1,720,984 research outputs found
Transitioning between small talk and work talk through discourse markers. Evidence from a workplace spoken corpus
Full text linkThe focus of this article revolves around discourse markers (DMs) that are used when switching between work talk and small talk in workplace interactions. Research in this field has showed how discourse markers are used to manage several interpersonal dynamics in interaction. This study is aimed at identifying which DMs are used in the workplace to operate a shift of topic, how often DMs are used at the juncture of interaction, and what are their specific pragmatic and discursive function when they are used in these situations. This study is based on a workplace small-talk corpus of spoken American English. Results show that DMs are often used to mark the shift to a different topic or mode of discourse; in particular, shifts to work talk are marked more often than shifts to more small talk on different topics. Also, speakers may select different DMs based on the type of shift. The role and function of the highest-ranking discourse markers were observed, as well as pragmatic implications and impact in the daily interactions among co-workers
Humor, language varieties, and ideology. Implications for L2 language teaching
Full text linkLe interazioni quotidiane sono permeate da umorismo e varietà linguistiche; proprio per la loro importanza e forza ideologica, linee guida ufficiali ed esperti ne incoraggiano l’introduzione all’interno dei curricula disciplinari in ambito linguistico. Si rileva però la necessità di analizzare e sperimentare modalità efficienti per integrare simultaneamente l’umorismo e la diversità linguistica all’interno della classe di lingue; in particolare, appare essenziale l’esplorazione delle impalcature ideologiche connesse con l’umorismo verbale diatopicamente marcato. In questo lavoro vengono presentate alcune riflessioni e proposte su come operare tali integrazioni all’interno delle attività didattiche.Humor and language varieties characterize everyday interactions and because of their relevance and ideological force, official guidelines and experts have advocated for them to be integrated in the language curricula. However, much work still needs to be carried out to explore ways to simultaneously implement humor and linguistic diversity in the language classroom. In particular, the hidden ideological underpinnings of much diatopically marked language humor need to be clarified. This paper suggests ways in which these issues can be integrated in curricular activities
The nature and function of vocalizations in atypical communication
No full textPurpose of Review A survey of current research including people with disorders in which speech is impaired shows that
vocalizations are vastly discussed as a communication strategy, used both in isolation or paired with other aids. The principal
goal of this paper is to describe the ways researchers are using the term vocalizations and the meanings and functions attributed to
it. We also discuss possible future developments for specific research on unaided communication.
Recent Findings Although research has not focused specifically on the nature and function of vocalizations, several scholars were
able to highlight the crucial role of vocalizations in interactions including people with complex communication needs.
Summary This paper has demonstrated the need for systematizing the discourse on vocalizations both in formal terms and in
regard to the object of study itself. Furthermore, it has been shown that vocalizations have a powerful interactional potential,
which, if investigated, could be exploited by dedicated training and technology
Discovering English grammar and variation
No full textThis book is a basic English grammar, based on decades of teaching. It is organized around two core points: 1) the discovery of grammatical regularities, and 2) language variation. The first core point uses both a top-down approach, using a set of simple discovery procedures (heuristics), and a bottom-up approach, in which the learner is invited to notice similarities and differences and to build their own rules. The second core point is that language is not a monolith, but rather a variable system, in which the socio-economic situation in which the speakers interact affects their linguistic choices. Therefore it is necessary to consider these sociolinguistic factors for a deep understanding of grammar and its uses
Manipulating climate change discourse: how airlines re-present topic and data
No full textDiscourse on environmental sustainability has been often linked to aviation whose technology and
communication strategies strongly impact climate change debate (among others Goodman 2009,
Gössling & Peeters 2007, Hupe 2001, Upham et al. 2003, Walker & Cook 2009).
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the United Nations’ body that aims to
implement global standards in civil air transportation. After 2010’s ICAO Assembly resolution
A37-19 (ICAO A37-19), airlines started to include in their documents to stakeholders discussions
about their environmental impact beyond the issues of noise abatement and local air quality to
encompass more global themes.
