li mazd min al-ihkam muzawwad !i astik . . .
il-!e!ihat !itfaddal kudlz . . . sa!a 2ta!a#at wi astik
Translation
&Ba#ies love Cuddlies ! ! ! seven laers and a piece of elastic ! ! !
Cuddlies have seven laers to ensure that our child remains comforta#le and dr ! ! !
and for extra strength the have a piece of elastic! ! ! !
Ba#ies love Cuddlies ! ! ! seven laers and a piece of elastic!
A44endi5 +
Transcript for &Oisma& shampoo commercial
Consumer: iddn s-sirr f saadtik d kullahaG
@emonstrator: a!adan ghasalt(i) shar !i sham!u #isma l-gadd
Consumer: eh hiketuh daG
@emonstrator: min khilal dirasat mustafda istamarrit sanawat adda tawaal
khu!ara# it-tagml ila sham!u #isma l-gadd
Consumer: mawgud dilwa#tG
@emonstrator: wi talat anwa kaman . . . li sh-shar ig-gaff . . . li sh-shar id-
duhn wi li sh-shar il-ad . . . gawda aliya f t-tark! . . . ra#iha
mutamayyiza . . . yagal ish-shar dhu !arq . . . sham!u #isma l-gidd . . . huwwa
ill f khayal
Consumer: wi siruh ad
Translation
C: &Bh are ou so happE&
@: &%t3s no secret! ! ! ! % washed m hair with new &Oisma& shampoo!&
C: &Tell me a#out it!&
@: &As a result of studies lasting a num#er of ears #eautification experts have
produced the new shampoo from Oisma!&
C: &%s it availa#le nowE&
@: &[Ves]" and in three si4es ! ! ! for dr" greas and ordinar hair! ! ! ! it has a
distinctive smell ! ! ! and a high>)ualit composition! ! ! ! %t ma$es the hair shine! ! ! !
Oisma shampoo is the one for meN&
C: &And it is reasona#l priced!& '-.)
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;pen +inguistic Series! +ondon: :inter! 6(C.8!
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-ultural 0a1 in ;anguage" edited # Soce 5errill Haldes" ,1-C-1!
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BE0R" 0ALS! ,-1.! ' +ictionary of Hodern Mritten 'ra!ic. 7rd edition! Lew
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6e7 to ma8a9ines and ne:s4a4ers referred to in t;e te5t
H Y 34awa#
D Y Cif al-+unya
U Y al-Nsra
O Y Iardat Nman
% Y al-Hushahid
U Y al-Nsra
HA& Y al-34ayat
SA Y al-%harq al-'wsa2t *newspaper/
All television commercials are ta$en from two collections of video recordings made
in ,-A- and ,--8! The advertisements were all recorded from Egptian television
Channel Two! '-1)
Fi8ure ( '-2)
Fi8ure +
[,] Than$s are due to a num#er of people who aided this research! 9irst % should li$e
to commend the wor$ of one of m undergraduate students" Ligel ;rchard" who
carried out an enormous amount of research on this su#<ect under m supervision to
produce a fine dissertation! Second" than$s are also due to 5rs 5agda A#ou Voussef
of the TA9+ Centre" Qniversit of Alexandria" and @r Jeina# Taha of the AQC" who
provided the video recordings of most of the commercials used for this stud!
9or our interpretation of the term &discourse&" we follow 9airclough *,--,:.7/ who
regards language use as a &form of social practice" rather than a purel individual
activit or a reflex of situational varia#les&! %n other words" discourse is not onl a
mode of representation #ut also a mode of action" &one form in which people ma act
upon the world and especiall upon each other&!
[(] Coo$ ,--(:7!
[7] +eech la#els the main slogan at the end of a television commercial an &endline&"
and the slogan at the end of a press advertisement a &signature line&!
[8] This paper will onl concern itself with what +eech has called &commercial
consumer advertising& *,-..:(6/! Thus it will not consider trade or classified
advertisements" for instance!
[6] 5uch more could #e said on this point alone! 9or instance" is it more appropriate
to tal$ here of dialectal interference or solecismsE The same could #e said for the
word tasal as part of the following noun cluster from a #rief advertisement for &
5?$?& maga4ines: thaqafa & culture&" tasal &entertainment&" dahakat &laughs&
*D:,6=6=-8/" or a slightl different example involving the use of the imperative
mood: ikhtar . . . !i kulli thiqa &choose ! ! ! with complete confidence& *O:.=-=-8/"
where the ver# appears to have #een written according to vernacular phonolog" i!e!"
with the retention of the long vowel!
[.] %n +eech3s view *,-..:,21/ compounds such as fine>spun and powder>light are
&instances of what is perhaps more than anthing else a hallmar$ of advertising
English: the ad<ective compound&!
[1] As opposed to the histor of civili4ation component *Halette ,-A.:,1-/ which has
until recentl perhaps #een overemphasi4ed at the expense of the sociological
*anthropological/ element!
[A] Suleiman *,--7:1AC1- esp!/ gives a useful assessment of the value of advertising
as one of several means of teaching culture in the classroom!
