Inflection The Word Formation Used in Coca-cola and Pepsi Advertisements

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8. Inflection

According to Aronoff and Fudeman 2011: 47, inflection involves the formation of grammatical forms of a single lexeme, such as past, present, future, singular, plural, masculine, feminine, neuter and other forms. In this study, the results of inflection cases are classified based on the inflection types proposed by Aronoff and Fudeman 2011, such as affixation, apophony or internal change, suppletion and partial suppletion. On the other hand, root-and-pattern, stem alternations and reduplication are not discovered in the data. a. Affixation Affixation is the morphological process of adding affixes to the root or base to make the new lexemes. There were 154 affixation cases discovered in the Coca- cola and Pepsi advertisements. The affixation cases used in the data were the affixations of forming the third person singular present tense forms, past tense forms, progressive forms, comparative forms and superlative forms. The next parts are the discussions and analyses of affixation used in the advertisements taken from selected samples. 1 “Thirst knows no season.” Coca-cola, 1952 and “It refreshes without filling.” Pepsi, 1954 The words that undergo affixation are knows and calls. Knows is derived from a root know [v] and a suffix –s to mark a third person singular present verb. The subject that precedes knows [v] is thirst. Calls is also derived from a root call [v] and 60 a suffix –s to mark a third person singular present verb. The verb knows is preceded by its subject, real life. KNOW [v] + -s = knows [v] REFRESH [v] + -s = refreshes [v] The affixation involves the process of marking third person singular present in the simple present tense. Further, simple present tense is used for general statement of fact Azar, 1989: 11. In the advertisements, the use of simple present tense can inform the readers that thirst always exists see sentence “Thirst knows no season” so that the readers should buy Coca-cola to inhale the thirst. Moreover, in the sentence “It refreshes without filling”, it can be concluded that Pepsi intended to show that Pepsi always gives refreshment for the consumers. 2 “The Pepsi challenge showed who won.” Pepsi, 1975 and “We created a “media first” in People, the hottest magazine in the U.S.” Pepsi, 2006 The words showed and created undergo affixation. Both of the words are added with the suffix –ed that marks past tense verb. SHOW [v] + -ed = showed [v] CREATE [v] + -ed = created [v] The meaning of showed and created does not change and the word class remains the same as verb. The use of past tense in the Pepsi’s 1975 advertisement was to inform the readers that “Pepsi challenge” had already have the winner. On the other hand, Pepsi’s 2006 advertisement used past tense to show their ideas of gaining the popularity of Diet Pepsi Jazz. 61 3 “We’re rushing to bring you the greatest Coca-cola.” Coca-cola, 1980 and “Pepsi is offering 5 rebates.” Pepsi, 1991 Rushing and offering are the inflected lexemes that undergo affixation. The affix that involves in the affixation is –ing that marks a progressive participle. In the data, the lexeme RUSH and OFFER are attached to the affix –ing. RUSH [v] + -ing = rushing [v] OFFER [v] + -ing = offering [v] This affixation that marks progressive participle points to present progressive tense which aims to express an activity that is in progress at the moment of speaking or something generally in progress this week, this month, or this year Azar, 1989: 11. The advertisers used the progressive participle since they could inform the readers that they were in the progress on bringing the greatest Coca-cola refer to the sentence “We’re rushing to bring you the greatest Coca-cola”. Therefore, the readers would be attracted to the Coca-cola’s attempt to perfect their products. Moreover, in the sentence “Pepsi is offering 5 rebates”, the progressive participle is used in order to inform the readers that Pepsi was to offer 5 rebates at that moment. 4 “Coca-cola in cans.” Coca-cola, 1967 and “ Get two packs of Pepsi”. Pepsi, 1970 Cans and packs are the inflected forms of lexeme CAN and PACK that undergo affixation. The affix that involves in the affixation is –s that marks a plural form. CAN [n] + -s = cans [n] PACK [n] + -s = packs [n] The plural form used in the sentence “Coca-cola in cans” aims to show the readers that Coca-cola products are also available in the cans, not only in the bottles. 62 Packs used in the sentence “ Get two packs of Pepsi” follows the rule of plural form in a countable noun. Pack is a countable noun and its plural form is packs. Furthermore, it is preceded by the word two, a number equivalent to the sum of one and one Oxford Dictionaries, 2013 , which leads to the plural form to the noun succeeding it. 5 “Now enjoy that cold crisp taste longer.” Coca-cola, 1958 and “Smaller single-drink bottle.” Pepsi, 1953 The inflected forms are longer and smaller. Longer is the inflected form of the lexeme LONG . Smaller is the inflected form of the lexeme SMALL . LONG [adj] + -er = longer [adj] SMALL [adj] + -er = smaller [adj] The suffix –er is added to the lexemes LONG and SMALL. Moreover, the suffix – er marks an adjective comparison. On the other hand, the suffix –er expresses the comparative forms of LONG and SMALL into the words longer and smaller. 