The use of code-mixing in Indian billboard advertising
SUJATA SURINDER KATHPALIA* AND KENNETH KENG WEE ONG**
ABSTRACT: One major area of interest in the study of contemporary linguistic landscapes worldwide is the
interaction of English with local languages in public spaces. One such example of this is the use of ‘Hinglish’ in
Indian media, particularly in Indian advertising. Although some researchers have previously investigated HindiEnglish code-switching in Bollywood films as well as print advertisements, relatively little research has been done
on the interplay of these two languages on billboards. This current study aims to analyze this aspect of Hindi-English
code-mixing involving literary devices in the ‘Amul butter’ advertising campaign which uses billboards to advertise
its product throughout India.
KEYWORDS: Linguistic landscapes, Hindi-English code-switching, Hinglish billboards, literary devices.
INTRODUCTION
Although research has been extensive on language alternation or switching among bilingual
speakers, particularly spoken code-switched utterances in a variety of domains and speech
functions, research on written code-switching is scarce at best (e.g. Reh 2004; Sebba 2012;
2013). Sebba (2012; 2013) notes this discrepancy in research and proposes that multilingual
texts, including print advertisements, be analysed linguistically, spatially and visually, in
ways that may broaden our understanding of contemporary linguistic landscapes (Bolton
2012). In this article, we aim to analyse Hindi-English code-switched texts on billboards,
with particular reference to novel figures of speech constructed in linguistic hybridity, or
what Bhatt (2008) calls the ‘third space’ of the creative recombination of two languages
familiar to the audience. Thus, our focus in this study is on the novel recombinations of
figurative meanings in Hindi-English code-switched advertising texts that appear on Indian
billboards.
English and Hindi have been the official languages in India since independence in 1947
(Bhatia & Ritchie 2006a). Hindi is mainly spoken in the north-west and north-central parts of
India whereas English is spoken by the educated elite and has become ‘the language of
modern intellectual communication’ (784). It has also become dominant in domains such as
education, science and technology, government, law and media, leading to what is referred to
as ‘the Englishization of Indian languages’ (791). Not surprisingly, this phenomenon is also
reflected in Indian advertising. Advertising communication in Hindi-English is ubiquitously
found on shop fronts, billboards and print/online media (Bhatia 2012; McCormick &
Agnihotri 2009; Trivedi 2011). The audience for such advertising are Hindi-English
bilinguals who are adept in both languages and who habitually code-switch between the
languages regardless of setting and purpose, to the extent that ‘Hinglish’ is widely spoken by
most educated people across India (Anderson-Finch 2011).
______
*Nanyang Technological University, Language and Communication Centre, 14 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637332. Email:
MSSKATH@ntu.edu.sg
** Nanyang Technological University, Language and Communication Centre, 14 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637332.
Email: ONGKWK@ntu.edu.sg
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Although the term ‘Hinglish’ is commonly used in the literature to refer to Hindi-English
code-switching, it needs some clarification as there are divergent views on its meaning.
Trivedi (2011: vii) describes this conflict aptly when he comments that “It is obviously a
mixture of Hindi and English – but is it the use of Hindi words and syntactic elements in
English, or the use of English words and syntax in Hindi?” The other aspect that is
problematic is the term ‘Hinglish’ itself as it is closer to English in its pronunciation and
spelling, giving the impression that it refers to Hindi-in-English rather than English-in-Hindi
(ibid). Yet another aspect concerns the variety of Hindi being referred to in the word blend
‘Hinglish’ – whether it is Mumbai Hindi, Kalkatiya Hindi, Madrasi Hindi or Dakkani Hindi
on the one hand, or common mainstream Hindi (Theth Hindi), Sanskritised Hindi (Pandit’s
Hindi) or Hindustani (influenced by Urdu) on the other. In the context of the present study,
Hinglish is used to encompass Hindi-in-English and English-in-Hindi code-mixing as well as
code-mixing of English with different varieties of Hindi, including the Hindi-Sanskrit-Urdu
hybrid and regional Hindi.
Bhatt (2011: 78) states that Hinglish is ‘the language of the street and is the lingo of most
college campuses’. As both languages are intertwined and practiced widely and extensively,
the linguistic situation is similar to the linguistic ambiguity of markedness in the case of
Taiap-Tok Pisin speakers in Papua New Guinea (Stroud 1992; 1998). English nor Hindi can
be confidently attributed as the marked or unmarked language as both are typically mixed
and used dynamically and frequently – motivation speculation is fruitless in the HindiEnglish context. Bhatt (2008) notes that code-switched advertising texts cleverly exploit the
interplay of sociolinguistic similarities and differences of Hindi and English to create
enriched and fused meanings that are accessible to bilingual readers in India, although his
study was limited to the analysis of only two advertising texts.
Previous research on code-switched advertisements has been somewhat limited in scale and
depth. Ahn and Ferle (2008) found that Korean youths were more able to recognise and recall
brand names in English than in Korean. The hypothesis was that English (the foreign
language) in the Roman script is more distinctive and novel than the Hangul script. A similar
study by Li and Kalyanaraman (2012) of Chinese participants reading Web editorial content
in one language, and advertisements in another language, found that there is higher retentionretrieval of English advertisings messages than Chinese ones. However, the asymmetrical
status of English as a foreign language in Korea and China is not mirrored in India, where
many middle class speakers are proficient bilinguals in both English and Hindi from early
childhood onwards. In their study of Hispanic Americans, Luna and Peracchi (2005a, 2005b)
found that code-switches activated positive and negative social meanings – linked to
particular languages -- for bilingual audiences. Bhatia and Ritchie (2006b), on the other hand,
show that mixing English in global advertising has a positive effect on bilingual audiences
due to the strong socio-psychological and literary features associated with English.
