The choice of language is also affected by the topic being discussed. As English is commonly used at work, it is often associated with more official or formal aspects of life. As a result, codeswitching from other languages to English occurs when the topic being discussed is moved from local community matters to business matters. The research by Joshua Fishman (1971) finds that the two speakers can speak Spanish and English fluently. However, they switch from Spanish to English when they talk about their work since they were in the working relationship of a ‘boss’ and ‘secretary’ which is firmly embedded in the dominant Anglo-American culture.
The speakers’ choice of language at workplace is also affected by their status. In Fishman’s research, codeswitching to English is determined by the boss, who has a higher status in office. So people with higher status have control over the choice of language.
On the other hand, Nicola Woods (1988) suggests that gender plays a more significant role than job status does in shaping conversations in the workplace. In her research, while occupational status did influence the way both men and women organized conversation, male subordinates were still able to dominate the floor in dealing with high-status female boss. She came to the conclusion that gender tends to exert the greatest influence on floor apportionment. (Woods, 1988, pp.141,149)
Jargons are often used between people in the same profession. These people know the nature of each other’s jobs and have a common knowledge of their shared workplace. Therefore, they can understand each other without extended explanations when using jargons. However, it may be incomprehensible to outsiders. Jargons include acronyms and words with established meanings which depend on some specific and shared knowledge about the working practices in that profession. Walter Nash (1993) points out that jargon words and phrases often become incorporated into the mainstream of English language use.( P. 97) Some examples are ‘IQ’ (from psychology) and ‘programmed’ (from information technology). Some technical jargon words are borrowed into other languages. According to David Hearst (1994), words such as ‘lizing’(leasing) and ‘bankrotia’ (bankruptcy) are incorporated into Russian business speech.
In the workplace, rationality, rather than emotion, is needed in implementing tasks. Therefore, the style of many written Englishes is impersonal and unemotional. For example, passive voice without subject is often used. However, in some professional communities, emotions can be expressed through the use of a professional slang. Kathleen Odean points out that a large number of slang is used by Wall Streeters in New York. These slang terms and phrases serve different functions, social and emotive. Some nicknames are of sexual or violent references. The underlying theme is dominance. Since Wall Streeters have so little control over the market, they want to project an image of being in control, winning the war or conquering the female. In some cases, slang is used to vent hostility against customers behind their backs. (Odean, 1990, pp.224-31)
There are different special communicative needs in different field of work, it leads to different features in different professional discourses. In some unusual working circumstances, people are inventive in their use of English due to communicative needs. For example, because of the noisy working environment, women workers in the cotton mills of Lancashire speak with exaggerated mouth movements and lipread what the other say. On the other hand, as the Channel Tunnel between France and England was opened in 1994, a set of vocabulary of specialized terms has to be developed in police reporting. Words are chosen from French and English so that they are comprehensible to both English and French police.
English between workers and the public
When communicating with ‘lay’ people, to avoid using jargon can facilitate communication. However, professionals may still use jargon because of habit or the technical nature of their profession. In some cases, professionals can maintain control and exert power over ‘lay’ people by the use of jargon. As lay people do not understand those jargon terms, professionals become experts and the gatekeepers to powerful knowledge.
Very often problems arise in communication between professionals and clients. According to Roberts and Sayers (1988), problems may be due to the lack of shared understanding of the ground rules for carrying out the specialized kind of conversation, or the client’s lack of fluency in English. They also suggest that the reaction of the professionals on the client’s lack of fluency in English is a determining factor. In their research, interviewers (professionals) did not intend to clarify misunderstandings caused by interviewees’ (lay people) lack of fluency in English. Therefore, they fail to grasp the key points of the interviewees and caused misunderstanding.
Issues of power and control is very important in the communication between professionals and clients. The above research of Roberts and Sayers is an example. The interviewers have the control over the content of the conversations. They can choose to ignore or pursue topics in ways that interviewees would not dare. Another example is telephone selling. The sales staffs are well prepared to deliver the message and thus have control over the conversation in the beginning. However, the clients have the ultimate control to the conversation because they have the right to accept or deny the offer. However, in the interaction between doctors and patients, control always remains in the doctors’ hands. It may be due to the status and authority of the medical profession of doctors.
