‘Let’s Take a Look...’: Textual Meaning of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Slogans

Abstract

Many researchers do their research on geoparks, slogan, and textual meaning of each but it is still limited research on textual meaning that relates to geopark slogans. This research tries to figure out the textual meaning of the UNESCO Global Geoparks slogans. The slogans are obtained from the UNESCO official website at www.unesco.org. The research method applied is a descriptive qualitative method. The data collected are eighty-five slogans: they were identified and classified into clauses (sixty-three data) and clause complexes (twenty-two data). It was reported that the simple topical theme is the dominant in the eighty-five slogans found. It was notified that the multiple themes found in the slogans have two elements: they are the combination of topical - textual theme and topical – interpersonal theme. It was concluded, for the readers, the simple theme is the dominant one since the simple ones are easier to understand and to memorize than the multiple ones. As concluded from the data analysis, the slogan writers tend to select simple themes as the best way to communicate the underlying message of their products to the readers or listeners. In addition, clauses are also preferred than clause complexes in formulating their slogans.