Figurative speech is often employed by advertisers as a means of persuasive enhancement,
and it is claimed that its use is welcomed by consumers (Van Mulken 2003). For example,
Djafarova (2008) argues that readers of advertisements often take pleasure in successfully
inferring the intended meaning of puns. Leigh (1994) found that frequency of tropes in
American print ad headlines is over 74%, especially that of puns (antanaclasis, paronomasia),
contradictory associations (metaphor, paradox, parody) and associations (allusion and
personification). However, previous studies of code-switched tropes or figures of speech
have been limited in number. Viswamohan (2004) examined print journalistic writing and
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found that code-switching is used by writers to express figurative tropes. Kachru (2006a)
showed that Hindi pop songs incorporated Hinglish to invoke humour and parody
occidentalised youth. However, to our knowledge, no studies have hitherto been carried out
on the range of figures of speech used in Hindi-English advertisements and the novel fusion
of meanings between the languages.
Although research studies have been published on Hindi-English code-switching in
Bollywood films as well as print advertisements, little research has been done on the
interplay of these two languages on billboards, especially in relation to figurative language.
In response to this research gap, our study aims to analyze Hindi-English code-mixing in the
successful ‘Amul butter’ advertising campaign which has used billboard advertising as a
major strategy. In this context, our research questions are as follows: (1) Is Hindi or English
the matrix language in mixed language Amul billboards?, (2) To what extent is the
hybridization of language in this context linguistically systematic?, (3) What specific literary
devices are used to make the code-switched messages memorable, and (4) What is the
motivation for these mixed language billboards?
BACKGROUND TO THE AMUL CAMPAIGN
Derived from the Sanskrit word amulya meaning ‘invaluable’, the Amul brand was registered
in 1957, while its billboard advertising campaign began in 1966 and continues to the present
(Amul’s India 2012). Apart from being the longest-running outdoor campaign, the Amul
billboards are more than a campaign for a product, they tell a story of India as an independent
nation by providing a commentary on the political and social culture of India over fifty years.
The campaign chronicles the history and evolution of India by showcasing prominent events
in the spheres of politics, sports and entertainment.
Figure 1: Photograph of an Amul billboard in Mumbai
The Amul outdoor campaign has captivated the Indian public, with fans across all ages and
backgrounds. To begin with, the billboards were targeted selectively at English-speaking
urban Indians in the major Indian cities but soon region-specific billboards were released in
other cities often in different languages. The introduction of billboards in other languages,
and specifically those that combined English with other languages, introduced a local flavor
and widened the appeal of the ads from an elite educated urban audience to the common
man. Code-mixing in particular was introduced into the campaign in 1977 and the Hinglish
one-liners in the campaign gained instant popularity (Raaj 2009).
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The Amul brand has achieved iconic status due to the collective impact of the Amul girl
(an impish child in a polka-dotted dress) who has become a brand ambassador for Amul; the
catchy slogan ‘Utterly butterly delicious’; the trademark ‘Amul–The Taste of India’; the
topical messages delivered in a humorous style; and the local flavor infused through the use
of Hinglish and other languages. Through its witty one-liners on current issues, the Amul
campaign has set out to reflect current social trends in Indian society and to become ‘an
integral part of the collective Indian consciousness’ (Amul’s India 2012: 160).
DATA COLLECTION AND METHODOLOGY
Amul billboards are available online and arranged sequentially in the Amul website
according to time of appearance. The data for this study was extracted from 1191 billboards
spanning the years 2000 to 2013, with 6% of the billboards being in Hindi, 32.5% being in
English, and the majority mixing languages such as English and Hindi (59%) as well as other
regional languages (2.5%). In fact, there is a rising trend of mixed language advertisements
in the Indian advertising scene, with multilingual and multicultural aspects becoming ‘the
hallmark of Indian advertising practices’ (Bhatia 2012: 232). This phenomenon is evident in
the Amul campaign where mixed language billboards are becoming common.
Among the mixed language Amul billboards, the most common ones were those that mixed
English and Hindi (700 billboards). However, the data chosen for this study consists of
English-Hindi code-switched billboards that exhibit intra-sentential code-switching (493
billboards) rather than inter-sentential code-switching (207 billboards). The preference for
intra-sentential code-switching is mainly because research has shown that bilinguals with
proficiency in two languages not only have a better attitude towards code-switching but are
able to code-switch intra-sententially in a more complex mode (Montes-Alcala 2000). The
terms code-switching and code-mixing are used interchangeably in this paper to refer to
intra-sentential language mixing.
