Introducing spoken professional discourse

1. Introducing spoken professional discourse PAD Stephanie Schnurr s.schnurr@warwick.ac.uk

2. Brief outline • What is spoken professional discourse? • How do people at work talk? • What are some of the factors that have an impact on how people at work talk? • What role does talk at work play?

3. How do people at work talk? • For the following examples consider the following: • Who are participants? How do you know? • Where does this exchange take place? How do you know?

4. Example 2 1. SK: morning [the price comes up on the till] 2. SK: that’s twenty-two [C hands over the money] 3. SK: thanks good bye 4. C: goodbye (Kerbrat-Orecchioni 2006: 81)

5. Example 3 • R.: can you get me one please • [in Samoan] :fa’amolemole: [please] • G.: you get one • R: ah you’re not doing anything • G.: you go and get one • R.: fuck it +++ fuck you • get your fucking legs out here (fatters) (Daly et al 2004)

6. So how do people at work talk? • Well, that depends… • Context • Workplace culture • CofP norms • Interlocutors’ roles and identities • …

7. Example 3 How would you interpret Peter’s final comment in the example below? 1. Gin: copy control copy control2. Pet: oh + good afternoon where have you been +3. Gin: who wants to know4. Pet: well we do + + +5. Gin: um we’re just gonna- run our fifth [product name]6. and see how this packaging holds if it’s okay7. i- and then wait and we’ll get back to you8. Pet: ( ) thank you very much for your information

8. Norms and practices • Often, groups have developed specific norms of what is considered appropriate behaviour • Workplace culture • CofP • Remarkable differences between normative and acceptable communication across workplaces • Swearing • Greetings and closings in emails • Small talk • Decision making • etc

9. So what is spoken professional discourse? • Different ways of conceptualising professional discourse • Introducing a framework for conceptualising institutionaltalk (Drew & Heritage 1992)

10. Institutional talk Three criteria: 1. Goal orientation: “orientation by at least one of the participants to some core goal, task or identity (or set of them) conventionally associated with the institution in question.” 2. “special andparticular constraints on what one or both of the participants will treat as allowable contributions to the business at hand.” 3. “inferential frameworks and procedures that are particular to specific institutional contexts.” (Drew & Heritage 1992: 22) • But: many of the activities that typically occur in institutional settings may also be observed in non-institutional or ordinary contexts!

11. An example 1. B: listen to me + I’ve been sitting here twenty minutes half an hour listening to you +2. some of it’s the biggest lot of bollocks I’ve ever heard + I can get very annoyed very 3. shortly + one minute you’re saying it’s Coley next minute you’re saying it’s the 4. Meadways 5. A: we passed Coley Park 6. B: what //happened\ 7. C?: /happened\\ 8. B: I’m sick and tired of the ups and downs and the ins and outs + some of this is better 9. fairytales than bloody + Gretel can do (2.9)10. now stop mucking us all about 11. A: I’m not mucking you about 12. B: well I’m not saying to you as you’re lying get rid of the fruitiness 13. get rid of all the beauty about it and let’s get down to facts and //figures\ 14. A: /it’s not beautiful\\ at all is it 15. B: well some of it is all crap about bus stops and + numbers and 16. blue and white tea towels to wipe myself down with + 17. what the hell’s gone on • if nothing’s gone on let’s all pack it off and go home • (Thornborrow 2002: 54)

12. Relevance of communication in professional contexts • “[w]workplaces are held together by communicative practices.” (Sarangi & Roberts 1999: 1) • [t]alk is at the heart of all organizations. Through it, the everyday business of organizations is accomplished. People in organizations talk all day, every day. In meetings, on the telephone, at work stations, on the sales floor, at doorways, in corridors, at the cafeteria, in pairs and groups, from the boardroom to the janitor’s closet, talk makes the organizational world go round. (Boden 1994: 1)

13. So… • Different ways of conceptualising professional discourse, eg institutional talk • Impact of numerous contextual factors on how people at work talk • Central role of talk (in the wider sense) for doing work

14. Further reading • Sarangi, Srikant & Celia Roberts (eds) (1999). Talk, Work and Institutional Order. Discourse in Medical, Mediation and Management Settings. Berlin: De Gruyter. • Drew, Paul and John Heritage (eds) (1992). Talk at Work. Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. • Gunnarsson, Britt-Louise (2009). Professional Discourse. London: Continuum. • Bargiela-Chiappini, Francesca, Catherine Nickerson & Brigitte Planken (2007). Business Discourse. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. • Holmes, Janet & Maria Stubbe (2003). Power and Politeness in the Workplace. A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Talk at Work. London: Longman. • Koester, Almut (2010). Workplace Discourse. London: Continuum.