Lexical Strategies in Vietnamese Traffic Safety Slogans: A Behavior Change Communication Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the role of lexical strategies in behavior change communication (BCC) through the case of Vietnamese traffic safety slogans. While existing approaches have primarily focused on message-level strategies, the ways in which these strategies are realized at the linguistic level remain insufficiently explored. Accordingly, the study conceptualizes slogans as a form of “micro-level linguistic intervention,” in which target behaviors are encoded through specific lexical choices. The findings highlight the role of vocabulary as a central design resource in behavior change communication and propose an integrated approach that bridges linguistics and communication studies.