A distinction was not made between Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit as well as regional varieties
of Hindi in the selection of data. Although Hindi and Urdu are written in different scripts,
both languages are mutually intelligible as they are similar in the spoken form. As for
Sanskrit, it is the language of India’s cultural and intellectual tradition and Hindi has
borrowed many of its technical and learned vocabulary from it. According to Bhatia and
Ritchie (2006a: 788), similar to Latin and Greek in the western world, ‘Sanskrit is the source
of designative cultural and technical innovations in SA [South Asia] and beyond.’ Due to the
close link between these languages, the term Hindi is used in this paper as an umbrella term
to refer to Hindi (including its regional varieties), Urdu and Sanskrit, and ‘Hinglish’ is used
to denote Hindi-Sanskrit-Urdu code mixing with English.
Although some have argued that the word ‘Hinglish’ is more like ‘English’
orthographically and phonemically (Trivedi 2011), it is used in the present study to refer to
English-Hindi code-mixing irrespective of whether the matrix language is Hindi or English.
However, the data was classified according to Hindi-in-English and English-in-Hindi
billboards in order to address the research question on the preference of matrix language in
the Amul billboards. This distinction was based on whether the advertising messages were
framed in a sentence with an English syntax (e.g. A little bit of maska in your slice; maska =
butter) or Hindi syntax (e.g. Ek aur cup lao! – Bring another cup/trophy!). The same
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procedure was employed at the phrase level whereas at the word level, the classification was
based on whether the original word blend is from English (e.g. Skyscrapers in Bhaiscrapers)
or Hindi (e.g. Kurukshetra in Crickshetra).
The current view of sociolinguists on language mixing is that it is ‘a systematic and rulegoverned phenomenon which satisfies the creative needs of bilinguals, especially those needs
that can be met neither effectively nor efficiently by means of the single, separate linguistic
systems which are at the disposal of bilinguals’ (Bhatia & Ritchie 2006b: 518). Language
mixing in advertisements not only appeals to a bilingual audience but also enables
copywriters to experiment with innovative ways of combining the resources of two languages
to achieve special socio-psychological effects (Luna & Peracchio 2005a; 2005b). These
effects are further heightened when used in conjunction with figures of speech such as
metaphors, puns and rhymes which are widely used in advertisements to attract customer
attention (McQuarrie & Mick 1993; Leigh 1994; Djafarova 2008). Research has shown that
the use of figures of speech is not only common in advertisements but that it also enhances
brand recall and positive attitudes (McQuarrie & Mick 1992; 1993).
This strategy of systematic language mixing in conjunction with figures of speech is also
apparent in the Amul billboards. The analysis of the mixed language billboards showed that
the figures of speech employed included alliteration, allusions, assonance, blending,
compounding, irony, metaphor, onomatopoeia, oxymoron, parody, puns, and rhyme (Leigh
1994: 19-22) and these were code-mixed in a systematic manner following the grammatical
rules of the matrix language. Examples of mixed language billboards that use these devices,
intertwined with references to Indian popular culture (Bollywood, television serials, cricket
etc.) as well as current social and political issues, are presented in the next section.
THE ANALYSIS OF AMUL BILLBOARDS
One technique commonly used by advertisers to persuade bilingual consumers in India is to
mix languages within advertisements, and in the Amul billboards, advertisers often mix
English and Hindi to create interesting headlines and bylines that appeal to bilingual Indians.
They further combine this strategy of manipulating two languages with the use of literary
devices to enhance the effect of the message. The clever use of figures of speech in
advertising copy is designed to increase its persuasive force. The sections below present
examples of Amul billboards which combine these two strategies of code-mixing and use of
figurative devices to make the message more memorable.
Puns
Puns are frequently exploited by advertisers to convey double-meaning for humorous effect.
They are an economical tool for expressing more than one meaning in a short phrase and this
feature is particularly relevant in advertising for attracting audience attention (Djafarova,
2008). Another reason for the popularity of puns is that they are ambiguous and require
readers to use their intellect to solve the puzzle posed by the advertiser (Van Mulken et al.
2005). Although requiring more complex forms of processing, puns engage consumers by
posing a challenge and providing a sense of achievement when the meanings are derived
through contextual cues. This processing activity is made even more challenging in mixed
language ads when a word represents different meanings in two different languages.
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In the examples of Amul billboards below, the challenge and resulting humor is intensified
as the words cheez (Figure 2) and Kiss mat (Figure 3) have different interpretations in Hindi
and English. The former used to refer to the Swiss tennis player Roger Federer, conveys a
double meaning of ‘thing / person’ in Hindi colloquial usage and ‘cheese’ in English. In the
latter, the phrase ‘Kiss mat aazmao?’ has the double meaning of ‘Tempting fate?’ and ‘Don’t
kiss?’ in relation to the fine imposed on couples displaying public affection at Marine Drive
in Bombay. In this example, the word can be interpreted as a single word kismet meaning
‘fate’ or a combination of English and Hindi words ‘kiss’ and mat meaning ‘Don’t kiss’. The
dual meaning of the word and the juxtaposition of the English word ‘kiss’ with the Hindi
word mat also hints at the clash between Western and Indian values, authenticating local
social practices and values. In addition to this pun, the rhetorical question adds another layer
of meaning by obliquely referring to the conservative but ridiculous law against public
display of affection in the country.
Figure 2. Pun on ‘Cheez’. The Swiss star Roger Federer easily wins the US Open Tennis Championship
recording three Grand Slam tournaments wins in a single season, September 2004.1
Figure 3. Pun on 'Kiss mat’. Couples displaying public affection at Marine Drive in Mumbai to be fined by
the police, September 2000.