There are different strategies used by professionals when dealing with laypersons. In Maynard’s research(1992), the doctor employed a generic conversational strategy in the interaction with the client. The doctor explored the patient’s own understanding of the condition, then confirmed the patient’s own perspective, and lastly reformulated the patient’s explanation of events.
In the research of Longman and Mercer (1993), other strategies were used by the professional adviser when dealing with the interviewee (lay people). When information was being recorded on the form, the adviser filtered out nearly all of the information about the interviewee’s doubts about his own ability and experience. He also reformulated the interviewee’s statements in the way to make it sounds more positive and formal. Filtering and reformulation is often used by police officers to transform statements from suspects’ spoken words. It is also used by lawyers to prepare ‘last will and testament’ documents and contracts on behalf of their clients.
Analysis of the conversations on Video Band 2
The purposes of the two conversations are different. The first conversation is between professional and client. The client asks for information on the house and the estate agent gives information and advice about the house and offers a tour to the house. In the second conversation, the two estate agents discuss on the way to solve the problem on the agreement.Since the purposes are different, different linguistic features are found in the two conversations.
In the first conversation, the content shows that it is a conversation between client and profession. The client asks for information and advice while the agent gives information and advice.
Jargon and technical terms are avoided. This facilitates communication between the agent and the client and avoids misunderstanding since the client has little knowledge about these terms.
The agent and the client have some shared knowledge of the Milton Keynes area. When the agent mentions that the house is located in one of the new area in Milton Keyens, the client’s response shows that she has the knowledge of the area. The agent still has to express himself in an explicit way because the client’s knowledge of the area is quite limtited.
Questioning is used by the agent to obtain information from the client. The purpose is to show that the house suits the needs and requirements of the client. When the agent asks where the client lives, he points out that there is the problem of parking on that road. The problem can be solved in the new house because there is plenty of parking and not many vehicles there. The agent also asks how many rooms the client has and what sort of garden she has. The client expresses the need for a bigger garden and more rooms. Then the agent points out that the garden in the new house is big enough for her and there are different choices of house including two to four bedrooms.
Most of the utterances of the agent are complete statements. There are special phrases for opening and closing the conversation. They are ‘Good morning, how can I help?’ and ‘I look forward to seeing you. Call me on Friday morning. Thank you, bye.’
The tone of the agent is personal and friendly. For example, ‘How can I help?’ ‘Yes, certainly.’ When he is talking, he looks into the client’s eyes. He sometimes smiles and uses gestures. He nods his head and gives positive response when listening to the client.
In the second conversation, the content is a discussion on solving the problem in an agreement. It is a conversation between colleagues. Jargon is used since both speakers have a good knowledge of this profession.
Both speakers assume the other speaker has good prior knowledge on the topic, therefore the need to be explicit is not obvious. For example, the woman assumes that the man has the knowledge of the agreement when she brings out the issue. Therefore no detailed explanation of the agreement is needed. And the man knows that ‘we’re already doing that.’
Sometimes incomplete statements are used. Both speakers always support and complement each other. The woman always helps the man to figure out the problem and other details. There is no special phrase for opening or closing the conversation.
The tone of speakers is more serious and impersonal. They always look at the documents instead of looking into each other’s eyes when speaking. Their facial expression is more serious than the speakers in the first conversation.
Conclusion
English is a language widely used in the workplace. It takes on a range of distinctive forms and has different features when it is used in different discourse community. Features are especially different between English among co-workers and English between profession and client.
When English is used among co-workers, the choice of language is influenced by practical needs, topic, status and gender. Jargon is used frequently. When English is used between professionals and clients, the use of jargon serves special purposes. Power and control is always in the hands of professionals. They can decide on the topic. Different strategies are used to obtain information. (about 2100 words)
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