“Russian Field” in Advertising Naming

Abstract

The article deals with commercial names having reference to the cultural space of Russia. Their connotative meaning includes a ‘Russian ethno-cultural marker’ (REM) actualized in the advertising discourse by a multi-coded text constituted by an integrated complex of semantic, stylistic, and symbolic verbal and visual signs. The article analyzes the verbal means of expression of the REM in commercial naming: lexical, semantic, and stylistic features of the names; national precedent phenomena reflected by the words designating elements of Russian spiritual and material culture; notions of Russian history; ethnonyms; culture-specific vocabulary; archaic words; precedent personal names and toponyms; Russian colloquial expressions. The author also analyzes graphic elements and models of commercial names formation as supplementary REM actualizers. The article focuses on three major functions of REM-names: informational, phatic, and connotative functions, outlining their spheres of use in commercial discourse, particularly in the commercial naming of Russian state enterprises and brands and in labeling exported goods and services. The Russian ethnically marked names represent an open, dynamically developing system which can be represented as a field structure whose center is constituted by commercial names including ethnonyms, culture-specific vocabulary and words designating national precedent phenomena, and the periphery by all Russian names.

Keywords

• Russian language
• commercial naming
• advertising discourse
• ethnic and cultural connotations of the advertising name
• cultural linguistics