[-] Than$full" the present writer did not find too man examples of the tpe of
advertisement noted # 0oles *,--6:(16 n!72/ in which the script has clearl
undergone a literal translation from English into Ara#ic! 0oles notes the following
caption from a commercial for Vardle3s &+ace&" a women3s perfume: la shay
yu!ihu l-mar#a mithil );ace) &Lothing #ecomes a woman li$e 3+ace3&!
[,2] Ta$e" for example" one of the older British Telecom advertisements with the
caption: &Vour dinner is in the dog&! This was the message left # the irate wife
whose hus#and was late home from wor$" presuma#l not for the first time! The
message #eing conveed here would normall onl #e understood in cultures where:
*a/ the expression &Vour dinner is in the oven& is easil recognisa#le as a &culture>
specific& expression" and *#/ dogs are $ept as pets" and are often given food scraps" or
even more! The connotation in this advertisement" of course" is that the hus#and reall
is &in the dog>house&N
[,,] See 9airclough ,--(:81" )uoting from 5ichel 9oucault3s 6he 'rchaeology of
5nowledge.
[,(] See" for instance" Eid *,-A(' ,-A7' ,-A1' ,-AA and ,--,/ or A#u>5elhim *,--,/!
[,7] % have also found that some advertisements for domestic products" such as
washing powders" occur in a form of Standard Ara#ic outside the Egptian
environment" such as on satellite television channels" even though the same product
ma #e advertised in Egpt in the collo)uial form!
[,8] As evidence that the Egptians themselves now ta$e a somewhat humorous view
of this expression" one can purchase T>shirts in Egpt with the words ma fsh
mushkila &Lo pro#lemN& printed across the front!
[,6] There is also another possi#le interpretation of the tpe of language used in this
advertisement' for this" see #elow p! ,.ff!
[,.] See also #elow" categor *v/: c!
[,1] Throughout this article % am ta$ing the Egptian rendering of the "m as gm to #e
a regular feature of an educated Egptian3s pronunciation of SA! Therefore it does not
follow that an script or dialogue #earing the gm necessaril constitutes an example
of ECA! :ar$inson has demonstrated *,--,:68ff!/ in his &+istening 5atched Iuise
Experiment& that the ma<orit of su#<ects who listened to the reading aloud of a
newspaper editorial did not consider it to #e anthing other than SA *or &modern fuh
a& to use :ar$inson3s term/ even when the "m was read throughout as gm! To this
categor we might add the variant pronunciation of qaf as a &sun& letter in" for
instance" a television commercial for &Taft& hairspra: ar-rihla muttagiha ila q-q
ahira &the <ourne is heading for Cairo&!
[,A] This phenomenon immediatel #rings to mind tpes of collo)uial *Bedouin/
poetr which have retained some vestiges of tanwn! %f this similarit should prove to
#e more than coincidental it underlines once again the importance of intertextualit in
advertising discourse!
[,-] %n fact" the signature line can #e read in one of two was' either in ECA" as is the
case with the voice>over" or as SA" that is" sha2taratuhu f nazafatih! This
am#iguit reflects perfectl the range of language levels which are activel used in
Ara#ic! %t also underlines" perhaps" that there remains a reluctance on the part of some
for ECA to #e represented in script" although the resistance to this is pro#a#l
receding now" particularl in advertisements *and" of course" cartoons in newspapers
and maga4ines/! This example alone confirms the difficult of tracing consistent
orthographical norms in collo)uial Ara#ic script! 5eiseles made the point *,-A2:,(8/
that &the writing of *an/ vernacular Ara#ic has not consolidatedDat least at this stage
Dinto firm norms&! But the graphemic representation of the pure vernacular on the
television screen in particular mar$s a considera#le relaxing of old pre<udices against
the writing of the collo)uial language!
[(2] %n addition to the man articles that deal with Educated Spo$en Ara#ic" such as
Blanc *,-.2/" el>0assan *,-11/" 5itchell *,-1A" ,-A2 and ,-A./" *and" of course" his
large [+eeds Qniversit] corpus of unpu#lished material on ESA/" and 5eiseles
*,-A2/" we now have the first pu#lished monograph on the su#<ect: T! 9! 5itchell3s
and Shahir El>0assan3s Hodality* Hood and 's1ect in %1oken 'ra!ic" +i#rar of
Ara#ic +inguistics" 5onograph Lo! ,," +ondon: Pegan :aul %nternational" ,--6!
[(,] This is not to sa" however" that the presence of the proclitic !i- dis)ualifies a
ver# from #eing an example of ESA! See 5itchell and El>0assan ,--6:-7C-8" for
example!
[((] %t should not #e forgotten that here *and elsewhere/ we are discussing an
originall scripted rather than spontaneousl spo$en piece of discourse" since the
advertisements were" after all" originall written # the copwriter!
[(7] 9or a discussion of rhme and other phonological schemes see #elow" p! (8ff!
[(8] +eech *,-..:,A.CA1/ defines a &scheme& in this context as &a correspondence or
partial identit *over and a#ove the degree of identit inherent in language structure/
#etween e)uivalent pieces of text in proximit&!
