Language switches, or code-switching, are a linguistic practice employed by bilinguals. This paper explores the impact of language switches on persuasion. Language switches are used in advertising to create mixed-language messages.
Language switches, or code-switching, are a linguistic practice employed by bilinguals. This paper explores the impact of language switches on persuasion. Language switches are used in advertising to create mixed-language messages.
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Language switches, or code-switching, are a linguistic practice employed by bilinguals. This paper explores the impact of language switches on persuasion. Language switches are used in advertising to create mixed-language messages.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Sociolinguistic effects on code-switched ads targeting bilingual
consumers.
Some studies in marketing have begun to explore the influence of
language on information processing and, in particular, on memory processes (e.g., Schmitt, Pan, and Tavassoli 1994; Schmitt and Zhang 1998; Tavassoli 1999). That research highlights the link between language and consumers' cognitive structures, illustrating the importance of linguistic theory for consumer research. Recent research by Tavassoli and Han (2001) with Chinese-English bilinguals has identified language-based processing differences that impact memory. Studies by Luna and Peracchio (2001) have found that processing a message in a first versus a second language can impact bilinguals' memory. However, with some exceptions (Koslow, Shamdasani, and Touchstone 1994), there is a dearth of research on persuasion processes for bilinguals. The media have acknowledged the importance of bilinguals and provide different language options for different linguistic groups (Holland and Gentry 1999; Lee and Tse 1994). Similarly, advertisers' efforts to target and persuade bilinguals have become increasingly intense and creative. Manipulations of the language in which the ad is written are an important part of advertisers' efforts to appeal to bilinguals. Thus, some ads include two versions of the ad copy--one in the majority language and another in the minority language. Other ads are written completely in the minority language, and yet others are mostly in one language, but switch some words or expressions to the other language. This paper explores the impact of language switches, or code-switching, on persuasion. In advertising, code-switching generally consists of inserting a foreign word or expression into an ad slogan, resulting in a mixed-language message. Code-switching is a linguistic practice employed by bilinguals around the world (Grosjean 1982). In the United States, code-switching Spanish and English is part of the ubiquitous phenomenon commonly called "Spanglish," which is widely used in television programming (Adelson 1998; Alvarez 1998), advertising (Alvarez 1997), best-selling novels (Chavez 2002), and on the Internet (Dillon 2000). For example, English-language ads targeting bilingual U.S. Latinos may contain a strategically chosen Spanish-language component. Thus, a recent advertisement for Latina magazine read: "Looking great doesn't have to cost a fortuna." The advertiser appears to believe that the word "fortuna" will be more compelling than "fortune" among a Latino audience. Our work builds on previous advertising research (e.g., Koslow, Shamdasani, and Touchstone 1994) and identifies factors that influence bilinguals' responses to code-switching. We begin our inquiry with a brief review of a sociolinguistic model, the Markedness Model, and other research that suggests that, for bilinguals, different languages possess different sets of associations, or language schemas. These schemas can be activated and deactivated by switching to and from particular languages. We then develop a theoretical framework that highlights sociolinguistic and media context factors that interact with the effects of code-switching and language schema activation with respect to persuasion. Two empirical studies investigate this framework. The studies provide evidence that different types of code- switching activate different language schemas, and consequently lead to different levels of persuasion. The studies also identify attitudinal and contextual factors that influence the persuasiveness of code- switched ads.
