Where to stay in the UK and in Italy: a comparative study of the language of holiday accommodation advertisements

Over recent years, tourism has undergone some of the greatest development, employing thousands of people, as well as the most up-to-date technologies and means of communication. The spread of tourism all over the world has encouraged the use of English in foreign countries where, due to historical, cultural and economic factors, it actually acts as a lingua franca. This great diffusion of the English language has affected the other languages, which have started borrowing a huge number of terms from it. For instance, words such as camping, check-in, booking are commonly used in a number of languages, including Italian.
It could, therefore, be argued that this sector has developed a well-structured and powerful language, able to deal with its great variety of aspects and functions. According to Gotti (2003: 15-34), the great potentialities of English are also due to the high balance in the register used in tourist texts, which happens to mix together elements drawn from both everyday language and specialized language.
The question whether the language of tourism should be considered as a special language or not is still controversial. On the one hand, the language of tourism presents a great number of similarities to everyday language, since people do not need a high level of specialization to understand it. (Gotti, 2003: 19) On the other hand, people generally agreed on the fact that it exploits a very special type of communication. The language of tourism actually combines together elements taken from everyday language along with components referring to specialized concepts. According to this perspective, it could be argued that the language of tourism should be considered as specialized discourse because the latter presents the lexical, phonetic, morphosyntactic and textual resources of general language, which are usually employed in the construction of specialized texts, including those dealing with tourism promotion.
The language of tourism has mainly two different levels of expression: on the one hand, it can be considered as highly specialized discourse adopted by experts who share knowledge and standard procedures. As a consequence, this kind of language consists in specific expressions and codified textual genres. On the other hand, when the language of tourism is used in interactions between specialists and non-specialists - such as in tourism promotion - it tends to be similar to everyday language. Therefore, as Gotti (2003: 21) pointed out, it cannot be said that the language of tourism has its own "restricted code" because it adopts the language in a more creative and original way.
The features of the language of tourism can be divided into three different categories:

1. lexical features;
2. syntactic features;
3. textual features.
   

LEXICAL FEATURES
It could be argued that the most distinctive feature of the language of tourism is monoreferentiality, which indicates that in a certain context only one meaning of a term can be accepted and the term or expression cannot be substituted by a synonym but only by an explicative definition or paraphrase. The need for a single referent forces users to coin new terms, rather than adopt the existing ones, in order to avoid misunderstandings when expressing new concepts. According to this, the language of tourism has created its own vocabulary to express new services. (Gotti, 2003: 23)
The referential nature of tourism terminology is an advantage for conciseness. The need for conciseness usually leads to a reduction in textual surface, as for instance in "blending", that is the process of joining together two different lexemes into a single term:

1. motel (motor + hotel);
2. travelodge (travel + lodge);
3. motorail (motor + rail).

Greater conciseness can also be achieved through a reduction of a given term, using the so called acronyms and abbreviations:

1. dorms (dormitories);
2. ID (Identity + Document);
3. ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival);
4. AC (Air Conditioning).

Another good device used in the language of tourism to create new terms is metaphorisation, that is the creation of metaphors. According to Gotti (2003: 25), this process presents some advantages such as "terminological transparency". It is achieved when the metaphor lexeme creates a semantic association linking a codified signatum to an existing signans and conciseness or when the metaphor lexeme favours rapid information transfer, avoiding lengthy explanations and complex definitions. An example could be represented by the metaphorical expressions "booking", which frequently occurs in the language of tourism and denotes an action which is generally carried out by computers.
Another one of the most remarkable features of the language of tourism is its indebtedness to other semantic fields belonging to different specialized languages. The main specialized languages whose lexis is exploited by tourism discourse are economics, geography, history of art, cuisine, craftsmanship and transport. This is due to the fact that a wide range of sectors make up the field of tourism included travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, means of transport, museum, literature, advertising, promotion, etc.
It is said that another important feature of specialized languages is the lack of emotive connotation. However, lack of emotion can be found whenever in any text which is only informative, while when the purpose of a tourist text is persuasive the emphasis on emotion can be noticed, too. The lexis exploited is usually emphatic and evaluative and it often highlights the positive features of places and services provided. Here are some examples of this kind of expressions:

unique setting for meetings / welcoming atmosphere / picturesque valley / tastefully decorated rooms / friendly staff / delicious restaurants / idyllic location / stunning views / ideal setting for…

In order to convey idyllic views of the places promoted, persuasive expressions often contain "emphasisers" and superlative forms, as in the following examples:

the most luxurious accommodation / very special interest in our Guests / completely renovated rooms / the most attentive service

SYNTACTIC FEATURES
One of the main distinctive features of specialized discourse is its "compact syntactic structure" (Gotti, 2003: 28). An example is represented by some linguistic strategies exploited in English tourist texts, which enables the writer to avoid relative clauses and make the sentence structure "simpler". Two devices can be employed: the substitution of a relative clause with lexemes obtained by affixation:

non-smoking bedrooms / on-site self-service laundry facilities / in-room safe

and the omission of the agent and the auxiliary in a passive-form clause:

cancellations accepted / GBP 10.00 Security Deposit required at check-in / high-speed can be purchased

These processes add conciseness and transparency to the text, as the expressions are shorter than the original ones and they are also clear, as the omitted parts can be easily deduced by the reader. Sometimes this process needs various instances of simplification, and the result may be a noun specified by an expression. Instances include:

tea- and coffee-making facilities / 24-hour reception/well-stocked minibar

The phenomenon of relative clause reduction often leads to a switch from postmodification to premodification and, consequently, the use of nominal adjectivation - a noun specifies another one with an adjectival function. This transition is particularly common in English, as its syntactic rules allow adjectival uses of different phrasal elements and the exploitment of right-to-left construction. A few examples are:

safety box / luggage room / bed sheets and bath towels / cinema room / beach access / entertainment room / key card access / video surveillance system / fire proof door / tour bookings / wheelchair accessibility

On the contrary, languages such as Italian employ left-to-right construction.
Sometimes, compounds consisting of two nouns may become a single term after a period of use (e.g. airline, timetable). Adjectivation can originate not only from nouns but also from phrases containing other elements such as adjectives and past participles, which can be pre-modified by an adverb:

freshly laundered linen / daily maid service / experienced personal trainers / guided tours

The use of this linguistic strategy obeys the criteria of conciseness and in addition to this sentences become conceptually richer and syntactically shorter.

TEXTUAL FEATURES
One of the features that most distinguish specialized discourse is "compliance with the norms governing the construction of its different text genres." (Gotti, 2003: 31) The type of specialized text and its structure are usually closely linked because text genre not only have an overall pragmatic function, but also influences all textual features and their conceptual and rhetorical development, which in turn affects the linguistic choices. In the field of tourism, the main genres are: tourist guides, articles in journals and magazines, brochures and advertising materials in general, itineraries and professional correspondence.
In my paper, I will focus on hotel promotional materials, whose aim is persuasive, as they aim to attract travellers and encourage them to buy tourist "products" such as hotel accommodation.
The textual genres typical of tourism discourse are highly codified and this increases semantic-conceptual coherence and transparency. Texts are constituted by standardized parts, for instance a typical hotel description usually contains the following sections:

1. name of the hotel;
2. overview and location;
3. bedrooms description;
4. facilities and services;
5. cuisine;
6. sport and entertainment.