While the first pun is easily understood, the second one is more complex and requires some
shared cultural and contextual knowledge that kissing in public is frowned upon in the Indian
culture and that the State government has introduced a fine on couples flouting this rule.
Although rhetorically complex, these puns infuse variety and humor into the text through
wordplay.
Associations
Amul billboards abound in the use of cultural references to Bollywood (movie titles, lyrics of
Bollywood songs, actors’ lives etc.); titles of Hindi TV shows (soap operas and religious
serials); socio-political issues (both local and foreign); major sports events (cricket, tennis,
soccer etc.) and Indian books (popular and religious). In fact in many of the billboards the
headlines allude to information that is not directly related to the product. The only reference
to ‘Amul butter’ is in the byline or slogan at the bottom of the billboard, with an attempt to
link it in some way to the headline. This strategy has in no way detracted from the popularity
of the butter, which enjoys a dominant position in the market. According to Jhally (1995)
advertisements typically merge a range of cultural references into product descriptions
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reflecting a well-knit local-indigenous fusion. Such a fusion of meanings in advertising
messages in multilingual and multicultural India ‘requires full engagement with readers’
bilingual and bicultural competencies’ (Bhatt, 2008: 190). This aptly describes the linguistic
and cultural knowledge required to fully understand Amul’s mixed language billboards.
The billboards in Figure 4-6 are related to Bollywood in that the linguistic frames for the
headlines are provided by the title of a Bollywood movie (Figure 4), the lyrics of a
Bollywood song (Figure 5) and sensational news about a Bollywood star (Figure 6).
Dostana, meaning friendship, was the first ever Bollywood movie on a gay friendship and it
has been alluded to in Figure 4 by means of a Hinglish phrase ‘Toast Khana’ (‘Toast Eat’)
which rhymes with the movie title and symbolizes friendship.
Figure 4. Allusion to a Bollywood Movie. Latest Bollywood block-buster 'Dostana' , November 2008.
In Figure 5, the original lyrics of the song Dost dost na raha? (‘Friend Friend not anymore?’)
from the classic film ‘Sangam’ on a love triangle between two close friends and the female
protagonist, have been transformed to ‘Dosh Dosh na raha?’ to refer to the embezzlement of
cash in the Adarsh Housing Society scam in Bombay.
Figure 5. Allusion to a Bollywood song. Adarsh Housing society scam in Mumbai, July 2012.
The orthographic and phonemic word blend ‘Shahrugate’ (Sharukh + Surrogate) in the
headline ‘Shahrugate baby’ in the example below alludes to the recent news that Sharukh
Khan, known as the king of Bollywood, is having his third baby through surrogacy.
Figure 6. Allusion to a Bollywood actor. Shahrukh Khan and surrogacy, June 2013.
All these mixed language billboards exemplify the erosion of traditional Indian practices and
values on the one hand, and a celebration of modernity in the form of gay culture,
materialism or surrogacy on the other. While the Hindi language may typically represent core
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Hindu values, English is apparently associated with a shift of such values towards a modern
lifestyle.
The next set of billboards refer to popular and religious TV shows in India that were
immensely popular among the rural people as well as urban elites. Figure 7 refers to a top
TV soap opera Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi (‘Because a mother-in-law was once a
daughter-in-law too’) which aired for eight years and revolved around a middle class woman
who married into a wealthy joint family and played the role of an ideal wife, daughter-in-law,
mother, mother-in-law and grandmother through several generations. The message conveyed
in the advertisement is that bread with Amul butter is meant for all - for the bahu (daughterin-law) and the saas (mother-in-law), because it is tasty (kyu ki isme taste hai).
Figure 7. Allusion to a Hindi TV Show. On the currently popular Hindi TV serial, June 2001.
Apart from soap operas, there are many references to the two Hindu religious epics,
Ramayana and Mahabharata, which were aired as TV shows and were a runaway success in
India. References to the themes and scenes from these two epics abound in print and
television advertising. Laxmanrekha in Figure 8 refers to lakshmana rekha in the Ramayana,
which was the line of protection drawn by Lakshmana to protect his sister-in-law Sita from
the demon Ravana while he went in search for his brother Rama. In modern usage, the term
has come to symbolize strict rules or conventions, transgressing of which could lead to dire
consequences. In the billboard, the term is a reference to VVS Laxman’s retirement from
cricket and it is a clever play on the criketer’s name and the phrase Lakshman rekha (VVS
draws his own Laxmanrekha or retirement line).
Figure 8. Allusion to an Indian cricketer. VVS Laxman announces his retirement from International Cricket,
August 2012.
Another example of borrowing from a religious epic is evident in Figure 9 where the
headline ‘Crickshetra’ (cricket+battle) is a word blend that combines the English word
‘cricket’ with the Sanskrit word kurukshetra from the epic Mahabharata . Kurukshetra was
the battle fought between the Kauravas and Pandavas to resolve a dispute over dynastic
succession. Its modern usage symbolizes any kind of dispute or conflict between warring
parties and in the billboard, it specifically refers to the rivalry between India and Pakistan in
the game of cricket. The allusion in these two billboards is both to the Hindu epics as well as
India’s obsession with cricket. The interpretation of these messages is not only dependent on
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readers’ cultural knowledge of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata but also on expert
knowledge regarding their national sport and historical rivalry between the competing teams.
