Brand linguistics: A theory-driven framework for the study of language in branding

A conceptual framework examines how language influences the way consumers interact with brands. Building on a review of two decades of research in the field, this framework draws on Schmitt's model of the Consumer Psychology of Brands (2012) and integrates the language-related disciplines of psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and semiotics to convey a novel, interdisciplinary perspective to brand-related managerial concerns. Through this framework, the authors define the domain of brand linguistics, the study of language effects on consumers in brand-related settings. Brand linguistics differs from the traditional disciplines associated with linguistics in that it focuses on the consumer as a unit of analysis and utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to theory. The proposed framework recognizes the implicit emergence of brand linguistics as a subdiscipline of consumer behavior, which is in turn a subdiscipline of marketing (MacInnis & Folkes, 2010). While integrating extant knowledge on the subject, the authors generate new insights and research propositions, and provide concrete suggestions for both academics and practitioners. Moreover, they discuss how well-established findings within fundamental domains of branding might vary once an integrative approach is adopted.