1) Communication in business

➔ Managers core functions: leading and motivating, controlling, organizing, planning

➔ Communication doesn‘t accompany the functions of a manager but rather constitutes them

Mintzbergs managerial roles

10 different roles grouped into three categories

INTERPERSONAL ROLES INFORMATIONAL ROLES DECISIONAL ROLES

• Figurehead:
performing
ceremonial duties
• Monitor: collecting • Entrepreneur: seeking
(public speaking +
information opportunities for improvement
interaction with
• Disseminator: sharing • Disturbance handler:
media)
information they have intervening to unexpected
• Leader: taking
gathered conflicts
responsibility for the
• Resource allocator: decides how
work of
• Spokesman: funds are used
others/motivating
representing the • Negotiator: negotiating on
employees
organization to the behalf of the organization
• Liaison: making
outside
contacts outside
their own unit

Roles are not easily separable à all roles overlap and blend into another

Wider socio-politival context, more globally connected, more diverse and less hierarchical
Leader is now a synonym of manager

BOUNDARY-SPANNING: Activities, that span the boundaries between organizations

Soft skills = ability to think critically and communication at C-suite level

Stakeholders à communication plan = who is told what, how and when
each group has its own particular requirements of the organization + they have different
types of background knowledge

Integrated corporate communication

different messages within and outside the organization form a coherent whole à the
should never clash with each other or trustworthiness will suffer

1)Content à same message or compatible ones?

2) form à consistent form
3) time à was informed at the right time?

Brand tone of voice: values, personality, essence fo the brand is uppermost in every situation
touchpoints: not limited to types we would usually think of (websites, bills, brochures)

Controlling communication: regulate how staff communicate amongst themselves and with external
stakeholders -- >organisational culture shapes communication is v.v.
Hard skills: quantitative (numbers) and concrete & difficult
soft skills: qualitative (numbers) and fuzzy & easy

à misconceptions about communication :

1.communication is an everyday activity à skills that we all aquire naturally
2.preference of actions over words à all talk and no action BUT communicating is social action
3.underrated because impact is on the bottom line and hard to measure

One cannot communicate (Watzlawick)

Models = theoretical constructs that explain how systems work and they are abstractions

The Shannon-Weaver model

Describes communication as a process involving five elements:

➔ An information source that produces a message

➔ A transmitter that encodes it
➔ A channel through which the encoded signals are sent ➔ A receiver that decodes the message
➔ An information destination at which it arrives
+ noise

Channels are for example: air, wire transmitting electrical

impulses
Distortion: Message arrived is not the same message as
sent/message won’t arrive at all
Semantic distortion: transmission in a technical sense is not affected, but the meaning is
Backchannelling: Information always flows both ways (verbal/non-verbal) à acknowledging

Early Model
Karl Bühler
representation: sender can prefer to objects and facts
expressive: express emotions
appellative: getting the listener to do things
+ 3 more by Roman Jakobson
poetic: message itself is predominant
metalinguistic: language describes itself
phatic: communication is end in itself

Schulz von Thun: four sides model

factual: infos, facts
self revelation: what I show about myself
relationship: what I think of you and our relationship
appeal: what I want from you

Mode: system that allows humans to express meaning through symbols (verbal or non-verbal) à
visual, audio, gestural, spatial, olfactory, haptic
Medium: means by which message is communicated (linked to mode)
Multimodality: different modes combined à shop must smell, feel and sound right
 2) Language: the key to communication

Yule’s five features of human language

Displacement: The ability to talk about the things we want (not only about the “here and now”)
Arbitrariness: linguistic signs – sounds, letters and words – have no connection with what they
represent
Duality: sounds themselves are meaningless unless they are combined into words (morphology:
simple words can be combined to more complex words)
Productivity: sounds and words are combined in new ways all the time
Cultural Transmission: Languages are passed on from generation to generation through social
contact and not through genes

Linguistic relativity
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: language does affect the way we think and how we see the world

- Strong version: thoughts and perceptions are determined by structure of our language our
- Weak version: languages influences thought

Social constructionism
Our reality is created to a significant extent by social interaction which depends on language.
Each has their own filter (describing the forest)
è language never offers full and precise refelction of the world

2.2 Spoken versus written language

Verbal communication
spoken mode à consists of sounds
written mode à written representation of those sounds
sign language

2.2.1. Speech vs. writing

Speech is the product of nature, writing of culture
genetic à we learn to talk
synchronous: participants contribute in real-time (following another or at the same time)
speakers cannot revise their contributions which false starts, repetitions and overlap occur
Writing
learned skills à essential for personal growth and mature citizenship
Asynchronous: time-lag between production and reception of utterance
has more complex, embedded sentences, more vocabulary from standard language

