Language and Occupation Flashcards
Halliday- Anti-language
A way of communicating by excluding other people- don’t understand
Polari, gay communities
- uses the same words but in different ways
- stops/creates a barrier to certain communications
Swales- Discourse community
Shared set of common goals- required level of knowledge
- specialist lexis makes communication easier
- group of people usually engaged in similar activities work-based or around a specialist interest
- use language in distinct identifiable way
Eckert and Mconnel- Discourse community
- came together around mutual engagement
- how groups of people interact with each other to make sense of what they are doing, ways of organising within the group and ways of talking
- specialist and shared lexical choices -jargon
Drew and Heritage
Institutional talk and inferential frameworks
Communication in institutional settings is more structured
e.g. more expressions and pauses
Inferential frameworks
- knowledge built up over time and used to understand implicit meanings
- shared by members of a discourse community
Koester- Phatic talk and banter
Phatic communication is solely for social interactions in the workplace
Banter- light-hearted, good natured playful teasing
- say hi, break silence, express respect
Janet Holmes- Language in the workplace
Relational practises- small talk
- usually carried out by women
- implication for gender/power dynamic
- build relationship
Howard Giles- Accommodation theory
Convergence
- move towards another persons language style
Divergence
- away from speakers language style
Grice- Conversational maxims
General rules a speaker must follow
Co-operative principle
1) Quantity
- saying enough info, not too much or little
2) Quality
- be truthful, not false unsupported info
3) Relation
- stay relevant to topic
4) Manner
- be clear, brief, orderly, avoid ambiguity
Conversational theory
Deictic expressions
Words can be interpreted with reference to speakers position in space/time
1- personal deixis
- pronouns, part in discourse
2- spatial deixis
- speaker-object , here there
3- temporal deixis
- speaker to time, Sinclair and Coulthard IRF, initiation, response, follow up
Conversational theory
4 Types of utterance
Interrogative
Imperative
Declarative
Exclamatory
Q, command, statement
Conversational theory
Turn-taking
Verbal/non-verbal cues inform speakers when it is their turn
Conversational theory
Non/Verbal cues
interrogatives, tag questions, concluding statement, end of grammatical sentence, back channelling
Non-verbal cues
- eye contact
- shaking/nodding head
Brown and Levinson- Politeness theory
1- Bald on record
2- Positive politeness
3- Negative politeness
4- Off-record (indirect)
Brown and Levinson- Politeness theory
1- Bald on record
No attempt to limit threat to ‘face’
- imperatives, straight to the point
- know listener well
- honest, no confusion
Brown and Levinson- Politeness theory
2- Positive politeness
Recognise desire to be respected
- friendly
- group reciprocity
- increase sense of solidarity
- criticism with compliment
Brown and Levinson- Politeness theory
3- Negative politeness
Limit damage to ‘face’
- recognise imposing
- questioning, hedging, present disagreement as opinion
- avoids awkwardness and embarrassment
Brown and Levinson- Politeness theory
4- Off record (Indirect)
Avoid FTA, take pressure
- wait for offer, don’t ask
- relies heavily on pragmatics to convey intended meaning
- Eastern culture
- avoid responsibility for potential FTA
Goffman- Face theory
Positive face
- agrees with others, desire to be liked
Negative face
- not being imposed upon, expected to do something
FTA
- tone/utterance that damages addressee
Positive FTA
- threaten self images, show speaker no care, interrupt, disapproval
Negative FTA
- restrict freedom, expect compliment back, pressure, apologise, excuse
Verbal
- word/language
Paraverbal
- characteristics, tone, inflexion
Non-verbal
- facial expressions, body language
Nelson- Business English
Business lexis
- more positive key words finance/GPD
Non-business
- more negative key words pound/quid
Kim and Elder- Aviation English
Korean Pilots spoke English as a second language
- miscommunication via radio
- accents prevented understanding soldiers
- abbreviations, no clarity
Vine- Directives
People in positions of power have the right to use directive forms (imperatives) when talking to a subordinate
- study with 3 women concluded this
Hoey- Problem solving
Situation, problem, solution, response, evaluation
Humour- Holmes
- create/maintain solidarity, no FTAs
Procedural discourse
- dominant speaker instructs
Back channelling
- indicates listener is paying attention
Joos- Spoken language styles
1- Frozen
- oratorical, police
2- Formal
- deliberative, wealthy MC
3- Consultative
- professionals, law, medicine
4- Casual
- phatic expressions, friends and family
5- Intimate
- wrong register of language, socially offensive, twin lovers
Coupland- Small Talk
In the workplace it functions like knitting
- take it up, easily dropped
- oils social wheels
- transition interpersonal to work-orientated
Negotiation
- exchange info, bid, bargain, settle and conclude
Laver- Language and occupation
Social functions of phatic communication
1- avoids awkwardness
- silent situations
2- get a feel of interaction
- feel way towards working consensus
3- Create comfortable environment
- consolidate relationship, avoid rejection
Trudgill’s prestige theory
Overt prestige
Overt prestige
- rigidly conforming to ‘rules’ of SE
- use of lexis and grammar only
- prestige form of accent and dialect (RP) (EE)
- more use of complex lexis and jargon
- avoids sociolect and idiolect
Trudgill’s prestige theory
Covert prestige
Ignore rules of SE
- uses sociolect and idiolect
- more use of colloquialisms (slang)
- exaggerated use of regional accent and dialect
- more nonstandard SE, abbreviations, double negatives, dialect, ellipsis etc
Wareing’s theory of power
Instrumental power
- explicit power strategies
Influential power
- implicit power strategies
Wareing’s theory of power
Instrumental power
- sanctions, consequences
- enforce authority and dominance
Explicit power strategies - imperatives, intensifiers, jargon
- asymmetrical terms of address
- synthetic personalisation
Wareing’s theory of power
Influential power
- persuasion and influence
- politician, sales and marketing
Implicit power strategies - mitigated imperatives, hedges
- symmetrical terms of address
- tag questions, requests, proposals
Personal power - occupational role
Political power - working in law courts
Social group - age, class, gender
Austin and Searle- Speech act theory
Locutionary acts
- literal meaning, make an utterance
Illocutionary acts
- implied meaning, say something with purpose and inference
Perlocutionary acts
- effect on listener, say something that causes someone to act
Austin and Searle- Speech act theory
Examples
1- Declarative
- declare with potential to bring change
2- Assertives
- claims idea, opinion, suggestion, facts about word
3- Expressives
- psychological attitudes, apology
4- Directives
- intends to get listener to do something, order, advice
5- Commissives
- commits in future, make promise, vow, bet, plan
