Chapter 8. Attitudes towards globalized company names
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Leila Mattfolk
Abstract
The study applies general sociolinguistic and pragmatic methods of attitude analysis onto analyses of attitudes towards English elements in company names found in the countryside of Swedish-language Finland. The method used is discourse analysis of focus group discussions about names. The distinction between explicit opinions, implicit (i.e., subconscious) attitudes and socioconscious attitudes that have been found important in explicating speakers’ views on globalized elements in the local language generally, is found not to be of major importance in discussions of attitudes towards globalized names. This tallies with the general view that names (proper nouns) and appellatives (common nouns) are interactively viewed as, processed as, and culturally seen as different kinds of elements. The study furthermore shows that foreign elements are more readily accepted in company names than in the language generally, but because of this, such foreign elements in names can become a back door for the admittance of more foreign elements in the language generally.
Abstract
The study applies general sociolinguistic and pragmatic methods of attitude analysis onto analyses of attitudes towards English elements in company names found in the countryside of Swedish-language Finland. The method used is discourse analysis of focus group discussions about names. The distinction between explicit opinions, implicit (i.e., subconscious) attitudes and socioconscious attitudes that have been found important in explicating speakers’ views on globalized elements in the local language generally, is found not to be of major importance in discussions of attitudes towards globalized names. This tallies with the general view that names (proper nouns) and appellatives (common nouns) are interactively viewed as, processed as, and culturally seen as different kinds of elements. The study furthermore shows that foreign elements are more readily accepted in company names than in the language generally, but because of this, such foreign elements in names can become a back door for the admittance of more foreign elements in the language generally.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Part I. Tradition, identity and transmission
- Chapter 2. The transmission of toponyms in language shift societies 21
- Chapter 3. Creating identities through the choice of first names 45
- Chapter 4. Naming of children in Finnish and Finnish-Norwegian families in Norway 69
- Chapter 5. Names in contact 93
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Part II. The variability of names
- Chapter 6. Orienting to norms 129
- Chapter 7. Place names in contact 155
- Chapter 8. Attitudes towards globalized company names 165
- Chapter 9. Naming businesses – in the context of bilingual Finnish cityscapes 183
- Chapter 10. The perception of Somali place names among immigrant Somali youth in Helsinki 203
- Subject index 227
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Part I. Tradition, identity and transmission
- Chapter 2. The transmission of toponyms in language shift societies 21
- Chapter 3. Creating identities through the choice of first names 45
- Chapter 4. Naming of children in Finnish and Finnish-Norwegian families in Norway 69
- Chapter 5. Names in contact 93
-
Part II. The variability of names
- Chapter 6. Orienting to norms 129
- Chapter 7. Place names in contact 155
- Chapter 8. Attitudes towards globalized company names 165
- Chapter 9. Naming businesses – in the context of bilingual Finnish cityscapes 183
- Chapter 10. The perception of Somali place names among immigrant Somali youth in Helsinki 203
- Subject index 227
