The interaction of prosody and context in the discourse of adverts
Alawiya W. I. Al-Siyami Assistant prof in UQU
Abstract
Based on Cook's (2001) contextual perspective, this study demonstrates how prosody plays a role in the structuring of information within the discourse of adverts. It argues that context and surrounded situations interact with prosodic sound-features, so that each determines the occurrence of the other. The study proposes that persuasion is reached and reliability is strengthened through emotional appealing. In selecting sixteen car-adverts with apparent audio attraction, the context is specified to the time of issuing them and the cultural background of receivers. The analysis reveals prosodic sound-features that not only strengthens mnemonics with their audio sense, but also interacts with the proposed offer in the adverts. Using prosody in the discourse of these adverts reflects context and adds genuine to promoted products.
Keywords: prosody; context; interaction; discourse of adverts 1. Introduction
Persuasion is the primary goal of advertising that has approached its means outstandingly. Mainly, it appeals the receivers' experiences, memories, fantasy and attitudes to activate their feelings of needy for something that has been heard or not far from experience. Cook (2001, 5-12) stated persuasive function of advertising aligned to amusing, informing, worrying or warning. He drew upon shared features and a range of other semiotic system as long as they are meaningful to the targeted receivers. Thus, interaction determines not only coherence within internal structure in the discourse of adverts. Rather, social values, environments, history and attitudes of receivers may also interact with what/how it is written.
Fairclough (1989) and Mey (2001) identified interaction to occur between elements of discourse as a social practice for recognizing surrounding world. They saw it as a strategy to describe or understand the situation in which it occurs and the communicative function that it fulfills. Cook (2001, 14-16), however, realized interaction with individuals and identities, hence his classification of adverts was based on their components. The issue to be explored is the role of context in determining explicit or implicit elements of interaction.
Taking this consideration, the study proposes that sound features constituting the slogan interact with influential elements surrounding the discourse of adverts. The study takes such a proposition to explore the way mnemonics and effectiveness of car-adverts in Arab newspaper reflect on their social discourse. The notion may contradict approaching printed adverts that are not intended to be read aloud. However, it is the images associated by particular sounds and prosodic features that an effect is reached and lasts in memory, which reconcile with the main task of advertising.
Considering that such features are highly appreciated as rhetoric and genuine (Gully, 1996), making use of their literary sense may affect the receivers' perception of offer and add credibility to adverts. Hence, this study argues that the role of context in structuring prosody effectively builds a cognitive interface between all levels of language and reality. Employing it engenders this activity and appeal to the benefit of offer within a particular context.
To explore such an argument, the study investigates the following questions:
1. What prosodic features are used for effects?
2. How do these features interact with the receivers' knowledge and the immediate linguistic
environment?
3. To what extent do context influence the verbal
structure of the text?
2. Prosody in Advertising
Generally, prosody transmits sound organization of an utterance to emotions and attitudes. It is mostly associated with poetry as a device that recall semantically related forms and catchy sound for mnemonic effect. This effect is employed by adverts as much as they manipulate the receivers' senses and make a hesitant reader eager to keep on reading. Myers (1994) suggested a kind of paralanguage feature whose referential meaning has already been identified by other techniques. He (1994, 68) indicated prosody as stylistic devices that cohere elements of adverts
to make sense and transmit references or provoke the knowledge of other discourses. Hence, its prevalence in advertising is associated with referential meaning.
Cook (2001) referred to paralanguage as features that has meaningful implications similar to typeface, size of letters, colors and even grammatical structures. To him, even when sounds are not intended to be read aloud or heard, they should create "sound-image" that personalize experience relevant to the receivers. Cook (2001, 125) explained that prosody is to pattern sounds that can reinforce or contradict the proposed meaning n the discourse of the advert. However, Goddard (2002, 41) determined that the way sound-patterns and meaning is constructed in advertising is not of much concern. Though she (2002, p.16) classified sound-patterns in empty spaces of the layout, Goddard believed it to be attention seeking devices for poetic reading.
Many studies exploited the phonemic structure of sounds constituting adverts as sound symbolism. Tanaka (1994) and Ohala (1994) reported the effectiveness of sound-meaning in creating brand-names. They indicated that the field of marketing and branding make use of sound- meaning association as references to human qualities and
emotional attributes. These studies restated other studies in sound symbolism (Newman, 1933; Swadesh, 1971; Bolinger, 1980; Klink, 2000 and 2009) which indicated that every sound-phoneme must connote or denote one meaning of many it inherently carries. They have brought up to emphasize the relevance of sound to the social context of adverts and influencing the receivers' preference.
In Cook's (2001) terms, prosody included devices for sounds to pattern as rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance and consonance. Such sound-features are considered to be genuine and rhetorical for Arabic adverting. Gully (1996, 43) described prosody as devices to create a sense of familiarity through rhetoric and connotations or referential features. El-dalay (2011) displayed it as schemes in which texts construct meaning through interaction with other types of discourses and the culture of advertising text. Though the phonological representations in these studies showed the implication of meaning within sounds as phonemes and sound-pattern, it would be of interest to detect the universality of sound-symbolism that was once recognized in English in Arabic adverts and the role of prosody in adjusting the accessibility of reference.
