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Business Linguistics and Business Discourse
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1.4 Business Linguistics and Business DiscourseBusiness is no less important sphere of human activity – it concerns almost everyone. And the sublanguages of business and business communication have their specific properties that require linguistic examination. Many researchers have noticed that business text possesses specific characteristics distinguishing it from other kinds of text (scientific, publicist, fictional, etc.). Business discourse reveals its own communicative, pragmatic, lexical, syntactic, textual, composite, visual-graphic, normative, genre-stylistic and other features. These reasons seem sufficient to introduce “Business Linguistics” as a separate discipline within the framework of Applied Linguistics, and to initiate the development of its methodology and scientific apparatus [40, p. 241], [41]. Business Linguistics is a field that explores the specific functioning of language in a business context, investigates the use of language resources in business activities, and studies verbal and para-verbal aspects of business communication [41, p. 241-242]. The spectrum of interests of Business Linguistics is based on a multidisciplinary approach and includes the following key areas: • Business discourse, organizational, corporate and managerial communication; • Oral, written and technically mediated communication in business, its typology and genre classification; • Professional sublanguages of business sectors(e.g. those of banking, trading, accounting, manufacturing, administration, etc.); • Language of advertising and marketing, public relations (PR), the special language techniques for sales and marketing (including methods of psycho-verbal manipulation and neuro-linguistic programming); • Lingua-pragmatics in a business context and Business Rhetoric (including specifics of a leader’s speech, argumentative and persuasive communicative strategies for carrying out presentations, conducting meetings and negotiations, as well as the application of language resources in motivating, problem solving, brainstorming, teambuilding, selecting personnel and its appraisal, (in)formality and(in)directness of business speech, formulating and conveying the meaning, building trust and rapport, and getting the feedback; • Documentation (Document) linguistics: business correspondence and drafting contracts; • Instructional (teaching) and academic language of business, economics and management, used in text books and research, academic publications, lectures, case studies and training, consulting and coaching on business topics; • Business lexicography (systematizing business terminology and composing thesauri of business vocabulary); • Language of the business media; • Intercultural business communication (including teaching / learning foreign languages for business purposes, as well as language in the workplace in multinationals, and language assessment) [41, p. 241-242]. The origins of Business Linguistics as a new interdisciplinary field can be traced in the synergy of Sociolinguistics and Psycholinguistics, Text linguistics and Functional styles, Pragmatics, Discourse studies, Cognitive and Communication Theory, Theory of organization (Organization Studies), Organizational psychology and Organizational Communication, Management Studies, as well as in applied research of teaching and learning Language for Specific Purposes (LSP). Business Linguistics intersects and interacts with many related above-mentioned areas – with Media linguistics (in researching the language of business media), Judicial Linguistics (in exploring the language of corporate, contract and property law), and Political Linguistics (in investigating the language of socioeconomic relations). Besides, with growing geo-economic globalization, with the constant rise in the volume of international business contacts, Business Linguistics should deal with theories and practical methods of teaching and learning “foreign languages for business purposes”, primarily Business English as the lingua franca of international business. The subject of Business Linguistics is the study of language functioning in business and the linguistic component of business communication. The methodology of this new discipline should involve traditional research methods of discourse and of text as its result, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, empirical-descriptive and comparative techniques, cognitive, pragmatic and genre-style analysis, etc. The terminology and the scientific apparatus of Business Linguistics are still under construction, but they obviously could be built on the basis of those of the above- mentioned sister disciplines. All types of linguistic data can be used as material for research – real or experimental, authentic or simulated data, as well as their combinations [41, p. 242]. The practical value of Business Linguistics relates to the mastery of language resources that can be achieved by professionals (and students) in business administration, management, economics, PR, advertising and marketing, since language is produced by thought and produces it, thus, creating and modifying reality. Business Linguistics can benefit the communication competence of specialists and entrepreneurs, and contribute to their