Figure 9. Allusion to an Indian cricketer. On the competitive India - Pakistan Cricket Series, March 2004.
The examples of association illustrate that readers require bilingual and bicultural
competence to fully appreciate the messages in the billboards. The socio-cultural knowledge
required ranges from familiarity with Bollywood, popular and religious TV series, current
political issues to sporting events. Textual interpretation in these advertising messages is
solely dependent on what Bhatt (2008: 185) refers to as the readers ‘cultural memory’ in
relation to the cultural and religious significance attached to the code-switched Hindi words
and phrases.
Contradictory associations
Contradictory association refers to those figures of speech that provide some kind of contrast
in meaning. The devices that typically represent this category are irony, metaphor,
oxymoron, paradox, and parody. A feature common to associations and contradictory
associations is that in-text interpretation is dependent on knowledge of external events. To
fully appreciate these figures of speech, consumers are expected to make correct connections
between the advertised message and relevant local and sometimes foreign, socio-political
events as illustrated below.
The tension between the traditional and modern is evident in Figure 10 where the Hindi
word Zindagi meaning ‘life’ is used to refer to a time in the absence of ‘TV’. The irony is
that modern technology is meant to enrich our lives but has had the opposite effect of
engulfing our lives to such as extent that there is very little time for other meaningful
pursuits. Amul ran this Hinglish advertisement of ‘Life on. TV off’ to reinforce the ‘No TV
Day’ message, that was being promoted in Bombay by the Hindustan Times newspaper, to
encourage people to explore their city with family and friends. Mixing Hindi and English in
this billboard juxtaposes the traditional with the modern way of life.
Figure 10. Irony. A leading publication promoting ‘No TV Day’ in Mumbai, January 2011.
A similar strategy is employed in Figure 11 through the metaphoric use of the title Raja
meaning ‘king’ in place of Federer’s first name ‘Roger’. The Indian title has a long history in
the Indian subcontinent and carries with it connotations of the power bestowed on a monarch
or princely ruler of the Kshatriya (ruling or military elite) varna (social order) in the Vedic-
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Hindu social system. The combination of local-global is evident in the phrase ‘Raja Federer’
as a historical Vedic-Hindu social position is attributed to an international tennis player for
his victory in Wimbledon, a global sporting event.
Figure 11. Metaphor. Roger Federer wins his 7th Wimbledon title, July 2012.
The next two examples of oxymoron and paradox are an illustration of Indian culture and
family values. The phrase in Figure 12 ‘Pappi love!’ means ‘Sinful love!’ and is used in the
context of public display of affection. The oxymoron is cleverly used to reflect Indian values
of propriety among couples that prohibit kissing in public. In Figure 13, the Hindi word for
family, parivar is deliberately misspelt as ‘pari war’ to create a paradoxical effect, that of
flouting traditional Indian family values of loyalty, integrity and unity. The English word
‘war’ is deliberately employed to refer to the family dispute among former Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi’s grandsons who joined opposite political camps. The manipulation of Hindi
and English words in these phrases is aptly described by Bhatt (2008: 188) as manipulating
the resources of the two languages to present different ‘ideological frames of interpretation’,
with Hindi symbolizing the ‘old’ and English the ‘new’ way of thinking.
Figure 12. Oxymoron. Controversy surrounding public display of affection between two leading film stars,
December 2004.
Figure 13. Paradox. Former Prime Minister India Gandhi's grand children entering opposite political groups,
February 2004.
The final example of contradictory association is a parody of the popular Coke slogan in
India ‘Thanda matlab Coca-Cola’ (‘Cold meaning Coca-Cola’). The impact of the Amul
slogan in Figure 14 ‘Maska matlab Amul Butter’ (‘Butter meaning Amul Butter’) would be
lost on the reader unless s/he is aware that it is a deliberate attempt to echo the meaning of
the Coke slogan and to raise Amul to the same status as Coke. The euphemistic use of the
term maska (polish/shine) instead of makhan (meaning ‘butter’) adds an additional quality of
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localization to the Amul brand in comparison to the global Coke brand. This convergence of
local and global adds to the playfulness of this mixed language advertising message.
Figure 14. Parody of Coke Slogan. On the latest T.V. commercial of a leading soft drink manufacturer,
November 2002.
Word-creation processes
The process of combining words in a language to create new words is common in
advertising. This word-creation process when extended to code-mixing, that is combining
words from two different languages, provides another level of creativity to copywriters. In
the Amul billboards, copywriters have exploited this strategy to create novel compounds,
blends and derivations by combining English and Hindi words. Hinglish compounds are
created by combining two source words, one from each language, such that the meaning of
the compounded word it related to the meanings of the component parts. In the examples
below (Figures 15 and 16), the new compounds are based on existing compounds in English
(e.g. Skyscrapers) or Hindi (e.g. Agnipariksha = Trial by ordeal or acid test), where one of
the source words is replaced. For instance, ‘sky’ is replaced in ‘skyscrapers’ by a Hind word
Bhai meaning ‘brother’ to form ‘Bhaiscrapers’, alluding to the rivalry between India’s
affluent industrialist brothers trying to outdo each other by constructing taller buildings. The
next example shows the Hindi word agni (meaning ‘fire’) being replaced by the English
word ‘agony’ to form the compound ‘agonypariksha’.
