language + occupation Flashcards
(14 cards)
what is jargon?
words that are used by a profession and are difficult for others to understand
what does grice say?
when we communicate we assume that we and the people we are talking to will be conversationally co-operative. there are a number of maxims we feel the need to abide by during conversation co-operation
what are grices maxims?
- quantity - give the most helpful amount of information
- quality - dont say what is not true
- relation - give relevant info
- manner - put what you say in the clearest, briefest manner
goffman - face work
FACE = a persons self-esteem and emotional needs.
FACE-THREATENING ACT = a communicative act that threatens face.
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
goffman - face work: examples of a face threatening act?
criticising someones appearance, interrupting, rolling eyes
brown and Levinson: positive and negative politeness
based their work on Goffman’s face work theory
positive politeness: when we appeal to a persons positive face
negative politeness: when we mitigate potential issues which may arise as a result of imposing upon someone
Kim and elder - miscommunications with air traffic controllers
- occupation language is culturally specific
- their study found that miscommunication between Korean and American air traffic controllers was due to unhelpful and misleading idioms that the controllers in other nations did not understand
John swales - discourse community
- members of a community share a discourse with specific language they use to communicate
- useful in occupational groups because jargon can help efficiency e/g emergency services - “bagging” - forcing oxygen into lungs - more rapid way of communication
Koester - phatic talk
- looked at how employees can support each other in their tasks and shows how important Phatic talk is in getting jobs done.
- Workers need to establish interpersonal relationships and have interactions that are not just about work-related procedures.
- she shows that being personal and engaging in personal chat is an important aspect of effective working. phatic talk is more important than transactional talk in achieving workplace goals
Levine - small talk (challenges koester)
- suggested that while employees appreciate the opportunity to engage in small talk, the employers prefer to restrict it to non-personal topics, maintaining a degree of social distance
ng and bradac - covert power
- looked at ways of expressing power in the workplace
- found that power was increasingly being exerted in a covert way
- covert power is a type of repressive power that aims to achieve solidarity and goodwill from employees
wareing - types of power
three types of power:
1. Political = power held by those with the backing of law (e.g. Politicians)
2. Personal = power held by individuals as a result of their roles in occupations (e.g. Teachers)
3. Social group = power held as a result of being a dominant member of a social group through variables such as class, gender and age
holmes and stubbe - phatic talk and humour in the workplace
- they concluded that within the workplace, phatic talk was found to relieve boredom and develop social bonds
- humour can be used to nurture relationships or diffuse tension and manage problematic situations
fairclough - bosses + power
- people in positions of power decide what is correct and appropriate in the workplace conversation
- bosses have the capacity to determine to what extent their power will be overtly expressed over employees
