Occupation -_-

Question 1

Legalese

Answer 1

specialised lexis that is probably only understood by those working in that field. sometimes Latinate or Greek in origin.

E.g. tort is Latin for injury

Question 2

Michael Nelson (2000)

Answer 2

Manchester university
Found that there is such thing as “business lexis” that focuses on companies, money, events and there is little focus on weekends and personal issues. Words like “desk” “work” “write” are common, and any words relating to personal matters are rarely discussed.

Question 3

Koester (2004)

Answer 3

Identified “Phatic talk” or “small talk” as important for workers in the workplace. Found that it is important for workers to build relationships in the workplace, despite this some employers disagree and discourage phatic talk.

Question 4

Salman (1999)

Answer 4

Found that business letters were much more formal than emails as emails require some prior context. The recipient already has background knowledge about the person emailing.

Question 5

Kim and Elder (2009)

Answer 5

Looked at communication difficulties between Korean pilots and American colleagues
Found that the difficulties were not caused by a language barrier but instead America’s pilots not using the correct terms and phrases, instead used idioms.

For example: “I’ll do a rain check”

Question 6

Waering and power (1999)

Answer 6

Influential power: persuasive- someone that shows this power would be a politician as the must persuade us to vote for them. (they also show instrumental power as they pass laws)

Instrumental power: rules/law - Someone with this power may be a teacher or a policeman.

Question 7

Goffman face act theory (1967)

Answer 7

-saving face (trying to fix offending someone like apologising).

-losing face (doing something to upset someone).

-face work (the strategies people use to protect their own face and avoid damaging the face of others )

-positive face (The desire to be liked, appreciated, or approved by others.)

-negative face (The desire to maintain autonomy and not be imposed upon.)

Question 8

Lakoff’s politeness principle (1973)

Answer 8

She came up with three maxims to follow if you wish to remain polite.

Don’t impose: Avoid intruding on others’ personal affairs, or ask permission before doing so

Give options: Empower the addressee

Make the receiver feel good: Imply friendship and a sense of humanity

Question 9

Howard Giles accommodation theory (1971)

Answer 9

Convergence- an attempt to close a social gap

.UPWARD CONVERGENCE- Adopting a regional accent when speaking with someone from that region.

.DOWNWARD CONVERGENCE- Using simpler language when talking to someone with less expertise on a topic.

Divergence- an attempt to distance yourself from someone.

UPWARD DIVERGENCE- Using simpler language when talking to someone with less expertise on a topic.

DOWNWARD DIVERGENCE- Maintaining a strong regional or cultural accent when speaking with someone from another social group.

Question 10

Drew and Heritage (1993)

Answer 10

Suggested members of a discourse community share internal frameworks.

They also suggested there is strong hierarchies of power in companies (asymmetrical relationships marked by language use)
For example someone making an offensive tweet and being fired.

Question 11

Swayles (2011)

Answer 11

Determined a discourse community had to have members who:
(1) Share a set of common goals
(2) Communicate internally
(3) utilise specialist lexis or jargon
(4) posses a required level of knowledge to be eligible to participate in the community.

This is all common in workplace environments.