Comunicazione inglese

Business English

The majority of international business is done in English, but not in native-speaker English.

ENL = English as a Native Language

ESL = English as a Second Language

EFL = English as a foreign language

ELF = English as a Lingua Franca

BELF = Business English as a Lingua Franca -> the English used is “simplified” and there are also
“grammatical inaccuracies”.

Context of situation

According to the model devised/formulated by Halliday and Hasan (1989), the context of situation
hasthree parameters:

• Field: what is happening

• Tenor: who are taking part
• Mode: what part the language is playing

All three factors will influence the formality of the text.

The channel is the modality through which the message is expressed: writing (graphic) or speech
(phonic). The medium can be either spoken or written or a combination of the two.

If you know the context of situation, you can predict what kind of register you have to use.

Context of culture

English is used all over the world by people whose cultures differ widely. Their culture affects the way
they behave and use other languages.

Culture with a capital C, or high culture, tends to be associated with well educated, refined and
cultured. On the other hand, culture with a small c, or anthropological culture, is used to refer to
habits, ideals, customs, beliefs, prejudices which are shared by the members of the group.

Hall’s and Hofstede’s culturale models

Edward Hall devised a model of culture which distinguishes between high and low context
communication.

Context = context of situation + context of culture

We can imagine context as the “amount of information the other person (addressee) can be expected
to possess on a given subject”. (= there are some information which are not expected to be made
explicit because this information can be derived by the addressee from the context).

On the other hand, text is “transmitted information” (= information which is necessary to send out).
 • HCC (High Context Communication) has a preference for context, but we should also add that
it has a preference for oral communication.
• LCC (Low Context Communication) has a preference for text, but we should also add that it
tends to rely on written information.

LCC have a preference for written texts (KISS), whereas HCC have a preference for oral texts (KILC).

KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) vs KILC (Keep It Long and Complex).

KISS STYLE KILC STYLE

• clarity (the text should be simple);
• low information load (the reader is not
overloaded with information, there aren’t
too many details);
• reader friendly (it is easy for readers to
grasp the text);
• equality (the writer positions himself as
somebody on the same level as the
addressee; he doesn’t perceive himself as
superior);
• simplicity,
• synthetic;
• inductive (from practice to theory).
• completeness (the text is more complete);
• high information load (the amount of info
is generally bigger, the receiver may be
under risk of receiving too much
information);
• writer friendly (the style is focused on the
writer and on his authority, who use his
rhetorical skills conveys his knowledge to
the receiver);
• authority (in this style it’s important to
appear expert in a field);
• rhetorical skills;
• detailed;
• deductive (from theory to practice).

Other parameters are:

• Fast and slow messages:

o Information can be sent at different speeds;
o These speeds vary across cultures;
o Friendship.
• Time:
o Monochronic: time is experienced and used in a linear way
o Polychronic: simultaneous occurrence of many things
o Compartmentalization of functions and people
o Punctuality / appointments
o Schedules / agendas
• Action chains:
o Sequence of events to achieve a goal
o Vulnerability to the breaking of action chains
• Space:
o Territoriality
o Personal space
o Offices
• INFORMATION FLOW:
o Information flows freely
o Information flows slowly
There was also Hofstede’s model, which, unlike Hall’s model was formulated on the basis of
statistics. Initially were isolated four parameters which represented the problems which people from
all nationalities had to face, but that each of them solved in different ways.

Parameters of Hofsted’s model:

• The first parameter is individualism vs collectivism.

• The second dimension is power distance (or power distance index).
• Another parameter is uncertainty avoidance index.
• Another dimension is masculinity vs femininity.

These four dimensions were the four original dimension in Hofstede’s model, but then there are two
others that were added later.

• The first one was long term vs short term orientation.

• The last dimension is indulgence vs restraint.

Both these models were criticised, because they were old/dated. Culture may have changed, for
example due to globalisation. The third critique is that in both models there is a conflation of culture
and nation: culture is not uniform.