2.2.2. Hybrid forms of the linguistic mode

➔ Some texts are written to be spoken→characteristics of both forms
➔ Often language used in written texts (email) is like spoken language
➔ TEXTSPEAK: includes emojis, non-standard capitalization

àprescriptive: how language ought to be used

àdescriptive: how language is actually used

2.3. text and discourse

text- Can be written or spoken
often use the term “talk” when referring to spoken language
 • -Rarely exist in isolation -> either connected with texts produced earlier or texts produced
later = INTERTEXTUALITY

2.3.2. discourse
= concept which shows how texts are linked to the social context in which they are produced +
consumed
1. Refers to language in use viewed together with its social context (uncountable noun)
2. Refers to specific communicative habits and sets of texts (countable noun)

2.4. Managing expectations in communication

➔ If true meaning-making process, all participants must manage their own and others’ expectations
by respecting principles

Grice’s Cooperative Principle

=how parties work together to achieve effective communication

Four conversational maxims:

1)The maxim of quantity: give as much detail as necessary, but no more

2) The maxim of quality: don’t provide information that is false
3)The maxim of relation: share relevant information
4)The maxim of manner: be brief and orderly, avoid ambiguity

conversational implicature
= If sentences have no connection with what has gone before, we fill the gaps by relying on the
context
shared repertoire:
➔ Previous experience
➔ Our knowledge of the other party ➔ Needs and goals of the other party

Preferred responses: expected reactions (adjacency pairs like “hi” and “hello”)
Dispreferred responses: unexpected reactions àare usually longer because of
explanations/apologies...

FEEDBACK: First speak acknowledges the response à three part sequence

Turn-taking
= when one speaker stops and another starts (need to organise amongst themselves)

Turn-claiming signals: more powerful interlocutors can claim the turn more easily

Topic shift
= how to move smoothly from one topic to the next à more powerful person to determine what
the interaction should be about

Genre
1. = category of text distinguished by its purpose (presentations, negotiations, job interviews)
2. Texts belonging to the same one share formal characteristics (stylistic features)
3. Communicative purpose and formal traits are agreed upon and upheld by particular community

è genre is a social phenomenon and needs backing from a community

 3) Communication in context: cultures, organisations, settings

Culture:
➢ = feature of a specific group and is learned by the group members
➢ = includes ideas and attitudes typical of the group
➢ = constantly changing because of the outside influences

3.1.1 Monochronic and polychronic cultures

➔ Those types are not representing cultures in the real world! They are representing the extreme
ends of a spectrum

Monochronic cultures
US, Canada, UK and German-speaking countries
High value: time (time is experienced in a linear way)

Polychronic cultures
Latin world
More emphasis on completing human transactions than on holding schedules

Linear and flexible time

punctuality:
linear time: capacity to complete task at a stipulated time – (Switzerland, UK, US, Germany, Japan)
Flexible time: arriving to late is acceptable (Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, India)

3.1.2.Hofstede’s dimensions
Power distance: The extent to which the group accepts power differences
Individualism: everyone is expected to look after himself/family (opposite: collectivism)
Masculinity: social gender roles are clearly distinct (opposite: femininity)
Uncertainty avoidance: members of a culture feel threatened by unknown situations

Long vs. Short-term orientation: values tradition (opposite: long-term orientation)

Indulgence vs. restraint: allows its members gratify their human desires (opposite: restraint)

The GLOBE project:

Nine cultural competencies identified:
Performance orientation: degree to which a group rewards group members for performance
improvement
Assertiveness: degree to which individuals are confrontational/aggressive in their relationship to
others
Future orientation: extent to which individuals engage in future-oriented behaviors
Human orientation: degree to which a group rewards individuals for being fair
Institutional collectivism: the degree to which organizational institutional practices reward collective
distribution of resources
In-Group collectivism: The degree to which individuals express loyalty in their families/organizations
Gender egalitarianism: The degree to which a group minimizes gender inequality
Power distance: The extent to which the group accepts power differences
Uncertainty avoidance: the extent to which a group relies on social norms

Beyond Hofstede
CULTURAL PARADOX: Behavior of individuals is not consistent regarding to the culture
VALUE TRAMPING: values of culture can be trumped by others
ESSENTIALISM: The belief, that a concept can be broken down in a number of aspects which together
constitutes its essence

Cultural Presuppositions
=shaping the basic assumptions about the world

Presuppositions ABOUT SOCIAL GROUPS

communication is affected by assumptions that members of a society make about particular groups
within it.
DOG-WHISTLING: code words à triggers target audience but can be readily dismissed as harmless