understanding the nature of communication processes in their professional activities and consequently increasing the communication efficiency of businesses. On the other hand, we all are consumers of goods and services (produced and provided by business), many people are also either stakeholders or investors; therefore, knowing the specific of language and communication in business will help everyone to understand the deeper inner meaning implied in socio-economic, corporate and advertising discourse, to identify the manipulative mechanisms and techniques influencing public opinion (including those used by unfair businessmen) [41, p. 242]. Experts in Business Linguistics can help businessmen to use hidden argumentative and persuasive linguistic potentials, create a positive corporate image and improve the positioning of their company, to build and maintain a rapport with both existing and potential customers and shareholders. A bright example of the effective use of linguistic tools in business practice can be seen in the increasingly active work of corporate web-sites and the blogs of many global companies. According to many business gurus, R. Scoble and his colleagues from Microsoft have radically changed the company's image by means of a corporate blog, i.e. by means of linguistic tools and correctly organized business discourse on the web. Later, Scoble and Izrael [42, p.3] described this work in their bestseller Naked Conversations, arguing that “blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers”. Another illustration of the perfect practical application of the Business Linguistics laws is the Coca-Cola blog, which arranges a weekly competition for the best caption to the photo depicting a life scene – with the obligatory positive emotional connotation and indispensable presence of their product. Obviously, psycho-cognitive laws of linguistics are activated when people are asked to verbalize their arising associations, and – through it – are led to create (in their consciousness and sub-consciousness) a steady positive verbal-cognitive association of the product with pleasure, happiness, fun, rest, etc [41, p. 242-243]. The emergence of Business Linguistics has been predetermined by the socio-historical preconditions and by new demands of business. In the 21st century society has reached a new stage in its history – a “society of consumption” in the era of information. Market relations and business ideology (business mentality) have spread. Throughout the world, business has become one of the most powerful engines of social development, taking up an increasing role in people’s lives and creating new areas of social thought. Business has required some applied discipline to serve its verbal and communication needs. Meanwhile, in the West, in the 1980s (mainly, within the framework of management and organization theories – Management Studies, Organization Studies, Organizational Communication) there appeared an applied field focusing on the study of business communication and the business sublanguage (researching “bargaining communication” by Angelmar and Stern (1978), “language at work” and “language of business” by Johns (1980, 1986), “communicating at work” by Adler (1983), “negotiation interaction” by Donohue and Diez (1985), “language of business negotiations” by Lampi (1986), etc.). Business itself requires researchers (including linguists and communication theorists) to suggest methods of improving its efficiency through optimizing communication. The vital role of communication (communicating information) in business and management is widely recognized. When working, people will inevitably establish communication relations with each other – vertical (the hierarchy of management in the company) and horizontal (in teamwork, communication with colleagues). Business is interested in enhancing the effectiveness of communication, including the following formats: the dialogue of superiors and subordinates, the potential and received meaning, feedback, organizational climate and corporate culture, prevention and resolution of conflicts, consensus and disagreement, influence and persuasion, public speech of the leader, team communications, communication barriers, the interviewing, selecting and appraisal of the personnel, reporting, the workplace language, communication assessment and others. Communication competence has become an integral feature and a prerequisite of a successful businessman and leader. Being a strategic manager implies being a “communication manager” [43]. The role of the communication characteristics of the leader in the company’s overall success has been determined, and a model for effective communicative behavior of the leader has been designed [44] based on the classical theory of speech acts. According to this model, an effective manager should use direct or indirect language, depending on how threatening their message is for the internal “I” of the subordinate, and should use specific linguistic means to involve subordinates in the process of “active listening”. Many prominent scholars and researchers have explored the field of Business Linguistics (although, not using the term yet). Significant achievements in the field of business language and business communication have been made by (in the alphabetical order) F.Bargiela-Chiappini, L.Beamer, V.Bhatia, Ch.Candlin, A.Johns, C.Nickerson, A.Pennycook, G.Poncini, L.Putnam, C.Roberts, P.Rogers,H.Spencer-Oatey, J.Swales, By