Language and Occupation Flashcards
what do different places, jobs, areas, groups use in their language ?
jargon and Specialized Vocabulary, achronyms
e.g. medical practitioners might use “hypertension” or “biopsy’
while legal system: IFRI
jargon is
words or phrases used in a particular occupation, or even if they are in mainstream english - they come form a specififc occupattion.
what are the purposes of jargon?
5x + examples
- being deliberately vague or obsecure to avoid questions and issues we have an ongoing tactical review situation at this moment in time
- avoiding un unpleasent reality we are downsizing the firm
- using euphamism to make a not great job sound really good verticle personnel distibutor=lift operator
- bringing smn in a good job down office manager=pencil pusher
- saving time, being precise air traffic controllers say taxi instead of ‘an aircraft on the ground
some examples of jargon lang
from business and military
- decruit and downsize = get rid of employees
- friendly fire - kill ppl on your side
- restructuring - jobs will be lost
another purpose of jargon is
feeling included, having higher status
however those who dont understand = may feel intimidated and dominated
how does grammar change in jargon ?
- more of passive voice
- emphesis on what they are doing
- more adverbs
- task is more imoprtant then the subject
who defined members of discourse communities
John Swales
how members of discourse communitiies were discribed ?
4x
- share common goals
- communicate internally
- using speciality lexis, doscourse
- require certain knowledge and skils to be part of the community
who developed the idea of Communities of Practice ?
Lave and Wenger
what are communites of practice ?
are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly
what Drew and Heritage found
- members of discourse community share** inferential frameworks ** - knowledge built up over time and used in order to understands implied meanings
- hierarchies and power with assymetrical re-ship marked by language use, so there ight be constraints on some people’s lang.
what else did Drew and Heritage did ?
identified key differences between everyday and workplace talks
what are the key differences between everyday and workplace talks ?
6x
- Goal orientation (wp - convo focused in smth specific)
- Turn taking rules (rules written and unwritten abt who speaks when)
- Allowabe contribution (restrictions on what kind of contributions are allowed in a conv)
- Professional Lexis (profesional context may be reflected in the lexis choice)
- Structure (interaction may be structured in some ways)
- Assymetry (one speaker has more power - boss and employee)
what did Dan Clayton say about right-sizing
when we hear ‘we have to implement some right-sizing to meet our profit forecast’ - it hides and confuses the meaning of the sentence
what is nominalisation
and its effect
a process that involves a verb, becominga noun
effect: focus is taken away from the action and the person who did it.
example of nominalisation
‘stabbing victim’
instead of ‘vicitm was stabbed by…’
or ‘to stab’
similar to passive voice, takes the subject away = pragamatically taking the responsibility
coded language
messages that are understood only by insiders
example: Can Inspector Sands please attent the 8th platform = means smn on the 8th platform is with hte gun/terorist
an exmple of slang form medicine
a cold=acute viral nasopharyngitis
convergence (definition)
it i schoosing appropriate register with the people around you,
who came up with 4 conversational principles?
Grice Maxims
what are the 4 conversational principles?
- Quality (telling truth)
- Quantity (speaker should say neither too much nor too little)
- Relevance (contribution relates to the topic)
- Manner (contribution should be clear, avoiding obscurity or mbiguity)
who came up with Face theory
Brwon and Levinson
what is the ‘face’ in the Face theory
what we present of ourselves in the conversa