SPACE AND SITUATION

PROXEMICS: Cultures perception of space
à for example: space between people communicating
à certain buildings require to communicate in a respectful way (churches, courts...) while in
nightclubs very different communication
àsocial situations (job interviews)

3.2 Organisational context

organisations develop distinctive cultures which interact with national ones and they are by their very
essence organized

3.2.1 Organisation structure and communication

formal communication is influenced above all by power considerations

GRAPEVINE
informal communication
network of unofficial channels connecting individual organization members à language clusters (employees
with same language) à it transfers spontaneous messages quickly (based on gossip + difficult to controle)

COMMUNICATION IN TEAMS Four patterns of communication:

Key features of communication in successful teams:

- Everyone in the team talks/listens the same amount of time
-During team meetings, members face one another
-Members connect directly with one another
-During contributions, members provide backchannel
-Members take pauses during meetings and bring back new information

Organizational culture = corporate culture à takes ideas that lie behind national culture and applies
them to organisations + affects the communicative practices of its members
determines how closely hierarchical relations are reflected the way members talk one another
influences the formal and informal communication
affects the extent to which members communicate at all
3.3.1 Social Setting
=context of any communicative activity

o Increased code structuring: Participants have restricted rights to take part (court)
o Code consistency: Language that don’t match the higher level of formality are rare (jokes)
o Positional identities: Participants forced into positional identities (speak according to public role
o Emergence of central focus: language used shows little variety (annual report)

3.3.2 Space: where does communication occur?

space: location in which communiation occurs

Space and formality:

Building layout/buildings/interior design/seating arrangements can affect the level of formality

Design and layout:

traditional cell offices vs. multi-space areas
Multispaces: more face-to-face interaction, more communication, not more participants

Space and confrontation:

seating arrangements

3.3.3 Participants: who communicates?

participants: nature of communication is influenced by who engages in it
make certann assumptions about other participants
come from distinct professional communities or social groups

Assumptions about communications partners

Familiarity: nicknames, first names, unexplained references to shared experience
Siege Mentality (bunker mentality) = believing to be under attack form all outsiders

Communicating across specialist fields and language barriers

misunderstandings because technical expressions are used with a different meaning
cross-functional team: mutual understanding of a meaning
community of practice: group that works and communicates together and whose language use develops
in order to help achieve a goal
code-switching: switch between languages depending on the topic
Translanguaging: two or more languages even in a single utterance

4) Four functions of language

➔ TRANSLANGUAGING: using at least two languages

Form vs. Function

Form = surface features (like grammatical categories, types of structure)
types of structure :
- Declaratives (I’m cooking the meal)
- Interrogatives (Are you cooking the meal?)
- Imperatives (Cook the meal!)

The intended meaning is decoded by its receiver à single form used to fulfil various functions v.v.
Speech acts: (consists of various components)
1) Illocution (=social act that the speaker performs with an utterance like a request)
2) Locution (=the way the utterance is expressed)
form and function do not always coincide
indirect speech acts: one speech act is performed through another

4.2. informative function

Schulz: factual information (which information am I providing?) ➔ Often declarative
includes: facts, ideas and conceptions (any utterance that extends its audience’s knowledge) à since
it cannot include all the information, we must select which information to include

Storytelling: supply information about certain characters and their purpose is to entertain, motivate,.
feature is that they follow a set of structure à they are seen as element in constructing corporate
cultures
founding myths: stories about how companies were set up à Narrative/Story is crucial if you want to
seel something

4.3 The expressive function

Schulz: self-revelation (what I make known about myself) à revealing it through attitudes

Interjections: wow à unintentionally

Expletives (swear words) à expressing emotions
negative interrogatives could occur

Opinion: refer to a view of judgement, short-term focus

Attitude: more settled stance of feeling
è expressed through choice of vocabulary and the use of first pronouns
Advertorials: texts that appear to be standard lifestyle articles but are actually intended to act as an
advert

4.4 Appellative function

Schulz: appeal (What I want you to do) à getting what you want

performative utterance à statement changes social reality in some way by being made

Felicity conditions: (when met, no option but to accept its effect)

conventionality of procedure: procedure follows conventional form (marriage, exact words)
appropriate participants and circumstances: specified in laws and rule
complete execution: required speech act without errors or interruptions
2 types of situation

1) Instructions :
no option but to comply with instructions (grammatical form = imperative)
➔ Imperative (Deliver the goods by next Monday!) information à also an invitation to the recipient
ot take action
mostly emphatic form (do sit down) rather than standard (sit down)àtone of voice is very important
➔ Increase impact by using intensifiers (using description to increase importance or expletives
è Instructions may be replaced by threats! (failure will have unpleasant consequences)