Figure 15. Hindi-English Compound. Top Industrialist brothers competing with one another, December
2010.
Figure 16. English-Hindi Compound. Teachers’ agitation disrupting board exams, March 2013.
Although the examples in Figures 15 and 16 above allude to local events, they convey a
deeper meaning by focusing on the issue of family unity in one and the mythological event in
the Hindu epic Ramayana in the other, when Sita had to walk through fire to prove her
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innocence after she was rescued from the demon Ravana. This juxtaposition of English and
Hindi words reflects the fusion of traditional with modern values in modern day India.
Another word-creation process is blending (or ‘portmanteau’ creation) which is similar to
compounding in that two source words are combined to form a new word. However, one or
both source words are shortened (e.g. cranberry+apple = cranapple) or fused in such a
manner that there is partial phonemic blending between the two words (e.g.
critical+particular = criticular) (Gries 2004). Gries (2004) further classifies the fusion into
linear (e.g. breakfast+lunch = brunch) and non-linear (e.g. ambidextrous+sex =
ambisextrous). In the Amul billboards, there is a preference for Hinglish linear blends, which
have some phonemic and/or graphemic overlap. The example below (Figure 17) seems to
combine source words in such a manner that a conflict is created between traditional Indian
customs and modern day terrorist threats. In the blend ‘Anthraksha’, the first source word is
a shortened form of ‘anthrax’ and the second one refers to raksha, the Hindi word for
‘protection’. By extension, ‘raksha’ refers to the Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan
celebrated to honor the relationship between siblings with friendship bands which are often
sent via postal mail.
Figure 17. Linear blend with phonemic overlap. On the recent Anthrax scare, October 2001.
Apart from linear blends, there were some examples of non-linear blends in the sample. One
such example is a blend that combines star cricketer Tendulkar’s name with the English word
‘drool’ to form ‘Ten drool kars’ in celebration of his new restaurant in Mumbai (Figure 18).
Another example of such a blend is ‘Harlemul shake’ which combines the product name
‘Amul’ with ‘Harlem Shake’, a dance track that became an Internet sensation. The strategy
in these blends is to enhance the product name by riding on the fame and popularity of local
and global celebrities or events.
Figure 18. Non-linear blend with phonemic overlap. On the launch of the restaurant `Tendulkars' in Mumbai,
October 2002.
The third process of word creation that was evident in the sample is that of derivation
which involves the addition of English affixes to Hindi words or vice versa. The examples in
the data either have Hindi/English prefixes (Figure 19) or suffixes (Figure 20 and 21). These
are illustrative of the nativization of inner circle English in India, particularly in advertising
where these lexical adaptations lend it a distinct flavor through innovation or violation of
word formation rules in the language. For instance, the word ‘pass’ does not take any of the
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English negative prefixes (e.g. un-, im-, in-, il-, ir- and dis-) and ‘hero’ takes the suffix ‘-ic’
(e.g. heroic) but the same does not apply to the word ‘heroine.’ However, in the examples
below, ‘napass’ has the Hindi negative prefix na- in the question ‘Ministry napass hua?’
(‘Ministry did not pass?’) and both ‘hero’ and ‘heroine’ take the Hindi suffix –giri in the
question ‘Herogiri se heroingiri tak?’ (‘From the antics of a hero to that of a heroine’).
Figure 19. Hindi prefix attached to an English word. Confrontation between Government and the prestigious
IIMs over the annual tution fees, March 2004.
Figure 20. Hindi suffix attached to English words. Drug allegations against Olympics boxing medalist,
March 2013.
While derivational affixes change the lexical meanings of words, inflectional affixes only
change the grammatical meaning of words. English has eight inflectional affixes and all these
are suffixes. In the example below, the ‘–ing’ affix which is usually attached to English
verbs has been tagged to a Hindi noun maska meaning ‘butter’ to create a novel word form
‘maska-ing’. In Figure 21, the copywriter plays with the acronym SMS but replaces the
original expansion ‘Short Messaging Service’ with ‘Smooth Maska-ing Service’ which
serves the purpose of simultaneously alluding to the cap on social media messaging and the
attributes of Amul butter. The copywriter also flouts the rule of such inflectional
combinations in Hinglish by condensing the usual inflectional form maskafying to maska-ing.
Figure 21. English suffix attached to a Hindi word. Cap on SMS, FB and Twitter, August 2012.
This approach of creating new words by manipulating the resources of two languages and in
some instances, violating conventional word combination rules in one of the source
languages adds freshness and novelty to advertising messages in the Amul campaign. Apart
from this, it illustrates the extent of linguistic hybridity that is possible when two languages
have been in contact for several decades.
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Repetitions
The use of poetic devices such as rhythm, rhyme and sound effects is commonplace in
advertising and is aptly referred to as the poetry of consumer culture. The Amul billboards
exploit the use of alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia and rhyme to provide structural unity
to the advertising messages as well as to increase their memorability. When combined with
code-mixing, the selection of words from the two languages involves the added challenge of
ensuring that they rhyme. Hindi has many onomatopoeic words which are formed by full or
partial reduplication, with the second elements being ‘empty’ in that they do not occur
independently (Kachru 2006b). In Figure 22 below, the second element of the compound hai
hai (meaning ‘oh, oh!’) has been replaced by the English word ‘high’, resulting in an
alliteration ‘hai high’ (‘Oh high’) that alludes to the cases of sexual harassment of airline
crew on board. The byline ‘Amul Lo Lo’ (‘Take Amul’) uses a similar strategy of
reduplication and as ‘Lo Lo’ is phonemically similar to ‘Low Low’ in English, it contrasts
with ‘high’ in the headline to imply that the crew’s behaviour on board was low and
despicable.
