In the 1960s there was an advertising campaign in the UK trying to persuade
people to put their seatbelts on when they got into their cars. The slogan,
which was promoted by a famous DJ, Jimmy Saville, was:
How is sound symbolism and sound patterning used
in this slogan to get people to use their seatbelts? Compare your answer
with ours.
Our answer: Clunk Click Every Trip
It is easy to see the whole slogan as an elliptical version of something
like 'There is/should be a clunk and a click every trip'.
'Every Trip' is clearly a prepositional phrase acting as an adverbial.
'Clunk' and 'Click' are two parallel nouns with no overt grammatical
linking. The grammatical boundary between the first two words and the
last two is reinforced rhythmically because 'Clink Click' and 'Every
Trip' each have two major stresses. All this leads to the feeling that
the slogan is split into two 'half lines'. The fact that 'Clunk' and
'Click' alliterate on (a) both consonants in the initial consonant cluster
and (b) the syllable-final consonant, reinforces this division. Finally
there is a half-rhyme between 'Click' and 'Trip' (same vowel and similar
final consonant - both are voiceless stops), reinforcing the idea that
there are two 'equal' line-like units in the slogan. So the grammar,
rhythm and sound patterns all lead to the idea of 'equating' 'Clunk
Click' and 'Every Trip' in terms of meaning, via the
If we now look at the sound symbolic effects, /klʌŋk/
and /klɪk/ are clearly good candidates
for sound symbolism. The two words share considerable phonemic similarities
(three phonemes in equivalent positions in the word). But the difference
between /klʌŋk/ and /klɪk/ is that /klɪk/ has a high front vowel and voiceless stop consonants,
suggesting a sharp, 'bright' sound, whereas /klʌŋk/ has a low back vowel instead of /ɪ/ and
an added nasal /ŋ/, both suggesting indistinctness.
The sequence ( /klʌŋk/ before /klɪk/ suggests that the 'car driving' sound associated with / klʌŋk/ ahould come before that associated with /klɪk/.
In this way the two words mimic the shutting of a car door (a low pitched
indistinct sound because of the rubber lining between the edge of the
door and its frame) and the putting on of the seat belt (the more distinct,
higher pitched sound of metal against metal or hard plastic). The sound
symbolism is onomatopoeic, but note that the sequencing of the words
is also part of the mimicry, or iconicity.
The 'mimicry' effects we have explored with respect to sound symbolism
are thus a part of a more general possibility of language mimicking
the world. If you are interested in this more general phenomenon, have
a look at Bolinger, Dwight (1980) Language, the Loaded Weapon,
London: Longman chapter 3.
This looks like a potentially very effective advertising slogan. But
nonetheless British people did not heed the suggestion or the related
information campaign about how seatbelts could save lives. Inertia was
too strong, in spite of the well-designed (and expensive) advertising
campaign. Eventually legislation had to introduced. This worked much
better. The British are very law-abiding even if they are not always
as sensible as they should be.
References:
Knowles, Gerry (1987) Patterns of Spoken English, Longman, pages
38-42, 60-63, 84-8 and 113-4 are all about the aesthetic properties of
sounds, sound symbolism etc.
Epstein, Edmund L. (1978) Language and Style, Methuen chapter
3 looks at sound symbolism and also grammatical iconicism.