Corporate websites in native English and in ELF as used in Italy: a cross-cultural investigation

BRITISH WEBSITE ITALIAN WEBSITE

• More symmetrical, familiar, friendly
relationship with the customer.
• Linguistic markers: Customer = you,
imperatives, direct questions
(involvement devices; synthetic
personalisation).
• Company = we
• Possibly due to lower power distance
• Tendency to simplify
• Linguistic markers: fewer details.
• Possibly due to: lower uncertainty
avoidance
• More detached relationship with the
customer.
• Linguistic markers: Customer = visitor,
one.
• Company = the company.
• Possibly due to higher power distance.
• Tendency to provide details.
• Expert attitude.
• Linguistic markers: more details.
• Possibly due to: higher uncertainty
avoidance

Politeness

It’s a central concept when examining interactions, languages and relationships between people.

It was introduced by Brown and Levinson.

It’s a linguistic concept that has to do with face. What do we mean by face? We mean the image
people have of themselves.

Fundamental in politeness theory is the distinction between positive face and negative face. By
positive

face we mean the desire to be approved by other people. By negative face we mean the wish/the
desire that other people do not impose on us.
When interacting with other people, we sometimes perform face threating acts which have a potential
to cause damage to other people’s face or to our own face. According to Brown and Levinson, when
performing a face-threatening act, you can MITIGATE it with positive or negative politeness.

Methodology to analyse text

How are genres analysed? In order to analyse genres, we need to identify the “moves”. A move is a
linguistic term which means “phase”. Each move fulfils a specific communicative purpose. Each
move has a specific goal/aim.

Sales promotion letters

The sales promotion letter is an unsolicited letter addressed to a group of prospective customers in
order to persuade them to buy a product or a service. The writers of the sales promotion letters have a
difficult task firstly in capturing their attention. And they also have to sustain the readers interest and
eventually convince them of the benefits of the product, or the service promoted. The main function
of a sales promotion letter is therefore persuasive.

The letter must also be short and effective, but sufficiently detailed. 7 main moves are identified:

• Obligatory:
o Establishing credentials
o Introducing the offer
o Soliciting response
o Ending politely
• Optional:
o Offering incentives
o Enclosing documents
o Using pressure tactics

Job application letters

It’s a subgenre related to sales promotion letters; both are examples of promotional genres.

• Introducing candidature
• Establishing credentials
• Essential detailing of candidature
• Indicating value of candidature
• Offering incentives (optional)
• Enclosing documents
• Using pressure tactics (optional)
• Soliciting response
• Ending politely

Vague language

Vague quantities: numbers + approximators.

Vague quantities: Hyperbolic use of numbers.

Vague markers: or something, or anything, and so on, …

Vague expressions: sort of, kind of, …

Spoken discourse

• Simple phrasal structure: one of the features of spoken discourse is that it is not planned in
advance.
• Clause combination: clausal blends are when a sentence is finished in a different way from the
way it started.
• Syntactic positioning of items: the position of words is much more flexible in spoken discourse.
• Pauses: speakers pause because they are thinking.
• Repeating and recasting: repeating means that you say something again; recasting means that
you
• reformulate something.
• Discourse markers: “well”, “right”, “anyway”, “so”, “now” ...
• Ellipsis: the term ellipsis means that something is left out or elided.
• Response tokens: refers to adjectives and adverbs which provide positive feedback.

Conversation analysis

It analyses informal conversation, but also discourse which takes place in the workplace
(professional and workplace discourse).

Conversation analysis can be explained as “talk in interactions”, which implies that the process of
talking is conceived as a joint enterprise.

In this methodology, the fact that people take turns is central. How is turn- taking organised?

• One speaker speaks at a time

• Speaker changes recurs

In case of simultaneous speech, there will be one speaker who wins the floor, while the other one falls
silent. In case of silence, one speaker will tend to claim the floor.