Considering that phonemes and patterning them do not exist in vacuum nor can be comprehended without recognizing them as part of a wider verbal interaction with socio-cultural contexts urged the need for contextual analysis. The interaction of prosody and context clarifies which meaning one needs to interpret the situation in which it was used, the co-text of the same discourse, the receivers participating in the discourse, and the function of the text in which it was used. It determines a cognitive process that leads audio senses to increase purchase-number.
3. Context and Intertextuality
The term context is well known as a logical consequence that determine which meanings of a word should be considered among alternatives. Yet, defining its character is controversial. Linguists were divided between perceiving it as an internal element of discourse that model textual elements
. The restrictive referred to context relevant to referential meaning provided by the setting in which the word may occur, behavioral environment of speakers and receivers, or other situational features that have an impact on the grammatical structure of a message (Mathew, 2007). The non-restrictive approach included broader perspective that covered socio- cultural and cognitive abilities that are shared by the participants in communication, apart from co-textual and physical senses (Van Dijk, 2008). In this sense, the non- restrictive approach holds broad perspective to be used in interpreting or constructing the discourse of adverts.
Nevertheless, the vitality of context determines language whether to refer to the world surroundings or leading to adverts, and requires historical, cultural and social background of not only the sender of the message but the receivers as well. It is this interaction of surroundings with participants that reflect understanding of what thing are used for and give utterances their pragmatic-meaning (Mey, 1993, 38). She (1993, 113) emphasized the dynamic character of context as it that "has to do with the way we are ‘set up’ for recognition and action.”
In advertising, context certainly refers to the situation in which the discourse of adverts took place and the process that activates encoding or decoding the underlined meaning. Janks (1997, 37) indicated context as a process for
interpreting that is situationally about time and place, whereas intertextually is a technique for relating text to its original sources. Goddard (2002) determined "canonical context" from which participants can define the relevant properties of communicative situation. Rather than focusing on the text and its relation to the discourse of adverts, she (2002, 9) placed her emphasis on the relationship between language users and advertisers use of attraction means which included the interplay of image and graphical layout.
Cook (2001) defined context specific to its situational feature that influence text structure and conditioned to "what works in one place may not work in another". He (2001, 4) proposed a series of fixed relationship within the elements of adverts that included eight factors: substance (the physical materials that carry the text), situation (the participants’ perception of objects and people influencing the text), music and pictures, paralanguage (all meaningful behaviors accompanying language), co-text (what precedes and follows the text under investigation), inter-text (the text belonging to other discourse but influencing interpretation of the given text), participants of communication (mainly senders and receivers) and function (what the text intends to do or perceived by the senders and receivers who are, at the same time, only one of the context eight factors).
Cook's proposition demonstrated fixed relationship within the discourse of advertising, except for intertextuality that is realized as the most "common practice" (Cook, 2001, 220). He (2001, 103-194) explained that intertextuality relies on structural as well as non-structural occurrences. The former considered employing indirect references that allude to history, literature, religion, geography, folktales, etc. Though realizing this occurrence is based on the semantic level, the latter considered the reproduction of text inside other texts like quoting from previous or original texts, or imitating words of other adverts or genres in parody. The non-structural occurrence is more complicated as it includes visual, aural, and linguistic elements available in the text of the advert.
Clearly, context is distinguished as situations and the outer-world surrounding the text, social, political, economic, historical, cultural, power, ideologies and models, all of which might affect receivers and composers in their act of communication. Whereas, intertextuality links all information, whether linguistics or non-linguistics, provided within the discourse of adverts relevant to the reality of receiver. It builds on knowledge of other sources, whether conventions, factual statements, prior experiences, or orientations to attack or confirm (Fairclough, 1992, 84; Bazerman, 2004, 94). Using intertextuality, advertisers and receivers bring into their communication feeling of familiarity or meaningful relations that are composed within textual features and their reference that can be stretched out into culture, identities or attitudes.
As the receivers' interaction with the text grows, the body of the adverts brings out to attractions elements that refer to human qualities or attributes from pre-linguistic knowledge (Tanaka, 1994; Ohala, 1994); use of parody to comment or criticize traditional notions in culture and thus support or weaken the proposed candidate (Tyron 2008); allude to original sources through humor or quotations (Liu and Lee, 2013). In Arabic, intertextuality was explored in the sense of familiarity that was created from effective rhetorical features in Egyptian adverts (Gully, 1996); reference to social context and cultural themes (Al-Siyami, 2011); and deviation from standard Arabic to allude social variation and business purpose of advertising (Jaashan, 2014). Intertextuality is an important technique for creating effective texts.
It stands to reason then that persuasion in advertising requires processes of referring, inferring and alluding of linguistic knowledge starting from phonological to lexical references, visual images to audio instruments, discursive to situational features, background and knowledge of participants in that act of communication. It determines context that works on different levels within and outside the linguistic activity and intertextuality that works on the cognitive of relating in the receivers' abilities.
