Bilingual Naming of Business Premises, Products and Services in Murang’a County.

Abstract

The study aimed at examining the use of bilingualism in naming of business premises, products and services in Murang‟a town. It tried to discover whether there are laid down procedures that are followed when designing bilingual names. It sought to discover how bilingual names are designed. Data was collected from the field by observation, photographing of bilingual names in Murang‟a town. The study sought to find out whether, there are systematic ways used in Bilingual Naming of Business Premises, Products and Services in Murangá County, there are the benefits of bilingual naming to businesses owners and their customers and the reasons behind bilingual naming of businesses. The selection of the names was noted to incorporate the products‟ outcome, owners‟ popularity and place issue. The target group of this naming being the people who speak the language used. The findings of the study also confirmed that different grammatical categories are used in naming of Business Premises, Products and services. These include names headed by nouns, common verbs, adverbs, adjectives and pronouns. Symbolic names, names coined through repetition were also found. There are different dimensions also used in bilingual naming. The study also found among the reasons behind bilingual naming system was customer attraction, promotion of communication and trade, differentiate similar items, show location and ownership, creates unity and aims at explaining the purpose and usage of specific products.