Language and Occupation Flashcards
asymmetrical relationship
Unequal power balance between two people.
Discourse Community
A group of people with shared interests and belief systems who are likely to use language in similar ways.
John Swales on discourse communities
Professional discourse communities occur due to the professional lexis used to maximise efficiency in the workplace.
Porter on discourse communities
Workplaces or professions with increasingly complex bureaucratic or technical procedures are more likely to develop stronger and more restricted discourse communities.
Illocutionary Speech Act
The implied meaning that a text producer wants you to understand.
Locutionary Speech Act
The literal meaning of something.
Perlocutionary Speech Act
The perceived meaning that the text receiver understands.
Influential Power
A type of power that is persuasive rather than imposing.
Instrumental Power
A type of power that is explicit and often imposed by a higher authority.
Jargon
The vocabulary and manner of speech that define and reflect a particular profession which may be difficult for others to understand.
Legalese
Legal register associated with the domain of law.
Lexicon
The words used in a language or the words used in a language by a person or group of people.
Phatic Talk
Socially orientated talk
Koester on Phatic Talk
Phatic talk is important for increasing productivity in the work place, by establishing positive interpersonal relationships and building solidarity between workers.
Power Assymetry
A power imbalance between speakers shown by the unequal way they address each other.
Plain English Campaign
A campaign established to ensure that documents produced by companies are clear and understandable.
Drew and Heritage study about workplace discourse
Identified the key difference between everyday conversation and workplace talk e.g. goal orientated speech and turn taking rules and restrictions.
Drew and Heritage discussion on inferential frameworks
Inferential frameworks: members of a discourse community share implicit ways of thinking, behaving and communicating. Constraints on language use are dictated by workplace hierarchies.
Herbert and Straight on compliments in the workplace
In the workplace compliments flow downwards, from higher status to lower status workers.
Holmes and Marra discovery on gender in the workplace
Women use just as much humour as men in the workplace; citing the same reasons for their humour. Women are more likely however, to encourage supportive and collaborative humour.
Hornyak discussion on work talk to personal talk
The shift from work talk to personal talk is initiated by the highest ranking person in the room.
Howard Giles’ Accommodation Theory
Accommodation theory: The idea that people have different levels of formality of language at their disposal, and will converge or diverge their language depending on their situation.
Janet Holmes on women managers
Women managers are more likely to negotiate consensus of an idea of plan, compared to men who will press through their agenda.