Figure 22. Alliteration. Recent cases of sexual harassment of airline crew on board, January 2010.
In Hindi, echo compounding is a special type of reduplication where the second word
duplicates the first word but the first consonant is replaced with a v- consonant (e.g. English
Vinglish) (Kachru 2006b). The second word rarely occurs independently, has the meaning of
‘and the like’ and suggests a casual style. This productive process is extended to word
borrowings form English as in Figure 23 below (Dish Wish and Butter Vutter):
Figure 23. Echo compounding. Latest Bollywood release 'English Vinglish', October 2012.
In addition to alliteration and reduplication, assonance is also employed frequently in
advertising to lend it a poetic quality. In Figure 24 below, the vowels in the English words
‘posts’ and ‘toasts’ (pronounced the Indian way with monophthongs rather than diphthongs)
match with the vowel in the Hindi word dost meaning ‘friend’, giving rise to assonance in the
phrase ‘Share posts and toasts with dosts’. Furthermore, the English plural inflection ‘–s’ is
attached to the Hindi word dost to reinforce the rhyming effect and to suggest that sharing a
toast with friends is the same as sharing posts on social networking sites.
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Figure 24. Assonance. Freedom to express our views on social networking sites, November 2012.
The most obvious example of rhyming employed for memorability is the Amul slogan
‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’. In fact, there are many variations of this slogan on the Amul
billboards: ‘utterly butterly Diwalicious’ (on Diwali, Hindu festival of lights), ‘Utterly ‘phutphutt’erly Amul’ (when helmets were made compulsory for motorcylclists in Bombay; phutphutt is an onomatopoeic word in Hindi to refer to motorized two-wheelers), ‘utterly
Sutta’ly’ (on the Police Commissioner’s crack down on betting parlours in Bombay; sutta is
a colloquial word for cigarettes and the number seven in a pack of cards); ‘Utterly Beta-ly
Delicious!’ (when the son or beta of Congress Party’s President, Rahul Gandhi was
appointed vice-president of the party) and many more.
Figure 25. Rhyme in Amul slogan. Congress appoints Vice-President, January 2013.
CONCLUSION
In the first part of this article, we set out our research issues as concerned with: (i) whether
Hindi or English was the usual matrix language in such advertisements, (ii) whether there
was visible systematicity in language mixing, (iii) which literary devices were used, and (iv)
the motivation for language mixing in such advertising. The first issue is related to the
preference of matrix language in the data, and here our analysis suggests that there is no
particular preference for a matrix language in the Hinglish Amul billboards. Combinations of
both constructions were found in the data – some with Hindi as the matrix language (45%)
and others with English as the matrix language (53%). Only a small proportion of the
billboards (2%) used a combination of both Hindi and English as matrix languages. Mixing
was apparent at the word, phrase and clause level, with a sprinkling of English in some
examples (Figure 3: Kiss mat aazmao?) and with a sprinkling of Hindi in others (Figure 24:
Share posts and toasts with dosts!). The same was apparent at the level of word-creation in
that the base language was English in some instances (Figure 15: Skyscrapers>Bhaiscrapers)
and Hindi in others (Figure 15: Agnipariksha>Agonypariksha).
As for the issue of the systematicity of language mixing, there is clear evidence from the
analysis that the mixing of Hindi and English is generally systematic. This is particularly
apparent in the word-creation processes of blending, compounding and
derivational/inflectional affixes. Blending, for instance, follows the rules of English blends in
that one of the words is shortened and the blend is either linear with phonemic overlap
15
(Figure 17: Anthrax+Raksha = Anthraksha) or non-linear with phonemic overlap (Figure 18:
Tendulkar+drool = Tendroolkar). Another example is that of echo compounding, a special
type of reduplication in Hindi, where the second word duplicates the first word but the first
consonant is replaced with a v- consonant. This reduplication process is extended to English
words (Figure 23: ‘Dish Wish’ and ‘Butter Vutter’). These word creation processes are
complex as they require linguistic integration based on the rules of two language systems.
Although such code-mixing is unconscious on the part of bilinguals, ‘advertisers have the
uncanny ability to tap that unconscious knowledge’ (Bhatia and Ritchie 2008: 11) and apply
it creatively to their advertising messages.
With reference to the two other questions concerning the role of literary devices and the
motivation for using Hinglish in Amul’s billboards, we would suggest that the following
conclusions can be drawn. As these two strategies are interwoven, the discussion that follows
will encompass both aspects. Hinglish, in combination with a host of literary devices such as
puns, associations, contradictory associations, word-creation processes and repetitions is used
creatively in Amul’s advertising messages as has been illustrated in the preceding sections.
This is not to say that puns, allusions, blending and rhyming could not be employed
independently in English or Hindi but ‘language mixture in advertising adds new semantic
and affective features which single-language advertising is incapable of rendering’ (Bhatia
and Ritchie 2008: 10). Although English was the favoured language of advertisers in the past,
Hinglish has fast overtaken it in modern India. There was a clear distinction between English
and Hindi in post-colonial India, with English being preferred for professional and official
communication and Hindi for private and traditional interactions (Anderson-Finch 2011).
