25.1283, Review: Applied Linguistics; Pragmatics: Poppi (2013)

[linguist at linguistlist.org]

LINGUIST List: Vol-25-1283. Sun Mar 16 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.1283, Review: Applied Linguistics; Pragmatics: Poppi (2013)

Fund Drive 2014
http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2014/

Moderators: Damir Cavar, Eastern Michigan U <damir at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin Madison
Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin Madison
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin Madison
Mateja Schuck, U of Wisconsin Madison
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin Madison
       <reviews at linguistlist.org>

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Do you want to donate to LINGUIST without spending an extra penny? Bookmark
the Amazon link for your country below; then use it whenever you buy from
Amazon!

USA: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-20
Britain: http://www.amazon.co.uk/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-21
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistd-21
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-22
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistc-20
France: http://www.amazon.fr/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistf-21

For more information on the LINGUIST Amazon store please visit our
FAQ at http://linguistlist.org/amazon-faq.cfm.

Editor for this issue: Monica Macaulay <monica at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  


Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 08:34:27
From: Kimberly Chopin [kimberly at hum.ku.dk]
Subject: Global Interactions in English as a Lingua Franca

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=25-1283.html&submissionid=20707128&topicid=9&msgnumber=1
 
Discuss this message: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=20707128

Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/24/24-1383.html

AUTHOR: Franca  Poppi
TITLE: Global Interactions in English as a Lingua Franca
SUBTITLE: How written communication is changing under the influence of electronic media and new contexts of use
SERIES TITLE: Linguistic Insights - Volume 168
PUBLISHER: Peter Lang AG
YEAR: 2013

REVIEWER: Kimberly Renée Chopin, University of Copenhagen

SUMMARY

The field of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), which studies communication
among speakers of different language backgrounds using English as a common
language, has focused primarily on spoken language, but as yet not so much on
how ELF speakers use English to communicate in written situations. Franca
Poppi’s monograph aims to address this gap, particularly in the area of
business communication and Business English as a Lingua Franca (BELF). The
book has two goals. The first is to “investigate the changes undergone by
written communication under the influence of electronic media and new contexts
of use” (p. 215). In addition, it explores how the use of English as a Lingua
Franca adds to the changes brought about by this new media and these new
contexts of use, through which also to assert ELF use as legitimate, and not
in need of native-speaker gatekeeping norms.

The book is divided into two main parts plus introductory and concluding
chapters. The introductory chapter (Chapter 1) briefly outlines trends such as
the World Wide Web which have led to increased globalization, and reviews
theories on why English has increasingly become the lingua franca in this more
globalized world.

The first part (Chapters 2-5) focuses on ELF communication in the electronic
mass media. Chapter 2 makes and argues the claim that speakers of English in
lingua franca settings are ELF users rather than ELF learners. A selection of
interviews and a panel discussion from BBC World and CNN International are
analyzed in order to discern features that distinguish ELF communication. It
concludes that ELF communication is generally effective, and that “non-native
speakers of English should therefore be recognized as users, in their own
right, of a (...) lingua franca.” (p. 62).

Chapters 3-5 are each based on a different small-scale corpus study, each of
which looks at the on-line edition of an English language newspaper published
in a non-English language native environment: The Hindustan Times (Chapter 3),
The Baltic Times (Chapter 4), and The China Daily (Chapter 5). In each of
these, corpora of articles from the newspapers in question are analyzed, and
instances of non-native forms as well as localized forms are categorized. The
cases chosen exemplify and serve to compare data from outer circle (India) and
expanding circle (the Baltics, China) countries in terms of how much localized
vocabulary is used, how much code-switching and code-mixing occurs and so on.
In each case, it is claimed that non-native forms and localized expressions
show the creation of on-line communities of practice joining together readers
who are geographically dispersed.

The second part (Chapters 6-10) turns the focus to BELF, in the form of
corporate on-line communication. Chapter 6 introduces some basic theories of
corporate communication and corporate identity. It is shown how these might be
manifested on corporate websites and in computer-mediated conversations such
as e-mail correspondence. As in Chapters 3-5, each of Chapters 7-10 concern a
different small-scale corpus-based case study, where specific instances of
language use are categorized. The categories are not equal to but are adapted
from the categories used in Part 1; for example, both Part 1 and Part 2 have
the category ‘code-switching’, but the category ‘local expressions’ in Part 1
is replaced by ‘technical words’ in Part 2. The cases chosen give data from a
corpus of news articles from the archives of the large multinational
corporation Tetra Pak (founded and based in Sweden) (Chapter 7), and of the
‘about us’ sections of websites from seven European companies based in
different parts of the continent (Chapter 8). Two chapters focus on business
e-mail correspondence in order to explore how the cultural and linguistic
background of both writers and recipients of e-mails affects written
communication.  They use corpora of intra-company e-mail correspondence
between Japanese and Chinese employees of an Italian company and company
employees based in Italy (Chapter 9), and of Italian employees of an Italian
company writing business e-mails in different genres (Chapter 10).

The concluding chapter (Chapter 11) revisits the main aims of the book,
summarizing its results. In particular, it further places the book’s case
studies into a framework of cybergenres, and relates them to communities of
practice.