4. Data description
Newspapers are popular mass media which can be read among all social classes. Since the study intended to explore the impact of context on structuring texts, the data was specified to sixteen car-adverts that were marked for the presence of sound-pattern. They were issued in December 2014 in three common local newspapers; Okaz, Alriyadh and Al-Jazeerah. Some of these adverts repeated the same slogan, or refined it, but their presence run extensively throughout the specified date.
The criteria for selecting these adverts was based on their inclusion for outstanding prosodic features. The current time of issuing these newspaper marked the world social event of discount and big sales. Though clearance and bargain deals take place since November, the controversial issue of owing these vehicles as needy or luxury increased the need to perceive these offers. Temptation takes part in proposing last-year models while new car-models marked their presence at similar time.
Because of the social and economic life in gulf area, Arab countries are identified as customers among top countries to import cars from the United States, Europe, and now from Korea and China. The area is a consuming and competitive market in which buying is more of luxury than necessity. The peculiarity of car-adverts is that they undergo specific conditions and then pursuit by the ministry of commerce and industry. Deception costs the agency sever penalty. Once the car-adverts get approved from the ministry, the agencies can posed the same adverts in local newspapers, magazines, posters or billboards.
In short, three themes reflected the situation of the data set for analysis in this study: social context of offer for last- year or new-year car-models, competitions of offers by grand brand-names or uprising brands, and social status of the receivers. These were the themes assumed to be established in the phonological features constructing the slogan of these adverts.
5. Prosodic sound-features of Car-Adverts
This section answers the first question that was about prosodic features occurring in car-adverts. It exploits its association with meaning as implicated in the words of the slogans. The selected adverts showed three features that have strengthened their sound image: Parallelism, rhyme and alliteration.
5.1. Parallelism
Parallelism is a stylistic feature that distinguishes poetry. According to Montgomery (2006, 126-127), it is a product of parallel structure and coherent sequences of similar sounds or words and syntactic structures. It aimed to bring out effectiveness from the regularity of syntactic and lexical elements within parallel lines.
Parallelism appeared in 1, 14, 15 and 16 differently. In 1 the structure of words constituting the nominal phrases showed similar number of syllables and exhibited contrastive as its dominant features.
Advert 1:
ana:qatun fi manȥarha "Elegance in its form" wa qi:matun fi si􏰓raha "and value in its price!!.
The sequence of low-front vowel /a/ and high-front vowel /􏰔/ was intervened with high-back vowel /u/. The contrastive positions of these vowels was exploited in association with fricative /h/ and /f/, stop /t/ and nasal /n/ to form the sound patterns –tun, –ha: and fi. The regularity of these patterns divided the lines into hemistich and emphasized parallelism.
Contrastive was also marked in the use of sibilant fricatives /s, z/, the production of /f/, /q/ and /n, m/. The production of these phonemes showed not only different articulations but also similar graphemes. They must have attracted some of receivers' senses.
However, while the contrast of vowels was a marked feature in the previous advert, it was illustrated in consonants of advert 14.
Advert 14
aƮliq li-􏰕a􏰓ma:lak l-􏰓anan "unleash your career"
wa-mtalik ʃa:􏰖inatak l-􏰕a:n "and own your truck"
The production of fricatives /􏰗, 􏰘/ that exploit a partial disclosure of articulators, stops /t, Ʈ, k, 􏰕/ that exploit a block of articulators, and nasals /n, m/ that exhibit flow of airstream through nasal cavity have added information consistent with the meaning of the words. Swadesh (1971, 208) indicated that the phonemic aspect of consonants can be associated with perceiving the product so that nasals are represented as soft impact or resonant free vibration, while stops as hard impact. Yet, he distinguished also between the particularities of each sound as dental /n/ represents the contact of a point and /m/ gives the effect of flat surface slopping together, dental stop /t/ shares the effect of a contact point with the dental nasal /n/, velar stop /k/ shares the effect of blunt object or sibilant with the velar nasal /η/, and labial stop /p/ is similar to the labial nasal/m/. Contrastive was also marked in the assonance of vowels ranging in their length from high to low or shifting position- positions from front to back. Associating these vowels with /n/ formed the sound-pattern -aan and restrained the lines into parallelism. Sequencing this pattern made a sound similar to the cling of a bell and captivated attention.
Combining contrastive consonants and vowels in parallel lines maintained the aesthetic effect of the advert and certainly helped in the perception of offer, considering that such vowels are associated with small/large size (Swadesh, 1971). It also reiterated the vitality and solidness of the product.
Formal parallelism was a distinctive feature in 15. It was brought up from the sound structure CuCCatun CaCCi:dah constituting the nominal phrase of the slogan.
Advert 15
ru'yatun jadi:dah "new vision"
li-tuhfatun fari:dah "for unique masterpiece"
The sound-structure made the assonance of /u/ with /a/ and /a/ with /􏰔/. Forming sound patterns /tun/ and /dah/ and repeating them sequentially divided each line into similar hemistich. Considering the dominance of vowels /a, u/ that are associated with large and big sizes, similar sound- patterns and parallel lines brought up a poetic rhythm that made it a master piece comparable to that of the product.
