Occupation Determines Language Flashcards
‘Evaluate the view that a person’s occupation completely determines the language that they speak.’
John Swales P1
John Swales proposed the term ‘the web of discourse’, which is sometimes referred to as being part of a ‘discourse community’. This essentially states that within a work place, employees are part of a group who share a common purpose and goal and within that web, language use shares similarities.
Therefore, occupation will effect language use because you are part of a discourse community which shapes the language you use.
P1 Supporting theory
Specific language is used because helps employees to be productive in the workplace- Drew and Heritage institutional talk, goal orientation, turn taking, allowable contribution. An inferential framework is where knowledge is built up over time and used in order to understand meanings that are implicit. Drew and Heritage suggested that members of a discourse community will share the same inferential frameworks (inferences) to make it easier to communicate swiftly.
In Talk at Work (1992), Drew and Heritage identified some
key differences between everyday conversation and
workplace talk. These are summarised by Koester in The
Language of Work (2004) as follows:
1.Goal Orientation-Participants in workplace conversations
usually focus on specific tasks or goals.
2. Turn taking rules or restrictions-In some professional
contexts (E.g. the courtroom) there are special turn taking
rules in operation. Even when no rules exist, there may be
unwritten restrictions on who speaks when E.g.Doctor and
patient.
3.Allowable contributions-There may be restrictions on
what kind of contributions are considered ‘allowable’ ie. on
what participants may say.
4.Professional lexis-The professional/workplace context
may be reflected in the lexical choice, i.e. in special lexis or
vocabulary used by the speakers.
5. Structure-Workplace and professional interactions may be
structured in specific ways.
6.Asymmetry-One speaker has more power and/or special
knowledge than the other. E.g. Boss and employee or a
Doctor and patient.
P1
Lave and Wenger- communities of practice-
shared practise you are engaged in, all working for same company using their jargon. In order to function, they must have shared goals, mutual engagement & a shared language.
P1 limit- Roberts and Sarangi
Limitation- Roberts and Sarangi- our workplace roles are negotiated by conversation and so are not fixed.
P2- Claire Wilding - Occupational Therapists (2008)
Narrative data gathered from 11 individual interviews and 10 group discussions.
Occupational therapists changed the way they used language in order to make them feel more professional, confident and empowered within their job role.
‘Strengthened their professional identities’
P2- Dent
Dent (2016): ‘Tribes’ Discusses the identity forming and identity reinforcing role of sociolects and occupational registers. ‘Every sport, every profession, every group united by a single passion draws on a lexicon that is uniquely theirs. These individual languages are the products of a group’s needs, ambitions and personalities. Private languages are a loud marker of who we are or want to be and where we fit (or don’t) in society’
Thornborrow 2004 P2
’Thornborrow (2004) – “One of the most fundamental ways we have of establishing our identity, and of shaping other people’s views of who we are, is through our use of language”.
P3- Occupation does not completely determine how somebody speaks because people code switch/ adapt their language to the context.
Howard Giles Accomodation Theory (changing our language based on who we are speaking to)
Gavruseva argued that we have many different ‘discourse identities’. You will most likely talk to your boss, your friends and your customers differently. Myers-Scotton states that we code-switch our language to one which will benefit us the most. This will include moving up the registers and the increased politeness markers (ways of ameliorating things, like fronting an imperative with ‘please’).
P3 Studied the language used by climate change professionals and scientists.
P3 Brigitte Nerlich - Language of Climate Change Communication (2009). Noted how it changed when they were conveyed the ideas across to stakeholders - using more metaphors, strategies, frames and narratives.
People can change the way they use their language in order to appeal to other people / other knowledge levels.
P3 Irving Goffman (1955)
face theory: we present a particular image or face to other people, depending on the context and to whom we’re speaking.Generally, we try to accept the face we’re being offered as a part of the politeness principle. Not to do so can result in the other person being hurt or offended or embarrassed. Maintaining face is all about maintaining status. • Brown and Levinson: Face Theory • Face = a person’s self-esteem or emotional needs. • Positive face = the need to feel wanted, liked and appreciated. • Negative face = the need to have freedom of thought and action and not feel imposed on.
P4- Occupation does not completely influence language because we only use certain features in the workplace environment.
Michael Nelson 2000 Corpus of Business Language with Everyday English-
many of the words within English focus on a specific location and concentrate on negative emotion. Weekdays and emotions are not present in the business but are in the everyday. The lexis house is used five times less in the Business English. Instead, BE includes Lexis such as ‘office, ‘department, and ‘boardroom’. Occupational lexis is dynamic and non-emotive whereas everyday English is reflective and emotive.
Include examples of jargon
P4- Crystal
Occupational varieties of language are in temporary use. They are “part of the job” – taken up as we begin work and put down as we end it. There are no class distinctions – every occupational group will have linguistic distinctiveness. However, “the more specialised the occupation, and the more senior and professional the post, the more technical the language is likely to be.”
P4- However
Fairclough- Conversations at work are becoming more and more informal- this is called conversationalisation.