2)requests
➔ avoid antagonism à impression that they are free to decide (not explicitly expressed)
interrogative form à appear to be seeking information (about willingness)
request perspective: idea that antagonistic effects depends on how much focuses on recipient
Reducing the antagonistic effect of requests
a) - understaters: at least some of the goods by Monday?
- downtoners: any chance you could deliver by Monday?
- negation: couldn’t you deliver Monday?
- past tense: was wondering whether you could deliver my Monday.
- embedded conditions: be grateful if you could,…
b) – hearer-oriented: focus on recipient (can you?)
- speaker-oriented: focus on speaker (I’d like)
- speaker and hearer: let’s see if we
- impersonal: focus on action: it would be great to

Convincing others to want the same as you

people will more willingly do what you want if they believe that it will benefit them à persuading

• ➔ Using non-linguistic support is important for persuading (images, body language, tone of
voice...)
• ➔ Negotiations: compromise and being precise (avoid: maybe, a bit…)

4.5. the interpersonal function

Schulz: Relationship (how we relate to each other/what I think of you)

• ➔ Establish and maintain relationship

• ➔ Don’t require intimacy

Phatic communication:
= main point is not the content but simply to maintain the conversation (how do you do,…)

Phatic expression as backchannel

Eloquent silence: silence which is on purpose à allowing the speaker to collect thoughts

Phatic communication can occur in emails, social media...

-> phatic communication is important in team-working situations (building mutual trust)

Small talk
Difference between small talk and other phatic communication: Small talk is ostensibly
à Topic is of minimal importance
à Status of small talk is culturally dependent

Politeness
Face: public self-image (the idea they wish the world to have of them)
Face, face-threatening acts and facework Face:
Positive face: a person’s desire to be perceived positively by others (hard-working, honest...)
Negative face: a person’s desire to act freely
è any action that causes a loss of face = face-threatening act (FTA)
Politeness is trying to avoid or minimize the damage of face threatening acts = Facework

Terms of address
= family and first names, nicknames
Politeness strategies
Facework can be carried out in a lot of different ways:

1. Delay FTA’s (issuing an instruction/imparting bad news)

1. Apply fillers (well, um...)
2. Apply introductory words
2. Message can be expressed indirectly (e.g.: request)

3. Apologize and give explanation for the offending message

4. “yes-but strategy”: first preferred response, then disagreeing

5. Use understatements (briefly, for a second...)
6. Don’t attach message to anyone specifically
1. Passive constructions (The file seems to have been lost)
2. Impersonal construction (It seems the file may have been lost)
3. Use they/someone (Someone seems to have lost the file)

5) THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM: SIGNS, STRUCTURE, SELECTION

5.1.Freedom and constraint in language use

Constraint: rules for how words can be arranged in a sentence
Freedom: Every speaker/writer needs to decide their communicative goals and how to achieve these
over 7000 different languages including sign language à they allow to fulfil key functions

5.2 Language as a rule-governed sign system

Language is a system signs and rules for combining them
Signs in terms of warning signs/road signs: describe piece of evidence, indicator of something else
à symbol of signs: refers to a symbol that conveys meaning (image, gesture, word)
Signs can be written, spoken, finger-tapped

the form and meaning of sign

Semiotics = study of signs

Ferdinand de Saussure: what signs are and how they work

➔Any sign consists of two elements (psychological)
➔ Signifier: “psychological imprint” experienced through our senses (sound of a word)
➔ Signified: concept associated in our mind with the signifier
➔ No logical connection! Connection is created through convention (by repetition and acceptance)

Ogden & Richards: included Referent

• ➔ Symbol (signifier)
• ➔ Thought (signified)
• ➔ Referent = something in the real world
5.2.2 The rules and who makes them
signs are connected and work together in a routine and predictable manner à connection is
determined by rules (not laws!, only rules of language)
1) Linguistic rules are socially constructed à conventions that haven been established over time
through use by groups of people (=speech community à inhabitants of region)
2) Linguistic rule is much more flexible and unreliable than natural law à change with generations
and are a strong regularity

5.3 Making linguistic choices

manageable sections are paragraphed in written communication à planning what we leave in and
out is essential
Boilerplate: ensures that neither party’s face is threatened

Coherence = the way in which a text hangs together (wholly or partly implicit)
Cohesion = refers to linguistic devices that create explicit connections (is intended to make
coherence transparent and makes sure that coherence is not based on inferences)
example: 1) I was late for the meeting because I’d been chatting to Jacob (cohesion)
2) I was late for the meeting; I’d been chatting to Jacob (coherence)
how explicit we want the text depends on audience, knowledge we share with audience,…