[(6] The three main tpes of co>ordination are: lin$ing" parataxis" and apposition
*i#id!:,8./!
[(.] Although these examples are good illustrations of traditional consonant rhme
schemes" it is worth pointing out that rhme and rhthm patterns are often enhanced
# the common occurrence of the feminine noun and ad<ective mar$er which reads as
>a(h) in pausal form' for instance" the noun inaya &care& mentioned a#ove" or the
ad<ective amaliyya & practical&! %n a comparison of %talian and English" 9raser notes
*,-12:.,C.(/ that the former is #etter e)uipped to form rhming patterns #ecause it
contains a greater num#er of words with open vocalic endings! Although we would
not wish to draw an direct comparison #etween Ara#ic and %talian" there is no dou#t
that this feminine vocalic ending in Ara#ic gives the copwriter great scope to create
rhme schemes!
[(1] %s#ir=Sunad? ,-A,:18.! The categor of "inas lafz is one of the man examples
of !ad &ver#al artifices& emploed in various genres of Ara#ic literature" #ut
particularl in prose writing!
[(A] %n fact" % have heard a commercial for the same product on satellite television" in
which the linguistic register was not strictl Egptian! Therefore" the effect created #
the ECA version was partiall lost: lza . . . ya"al kull(i) ha"a ladhdha!
[(-] The use of the &unreal idafa& in advertising ma well #e worth a stud of its
own" since the num#er and range of this tpe of compound construction appear to #e
ever expanding! To what extent some of the examples would #e accepta#le in SA
prose is one interesting point! @oes an restriction exist on the tpe of collocational
relationships #etween noun and ad<ective in these constructionsE Cf! a maga4ine
advertisement for Corona cigars: sahlat al-hifz !i l-"ay! &easil stored in the poc$et&
*D A=6=-8/!
[72] ;f course" there is more than <ust reverse rhme involved here if one ta$es into
account the rhme with >ya or >iyya!
[7,] Copwriters are not permitted to claim that their product is of a higher )ualit
than another named product!
[7(] %t will # now #e apparent to readers familiar with British advertising that man
of the slogans alread presented in this stud #ear a strong resem#lance to their
British counterparts! %n such cases as the &@a4& slogan" we have a direct translation
from the English! Bhat is interesting is that the Ara#ic language displas the same
potential to #e used in an unorthodox manner!
[77] %n +eech3s view" when normall &<oins a clause a#out the product to a clause
a#out the consumer3s needs and their satisfaction& *i#id!:,,./!
[78] According to 5eiseles3 classification *,-A2:,(-/ the numerals listed # El>
0assan #elong to the categor of &;ral +iterar Ara#ic& rather than ESA! 5eiseles
#ases his argument on the fact that one of the most distinguishing features of ;+A is
its tendenc to restore ira! vowels as well as the &*sntacticall/ functionless harak
at awakhir al-kalim&!
[76] %t is impossi#le to ascertain the register of the num#er itself #ecause it is given in
Ara#ic numerals" not words!
[7.] The na! case on unuran ghidha#iyyan asasiyyan in the main text could #e
owing to its grammatical status as a direct o#<ect of the ver#" #ut this would not
account for the omission of the na! nunation in the other two examples! ;ne would
expect the noun following this num#er to #e in the na! case in written Ara#ic
whatever the context!
[71] This lin$s well with the importance placed # Coo$ *,--(:88ff!/ on the role of
music in advertising!
[7A] The counterpart of this is the & intra>discoursal& tpe" which contains &the voice
of another example of the same discourse tpe" as when an ad assumes $nowledge of
another ad& *Coo$ ,--(:,-2/!
[7-] There are surel other possi#le interpretations! 9or instance" the rural setting for
the &Ariel& commercial suggests a freshness uni)ue to the countrside which
corresponds to the freshness supposedl produced # the product!
[82] 0inds=Badawi *,-A.:1,(/ draw an astute comparison #etween 9afya and &$noc$>
$noc$& <o$es in British culture!
[8,] Iiven that the collection of materials from which this commercial was ta$en was
compiled at that time" this pun would have #een particularl appropriate!
[8(] The fre)uent references which have #een made in this paper to Ieoffre +eech3s
wor$ is more a reflection of the paucit of studies of that tpe on advertising
language" than of an attempt to identif common ground #etween British and Ara#ic
advertising!
[87] This example was $indl given to me # m colleague Sac$ Smart who saw it in
the Sudan more than twent ears ago! The linguistic dexterit of the copwriter is
reflected in this example in two was! 9irst" it incorporates the coordinating particle
fa* which one could translate here as &so&" and the imperative ver# intaish! which
means &#e invigorated&! :erhaps even more su#tle is the possi#le pla on the words
anta taish & *ma/ou live&" which again underlines the element of & vitalit&
supposedl contained in the fi44 drin$!
[88] See 9airclough ,--(:.8C.6" )uoting 0allida3s ;anguage as a %ocial %emiotic.