Occupation - Diversity Flashcards
Discourse community
Community of practice
Discourse structure
The internal structure of a text
Ethnography
The study of how a group of people communicate
Inference
Using assumed language knowledge in order to determine meaning
How did John Swales define a discourse community?
Members who:
- Share a set of common goals
- Communicate internally, using and owning one or more genres of communication
- Use specialist lexis and discourse
- Possess a required level of knowledge and skill to be considered eligible to participate in the community
British languages history
After the Norman invasion in 1066, official language was French. If you couldn’t speak French, you had to pay for someone to speak for you
Latin was a sign of status and power for many centuries because of its rule in education and the church
Drew and Heritage 1983
Members of a discourse community share inferential frameworks with each other, consisting of implicit ways of thinking, communicating and behaving.
There are strong hierarchies of power within organisations with many asymmetrical relationships marked by language use
Inferential framework
Knowledge built up over time and used in order to understand meanings that are implicit
Phatic
Language that is devoid of content but that supports social relationships
Koester 2004
Shows how important phatic talk is, in getting jobs done.
Being sociable and engaging in personal chat is an important aspect of effective working
Solidarity
Feeling of connection with others, mutual support
Hornyak (language and power)
The shift from work talk to personal talk is always initiated by the highest ranking person in the room
Kim and Elder 2009
Research on the communication difficulties experienced by Korean pilots and air-traffic staff when communicating with their American colleagues
Communication problems of Kim and Elder’s research
- Poor language skills among the Korean personnel, native speakers not using the agreed phrases, but either abbreviating unhelpfully or elaborating unnecessarily, and sometimes employing idiomatic expressions
Name 7 occupational theorists
- Janet Holmes
- John Swales
- Koester
- Lave & Wenger
- Drew & Heritage
- Howard Giles
- Bax
- Lave & Wenger
In order to function, they must have shared goals, mutual engagement & a shared language
- Koester
Believed that inter-personal relationships are important to complete tasks.
- turn taking rules and restrictions
- importance of phatic talk
- John Swales
People working in the same discourse community use lexis specific to that occupation.
- share the same goals - use language to achieve those goals
- Drew & Heritage
Members of the same discourse community will share the same inferences making it easier to communicate swiftly & succinctly
- Janet Holmes
- Humour used in the work place to build solidarity
- self deprecation also used for humour
- hierarchies and boundaries
- indicates a level of closeness and comfort
- Howard Giles
Accommodation Theory
Groups occupational lexis into language which…
- allows others to be ‘involved’ and not alienated
- uses jargon to push away those not in the discourse community e.g doctors slang
- Bax
Imperatives are less common in speech than in writing
- Written 70%
- Spoken 50%
Asymmetrical
unequal