The phonemic-theme of the advert strengthened the uniqueness of its product.
Unlike the previous one, 16 made formal parallelism in a one-line slogan. Here, the advert showed genitive nouns that followed the sound structure al-CiCC al-CaCCi.
Advert 16
􏰙l-si􏰚r al-naqdi wa-l qist al-􏰘ahri yabd? min
"Cash price and monthly instalment start from"
The structure included contrastive sounds in the position of /􏰔/, constituting the first part of the structure, and /a/, in the second part, from high-front to low-front tongue- position. The sibilant fricatives /s, ʃ/ in si􏰚r "price" and ʃahri "monthly" were also in opposite position of the slogan-line and so were the stops /d, q/. Opposition in the characteristic features of these phonemes emphasized the hard impact of the product and the smoothness of its performance. It also led the receivers' attention to weight price-value that was proposed in red.
Obviously, parallelism was the code-play in these adverts. Whether in lines or forms, contrastive phonemes were a marked feature that caught the senses. Though parallelism gave the lines authenticity and effective of a poem, it certainly attracted the receivers' perception to consider the proposed offer.
5.2. Rhythm
Rhythm is a poetic device that is known for regularity in speech in terms of stress or pitch. According to Montgomery (2006, 127), rhythm included sound-features as rhyme, assonance, consonance in longer dispersed sequence of sounds to make it aesthetical. These types were clearly apparent in the data.
5.2.1. Rhyme
Rhyme is well known for its harmony and ease of mnemonics. It determines sequential similar ending-sounds, whether in similar words or stressed syllables (Myers, 1994, 35). Advertising seeks the music and harmony resulting from this regularity. Gully (1996) indicated that rhyme is a common device among advertisers that receivers of adverts perceive it subconsciously and need not to notice. He (1996, 24) maintained that it is created either by a combination of long vowel plus consonant at the end of each line or half of a two part slogan, or a morphologically similar words occurring in close contiguity. These techniques were
implemented in the data either by patterning phonemes or morphemes.
5.2.1.1. The phonemic rhyme
The phonemic rhyme was observed in similar nasal endings of 4, 8 and 11.
Advert 4
?a:nal ?awa:n ... ?imtalikha-l ?a:n
... Own it now"
Advert 8
􏰙l-?a:n .. 􏰚uru:􏰛 niha:yat-l 􏰚a:m offers"
Advert 11
"Now ... End year
iƔtanimha-l ?a:n...qabla fawa:t-al ?awa:n
"Seize your opportunity now...Before it's too late"
These adverts showed rhyme in the use of similar sound- pattern /-a:n/ ending the two hemistich of the slogans. The consecutive occurrence of /a/ in association with /n/ echoed an amusing and entertaining effect within the lines. Producing /a/ made changing the position of the tongue
shifted from low-front up to the dental for /n/ or labials for /m/ and creating a scene of moving clapper. As the vibration of sound moved from being blocked when preceded by the glottal stop /􏰕/ to full release with the vowel up to the nasal cavity, a sound similar to the clang of bell was produced. The verity of movements in articulating these sounds and their sequence, whether in repeating the pattern as syllable- ending /-a:n/ or the word constituting of ?a:n آ􏰜 'now', contributed to mnemonic effectiveness of the slogan.
5.2.1.2. Morphophonemic rhyme
Three types of morpheme illustrated rhyme in 2, 5, 6, 9, 10 and 12. They exemplified a set of consonant and vowel that reflected a morphemic function to which Swadesh (1971) referred as phone-theme. The first type was apparent in 2 and 5.
Advert 2
Liinku:n .. ra:?idat-ul faxa:mah"Lincoln ..
grandness"
ma􏰚a xams sanawa:t ʂiya:nah ma􏰝a:niyyah
years free maintenance"
Advert 5
Leading in "with five
􏰚uru:􏰛 mustamirrah ... bi?aqal taklufah "Continuous
offers ... with least expense"
Sequence of /-ah/ ending the parallel lines of 2 or within one line of 5 was a significant feature. Originally, it is the allomorph for the feminine suffix-pronoun -at that is commonly used in written to implicate the referred item. As it was attached to the adjectival faxa:mah "grandness" and ma􏰝a:niyyah "free" in 2 and the nominals mustamirrah "continuous" and taklufah "expensive" in 5, the morphemic function gave the lines a poetic effect.
Additionally, the association of /h/ with /a/ connected the sounds of other fricatives as sibilants /s, ʃ /, /ʂ, 􏰞/ or /f, x, θ, ʕ/ with the assonance of vowel within the aligned words set a regular frequency of vibration that made it hard to be missed. The phonemic representation of fricatives gave the effect of continuity and smooth movements or fast sliding contact (Swadesh, 1971). This theme was congenial with the actual bargain of "five years instalment" in 2 or continuity of offer in 5.
The second type of morphemic rhyming was based on the feminine possessive pronoun /ha/ that was apparent in 10 and 12.
