A b s t r a c t
A Study on Consumer Response to the Sound Symbolism of Nonword Brand names
- Centered on Sound Symbolism Difference between
Korean and English
Jung, Gang-Ok / Lecturer, Dept. of Business Administration,
Yonsei University
Chang, Dae-Ryun / Professor, Dept.
of Business Administration, Yonsei University
Cho,
Seong-Do / Full-time Lecturer, Div. of Business Administration,
Cheonan University
Consumers perceive brands not only by the brand name’s
semantic meaning but also by its sound. Consumer perception
of product attributes depends partly on sound symbols
of brand name if the brand name is a nonword. Prior
research on the sound symbolism of the brand name has
focused mainly on American consumers’ brand responses
to the brand name in English. Thus, there is little
research on Korean consumers’ brand responses to the
sound symbolism of the brand name in Korean and in English.
The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers’
brand choice responses to the sound symbolism difference
of brand name between it in Korean and it in English.
The survey method, based on a questionnaire, was used
to conduct this research. The data were com- plied and
analyzed using X2 tests. It was found that that there
were significant differences in consumers’ brand choice
reactions between brand names with vowel ‘a’, ‘i’ in English. Brand names with ‘a’ in English denote
that the product has a large size in attribute compared
to with ‘i’ There were little differ- ences on denoting
product’s size attribute in Korean brand names with
between vowel ‘ㅏ’ and ‘ㅣ’
Also, Korean consumers’
responses of sound symbols of brand names between slightly
aspirated consonant and unaspirated consonant in Korean
and between voiceless stops and voiced stops in English
showed no statistical difference on denoting the product’s
size attribute. Additionally, theoretical and managerial
implications of developing brand names using sound symbolism
based on this study are discussed.
key word : brand name, sound symbolism, product attribute.
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