the end of the 1990s the subject of the study – “how business uses language to achieve its goals” – and the basis for its methodology were determined by Ehlichand Wagner (1995), Firth (1995), Bargiela-Chiappini and Harris (1997), Bargiela-Chiappini and Nickerson (1999). The link between business context and the language was traced and a gap “between contextual business approach and linguistic textual approach” field [45,p.20]. Investigation of the language functioning in business should be based on a discursive approach, which implies a deep speech penetration in life. Business discourse is supposed to be the object and the center of study for Business Linguistics. Discourse in general is a multi-dimensional and polysemantic. One of the first mentions of business discourse can be found in Johns (1980) (she also was one of the first to introduce the term “the language of business” into academic writing: Johns, 1986). What exactly is business discourse? Bargiela-Chiappini defines it as “all about how people communicate using talk or writing in commercial organizations to get their work done”, as “social action in business contexts” [1, p.3]. Following the concepts of discourse by van Dijk (2007), Fairclough (2001), and Wodak and Chilton (2005), we can define business discourse as the verbalization of business mentality, realized in the form of an open multitude of thematically correlated texts on a wide range of business issues, considered in combination with their extra-linguistic contexts. The concept of business discourse is wide and encompasses some “thematic subspecies”, for example “economic discourse”, “corporate discourse “, “discourse of negotiations”, etc. The following functional sub-classification of business discourse types are offered (it is important to note that the sub-types are often transitional and mutually overlapping with other discursive fields): • Training and academic business discourse (in textbooks, manuals, research of various aspects of business, economics, management and entrepreneurship, as well as in lectures, case studies, training, business consulting and coaching) – it performs an educational function; • Ritual-public business discourse (e.g., meetings, reports and speeches of corporate executives to the shareholders and staff, presentations, discourses of PR and advertising, etc.) – it performs an argumentative-influencing function; • Document business discourse (internal and external business correspondence, corporate documents, regulations and charters of companies and organizations, articles of incorporation, etc. – mainly, written discourse) – it performs a regulative function; • The discourse of business media – it performs an informative-polemic function; • The discourse of professional business communication (in negotiations, communication with clients, colleagues, including production/manufacturing and technical discourses, as well as business slang and argot, for example, a specific sublanguage of exchange traders – mainly, oral discourse) – it performs an instrumental-persuasive function [46, p. 244]. It is also important to note that the traditional 20th-century division into oral and written discourses is becoming obsolete. Indeed, one of the most obvious criteria for discourse classifications is the communicative channel used. According to the type of channel there were traditionally distinguished (and often opposed) oral and written discourses. The difference in the channel of transmitting information causes different characteristics of the two types of discourse [47]: in oral discourse generation and understanding of the message occur almost synchronically, while in written discourse these processes occur consecutively. Therefore, oral discourse is generated by fragments (“quanta”, intonation units). In written discourse predications are integrated into complex sentences, and complex syntactic constructions. Furthermore, in oral discourse (as opposed to writing), there is a temporal and spatial contact between the interlocutors, which gives them a deep involvement in the situation, while written discourse implies a removal (keeping away) of the speaker and the addressee from the information described in the discourse, and that is reflected in the different use of lexical and grammatical resources [46, p. 244]. With the development of information and communication technologies such a binary opposition of oral and written forms of discourse does not seem so obvious any longer. A question arises – whether communicating via instant messengers, e-mailing, chats and forums should be considered as a technically-mediated form of oral discourse (lacking such important nonverbal and para-verbal characteristics of a conversation as facial expressions, voice tone and volume, gestures, etc.). And what if such communication on the internet is accompanied by an exchange of images of the interlocutors instantly made by web- or photo-camera and immediately sent by the computer, smartphone or any other type of communicators? Which type should it be ascribed to? What about an exchange of short textual messages (SMS) or e-mail messages with emoticons, which actually are pictograms, meaning emotions and facial expressions? Clearly it is time to accept the emergence of a new type of discourse – web-discourse (or internet discourse) that combines elements