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Developing shared communication practices: A study of BELF in multinational team meetings
Abstract
A growing number of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) adopt English as their official corporate language. Research on English used as a business lingua franca (BELF) in such contexts shows how its use is negotiated, context dependent, and influenced by cultural and linguistic diversity. Multinational teams (MNTs) are legion within MNCs, and need to find efficient ways of communicating across their diversity, in particular in demanding and complex interactions such as meetings. This case study uses non-participant observation and interviews to study how one MNT has developed shared BELF communication practices for meetings. It examines the BELF communication practices in both the MNC context and at the team level. The analysis of the data shows that team members were highly aware of the challenges posed by cultural and linguistic diversity, and how they developed their local communication practices by processes of developing common ground, building trust, and good leadership.
... Because of globalization, people with different cultural backgrounds work together which can be advantageous, but at the same time, it can hold risks. In a multilingual company, the long-term success main factors are cultural diversity awareness, team cohesion building and maintaining, trust, and good ma nagement (Nielsen, 2020). Effective communication depends very much on language usage. ...
... In inappropriate language environments, employees often feel unprofessional or inferior because of their language skills, even if they speak the language but cannot express themselves well enough (Vaara et al, 2005;Rogerson-Revell, 2007, Neeley et al., 2012Tenzer & Pudelko, 2017). There are positive examples in the international literature of employees themselves having the right attitudes and competencies to manage diversity (Nielsen, 2020). It is not possible to draw sharp lines in the language issues of the EPRG model either, as a company does not go from being a domestic organization to an international one overnight. ...
Language diversity is an inherent part of international business transactions,despite the dominance of English. The challenge for management, HRM, andemployees in multinational companies is to find the right strategy. Multinationalorganizations can be categorized using the EPRG (ethnocentric, polycentric,regiocentric, geocentric) model, according to how they define their relationshipwith subsidiaries, and how they operate in foreign markets. Using this model,conclusions can also be drawn from their applied language strategy. JEL code: F23, Z13
... The data comprise BELF meeting interactions recorded at a German business organization in Malaysia where participants consist of Germans and multiethnic Malaysians. BELF meetings can pose challenges to L2 speakers of English, who may face difficulty in expressing themselves or in understanding the discussions that take place (Nielsen, 2020;Takino, 2019). Explaining, which entails providing additional details and updating background information to clarify a prior message, therefore, may constitute an important strategy that preempts non-or misunderstanding. ...
... Information-gap activities that require trainees to seek and obtain specific information from their interlocutors in order to complete business-related tasks are likewise useful for promoting the use of pragmatic strategies. In keeping with the times, all such activities must include virtual modes of communication such as video chats and conferencing, which may present a different set of challenges when BELF is used (Nielsen, 2020). ...
The study investigates business professionals of different language backgrounds using English as a business lingua franca (BELF) in formal internal meetings. In particular, it examines how these participants deploy ‘explaining’ as a pragmatic strategy to increase communicative effectiveness. The data comprise 6 internal business meetings, totaling 293 minutes of video recordings. A discourse analysis of the meeting data reveals that the participants move to explain even in the absence of a request for an explanation or following an implicit request for further information. The strategy of explaining allows the speaker to provide additional information or background details that contribute to increasing communicative clarity and enhancing shared knowledge. The findings offer insights into the pragmatic competence of BELF users that is crucial in the accomplishment of communicative goals in the business setting. The findings also have pedagogical implications in that they point to the relevance of incorporating the teaching of pragmatic strategies such as explaining in business communication courses to address the needs of future business practitioners in a globalized world.
Analysis of conversations between international university students in the Corpus of English as a Lingua Franca Interaction (CELFI, McDonough & Trofimovich, 2019) has demonstrated that holds, which are temporary cessations of dynamic movement, are a robust visual cue of nonunderstanding that can be reliably interpreted by external observers as signals of listener comprehension difficulties (e.g. McDonough et al., 2019, 2022, 2023). Using CELFI materials, this study used an experimental design to explore whether business communication students (N = 64) benefit from instructional activities designed to raise their awareness of holds as a signal of nonunderstanding. The students carried out perception tests in Week 1 and Week 5 that presented video excerpts from CELFI showing the depicted listeners’ hold onsets and releases, and the students rated those listeners’ comprehension. In the interim, 31 students completed weekly awareness-raising activities via Moodle (2 hours per week) for four weeks. A mixed ANOVA showed that students who participated in the awareness-raising activities showed significant improvement in their ability to discriminate between hold onsets and releases. Implications for the use of awareness-raising activities to promote recognition of nonverbal behavior are discussed.
