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摘 要：Brand names are the offspring of highly development of market economics， and play a crucial role in modern society. This paper discusses the sociolinguistic theoretical basis of brand name. Attention should be paid to the cultural factors of brand naming， including customs and manners， religious beliefs， ethics， regional culture and so on.
關键词：brand name； sociolinguistic； cultural factors
1. Culture and Brand Name
“Culture” is more or less synonymous with “civilization” and in an older and extreme formulation of the contrast， opposed to “barbarism”. It rests ultimately upon the classical concept of what constitutes excellence in art， literature， manners and social institutions. Here we have a much broader meaning for it： following the traditional definition， the term culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs， customs， institutions， objects and techniques that characterize the life of a particular society.
Brand name is the core of brand which is constituted by words. Language is culturally loaded and dependent. Language is influenced and shaped by culture； it reflects culture. Culture does not only exert a strong influence on language， particularly on its semantic structure， but also governs its actual use in social communication. Thus， culture is fully expressed in brand names which carry many Cultural Factors.
Brand culture refers to the cultural factors deposited in the brand and all the cultural phenomena concerned with branding activities. Brand cultural factors include every aspect of brands， all the excellent achievements of human civilization， like science and technology， literature and art， morals and self-cultivations， laws and regulations， which make brand culture extremely abundant.
2. Cultural Factors in English Brand Name
The discussion of the result of this research is to be made in the following Part. Cultural factors are mentioned in this part， which mainly focus on the customs and manners， religious beliefs， ethics and regional culture.
2.1 Customs and Manners
“People’s behaviors are not determined only by their needs and motivations， but also by their surroundings， and the contexts in which they make decisions.” People in different cultures can do the same thing for different reasons or motives， and people in different countries may do different things for the same reason. Many global standard products or product features which are assumed to be culture-free are bought for different reasons across different cultures. A good example is individualized ring tones that were offered by Nokia to Chinese consumers. These are interesting for people of individualistic cultures who want to demonstrate their uniqueness， but not so interesting for the collectivistic Chinese who prefer to be in harmony with the other members of the group. Every country has its own course of development and corresponding generates different conventions， customs， institutions， taboos and etiquette while being distinct features， “the common sense of one nation which spontaneously reflected in language constitutes obstacles in intercultural communication.” The social cultural default thus appears. Every society has its code of conduct and moral standard observed by its social member Successful brand names not only bring economic efficiency but also take social influence into consideration. Owing to the differences in social system and cultural background， the concept of “social morality” varies in different countries.
2.2 Religious Beliefs
“It is clear that religion and culture are inextricably entwined， for religion in a strict sense， stands for a moral standard， which is gradually deposited the deep layer of a culture during the process of passing from one generation to the next and finally becomes part of the core of that culture.” Christianity is dominant in western world. Buddhism and Islam are important and influential religions in China. These religions exert their influence on people’s life and penetrate into all the aspects of their cultures. Without sufficient knowledge the religious backgrounds of the languages that are involved in the intercultural communication and translation， people will inevitably me barriers. If the brand name happens to offend the taboo or dogma of some religion， it will meet difficulty in registering or using that brand name.
As for English brand names， many brand names came from images of Christianity. Christianity is the main western religious belief as well as a source of the western culture. Therefore many allusions to Christianity have been used as English brand names， such as Angel， Eve， paradise and so on. Another important source for English brand names is ancient Greek and Roman mythologies and legends. These famous god， goddess， hero and heroines from ancient Greek and Roman mythologies and legends are household images in the western culture.
2.3 Ethics
“Ethics， also known as moral philosophy， is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is， concepts such as good and evil， right and wrong， virtue and vice， justice， etc. Westerners’ attitude towards age and individualism has great influence on English brand names.”
Chinese and Westerners have different attitude towards age. In China “being old” means being experienced； it shows your respect to others. But in the west， it is a taboo. It is impolite to mention other’s age or to say someone is old. To be sure， there are burdens that come with old age. The old experience memory loss， has a serious illness， is not sexually active， or often feels sad or depressed. They are lonely or have trouble paying bills and cannot drive. Most of them say they feel they aren’t needed or are a burden to others. 2.4 Regional Culture
Eugene. A. Nida indicates that if we want to make some progress intercultural communication， the following two subcultures should be give more attention： ecological culture and material culture.