Advert 10
􏰟abi:ratun bi ?ada:?iha: wa ȟa􏰝maha: "Big in its performance and size"
􏰠al-tawfi:r .... bisi􏰚raha: "and saving .... In its price"
Advert 12
imtlikha: biniʂf qi:matha: "Own it for half the price"
Both adverts used the feminine-morphemic function of (-haa) referring to attributes that belong to the brand. Repeating it in regular positions as attached to the nouns 􏰕ada:􏰕 اداء "performance", ȟa􏰝m 􏰡􏰎􏰢 "size", si􏰚r ر􏰀􏰣 "price" in 10, qi:mah ة􏰤􏰄􏰥 "price" and the verb 􏰕mtalik ا􏰌ت􏰉􏰦 "own" in 12 made the rhyme of the slogan. The characteristic feature of its constituent sounds, /h/ in association with /a/, made air flows with least block of articulators. It reiterated the word- meanings of wideness or limitless and assisted the poetic rhythm in these adverts.
Dr Alawiya W. I. Al-Siyami
Rhythm was achieved in the sequential of /􏰔/, whether ب􏰃􏰪􏰩 biniʂf ا􏰌ت􏰉􏰨􏰧ا :constituting the first syllables of imtlikha and qi:matha: ت􏰧ا􏰤􏰄􏰥 in 12, or in parallel position of Kabi:ratun ب􏰄رة􏰫 and tawfi:r ت􏰈􏰬􏰄ر in 10. The association of /􏰔/ with small and /a/ with large made the reference to large offer in 12 but gave the impact of slower pace in 10. Nevertheless, the phonemic feature of fricatives /ʂ, f, n, h/ and stops /t, q, b, k/ manipulated air-burst from partial disclosure to complete closure, which the support the theme of offer for worthwhile brands. Hence was attraction.
Pluralizing morpheme was the third type that made rhythm in 6 and 9.
Advert 6
ȟaqiq umniya:tak du:n an
without"
tu􏰚i:da ȟisa:ba:tak
Advert 9
Nisa:n ba:tru:l
ilayka 􏰚uru:􏰭 baťalad duru:b roads hero"
"achieve "retreating
your wishes your accounts"
"Nisan Patrol" "Here is
offers of roads hero"
While the feminine plural-morpheme -aat marked the verbal phrases of 6, the Arabic broken-plural morpheme fu􏰚uul CuCu:C constructed the nominal-phrase of 9. Both morphemes exhibited vowels /u, a/ that symbolize largeness, in their phonemic structure. Another morpheme -ak was distinguished in 6. It functions as singular possessive pronoun. The phonemic structure of this morpheme distinguishes it in genders, so that /a/ refers to male and distinguished from the front-high vowel /􏰔/ that refers to female. It copulated the theme of tough and hard relevant to gender.
The association of these vowels with voiceless /t, k// and voiced / 􏰭, b/ emphasized the meaning implicated in 􏰚uru:􏰝 roads" of 9, and" در􏰊ب offers" and duru:b" 􏰮ر􏰊ض ?umniyaatak "wishes" and ȟisabaatak "bank accounts" of 6. Vibration caused by voiced (voiceless) consonants symbolize large (small) or heavy (light) of the product (Klink, 2000; Ohala, 1994). It implicated heaviness relevant to the brand-name in 9 and lightness relevant to money and fantasy in 6. Positioning these sounds regularly divided the second slogan-line into hemistich and gave it a metrical structure. The phonemic feature of these adverts not only made smoothness but also made direct references to behavior memorable and entertaining.
5.2.2. Assonance and consonance
Assonance and consonance come together most of the time. In poetry, assonance refers to similar vowels occurring in words near one another, whereas consonance refers to similar consonants occurring at the end of words within one line. In this sense the two devices determine no poetic line, rather, its effect is created by the internal rhyming within adjacent sounds.
Both devices were apparent in 3, 7, 12 and 13. They made a sense of continuity and fluidness that provided the receivers with the pleasure of anticipating while reading the lines. However, every advert has marked its uniqueness in using them.
Advert 3
alqimmah bi-afdali qi:mah, al-?a:n 􏰘iruki Malibu 2015 fi si'rin jadi:d
"Peak in better price, now Shiruki Malibu 2015 in new price"
The dominance of /􏰔/ was a distinguished feature in 3, though /a/ was also repeated but less frequently. The sequence of both front vowels connected the two parts of the slogan. It emphasized the smaller size and petite structures that high frequency of front vowels inversely conveyed.
The dynamic effect of these vowels was brought up from their inherited meaning of a single phoneme. Recent research (Klink, 2000 & 2009; Lowry and Shrum, 2007) explored the impact of vowel-position to encode the magnitude of size. In fact, previous studies (Swadesh, 1971; Morton, 1994) have indicated that the perception of size (small/large), structure (light/heavy), degree of darkness and even gender type are characterized by the articulation of these sounds.
Size implication in this advert can be related to the place provoked by the word ة􏰤􏰥 peak and the opportunity provoked by the time of proposed offers relevant to the 2015 car-model. Rhythm was also created by the repetition of /m, n, s, ʃ, f, h, ʕ/ in which variation of articulators moved from oral to nasal and closure to disclosure. Variation of voiced and voiceless features made consonance giving the line fluidity and smoothness of poetry. It engaged the receivers'
attention to the concept of peak or summit cohered with the brand-name and comparative price.