The discourse of six airlines about environmental protection has been analyzed on the basis of two
subsets of features: textual-semantic features include terms of comparison, hypernyms, hyponyms,
meronyms, numerical data format; pragmatic features include presuppositions, and entailments.
The results of the analysis uncover how airlines’ business and linguistic strategies are aimed to
transfer responsibility and commitment onto passengers and governmental bodies, to present data
in a way greener than it really is, and to water the topic down with commitment in other areas of
Corporate Social Responsibility
Six years of E-JournALL. Reflections on open access, international, multilingual applied linguistics publishing
Full text linkE-JournALL, EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages published its first issue in November 2014. The journal was meant to be a bridge: between scholars working in Europe and the Americas; between scholars writing in English, Italian, and Spanish; and between scholars publishing in the journal and researchers and language teachers across the world with or without university-paid access to expensive journal subscriptions. The journal was founded, therefore, on three pillars: internationalism, multilingualism, and open access.
In this reflection, written at the end of our sixth year as a journal—and with the release of our 12th issue and 97th article—we look back on the last six years, taking stock of how well we have lived up to our founding principles, and we look ahead to the journal’s next six years
Those who get lost in communication science. Promotion and downplay in university press releases
No full textThe present study is part of a larger project based on two matching corpora: one comprising academic articles and the other collecting the respective popularized pieces. Here, we present the preliminary results on a sub-corpus of 39 university e-releases on Covid-19 research. The objective of this study is to investigate how universities use press releases to disseminate research studies while promoting themselves. The analysis puts university press releases and academic articles in correlation by looking at the correspondence between the authors mentioned in the dissemination pieces with the authors and affiliations of the original research. It is argued that in the attempt to promote themselves through press releases, universities might tend to overemphasize the participation of their affiliated authors at the cost of overshadowing external collaborations. The quantitative analysis reveals a tendency for universities releasing popularized pieces to mention more often (and sometimes only) their affiliated authors, even when they are not first authors. External authors’ names and their affiliations are consistently omitted and vague language is used to misrepresent content and authorship
Translation issues from Italian to English. A pilot study of three companies’ financial statements
No full textIn this exploratory study, we propose a short list of strategies strictly connected to the translation of accounting terminology. We have analyzed the English translation outputs of each entry in the financial statements of three Italian companies, Barilla, Fidia, and Socotherm. We carried out a comparative study, in order to identify the strategies that each company adopts to achieve the desired result in English. In particular, we investigated either the correspondence with equivalent lexical units or the strategy adopted in case of missing equivalence. The result is a categorisation of the translation strategies in a semantic framework
In this issue
No full textIn this first editorial we introduce the reader to E-‐JournALL, its mission and objectives, and then present the content of the articles of the first issue and how they fit within the scope of the journal
“I love red hair. My wife has strawberry”. Discursive strategies and social identity in the workplace
No full textCoworkers are group members of the workplace community. They build their social identities through their verbal and nonverbal behaviors in everyday workplace practice. During small talk interactions, coworkers engage in specific discourses that serve to tell, and therefore, offer a self-definition of their behaviors within other groups, beyond the workplace. In other words, by telling their experiences as members of other groups, the speakers draw for the interlocutors the self-concept they want to (re)present within the workplace community. In order to convey this self-concept, speakers use determined, recursive linguistic patterns. In this chapter, two specific linguistic strategies are analyzed: my-relative strategy and I-feel-you strategy (Di Ferrante, Small talk at work: A corpus based discourse analysis of AAC and Non-AAC device users, 2013), which fulfill respectively the functions of validating statements—principle of authenticity—and displaying understanding—principle of sympathy. Using a discourse analysis approach within a social psychology framework, linguistic patterns are examined and shown to be exploited as tools used by speakers to build their social identities and affirm their positive image as members of the workplace community
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