EVALUATION

This book opens up new inroads into an analysis of ELF and BELF written
communication in on-line settings. The structure is complex, integrating two
main aims with write-ups of multiple case studies.  In each of these areas, a
reader will find much to think about; however the broad scope of the book
leads to several areas where more depth could have been given.

As indicated above, this book has two goals.  For the first and main one, to
trace the emergence of new cybergenres, and to explore how these new genres
have changed written communication in a globalized age, the book paints an
interesting picture of how the internet has emerged out of but also developed
from more traditional genres; for example, publishing news articles in a
company intra-net rather than on paper, or sending correspondence
electronically rather than delivering letters by post. Interestingly, with the
exception of the two chapters looking at e-mail correspondence, the cases
looked at do not ideally fit Shepherd and Watters (1999) definition of a
cybergenre, which is characterized by and differentiated from more traditional
genres by added functionality or interactivity. Rather they are on-line
replications of more traditional genres: the on-line version of a print
newspaper, content from a relatively static company homepage.

What does set the cases apart from their more traditional counterparts in fact
is not the genre but the audience: when information is on-line, the potential
audience is much bigger. The audience can also be expected to be more
multicultural and multilingual, meaning that information on-line in English is
increasingly ELF in nature. How this increase in situations of ELF usage has
affected written communication seems to be the bigger concern of the book, and
the explication of this goal is successful, though with some concerns.

To give one example which is representative of the studies as a whole, the
study described in Chapter 2 of the book “relies on the assumption that most
ELF conversations are robust and cooperative” (p. 42). The study conclusions
are then that “Notwithstanding [non-native language features, ELF users] are
able to actually promote successful communication and to negotiate meaning”
(p. 62). The examples given in the chapter do in fact support the conclusion;
however, the conclusion was there at the start. As a result of this, for a
reader who believes the opening assumption, the conclusion is unnecessary -
perhaps the greatest change brought about by the field of ELF is that it is no
longer a radical thing to claim that a non-native user of English has the
capability to negotiate meaning in ways that are both effective and creative.
On the other hand, to a reader who is skeptical of ELF research, such a set-up
would be less than convincing.

Additionally, the role of the English native speaker editor or trainer needs
also to be considered. In the conclusion to the book as a whole, referring to
the chapters in part 1, Poppi refers to the fact that “all the articles
undergo editing prior to publication” (p. 219). Yet the influence of this on
the eventual product seems to be underestimated. To give another example
relevant in particular for the chapters looking at corporate communication,
the role of English language training is ignored. In the conclusion to Chapter
8 (p. 177), it is claimed that “the companies analyzed feel free to adapt
BELF” (p. 177); yet at least some of these same companies work with language
firms which only hire inner circle English native speakers (such as the
reviewer of this book, who has worked in this area and with some of the
companies mentioned), which would belie the claim. This is not to say that
companies should not feel free to adapt BELF (they should certainly feel
free), but only that the situation is perhaps more complicated than is
presented in the book.

A final comment concerns the case study format of the book. The number of case
studies is impressive and interesting; however, because of the chapter format,
none of the case studies is given space enough to be described in sufficient
detail. As a result, the data presented seems somehow incomplete. It is as
much praise as criticism to say that each chapter seems to have the potential
to be a much longer and more detailed article (or even book) of its own.

REFERENCE

Shepherd, M. and Watters, C. (1999), “The functionality attribute of
cybergenres”, Proceedings of the 32th Hawai’i International Conference on
System Sciences (HICSS-32), IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos,
available at: http://web.cs.dal.ca/~shepherd/pubs/functionality_attribute.pdf
(accessed 1 October 2013).


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Kimberly Chopin is a PhD student at the Center for Internationalisation and
Parallel Language Use at the University of Copenhagen. Her research focuses on
language policy in higher education.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Year the LINGUIST List hopes to raise $75,000. This money will go to help keep the List running by supporting all of our Student Editors for the coming year.

See below for donation instructions, and don't forget to check out Fund Drive 2014 site!

http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2014/

There are many ways to donate to LINGUIST!

You can donate right now using our secure credit card form at https://linguistlist.org/donation/donate/donate1.cfm

Alternatively you can also pledge right now and pay later. To do so, go to: https://linguistlist.org/donation/pledge/pledge1.cfm

For all information on donating and pledging, including information on how to donate by check, money order, PayPal or wire transfer, please visit: http://linguistlist.org/donation/

The LINGUIST List is under the umbrella of Eastern Michigan University and as such can receive donations through the EMU Foundation, which is a registered 501(c) Non Profit organization. Our Federal Tax number is 38-6005986. These donations can be offset against your federal and sometimes your state tax return (U.S. tax payers only). For more information visit the IRS Web-Site, or contact your financial advisor.

Many companies also offer a gift matching program, such that they will match any gift you make to a non-profit organization. Normally this entails your contacting your human resources department and sending us a form that the EMU Foundation fills in and returns to your employer. This is generally a simple administrative procedure that doubles the value of your gift to LINGUIST, without costing you an extra penny. Please take a moment to check if your company operates such a program.

Thank you very much for your support of LINGUIST!
 


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-25-1283	
----------------------------------------------------------