Advert 7
􏰚ar􏰭 yuhuzal ?ar􏰭 "Offer shakes the land"
taʂfiyah 􏰚la mudila:t 2014 "Clearance on car-models "2014
Taking advantage of the characteristic features of stops and fricatives was a marked sound feature in 7. Repeating the sound pattern /ar􏰭/ made perfect rhyme with different initial consonants. While fricative /ʕ/ sounds faster than stop /􏰕/, the high frequency of vibration resulting from /a/ was blocked with the voiced stop /ʠ/ ending both syllables. These phonemes collaborated to the hard-impact theme and capacity of offer.
The phonemic features of these consonants added information to the meaning of the words they constituted. The stops /ʠ, d, t/, which are produced with a complete closure of articulators were set interchangeably with partial closure to produce the fricatives /h, ʕ, ʂ, f/. Sibilant ت􏰪􏰱􏰄􏰰 shake" and taʂfiyah" 􏰯􏰧ز consonants /z, ʂ/ in yuhuz "clearance" tied the sounds in both lines and thus
contributed to rhythm. The unease of voiced-stop production and disturbance of air that they made when associated with 􏰯􏰧ز fricatives reiterated the meaning implicated in yuhuz "shake". Manipulating the phonemic character reiterated the arbitrary sense of hard and heavy impact that these sounds symbolize.
Advert 13
Ya tilȟaq ... ya maa tilȟaq "Catch it...or not" ʕuruu􏰲 nihaayat-l ʕaam "End year offers"
Assonance was a marked feature in 13. The sequence of /a/, /􏰔/ and /u/ were used to connect both lines and create a rhythmic effect. Considering their size symbolisms, variation in length and position limited the magnitude of the proposed offers to the context of the advert. It specified the large implication of offer to specific cars and specific time which was the end of the year. Hence phone-theme was reached.
Clearly, rhythm in these lines reached through rhyme, assonance and consonance of sequential phonemes, morphemes or a mixture of both and gave diversity relevant to the proposed offer and the brand's attribute. The contiguity of these phonemes at a regular interval of time
have certainly given the adverts an amusing effect that, with its connotative implication, strengthened the memorability of the slogan. It has reiterated explicitly the reference to the advertising item.
5.3. Alliteration
Alliteration is recognized in the occurrence of similar consonants at the beginning of successive words. This was apparent in repeating the glottal stop consonant /􏰕/ at the beginning of each content words in 4. Myers (1994, 32) stated that the effect of alliteration is built up from a pattern of similarities.
Advert 4
?a:nal ?awa:n ... ?imtalikha-l ?a:n "Now is the time ... Own it now"
Alliteration here linked the two parts of the slogan and gave a tone that reinforced the meaning to which the word
'now' refers, though that may not be enough. In آ􏰜􏰕a:n collaboration with perfect rhyme as apparent in repeating final syllable /a:n/, the slogan to stand out and the tone of
taking action that receivers should respond was accelerated.
Evidently, sequence of sounds that formed parallelism, rhythm and alliteration in the data of this study strengthened the mnemonic of these adverts similar to poetic-lines. The amount of these features increased to include most of them, if not all, as the promoted products grew in significance and accumulated their own history, or as the time of offer due in closure.
However, this melodic character can be reached only through information from the immediate environment of the advert. Every sound-phoneme or morpheme, was set within the co-text of adjacent elements to communicate meaning relevant to the general tendency in the discursive context of the advert. For deciphering actual contextual meaning, it is not enough to consider the phonemic symbolism of soft or hard impact that were marked in words reiterating the offer. Rather, they are in need to take into account the topic of the advert, the situation and social context for which it was issued. All of these consideration should be defined within the context of adverts.
6. Prosody and Context
The previous section suggested the impact of context in determining phonological features within the adverts under
  analysis. This section considered the meanings that these features made use of relevant to the social context that were communicated within the discourse of the adverts. Evidentially, the implication of context in the data were projected in three ways; anaphoric, cataphoric or both. The first employed prosodic features as anaphoric reference to brand-name (1, 2, 9, and 16). The second employed them as cataphoric reference to cohere with attributes relevant to the brand (6, 7, 10 and 12). The third employed them as anaphoric or cataphoric references to the social context of the advert (3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 14 and 15). The degree of authenticity and amusing that were provided by these features differed in terms of time-issue, established myth about the vehicle and the receivers' attitude.
Distinguishing between types of indexed, sound- phonemes came to grip with the complexity of sign and context interface. The inherited symbols of sounds apparent in the data showed no isolated entities rather interlinked inference to the meaning collaborated from patterning with other sounds and the social context of the adverts. Hence, for the third projection of context motivated the receivers' knowledge to the social context in two ways. The first
explicitly denoted reference to the social occasion by stating the phrase 'end of year' 2014 􏰅􏰧ا􏰯ة ا􏰁􏰀ا􏰇 within the slogan-line or implicitly connoted it within particular phonemic sounds. Consider the association of /n/ with /a/ consecutively in 4, 11 and 14.
