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Title WORD FORMATION PROCESSES IN TRADE NAMING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF NATIONAL AND MULTINATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES IN PAKISTAN

Author(s) Shakira Saleem

Abstract Title: Word Formation Processes in Trade Naming: A Comparative Study of National and Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies in Pakistan Pharmaceutical trade naming has been widely studied from branding and marketing perspectives, but the systematic exploration of word formation processes remains largely overlooked. This study examined the word formation processes in pharmaceutical trade names at both national and multinational levels in Pakistan. The primary objective was to explore the word formation processes in the trade naming of pharmaceuticals, with a focus on understanding the specific linguistic processes they utilize. For this purpose, the researcher used a diverse sampling technique. Firstly, three national and three multinational companies were selected through convenience sampling. Secondly, the specific categories were selected through purposive sampling, and lastly five drug names were chosen from each category through simple random sampling. The theoretical framework consisted of word formation processes, such as coinage, blending, clipping, acronyms, reduplication, compounding, borrowing and derivation. The comparison between national and multinational pharmaceutical levels revealed a wider variety of word formation processes such as coinage, blending, clipping, initialism, graphological deviation, anagramming, derivation, and compounding at the national level, while at the multinational level, coinage and blending were the dominant processes but other processes were not used abundantly. The absence of borrowing and reduplication across both levels was a significant finding, as was the prevalent use of blending by national companies and coinage by multinationals. Interviews conducted with industry professionals further underscored the lack of awareness among pharmaceutical companies about the specific linguistic processes, often resulting in randomly generated names. The study also uncovered some unusual word formation processes that, while not traditionally recognized in linguistics, prove to be workable and could be incorporated into linguistic theory to aid in the development of new trade names.

Type Thesis/Dissertation

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Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2025-06-16

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