5.3.2 Choosing words

Technical terminology = Lexis
a) Connotations: evoke different associations (in one language maybe bad ones)
b) semantic aura: evokes no negative associations
pronouns: position ourselves in relation to the world through them (we vs. Austria)
subject of need à sense of community (we form a united whole) à in-group vs out-group

Metaphor: very effective form of communication (linguistic concept)

example: wal-mart family
source domain: family
target domain: walmart

➔ Extended Metaphor: A single source domain refers to different elements of the target domain

5.3.3 Choosing grammatical structures

Agency : we can decide whether we want our audience to pay attention to al the social actors or only
some of them
“Income tax will rise”à verbs of happening which are intransitive (not followed by object)
“government will raise income tax” à verbs of doing which are transitive (followed by object)
transitivity: who does what to whom and how

The company laid off five hundred employees last year:

Passivisation: sentence doesn’t contain an agent (strategy to conceal agency)
à 500 employees were laid off last year
Nominalization: converting the verb into a noun (strategy to conceal the fact that someone suffered
the consequences of the action)
àThere were 500 lay-offs at the company last year
3rd option: subject have been made a grammatical subject
500 employees lost their jobs last year
EndFocus
Grammar can help to put more emphasis on some elements

➔ In English: focus is placed on the last item in a sentence

➔ Cleft Sentences: some part is moved to give more emphasis
Joe ate the cake -> It was Joe who ate the cake

The beginning of a sentence is also very important

➔ It is the position where we place information that is given, while information that is new more to
the end = GIVEN-NEW PRINCIPLE

6 LANGUAGE VARIATION AND CHANGE

IDIOLECT: everyone has own personal way of speaking/writing
LANGUAGE VARIETY: way of speaking which is common for a specific speech community
Sociolect: based on characteristics such as age, occupation, ethnicity

6.1.1 Standard varieties

à Its rules are codified
à It is used by country’s public authorities
à taught at school

➔ Some languages are used in more than one country, therefore more than one standard variety
(Austria, Germany, Switzerland) = PLURICENTRIC
received pronunciation (accent) à particular way of pronouncing the sounds

6.1.2 Dialects
= language used by a geographically based community
what makes a dialect:
➔ There must be evidence that the regions speakers use a vocabulary that is significantly different
from standard speakers
➔ Dialects have their own grammar

World Englishes
75 territories in which English is first or second language
➔ World English: number of English as first/second language is rising ➔
Three Circle Model by Kachru

o Inner Circle: countries affected by the first wave of British imperialism

(UK, Ireland, US, Australia...)

o Outer Circle: colonized later (Asia, Africa)

o Expanding Circle: countries where English is not native language, but is
used increasingly due to globalization (rest of the world)

English as a Lingua Franca (ELF)

➔ Non-native speakers who have no other language in common use English to communicate
o Users are diverse and have different ability levels, therefore:
▪ Speak slowly and clearly
▪ Use a generally understandable vocabulary
▪ Avoid metaphors bound up with particular culture
CODE SWITCHING: Switching between different languages or varieties
ACCOMMODATION: adapt a code switching language to the listener
overt prestige: openly acknowledged
covert prestige: hidden and not usually acknowledged

6.2 Registers
= Varieties that occur in specific situations
➔ Focus on written registers (better organized, repetitions less common...)

6.2.1 Technical Registers

technical terms: within a given field à precise meaning and a different meaning in general language
or no technical meaning (asteroid) à Terminology: its own particular variety of such jargon
morphology: same word forms part of two or more fields
also affected by formality implied by the setting

6.2.2 Business register

➔ Hard to differ between “business language” and “general language” -> almost every day we are
concerned with business interactions
➔ Business incorporate not only a single profession, but a wide range of different professions (every
profession has own terminology)
➔ Business interactions take place in different settings
➔ terminology is less clearly defined

6.3 Language change

= related to language variation

change can affect:

àPhonetics (=sounds)
àSpelling
àGrammar (slower process)
àLexis (dominates in changing process)

Lexical change
=Words disappear from a language
NEOLOGISMS: new words come into a language/existing words acquire new meanings
➔ combination of existing words
➔ form a verb by placing an adverb before a noun
➔ add a suffix to the end