2.4.1 Ecological culture
The natural world is diverse and pavonine. The countries in different are have their own distinct ecological characteristics. “The difference in ecology may influence people’s cognitive reality and perceptual system.” The distinctness is correspondingly reflected in language. Concerned with the same entity people in different language communities may have different opinion or even striking contrast.
2.4.2 Material culture
“Owing to different ways of living， in the process of evolvement， different nations have developed their own distinct construction， food， clothes， literature genre and something closely related with one nation’s life.” A thing that common in one country may be totally absent in another， or may have thoroughly different connotations in other countries. The Chinese food” chicken pot pie”， “macaroni”， “meatloaf， “popover”， “gumbo” and so on is all typical food in America which are not familiar to the foreigners. They carried many regional culture of America. When they are introduced to the foreign market problems of translation appear that there is no correspondent word.
3. Conclusion
A brand name stands for a product， company or service， so brand naming is studied by more and more people. In conclusion， English brand names are different from the common names and have some distinctive features. In order to create good brand name， people should study brand naming and brand translation. This paper discusses the sociolinguistic theoretical basis of brand name. Attention should be paid to the cultural factors of brand naming， including customs and manners， religious beliefs， ethics， regional culture and so on.■
參考文献
[1] Kramsch， Claire. Language and Culture [M].Oxford： Oxford University Press， 2008：174.
[2] T. T. Liu. Cultural Default and Compensation in Brand Name Translation. Jilin University Master’s Degree Thesis. 2007： 27-29.
[3] Eugene A. Nida. Language Culture and Translating [M]. Inner Mongolia： Publishing Company of Inner Mongolia University， 2008：87-91.
作者简介：
曹海洋（1981.4-）女，汉族，黑龙江齐齐哈尔人，讲师，硕士，主要从事英语教育研究。
司宇婷（1993.11-）女，汉族，黑龙江鸡西人，英语专业学生。
關键词：brand name； sociolinguistic； cultural factors
1. Culture and Brand Name
“Culture” is more or less synonymous with “civilization” and in an older and extreme formulation of the contrast， opposed to “barbarism”. It rests ultimately upon the classical concept of what constitutes excellence in art， literature， manners and social institutions. Here we have a much broader meaning for it： following the traditional definition， the term culture refers to the total pattern of beliefs， customs， institutions， objects and techniques that characterize the life of a particular society.
Brand name is the core of brand which is constituted by words. Language is culturally loaded and dependent. Language is influenced and shaped by culture； it reflects culture. Culture does not only exert a strong influence on language， particularly on its semantic structure， but also governs its actual use in social communication. Thus， culture is fully expressed in brand names which carry many Cultural Factors.
Brand culture refers to the cultural factors deposited in the brand and all the cultural phenomena concerned with branding activities. Brand cultural factors include every aspect of brands， all the excellent achievements of human civilization， like science and technology， literature and art， morals and self-cultivations， laws and regulations， which make brand culture extremely abundant.
2. Cultural Factors in English Brand Name
The discussion of the result of this research is to be made in the following Part. Cultural factors are mentioned in this part， which mainly focus on the customs and manners， religious beliefs， ethics and regional culture.
2.1 Customs and Manners
“People’s behaviors are not determined only by their needs and motivations， but also by their surroundings， and the contexts in which they make decisions.” People in different cultures can do the same thing for different reasons or motives， and people in different countries may do different things for the same reason. Many global standard products or product features which are assumed to be culture-free are bought for different reasons across different cultures. A good example is individualized ring tones that were offered by Nokia to Chinese consumers. These are interesting for people of individualistic cultures who want to demonstrate their uniqueness， but not so interesting for the collectivistic Chinese who prefer to be in harmony with the other members of the group. Every country has its own course of development and corresponding generates different conventions， customs， institutions， taboos and etiquette while being distinct features， “the common sense of one nation which spontaneously reflected in language constitutes obstacles in intercultural communication.” The social cultural default thus appears. Every society has its code of conduct and moral standard observed by its social member Successful brand names not only bring economic efficiency but also take social influence into consideration. Owing to the differences in social system and cultural background， the concept of “social morality” varies in different countries.