LANGUAGE SCHEMAS
The Markedness Model
Code-switching has been studied at great length in the sociolinguistic literature because of its frequent use by bilinguals (Benson 2001). Myers-Scotton's (1991, 1993a, 1999) Markedness Model can be used as a theoretical backdrop to examine the social meanings of code- switching and how languages can become associated with certain meanings. The Markedness Model attempts to explain the social motivations of code-switching by considering language choice as a way of communicating desired or perceived group memberships and interpersonal relationships. One of the premises of the Markedness Model is that "humans are innately predisposed to exploit code choices as negotiations of 'position.' That is, speakers use their linguistic choices as tools to index for others their perceptions of self, and of rights and obligations holding between self and others" (Myers-Scotton 1993b, p. 478). Hence, an individual's choice of language signals a specific social identity and/or belonging to a specific community. Speakers negotiate a rights and obligations balance with their addressees for a specific speech event, based on norms established by the community and the sociopsychological features most salient in that event. Certain codes or languages are associated with certain features, and speakers choose the language they will use by matching the language to the salient features of a particular event (Myers-Scotton 1991). For example, English may be associated with the features education, wealth, and commerce, so in events in which those features are salient, the expected language choice would be English (Barker et al. 2001). With respect to code-switching, the Markedness Model suggests that individuals will switch languages or insert other-language elements into their speech when they want to communicate certain meanings or group memberships. An other-language element becomes marked because of its contrast with the listener's expectations. A marked element is recognized by the parties involved in the exchange as communicating a specific intended meaning. Indeed, code-switching is generally socially motivated and is rarely a sign of a lack of fluency in either language (Grosjean 1982). For example, Myers-Scotton (1993b) reports a case recorded in a rural bar in western Kenya in which everyone speaks the local dialect, Lwidakho (the minority language). When a local farmer asks for a gift of money from a local man who is a salaried worker in the city, the salary-man switches languages and produces his refusal in three languages--English, Swahili, and Lwidakho. English and Swahili are used as a distancing device in this case, as both are interethnic, or majority, languages. In other cases, switching to the local dialect can be an instrument to create a sense of proximity, as in the case of a Luyia (western Kenya) shopkeeper's sister, who switches to Luyia, the minority language, to request some salt from her brother at his business (Scotton and Ury 1977). The woman uses Luyia instead of Swahili, which is the majority language of business, because she hopes to diminish the social distance with her brother so he will offer her a good deal. To sum up, the Markedness Model can be used as a framework to study the sociolinguistic motivations for code-switching. Languages can be associated with specific meanings, and individuals can communicate those meanings through their language choice. In addition, the Markedness Model suggests that a variety of factors can influence the acceptability of code-switching in particular instances (Myers-Scotton and Jake 2001), including the feasibility of monolingual and bilingual discourse (e.g., will my interlocutors understand me if I code switch?), attitude toward code-switching itself (e.g., will they consider me illiterate if I code switch?), and acceptability of different types of code-switching (e.g., should I speak mostly in English and pepper my speech with some expressions in Spanish, or vice versa?). Advertising and the Markedness Model Throughout this paper, we adopt Grosjean's (1982) terminology when referring to the languages that coexist within a given culture. Thus, we use the term majority language to denote the language spoken by the group that holds the political, cultural, and economic power within a country. Minority language is used for the language spoken by the group that possesses less power and prestige. Koslow, Shamdasani, and Touchstone (1994) employed a sociolinguistic perspective to explore the impact of language on persuasion for U.S. Hispanics. Their study found that language had an impact on ad evaluations, but it found no differences between single- language ads in English (the majority language) and multilanguage ads in which all components were communicated in both English and Spanish. Single-language Spanish ads, however, resulted in lower ad evaluations than single-language English ads and multilanguage ads. The authors concluded that use of the minority language--Spanish-- resulted in negative affect because it activated a language-related inferiority complex. That conclusion is consistent with the Markedness Model because it assumes an association of the minority language with certain contexts and social relations (e.g., discrimination, a sense of inferiority). When a specific language is used in a message, particularly if the language is a marked choice, the receiver can see it as a signal of having been assigned to a particular group that may or may not be perceived in a favorable light by the receiver. Markedness and Salience The linguistic term "markedness" is analogous to perceptual salience. An object or part of a message is salient when it stands out from its immediate context, from the perceiver's prior experience or expectations, or from other foci of attention (Fiske and Taylor 1984). Thus, if an individual is processing information in one language and the message switches one word to a different language, that other- language word will be made salient, or marked in linguistic terms, because it stands out from its context. Generally, research investigating salience has focused on images. Similar mechanisms seem to be at work when processing language, however. Just as salience leads to greater focused attention on an image (Cave 1999; Fiske and Taylor 1984; Nothdurft 1993), research has found that salience of a word or expression also leads to greater attention on that salient expression (Johnston et al. 1990; Strayer and Johnston 2000).
Activating Language Schemas Through Markedness
A sociolinguistic model such as the Markedness Model helps explain the notion of language schemas, which are the …