of both spoken and written discourses. Communication on the net requires a time contact (synchronization of information generating and perception) and provides a deep involvement in the situation with instant responding, typical of oral talk, although the “talk” is made in written (or quasi-written) form. Thus, a web business discourse is the reality of the 21st century, and we can anticipate it to be growing and ripe for research. The English business discourse is traditionally considered one of the most regulated discursive types. The standardization and conventionality of business communication provide controllability of business communication. M.V. Koltunova defines conventionality as a system of the pragmatic conventions regulating interaction of communicants at various speech levels. Pragmatic conventions are understood as "the norms organizing communication norms and rules, reflected in routine models of genre scenarios, in status role models of speech interaction. The ability to perform social interaction by means of language is caused by the possession of these norms and rules" [48, p.44]. The problem of conventionality of communication draws attention of experts from the most different knowledge domains: philosophers (A.L. Blinov, M. Dammit, D. Davidson, V.A. Ladov, M. V. Lebedev), philologists and linguists (J. Austen, J. Searle, P. Strawson, M. V. Koltunova, D. Lewis, S. S. Ryabkov). In general the term "convention" is used to designate the standard rules, norms, customs, external adjustability of behavior by means of disapproval of deviant behavior. Development of the issues of conventional entity of language have started from Aristotle who believed that as names do not arise from the nature of things, language is a result of a certain compromise or a mutual agreement. Later this idea was developed by F. de Saussure who considered language as a system of signs "imposed" on language group by the people who make use of them. Conventions act as a framework of language system, penetrating all its levels and being realized in all aspects of speech activity [48], [49]. In pragmatics, conventions are understood as the rules of use of language and speech units. Language is treated as "any interpersonal set of signs, which are given by the use of syntactic, semantic and pragmatic rules" [50, p. 35]. The influential contribution to the development of ideas about conventionality of language and speech was made by the representatives of the speech act theory created in the late forties of 20th century (J. L. Austen). One of main goals of this theory consists in showing the possibility to manipulate things by means of words ("How to do things with words") [52]. The concept "convention" is often treated rather widely, without differentiation of conventions in language and pragmatics. J. R. Searle makes the distinction between two groups of rules: regulating behavior forms (business etiquette operating interpersonal interaction of the communicants in the course of business communication) and creating (defining) new forms of behavior dependent from these rules [53, p.153-154]. As S. S. Ryabkov notes, the concept "conventionality" in relation to speech acts can be treated as “a permanent property of a certain speech act, proceeding from a conventional basis of language", or narrowly as "rigidly fixed communicative cover of the speech act which allows the speech act to be decoded in a discourse" [42, p.11]. Speaking about speech act theory in the context of cross-cultural business communication, E.N. Malyuga specifies that possibility of success of the speech act is rather high on condition of equivalent competence of all interlocutors in terms of language and cultures. [54, p.30-31]- [56]. Efficiency of business communication directly depends on the socio-cultural competence of communicants assuming knowledge and ability to appreciate and take into account the cultural values of partners, their features and influence on business relations [57], [58]. In the work dedicated to conventionality of Russian-speaking business communication M. V. Koltunova underlines the importance of socio-cultural conventions for the correct interpretation of illocutionary force of these or those expressions within particular ethnic culture [48]. Realization of any speech action in business communication is determined by a set of constitutional rules and socio-cultural conventional rules. "Socio-cultural pragmatic conventions regulate verbal and nonverbal communication. Systematic character of these norms is the prerequisite for conventionalization as a result of complex regulation of communicative behavior" [48, p.44]. To avoid the conflict situations connected with misunderstanding or strain of relations between the parties, communicants should follow the rules and the existing traditions determined by the type of business communication and its parameters (the purposes, tasks, contact form, degree of officially and feature of national mentality of interlocutors). High degree of conventionalization of an English business discourse and its regularity are shown in fixing of standard models of verbal behavior which in some genres is exposed to a ritualization. The speaking/writing subject of business communication is very often limited with the choice of verbal means. This that increases the relevance of issues of pragmatic impact on a partner, including the