6 “We’re rushing to bring you the greatest Coca-cola.” Coca-cola, 1980 and “Scoop up a big helping and wash it down with Pepsi – the happiest taste in Cola.” Pepsi, 1973 Greatest and happiest are the inflected forms of lexeme GREAT [adj] and HAPPY [adj]. GREAT [adj] + -est = greatest [adj] HAPPY [adj] + -est = happiest [adj] The lexemes are added to the suffix –est that marks superlative form. The superlative form expresses the highest or a very high degree of a quality Oxford Dictionaries, 2013. Therefore, the use of superlative form in the advertisements can 63 show the readers that the products have the highest quality in taste refer to the sentence “We’re rushing to bring you the greatest Coca-cola”. b. Apophony or Internal Change Apophony or internal change is a vowel change within a root Aronoff Fudeman, 2011: 173. There were four apophony cases used in the Coca-cola advertisements and nine apophony cases used in the Pepsi advertisements. 1 “And your friends will be extra glad they came.” Coca-cola, 1957 Came is the past tense form of lexeme COME k ʌ m . The vowel [ ʌ ] is changed with the vowel [ e ɪ ] in order to create the word came ke ɪ m . The change only occurs within the root, whereas phoneme k and phoneme m do not change. 2 “The Pepsi challenge showed who won.” Pepsi, 1975 Won w ʌ n is the past tense form of the lexeme WIN w ɪ n. The process of internal change involves the replacement of vowel [ ɪ ] in WIN with the vowel ʌ . Moreover, the use of past tense form in the Pepsi’s 1975 advertisement was to inform the readers that “Pepsi challenge” had had the winner already. c. Suppletion Suppletion occurs when “the syntax requires a form of a lexeme that is not morphologically predictable” Aronoff Fudeman, 2011: 176. There were 8 suppletion cases discovered in the Coca-cola advertisements, whereas there was no suppletion case discovered in the Pepsi advertisements. The suppletion cases discovered in the Coca-cola advertisements use the words best and better as described in two sentences as follows: 64 1 “Our policy is to serve you the best products.” Coca-cola, 1972 2 “Better tasting.” Coca-cola, 1980 Best is the suppletion from good. Further, best is a superlative adjective form of good. On the other hand, better, the suppletion form of good, is the comparative adjective form of good. Best and better are considered suppletion because the two words are not attached by particular affixes, but the forms have different pattern which is not morphologically predictable from the neutral form good. d. Partial Suppletion Partial suppletion involves the internal change process. However, the change does not only occur within a root, but it changes to the end of the word Aronoff Fudeman, 2011: 177. The partial suppletion cases used in the advertisements involve the change of present tense verb to past tense verb. Moreover, the partial suppletion cases discovered in the advertisements are described in the paragraphs as follows: 1 “You could win 2 tickets to a Britney Spears concert closest to your home.” Pepsi, 2001 Could k əd, kd is the past form of CAN kæn and it is used to indicate a possibility Oxford Dictionaries, 2013. Could and CAN share the same phoneme k. The phoneme k in could and CAN does not change, but the vowel succeeding the phoneme changes until the end of the word. Moreover, the use of could in the sentence refers to the possibility that the readers were given an opportunity to win two Britney Spears’ concert tickets. 65 2 “You’ve never seen a taste like this.” Pepsi, 1993 Seen si:n is the past participle of SEE si:. The phoneme s that becomes the initial phoneme of seen and SEE does not change. The change occurs in the vowels succeeding the initial phoneme s until the end of the word. Moreover, in the advertisement, the advertisers intended to convince the readers that the readers had not seen a product like Crystal Pepsi and Diet Crystal Pepsi that were clearly different from other soft drinks. It was a strategy to promote the Pepsi’s new products, Crystal Pepsi and Diet Crystal Pepsi. In order to know the occurrences of inflection cases, Table 4.8 on the page 66 depicts the number of inflection cases used in the advertisements. 66 Table 4.8 The Occurrences of Inflection Soft drink Inflection Types Number of inflection cases Example Coca-cola Affixation 68 Thirst knows no season. 1952 Apophony 4 And your friends will be extra glad they came. 1957 Suppletion 8 No wonder Coke refreshes you best. 1961 Partial suppletion 4 The taste of coke has made it the world’s most popular soft drink. 1970 Root-and-pattern - - Stem alternations - - Reduplication - - TOTAL 84 Pepsi Affixation 86 Pepsi gives more bounce to the ounce. 1951 Apophony 9 The Pepsi Challenge showed who won. 1975 Suppletion - - Partial suppletion 12 Pepsi-cola has steadily kept pace. 1952 Root-and-pattern - - Stem alternations - - Reduplication - - TOTAL 107 Based on Table 4.8, Coca-cola has 84 inflection cases and Pepsi has 107 inflection cases. The total of inflection cases used in the Coca-cola and Pepsi advertisements is 191.

B. The Frequency of the Word Formation Used in Coca-cola and Pepsi