Semantic change
= changes in the meaning of an existing word
➔ Can affect the denotation (dictionary meaning à a villain was originally a farmer, now a criminal)
or connotation (secondary meaning or ideas which are associated with it) à Weib
Narrowing: Use of the noun gets stricter à noun trade (bying and selling)
Broadening: brand names become generic terms for products à jaccuzi, aspirin, post-it
Amelioration: meanings lose the strongly negative connotations (bad, wicked, sick)
Pejoration: acquire more negative meanings (Weib)
6.3.2 Why language changes
1. Knowledge growth: Knowledge growth in many fields (finance, medicine, business...)
RETRONYMS: A new term created for an existing word to distinguish the original word from a new
word (guitar -> New word: electric guitar; Original word: guitar -> acoustic guitar)
2. Social Change: development in the society (Brexit, manspreading, identarian...)
- Prior taboos appear now in the standard language (period, some swear words...)
- Some nouns become taboos
- Gendered language (in English: plural form; in German: Binnen-I; in France: punctuation)
3. Language Contact: contact between speakers of different languages
➔ Result of trade, migration...
Some words of one language are integrated in another language
Borrowings: drawn from a language that is seen as high prestige à they fill semantic gaps in a
language in which a word has no simple expression

7) RHETORIC: SELLING YOUR IDEAS

➔ See appellative function
Persuasion = Success in aligning receivers position with senders position
Persuasive communication is a powerful tool for achieving change
➔ Very important for persuading is to know, what receiver needs and wants
➔ Successful persuasion relies on cooperation
➔ Persuasion can be resisted

7.1.2 Rhetoric
=discipline that is taught and studied
➔ Aristotle: The Art of Rhetoric = use of linguistic tools in order to influence another person’s
attitudes
- Rhetoric is widely used in politics, religions, business
= used to capture people’s attention and make them remember a message

persuasion in the 21st century

1) number of persuasive communications has grown exponentially (advertising, internet banner ads)
2) persuasive messages travel faster (through mouse click on the internet)
3) persuasion has become institutionalized: arsenal of powerful companies
4) more subtle and devious (soft messages that play on emotions)
5) more complex and impersonal (blurring lines among information, entertainment, influence)

7.2 Aristotle and the art of rhetoric

Aristotle: Rhetoric relies on the interplay of three elements ethos, pathos and logos

ethos: (power of being who you are)

à relates to speaker
building ethos = establishing credibility as someone whose opinion or advice can be trusted
mostly right at the beginning of the speakers contribution
➔ often in the introduction of lecture/speech...
➔ use of technical register + standard language variety
➔ appropriate dressing helps to establish credibility

Pathos: (the power of emotions)

= emotional appeal that is listener-oriented
• Emotions can be stronger driver of opinions than logic/reason
RHETORICAL DEVICES FOR PATHOS:

• « Metaphors, similes
• « Personification (talking about things as if they were human beings)
• « Addressing audience personally (“If I were you”)
• « Rhetorical questions

Logos (power of reason)

= allows listener to understand why it makes sense to change their perspective
RHETORICAL DEVICES FOR LOGOS:

• « Giving examples
• « Discussing advantages/disadvantages
• « Using facts + figures

Combining ethos, pathos and logos:

very common because, on its own, none of them is to be fully effective

7.3 Rhetorical devices

7.3.1 Structure
àTo highlight a specific part of a text (separate paragraph, headline for the part, topic sentence
(highlights main idea that is covered in that paragraph)) ➔ Repeat the main idea in a brief last
sentence (persuasion gets stronger)
Repetition gives more emphasis (important for oral speeches) à repeated within short space à
increased rhetorical impact
PARALLELISM: Not only words are repeated, but also the structure of phrases (I’ve spent, I’ve worked,
I’ve advised)
THE RULE OF THREE: lists of three are more memorable (veni vidi vici; libreté, égalité, fraternité)

7.3.2 A way with words

RHYME: Sound of words can be used to make a name/slogan more memorable (Harribo)
ALLITERATION: Repeat of the initial sound of the word (Coca-Cola, PayPal)
ONOMATOPOEIA: imitate a sound (zoom zoom à madza sassou)

Playing with words

àBuilding up expectations and then saying something unexpected (Gut. Besser. Gösser)
PUN: two words/sentences sound the same but mean different things (puns only work for one
language and cannot be translated)

Similes and metaphors

= refer to things to which they are not normally applied
… increase the impact of a text
… make it more memorable
… allow a very complex model to be presented in an understandable way

Simile: using words “like” or “as” often humorous

Metaphors: more complex
- they are not comparing, but equating - Impact is more powerful
- Example: They are
Often extended metaphors to make it less obvious
à takeover: predator, victim, prey
à merger: suitor, white knight
DEAD METAPHOR: a metaphor that has become a cliché or a normal part of the language

OVERSTATEMENT/HYPERBOLE: making things appear better than they actually are

UNDERSTATEMENT/LITOTES: making bad things sound less bad and good things sound less good ➔
Litotes: often combined with metaphors & play a big role in politeness
EUPHEMISM: Avoiding words with negative associations by using words with more positive
associations (downsizing instead of firing workers)