improvement of rhetoric communication. S. A. Risinzon defines the speech etiquette as "the conventional speech actions performed by a speaker in accordance with the status, role and interpersonal relations of communicants, as well as the communicative purpose and other pragmatic factors" [59, p.11]. The speech etiquette is manifested in the existence of a set of stable and ritualized speech means and formulas, each of which are assigned to typical communicative situations. The regularity of an English business discourse assumes not only following the speech etiquette rules helping communicants to come into contact, to support communication in a particular manner according to their social roles, but also observance of the business etiquette representing the set of rules violation of which can stir the normal effective interaction between participants of business communication [60]. Observance of business etiquette in the course of business communication shows the importance of the addressee, creates the atmosphere comfortable for promoting the efficiency of interaction. It is well known that the representatives of Western (English-speaking) culture tend to display a strict sequence in planning and carrying out their business affairs [61]. In this case the significant role belongs to the observance of the rules of business speech etiquette which promoting the maintenance of an order, coherence of actions and behavior of businessmen, as well as the avoidance of potentially possible communicative intensity. For example: Dearest Julia, My assistant, Andrea, tells me that you‘re the sweetheart to whom I should address my most heartful appreciation. She has informed me that you are the single person capable of locating a couple of copies of this darling book for me tomorrow. I want you to know how much I appreciate your hard work and cleverness. Please know how happy you‘ll make my sweet daughters. And do not even hesitate to let me know if you need anything at all, for a fabulous girl like yourself. XOXO, Miranda Priestly. (L. Weisberger. The Devil Wears Prada). The observance of norms and rules of business etiquette helps to overcome some negative undercurrents arising in business communication. The use of language means of business etiquette in the English business conversations allows the communicants to soften the pragmatic impact on the addressee, to keep in touch, to facilitate the speech perception and in some situations to raise a role of the addressee which is expressed by paying the attention to the interlocutor, showing interest in his opinion, and in particular cases – by the expression of gratitude or apology [Рисинзон 2010]. The use of standard expressions increases automatism of speech activity, facilitates the productions and understanding of the speech" [Савицкий 2006:16]. The regularity in speech is expressed through the use of various formal expressions, clichéd phrases fixed in business ethics of formulas thanks to the stereotype of communicative situations and their recurrence. For example: “We are delighted to know that you will be in Greece in October. This is to confirm our telephone conversation. We shall meet at Athens airport at 15.30”. “Well, that‘s all I have today for the moment, thank you for listening, now if there are any questions, I‘ll be happy to answer them …” (G. Lees, T. Thorne. English on Business. Practical English for International Executives) “… First, though, I believe Aunt Kathleen would like to say a few words as well. Thanks for listening”.(I. Banks.The Steep Approach to Garbadale). These kinds of clichés facilitate the understanding of the relations in business communication and give it necessary clarity, including the situations of cross-cultural business communication. One of the most regulated spheres of an English business discourse is the written form which for many decades of its formation and development has gained a codified character. The written business discourse is characterized by a high degree of standardization that is shown in fixed use of language means in standard situations and in traditional design and arrangement of materials. Due to that there is a number of the special style guides containing the samples of business letters and other documents for many communicative situations. The high level of clichéidness is peculiar to the samples of an English written business discourse. Dear Mrs. Smith We are pleased to confirm your reservation Thank you very much for sending us details regarding your proposed stay. We are pleased to confirm the following reservation: Guest: Mrs. Jane Smith Arrival date: 14 August 2009 Departure date: 16 August 2009 Number of rooms: 1 Room category: double room, non-smoking, first floor Room rate: summer special as agreed, inc. VAT Reservation number: 007 Your credit card guarantees the room for you. The room will be ready at 3.00 pm on the day of your arrival and remains at your disposal until 12.00 noon on the day of your departure. It is our policy to charge of 90% of cancellation fee for no-show guests, but there is no charge where we receive your cancellation in writing within 24 hours before the date of your arrival. We look forward to welcoming you to our hotel and hope you will have a very pleasant stay. Yours sincerely, жүктеу/скачать 379 Kb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
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