A Pragmatic-Cognitive Approach to Brand Names: A Case Study of Rioja Wine Brands

Abstract

This paper analyzes a collection of Rioja wine names, looking into the pragmatic and conceptual mechanisms underlying their semantic configuration. It provides some insights into their linguistic adequacy and effectiveness, and offers a preliminary assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of Rioja wine trademarks. The branding of Rioja wines has traditionally been carried out by wine producers themselves. This trend, however, seems to be changing as wine companies increasingly turn to professional branding services. A systematic application of the pragmatic and conceptual strategies isolated in this study results in a rich pool of lexical extensions. It is argued that a careful choice of the initial inventory of key notions as well as of the source concepts used in metonymic and metaphoric extensions would help to minimize the generation of negative connotations. To the same end, branding experts should also take into consideration a number of pragmatic maxims and cultural models.

Keywords:

• conceptual mappings
• cultural models
• pragmatics
• branding
• inference
• Rioja wine brands

Financial support has been provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (FFI2010-17610/FILO) and the CILAP center.

Notes

1 A word of caveat is in order here: the concept of ‘chaval’ (kid) could alternatively prompt the activation of negative connotations (i.e., kids as disrespectful, unhygienic, etc.). The subjective nature of associations, and the fact that some consumers may simply not bother looking for any extra interpretation and just take the name as a name are always plausible scenarios. However, it should be noted that a core genre convention of advertising discourse is its focus on offering a positive description of the target product. This expectation involves that every meaningful element used is aimed to help consumers construct an attractive image of the product or brand. In other words, all things being equal, consumers will, by default, look for a favorable interpretation, which may of course be blocked in those cases in which the name has obvious marked negative overtones.

2 These additional connotations need not be activated by all consumers, since as already noted, associations are essentially subjective. The comparison operation between source and target domains, however, ensures that the conceptual make-up of the source domain (i.e., predicator, confessor) is at hand for potential activation. Which elements of these domains are actually activated may vary among consumers, contexts, and also depending on the nature of the target domain. Thus, as shown in relation to the Organza and ¡Qué bonito cacarea! brands, cueing and selection operations typically accompany all comparison operations.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lorena Pérez Hernández

Lorena Pérez Hernández is Associate Professor at the University of La Rioja (Spain). Her current interests include the study of illocution, politeness, and brand names design, from a functional-cognitive perspective. Her work has been published in specialized journals including Language and Communication, Journal of Pragmatics, and Applied Linguistics.

Correspondence to: Lorena Pérez Hernández, University of La Rioja, Department of Modern Languages, C/San José de Calasanz, s/n, 26004 Logroño, La Rioja, Spain. Email: [email protected]