2.2 Religious Beliefs
“It is clear that religion and culture are inextricably entwined， for religion in a strict sense， stands for a moral standard， which is gradually deposited the deep layer of a culture during the process of passing from one generation to the next and finally becomes part of the core of that culture.” Christianity is dominant in western world. Buddhism and Islam are important and influential religions in China. These religions exert their influence on people’s life and penetrate into all the aspects of their cultures. Without sufficient knowledge the religious backgrounds of the languages that are involved in the intercultural communication and translation， people will inevitably me barriers. If the brand name happens to offend the taboo or dogma of some religion， it will meet difficulty in registering or using that brand name.
As for English brand names， many brand names came from images of Christianity. Christianity is the main western religious belief as well as a source of the western culture. Therefore many allusions to Christianity have been used as English brand names， such as Angel， Eve， paradise and so on. Another important source for English brand names is ancient Greek and Roman mythologies and legends. These famous god， goddess， hero and heroines from ancient Greek and Roman mythologies and legends are household images in the western culture.
2.3 Ethics
“Ethics， also known as moral philosophy， is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is， concepts such as good and evil， right and wrong， virtue and vice， justice， etc. Westerners’ attitude towards age and individualism has great influence on English brand names.”
Chinese and Westerners have different attitude towards age. In China “being old” means being experienced； it shows your respect to others. But in the west， it is a taboo. It is impolite to mention other’s age or to say someone is old. To be sure， there are burdens that come with old age. The old experience memory loss， has a serious illness， is not sexually active， or often feels sad or depressed. They are lonely or have trouble paying bills and cannot drive. Most of them say they feel they aren’t needed or are a burden to others. 2.4 Regional Culture
Eugene. A. Nida indicates that if we want to make some progress intercultural communication， the following two subcultures should be give more attention： ecological culture and material culture.
2.4.1 Ecological culture
The natural world is diverse and pavonine. The countries in different are have their own distinct ecological characteristics. “The difference in ecology may influence people’s cognitive reality and perceptual system.” The distinctness is correspondingly reflected in language. Concerned with the same entity people in different language communities may have different opinion or even striking contrast.
2.4.2 Material culture
“Owing to different ways of living， in the process of evolvement， different nations have developed their own distinct construction， food， clothes， literature genre and something closely related with one nation’s life.” A thing that common in one country may be totally absent in another， or may have thoroughly different connotations in other countries. The Chinese food” chicken pot pie”， “macaroni”， “meatloaf， “popover”， “gumbo” and so on is all typical food in America which are not familiar to the foreigners. They carried many regional culture of America. When they are introduced to the foreign market problems of translation appear that there is no correspondent word.
3. Conclusion
A brand name stands for a product， company or service， so brand naming is studied by more and more people. In conclusion， English brand names are different from the common names and have some distinctive features. In order to create good brand name， people should study brand naming and brand translation. This paper discusses the sociolinguistic theoretical basis of brand name. Attention should be paid to the cultural factors of brand naming， including customs and manners， religious beliefs， ethics， regional culture and so on.■
參考文献
[1] Kramsch， Claire. Language and Culture [M].Oxford： Oxford University Press， 2008：174.
[2] T. T. Liu. Cultural Default and Compensation in Brand Name Translation. Jilin University Master’s Degree Thesis. 2007： 27-29.
[3] Eugene A. Nida. Language Culture and Translating [M]. Inner Mongolia： Publishing Company of Inner Mongolia University， 2008：87-91.
作者简介：
曹海洋（1981.4-）女，汉族，黑龙江齐齐哈尔人，讲师，硕士，主要从事英语教育研究。
司宇婷（1993.11-）女，汉族，黑龙江鸡西人，英语专业学生。