1.05 English: Language and Occupation Flashcards
The word for specialist vocabulary of an occupation
Positive: allows people within the occupation to communicate quickly and efficiently
Negative: can be a way of creating power and superiority - used to exclude people outside of the occupation, and showing a lack of sensitivity to the audience
Jargon
Language of the law
Needs to be as clear and unambiguous as possible however, not really the case
People in the professions will have a better understanding of it and this may result in them using it in situations outside of their professions
• Could possibly lead to divergence
Jargon: Legalese example
There’s a clear semantic world of business
• The lexis found could be encapsulated to a large extent within a limited number of semantic categories
Categories included: companies, institutions, money, business and more
BE’s key lexis was found to be overtly positive in nature as well as dynamic and action-orientated
Negative key words showed what didn’t belong to the business world
Positive places key words: office, department, boardroom etc.
Negative places key words: prison, castle, town etc.
Can be said to a large extent it exists and can be seen as semantically distinct from ‘general’ English although at the same time is still quite clearly attached to it
Michael Nelson: Business English
Defined as “groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals”
• Have common goals and interests
• Have specific lexis
Some examples:
• Work
• School
• Friends
• Family
John Swales: Discourse communities (2011)
Found workplace talk differs from ordinary conversation
Features included:
Goal orientation: Conversations usually focused on goals/tasks at hand and the solutions to reaching these
Turn-taking: In certain jobs, certain people speak at different times
• Usually depends on the status of the speakers - their dominance within the conversation
Allowable contributions: Participants may be restricted in what they’re allowed to say
• To keep workplace conversations professional, only certain things are appropriate to say
Professional lexis: There are specific words that are used in that profession and only relevant to that topic
Asymmetry: One speaker in the conversation often has more power/knowledge than the other
(EG: Boss and employee - when the participant with less power tries to obtain a more dominant position)
Drew and Heritage: Institutional Talk
Certain factors make workplace and professional talk more efficient and understandable to everyone involved
Workplace conversations help to establish status within a conversation
People involved in ‘Institutional Talk’ are usually also operating within a Discourse Community
Drew and Heritage: Institutional Talk findings
Workers need to be able to establish inter-personal relationships with each other
• Helps to get jobs done
• Promotes effective working relationships
While power may be important in occupational contexts - solidarity is too
Says “workplace talk can be collaborative talk that encompasses making arrangements, decision-making, and discussing and evaluating transactions”
Koester: Phatic Talk (2004)
Social groups and power:
• Political - power in the law (EG: police, lawyer)
• Personal - occupation/power within a job (EG: doctor, teacher)
• Social - friends and family, class in society
Types of power (both are written and spoken):
• Instrumental power - enforces authority and is imposed by the laws, state, conventions and organisations (EG: “SHUT UP NOW!”)
• Influential power - persuasive and inclines or makes us want to behave in a certain way (EG: “Please don’t touch the paint”)
Wareing (1999)
Face - the image that we present of ourselves to others
• Is like a persona
Our face is situational - the face we project changes depending on who we’re with
Irving Goffman: Face theory (1955)
Developed Goffman’s theory of “face” into a theory of positive and negative politeness
Being polite is respecting someone else’s “face”
We need to meet the needs of “face” through positive/negative politeness
Face Threatening Acts (FTA):
• Language/acts that reject the face someone presents to us
• Although speaking in this way can’t be avoided, people try to speak indirectly to mitigate the impact
Examples of FTA include:
• Turning your back on someone speaking to you - has implications of power/status in conversation
• Making impositions on people
Brown and Levinson: Politeness theory (1987)
Positive face: the desire to feel approved of
(EG: to maintain a positive and consistent self-image during the conversation)
Negative face: the desire to feel unimpeded
(EG: the freedom from feeling imposed upon by the interaction)
Positive politeness examples:
• Compliments
• Seeking agreement/common ground
• Making jokes
- Show people they’re liked/admired/included
Negative politeness examples:
• Saying excuse me before asking for something
• Being apologetic
• Being indirect
- Language that shows you’re avoiding intruding on another person’s life
Positive politeness reduces social distance
B+L found we tend to use more negative politeness
Brown and Levinson: Positive/negative face and politeness (1987)