Parallelism and rhyme created by assonance and consonance made the production of sound similar to that of ringing a bell and accelerated its functional meaning. The sphere of information was relevant to the situation as ringing bells activates the scene of gathering people for a potential issue. Considering that these adverts were posed during the last week of 2014, the particularity of offer outstood for 2015 brands and its short term. The inherited meaning of these phonemes and their patterning caused the analogue representations to be perceived and encoded as smaller than usual time in reality but large in the essence of offer.
In contrast, realizing the special offer in 3 and 5 was extracted relevant to adjacent words from the immediate linguistic environment. The hidden meaning within the constituted words was possible to extract only when we referred to the topic and interpreted the lines with reference to the discourse of adverts. Hence was the rhyme of
morphemic sound -ah. It was attached to nominals functioning as cataphoric reference to "CHEVROLET Malibu LT" that was stated afterword in 3 and the word "􏰳uru:ʠ ر􏰊ض􏰮'offer'" in 5. The situation of urging receivers for the unusual offer was implicated in the symbol of small chances that associates /􏰔/ and the consonance of /􏰴/ with its voiceless character that symbolizes smaller but luxurious in 3. In contrast, 5 reflected continuity of offer in the assonance of /u/, which signifies largeness, with fricatives /s, f/, which signify continuity and smoothness of "offer" for brands of 2014 car-models.
Both adverts set their proposition in the first part of the slogan. Frequency and continuity of sounds made cataphoric reference to the brand-name stated within the lines of 3, but led perception to values underneath the slogan of 5 as small. Whether due or continuous, small or large, repeating these sounds in assonance or consonance captivated the receivers' attention with the attributes of proposed offer relevant to situation. Likewise, the morpheme -haa in 4 and 11 functioned as cataphoric reference to car-models. Combining the phonemic character of stops with fricatives in all these adverts caused the linear effect of sound to
denote the sudden impact for vehicles of 2015 models in a context of 2014 offers. The proposed meaning in the event of approaching the due of time was achieved with amusing and entertaining effects of prosody.
In contrast, the perception of discount took a different path in 8, 13 and 15. Simply because the actual relative offer was greater in terms of variety and quantity, the sound phonemes in 8 and 13 exhibited the usage of plural form 􏰚uru:􏰛 ر􏰊ض􏰮 for its phonemic implication. As /u/ and /a/ symbolize largeness, their sequences caused the analog magnitude representations to be perceived and encoded as larger than usual. The sequence of these sound restrain large implication to the referred context by the phrase niha:yat-l 􏰚a:m ا􏰯ة ا􏰁􏰀ا􏰇􏰧􏰅 'end year' in 8 and 13.
The analogue was more obvious in 15. Repeating the phonemic patterns with equal distribution of vowels led to illuminating the second parallel-line. The magnitude representations of these vowels set a cataphoric reference to attributes of the brand and its social meaning. Cadillac is recognized among the receivers for beauty, luxury, grand and width. The rhythmic poetic effect of sounds denoted the dominant concept of this brand in society and implicated expense to be worthwhile.
Using cataphoric reference, which was the third projection to context, was more apparent in 6, 7, 10 and 12 through prosodic features either in urging the receivers' benefit and relishing privileges or boasting qualities.
Both adverts showed the usage of phonemic symbols to manipulate the grand image of the brand. The assonance of morphemic sound patterns -aat and -ak interchangeably in advert 6 exhibited also the consonance of voiceless stops /t, أ􏰌􏰃􏰄ات k/. While the symbol of /a/ enlarged the magnitude of ?umniyaat "wishes" and ابات􏰂􏰢 ɦisabaat "bank account", the symbolism of stops specified it to the privilege of a singular adult-male receiver. This analogue representation urged other receivers for competition and increased their perception to benefit from the proposed offer. Sequence of fricative /s/ and stops /t, d/ reiterated the proposition that only BMW paved the way to pursue 'wishes' smoothly. The rhythm taking place made previous knowledge and mystic needs relevant to the social discourse of the advert and the receivers' behavior.
Advert 7, however, enlarged the magnitude of offer in the consonance of the retroflex /􏰵/ and the rhyme of sound pattern /ar􏰵/. As Mitsubishi motors are well recognized in
 this community for durability and power, the symmetrical sequence of fricative and stop consonants /t, d, r, z, 􏰶/ reiterated the qualities of hard and solid impact associated with the brand-name. Klink (2000; 2009) indicated the relevance of categorical classification of consonants to the perception of hardness as the degree of air flow passing the articulators gets harder. Hence, sequential phonemic-rhyme made reference to context instrumental for obtaining necessary information to decipher actual contextual meaning of these features.
Cataphoric references was exploited in rhyming with the morphemic sound-pattern –haa, which is associated with female reference. Klink (2009, 323) indicated a connection between sound gender-preference and the perception of a product to be more evident when it is associated with strong feminine or male attributes. Thus, the production of such a pattern personalized the brand and linked the receivers' knowledge about the product to perceiving values in the discourse of discount. It contributed to the semantic dimension of the aligned words.