How do speakers/co-conversationalists manage conversations in order to produce the pattern ‘one

speaker speaks at a time’ and ‘speakers change recurs’?

The model states that:

• People can project the end of a given turn by attending to prosodic and grammatical
structures: we can predict when a speaker has come to the end of his turn by
observing/attending the prosody and the grammar he uses.
• Rules for the allocation of the next turn
o Current speaker selects the next speaker by:
▪ Shifting their gaze to the other person
▪ Asking a question
▪ Naming them
o Next speakerself-selects
o Current speaker may (but does not have to) continue

Some phenomena object of study

Overlaps: one speaker fails to project the end of the last speaker’s turn = one speaker doesn’t
understand or predict correctly when the other speaker has finished his turn. An overlap is a mistake.

Interruptions: aggressive, hostile act of taking another speaker’s floor. It happens for example when
arguing. An interruption is a hostile act, not a mistake.

Some overlaps are not failures to project the end of the last speaker’s turn, but they have a supportive
function.

Other phenomena are cultural differences in the management of turns and silence:

• “Contrapuntal conversation” are typical; there are cultures in which it is typical for at least two
speakers to speak at a time.
• They have observed that there are countries and people where extended silent is the norm
rather the exception. There are countries in which people have much more tolerance for
silence.
• It was also noticed that in Argentina the rule is “grab the floor and talk until someone interrupts
you”, while in Sweden a completely different way of managing the floor is operant.

Other phenomena observed by conversation analysts was the presence of patterns in conversation
and these patterns are called adjancency pairs. The idea is that what is said in the first part of the
adjacency pair constrains (vincola) what can meaningfully be said next.

In the conversation analysis, the existence of a preference system was observed. Preferred responses
are brief, prompt and unelaborated, while dispreferred responses are hesitant and elaborated.

Institutional talk

By “institutional talk” we mean all conversations taking place in any kind of institutional
setting/environment.

How do institutional talk differ from ordinary talk? Ordinary talk is used as a yard stick (metro di
paragone) against which institutional talk can be compared.

How do they differ from ordinary talk? These points were found by Drew and Heritage:

• Goal orientation: institutional talk focuses on specific tasks or goals.

• Turn taking rules or restrictions: there may be rules on who speaks when.
• Constraints on allowable contributions: there may be restrictions on what participants may say
and just some contributions are allowed.
• Use of professional lexis
• Structure of the talk: turns are usually tidier in institutional talk than in casual conversation.
Moreover, people tend to announce what they are going to talk about.
• Asymmetry: institutional talks are asymmetrical in terms of power, knowledge and experience.

Meetings

Bargiela-Chiappini and Harris defined meetings as “task-oriented and decision-making encounters

involving the cooperative effort of two parties, the Chair and the Group”.

Holmes and Stubbe, instead, defined meeting as “interactions which focus, whether directly or
indirectly, on workplace business”.
Classification of meetings:

• Planning or prospective/forward-oriented: they are oriented towards the future.

• Reporting or retrospective/backward-oriented: oriented towards the past.
• Task-oriented or problem-solving/present oriented.

They have identified the three phases of problem-solving oriented meeting:

• An opening section: an agenda is agreed/introduced on or the problem is defined;

• An explanatory phase: the issue at hand is developed;
• A resolution section: the participants agree on a course of action and decisions are
summarised.

Within this research two approaches to holding meetings have been identified: the linear approach
and the spiral/cyclical approach.

The linear approach consists in proceeding logically through the various points, so that the discussion
is smoother and all topics are covered systematically.

In the spiral or cyclical approach, the main issue is briefly considered from different perspectives. In
this approach the participants are granted more freedom.

It was also highlighted that the role of Chair is crucial in carrying out an effective meeting. His tasks
are opening the meeting, keeping track of the progress of the meeting and negotiating consensus.