Such indexing of the languages, the former as representing ‘authority’ and ‘social distance’
whereas the latter indicating ‘solidarity’ and ‘familiarity’ has disappeared over time, with
Hinglish emerging as the new language of advertising. Many reasons have been proposed for
this shift in language preference, especially in Indian advertising.
To start of with, the phenomenon of language mixing is a natural one, in the sense
that languages that co-exist in a geographical space tend to converge and interact with each
other. For instance, Hindi has a long tradition of mixing with languages such as Sanskrit,
Persian, Arabic and other Indian languages, the most recent of these fusions being Hinglish
(Bhatia 2011). The relevant question in this context is whether such a fusion is the outcome
of deficiency or creativity – a subtractive or additive process. According to the language
deficiency hypothesis, it is believed that a bilingual person who code-switches is not
proficient in one of the languages and borrows words from his dominant language to fill gaps
in his vocabulary. Disputing this, Bhatia (2011: 40) claims that lack of proficiency in one or
both languages is not ‘the primary motivator for language mixing’ in the India context,
where, he argues, many bilinguals are in fact skilled users of the linguistic resources
available to them, leading ‘them to mix language with the aim of achieving maximum
efficacy from the two linguistic systems at their disposal’ unconsciously or consciously
(Bhatia 2011: 40). This is apparent in the present study where copywriters have many
resources at their disposal, including literary devices as well as vocabulary from multiple
languages (English and Indian languages) for creating unique puns, word blends, compounds
and rhymes. This kind of word play adds yet another layer of amusement and interest for
consumers who have to unravel the meaning conveyed through poetic devices as well as
through associations to their own language and culture.
16
Yet another motivation for using Hinglish in advertising messages is to juxtapose two
different cultures – the local and global, the traditional and modern, the indigenous and
foreign. Bhatt (2008: 178) refers to the space occupied by these conflicting yet convergent
collectives in post-colonial and modern India as the ‘third space’. This plurality and
convergence of voices is evident in the copy of the Amul billboards, where such words as
kurukshetra (referring to the battle fought between the Kauravas and Pandavas in the
Mahabharta – see Figure 9), lakshmanrekha (referring to the line of protection drawn by
Lakshmana to protect his sister-in-law Sita in the Ramayana – see Figure 8), and
agnipariksha (referring to Sita walking through fire to prove her innocence in the Ramayana
– see Figure 16) in word blends invoke cultural and historical knowledge. In order to
understand the significance of these words, readers would have to invoke a bundle of cultural
knowledge related to events in the Hindu epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. This knowledge
connects with what Bhatt (2008: 186) terms the ‘cultural memory’ of the audience, where
interpretation of the text ‘require[s] bilingual and bicultural competence – to be able to
faithfully decipher the writer’s (speaker’s) intention’. Similarly, the use of Hindi vocabulary
alongside English, reflects the hybrid culture of the new urban Indian, in that it juxtaposes
traditional Indian social practices against the global modern values of the Indian middle class
people. The impression conveyed is that of an erosion of old traditional values of family,
marriage and propriety and an emergence of new modern values of materialism,
consumerism and liberalism. According to Bhatt (2008: 188), this is facilitated by exploiting
bilingual resources, with ‘the two languages present[ing] two ideological frames of
interpretation: Hindi-old, English-new.’ This reflects a sociolinguistic reflexivity or
cognizance that language or languages modulate one’s sociocultural identity (ibid).
Although the indexing of the two languages as representing dichotomies of traditional and
modern, old and new, local and global is relevant in certain contexts of code-mixing in
advertising messages as exemplified in the copy of the Amul billboards in this study, this
does not apply to every instance of Hindi-English mixing. That English is the best vehicle for
rational ideas and Hindi for emotional expression is hard to defend in modern India, where
Hinglish has become the unmarked mode of communication. In this mixed mode of
communication, the social worlds represented by the two languages have merged to create a
hybrid code of social and linguistic integration, which has become a natural way of
communicating among urban Indians, especially the youth. According to Kothari (2011:
123), this ‘happy blend’ is evident in ‘Hinglish cultural products – films, advertisements,
signboards, short text messages, talk shows, T-short slogans, social networking sites –
promoting in overt and covert ways a lifestyle that allows you to be desi and consumerist
simultaneously’. The Amul billboards in this study, with their topical references to
Bollywood, Indian TV, cricket and current socio-political issues, are an obvious example of
this ‘happy’ coexistence of Hindi and English, giving the billboards a colloquial flavor that
appeals to both the elite and common man. The analysis of Hinglish advertising messages in
this study has revealed that language mixing is indispensable for creativity. Although literary
devices could have been employed in either English or Hindi, their impact would not have
been as profound on a bilingual consumer, especially in a country where language mixing is
considered to be a normal and natural verbal phenomenon. The linguistic and social
integration achieved through Hindi-in-English and English-in-Hindi is not only a matter of
everyday sociolinguistic reality but also fulfils the creative needs of both copywriters and
consumers.
17
NOTE
1. The Amul butter advertisements referred to in this article can be found online at: http://www.amul.com/m/amulhits
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