The phonemic structure in 10 transformed sound parallelism structures, rhyme, assonance and consonance from auditory effect to perceiving the magnitude of offer
relevant to the proposed qualities of DODGE in 10, to emphasizing price-values in 12 since JAC motors are newly imported models in the society. The phonemes constituting these patterns have linked their inherited sound-symbolism to be aligned with established perception in the society and the social discourse of the advert. Considering that these adverts were posed earlier than late December, the symbolic association of smallness or largeness affected the magnitude perception of offer unconsciously. The image proposed here sounded less persisting than the previous adverts, leaving the decisive time to the receivers' interest. There's still time to ponder.
Parallelism and rhyme were prominent features in 1, 2, 9 and 16 that made the first projection of context took a literary sense and complex enunciation to tempt the receivers towards 2015 car-models. Parallel phonemic patterns constructed the slogan-lines of 1 and 16, and intended to function as anaphoric reference to the brand- name.
While the parallelism of phrase structure in 16 brought up the concept of harmony that is usually linked to Honda motors in the receivers' knowledge, it reiterated the concept
of largeness as a particular character of the stated brand in 1. Both adverts used prosody to provoke the relevance of luxury to largeness, color and font to the car-image, which led to the spiritual returns for EC8 model in 1, but financial instalment for Accord 􏰔-VTEC model. As it was discount occasion, using words containing stops /q, d, Ʈ/ in the middle of dominated fricatives /?, s, ʃ, ʕ, 􏰷, f , h/ in addition to the sonorant sounds of front vowels, the magnitude representations in both adverts were set as morphemic reference to the receivers' perception of an unusual chance for that particularly stated 2015 car-model.
In 2 and 9, however, the morphemic sound-patterns were used to promote for Nissan Patrol and Lincoln car- models. It was a match between power and solidness in tough land-terrain with luxury and comfort. The phonemic structure in the slogan of both adverts reiterated these foregrounded concepts. Repeating -ah in parallel lines and using assonance and consonance of similar sounds constituting the form of the brand-name were made to denote privileges relevant to the discourse of 2. Whereas, the morphemic plural-form in 9 corresponded with brand identity in desert lands. Moreover, personalizing brands relevant to the receivers' life increased the perception of
 their quality (Klink, 2009). This was apparent in the dominance of front vowel that is associated with small size and gentleness referred to the feminine quality of luxury to denote Lincoln in 2, while back vowel imparted male attributes to denote Nissan brand in 9.
Clearly, the inherited meaning of phonemes cannot reach the tempting effect in these adverts without considering context, which determined their usages and the way in which they were used. The social context of discount associating end of year, competitive of offers and the social status of the receivers determined the quantity and quality of prosodic features as apparent in the slogans of selected adverts. Whether as denotative or connotative references, parallelism, rhyme, assonance, consonance and alliteration gave the lines literary sophistication and audio effects.
Considering that such features were highly appreciated by the receivers of these adverts, intertextuality created an experience to explore entertaining sounds and gave an image of genuinely and reliability to the brand. Intertextuality made the narrative gain complexity of enunciation. It linked the receivers' established knowledge and motivated their cognitive abilities relevant to the
perception of price and promoted offers. Though intertextuality function through quotation, allusion or reference, persuading and tempting were two conditions that prosodic features addressed and thus participated in the intertextual play. Provoking shared knowledge, contextual clues and cultural familiarity have certainly contributed to create a persuasive message through entertaining sound- patterns.
7. Conclusion
Cook (2001, 5-12) conditionally specified the persuasive function of adverts to be meaningful to the targeted receivers by drawing upon shared features and a range of other semiotic systems. Taking this consideration, the issue to be explored was the role of context in structuring such features effectively to build up a cognitive interface between all levels of language and reality. This study proposed that words constituting the slogans deciphered prosodic features that interacted with influential features surrounding the discourse of adverts. It intended to show that the prominent behavior of appreciating sound-phonemes and patterning them in Arab culture were heavily sought to assess authenticity and credibility to promoted products.
   The data showed significant use of parallelism, rhyme, assonance, consonance and alliteration, which were specified by Cook (2001, 125) as prosodic means. Although these features are closely associated with composing poetry, their usage was schematically determined to entertain audio senses and manipulate perception. Every sound-phoneme in the data has employed its inherited meaning towards the perception of price value and proposed offer. Whereas their sequences reiterated the magnitude of offer to be considered as small or large chances relevant to brand-name that were well-known or novel, their effect was strongly attached to the year of car-model and the situation in which the text occurred. Contrastive variety of sounds that ranged from oral to nasal and high to low tongue-positions formed a tempting feature to identify beneficial and special attributes of promoted products relevant to the receivers' benefits and the social context, which was the end of year 2014.
Arab car-adverts have shown that prosody disseminated in the slogans carried the influence of context. The amount of these features increase to include most of them, if not all, as the promoted products grew in significance and accumulated their own history or as the time of offer due in
closure. Only people who are equipped with linguistic and para-linguistic knowledge or exposed to the social context of the adverts can be more efficient to understand their implication. Hence was interaction.