Rhetorical questions
àMake audience think about something (Why am I not surprised by that?) Don’t use too much/too
less rhetorical questions -> right amount is important

7.4. The dark side of rhetoric

Rhetoric can not only be used to persuade, but also to deceive -> Fallacy (invalid reasoning)
Two different types:
- Fallacies of presumptions (invalid because the underlying logic is faulty)
- Fallacies of relevance (invalid because the argument is beside the point)

7.4.1 Fallacies of presumptions

1. Distorting the facts: speaker uses incorrect information or half-truth (verzerren)

2. Undistributed middle: two statements that are true = wrong conclusion
3. False dichotomy: assumption that choice is binary when it’s not (unacceptable alternative)
4. Hasty generalization: starts with a true information, but then jumps to general conclusions
(PC from a specific brand doesn’t work -> tell friends they shouldn’t by anything from brand)
5. Begging the question: “Zirkelbeweis” – the fact that the reasoning is based on is circular
(statement appears to provide a reason, because it contains the noun “because”, it actually
repeats their original statements in other words)
6. Post Hoc ergo propter hoc: The fact that Event B occurred some time after Event A does not
necessarily indicate that A caused B (for example: somebody uses a swear word, afterwards
flash of lightning)

7.4.2 Fallacies of relevance

1. Strawman argument: A speaker appears to refute the opponent’s argument but in fact he
refuses a much more extreme position, which the opponent has not actually advocates
2. Ad Hominem strategy: Ignoring the actual topic – instead attacking the opponent on a
personal level
3. Red Herring: shift the audience attention away from the actual issue by switching to another
issue, which is less important

8) COMMUNICATION AND POWER Power and its sources

Difficult to find a single definition for power (depends on perspective)

Roe: Influence is an active process and power is the force behind the ability to influence
➔ Power need not to be exercised (pure knowledge that power exists is sufficient -> authority)
 Power: Good or Bad?
- Rarely neutral stance when talking about power
- Everyone has power (Boss has power over staff – staff has power over boss)
- If power is good/bad depends on what power is used for
Foucault: omnipresent nature of power à power is everywhere

COERCIVE POWER: power based on force and fear (however, can be necessary to enforce health and
safety standards)
responsibility: power comes with responsibility à can be held responsible by someone else
Accountability applies to their own actions and to those of their staff

Five sources of power by French and Raven

Legitimate Power: people’s belief that someone has the right to exercise power over them
(organizational structures + hierarchies)
Reward Power: give those that are subjected to power something that they value (financial, non-
monetary)
Coercive Power: power based on force and fear, punishment
Personal power:
- Expert Power: superior knowledge/experience
- Referent Power: charisma/likeability
➔ Two more sources added by other authors: connection power/network power (borrowing power
from people they know) + resource power (having access to valuable assets such as information)

Context and capital

Context: Power types depend on situation
Position power: power in a specific context – when out of the context -> power disappears
Capital: Resources can create power even outside the context
Pierre Bourdieu:
▪ ECONOMIC CAPITAL: money + material assets
▪ CULTURAL CAPITAL: assets that derive from cultural conventions (language variety, skills,
qualifications...)
▪ SOCIAL CAPITAL: social networks we belong to
▪ CIRCLE OF CAPITALS: owning one form can enhance other forms
INTERSECTIONALITY: type of group who are disadvantaged in various social categories (lesbian, bowling)

8.2.Power and communication in the organization

➔ Hierarchical relationships always have an impact on communication and language use

Reporting lines = shows power relations (who reports to whom or who has to talk to who)
Formal communication: communication that follows reporting lines (upwards -> reporting +
downwards -> instructions)

Chain of Command: each unit is responsible to a single manager -> avoids dual reporting (unit has
two managers who place conflicting demands) à speed of communication is slow
hierarchical structures discourage bottom-up communication (suffers from upward distortion à
messages change when they are passed on)
Line organization: one hierarchy based on functions (production, marketing...)
Matrix structure: two hierarchies exist
grapevine: hear all or most of the information and rumours that circulate around it

Breaking down hierarchies

Goal: advantages of informal communication without losing control
DELAYERING OF FLATTENING: removing entire levels of management
Excessive informal communication with no hierarchy at all -> flat organization

Power and language use in organisations:

- CORPORATE LANGUAGE: language, in which the employees are supposed to communicate
internally/externally
- Scripts that employees are supposed to follow (call-centre)
- Relationship between power and language: linked in a dialectic (they influence each other)

8.3 Power and communication in interactions between individuals

The more powerful person can...
1. initiate the intercaction
2.Choose the language
3. determine the level of formality
4. introduce new topics
5. ask more questions
6. express orders directly
7. choose to use politeness markers
8. terminate the interaction
The less powerful person must...
1.Respond to the interaction
2. Accept the choice of language
3. Accept the level of formality
4. Accept the choice of topic
5. Answer more questions
6. Express such FTA indirectly
7. Use politeness markers throughout
8. Accept the end

àIf less powerful person violates rules -> gets sanction in some way
àIf more powerful person violates rules -> sanction is much less likely but can occur

9) what is identity
identity myths:
1. individual’s identity is purely a matter of their personal characteristics (age, name)
affiliations à feelings, sense of belonging to various social groups (determined by the roles)
à groups can overlap
2. Nobody has just one identity à we all have multiple ones (may be in conflict with one another)
3. A person’s identity is simply a question of who they are (the other à othering, differentiating)
4. Identities are constantly changing (inevitably identities also change as we grow older,…)

We can actively change our identity (we can work on our identity)
Identity is not something that we “have” but something we carry out à performing
identity work à someone who affiliates with the Labour Party may enact that identity by affiliating
to the organization (becoming a member)

The elements of identity work:

- identity is thoroughly social: we develop identities in relation to other people
- identity is always contingent and ongoing: never fixed or finalized
- identity draws on various societal discourses that enable us to develop a self-identity that is
meaningful and coherent
- identity involves struggle
- identity is a communication phenomenon: different language styles in changing identities
è some of them are permanent and some of them only temporary

9.2.Communicating identity
Identities can be communicated non-verbal à dressing, haircut, ceremonies,
Identities can be communicated verbal à reason for dressing/what is the message behind that
uniform?
Inwards communication: to the members of the group
Outwards communication: to the public in general

LANGUAGE CHOICE
Choice of language à indicator for identity English as corporate langue:

ALIGNMENT
Organization aligning itself with different identities (choose a specific language variety, register,
different languages, word choice)
Naturalization: something not common becomes common and people stop noticing it
NARRATIVES: To communicate identity -> often by story/narrative telling
« founging myths
« career story (focus on the personal circumstances)
« new narratives (to construct new identity)
« managing change:
1.Deidentification: existing identity need to be broken (negative narrative is needed)
2. Reidentification: replaced by positive narratives

BRANDING
Brand identity: Narratives communicated to the outside world
Branding: Integration of producer and product in a narrative (also called external identity
communication)

9.2.2 Communicating personal identity

Personal performance (for example if you are creative) through dressing, designing...
Affiliation with groups (aligning ourselves with those groups)
Non-verbal (dressing) and verbal (language)

ALIGNMENT
to show affiliation the word “we” is often used (for example: we won again) adopting language
features of group
use of language varieties on purpose (dialects)
Cultural appropriation: speakers switch to a dialect that is not really their own
Social enterprise: hybrid organizations (mix between commercial enterprises and non-profit
organizations)

PERSONAL BRANDING
“framing your skills as your USP”, “differentiating yourself from the competition” Career stories ->
important part of personal branding

9.3.1 Labelling
= placing someone in a social category (“the tall guy”, “the Chinese woman”)

From labels to stereotypes

Labelling can become an issue...
- ... if the labels attached to a person don’t correspond with the person’s feelings
- ... if the labels emphasis aspects of a person’s identity which they see as being unimportant
- ...if the labels highlight characteristics that “other” the person (make them seen different)
➔ Source of discrimination (labels turn into stereotypes)
Female stereotypes
- Labelling a person as a woman may affect how they are perceived
- Kanter identified four female manager stereotypes (the mother, the seductress, the pet, the iron
maiden)

9.3.2 Identity management, identity control

Company can communicate its identity externally + internally
➔ if internally à company wants to persuade its members to adopt identity)

How companies manage identities

- Introducing a uniform:
àAdvantages: divide work time from non-work time; increase safety; customers recognize them
immediately
à Disadvantages: influences the members’ own identity + personal freedom
- Use linguistic means
à encourage buy-in, make employees feel more valued
- Giving new titles to jobs

Identity management through discourse

- For example: university that names its students “customers” and those who teach “academics” à
they adopted business-like discourse
- Hospital patients à customers

Identity control
- = organizations are imposing an identity on other (employees) against the interests of them (dress
codes that are impractical)

9.3.3 Disidentification
identities that others attempt to assign them
- Align themselves with a rival organization Refusing to adopt “we”
- Instead using “they” à “of the company”...
- noun management rather more than personal managers
- distance from top management à the ones at the top

Alternative labels: person of colour instead of black