Contemporary expert organizations rely heavily on cross-border, often temporary teams typically working through virtual means of communication. While static aspects of teams are well researched, there have been considerably fewer studies on team dynamics and team processes. Existing process studies tend to take a cautious, entity-based approach, emphasizing team structure as much as (or even more than) processual aspects. This article represents a shift from studying teams as entities and structures changing over time to studying teams as an on-going process. Participants engage in teaming and thus in the continued making and sometimes unmaking of teams. We report on a study of three anatomically similar, self-managed teams performing the same set of complex tasks with radically different teaming processes. With more or less successful shared sensemaking, the team members collectively create (or fail to create) not only team task outputs but also the team itself.
Though a popular and somewhat controversial topic in discussions on language in IB, the notion of English as a (business) lingua franca/(B)ELF still lacks clear conceptualisation. This paper argues that research in IB and linguistics can be mutually complementary and supportive in conceptualising BELF, and that it is important to separate the concept of BELF from that of a common corporate language. The paper synthesises key works from both disciplines to conceptualise BELF as an emergent, multilingual use of English that adapts to the demands and resources of the specific context. It further argues that Wenger’s (1998) concept of Communities of Practice offers a useful bridge between the disciplines, and that there is a need for more empirical research.
A fast growing number of studies demonstrates that language diversity influences almost all management decisions in modern multinational corporations. Whereas no doubt remains about the practical importance of language, the empirical investigation and theoretical conceptualization of its complex and multifaceted effects still presents a substantial challenge. To summarize and evaluate the current state of the literature in a coherent picture informing future research, we systematically review 264 articles on language in international business. We scrutinize the geographic distributions of data, evaluate the field’s achievements to date in terms of theories and methodologies, and summarize core findings by individual, group, firm, and country levels of analysis. For each of these dimensions, we then put forward a future research agenda. We encourage scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to draw on, integrate, and test a variety of theories from disciplines such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to gain a more profound understanding of language in international business. We advocate more multi-level studies and cross-national research collaborations and suggest greater attention to potential new data sources and means of analysis.
Based on 90 interviews with leaders and members of 15 multinational teams, this study explores the influence of language differences on power dynamics in multinational teams. First, we establish hierarchical position and professional expertise as general sources of power in teamwork. Subsequently, we demonstrate how different language policies, the degree of formality in language structures, and language proficiency disparity moderate team members’ capacity to capitalize on these power sources. Our study elucidates the complexity of linguistic influences on power dynamics in teamwork, reveals previously neglected differences in language structures, emphasizes the importance of relative proficiency and carries significant practical implications.
This paper analyzes language diversity from a sociolinguistic perspective demonstrating how it operates in interactions between members of international management teams in multinational corporations (MNCs). A major challenge for teams composed of speakers of different languages is the building of trust and relationships that are language dependent. Based on published research and illustrative empirical data, findings indicate that language diversity has a significant impact on socialization processes and team building, influencing both communication acts and mutual perceptions. Results of investigations into multilingual teams using English as their language of communication show that many obstacles are encountered by native as well as nonnative speakers. There is clear evidence that if language diversity is to be a valuable resource for international management teams, the challenges it raises need to be identified.
In the relatively few years since empirical research into English as a Lingua Franca began being conducted more widely, the field has developed and expanded remarkably, and in myriad ways. In particular, researchers have explored ELF from the perspective of a range of linguistic levels and in an ever-increasing number of sociolinguistic contexts, as well as its synergies with the field of Intercultural Communication and its meaning for the fields of Second Language Acquisition and English as a Foreign Language. The original orientation to ELF communication focused heavily, if not exclusively, on form. In light of increasing empirical evidence, this gave way some years later to an understanding that it is the processes underlying these forms that are paramount, and hence to a focus on ELF users and ELF as social practice. It is argued in this article, however, that ELF is in need of further retheorisation in respect of its essentially multilingual nature: a nature that has always been present in ELF theory and empirical work, but which, I believe, has not so far been sufficiently foregrounded. This article therefore attempts to redress the balance by taking ELF theorisation a small step further in its evolution.
English as a lingua franca (ELF) studies, intercultural communication research and English language teaching (ELT) have all been concerned with ideas of ‘successful’ communication and the competencies needed to achieve this. While all three fields have recognised the importance of language and culture in understanding communication, little agreement has been reached on how to characterise the relationship between language and culture or how this relates to ‘competent’ communication. This chapter will therefore investigate the convergences and conflicts among the fields of ELF studies, applied linguistics research in intercultural communication and ELT in their perspectives on language and culture. These issues are explored, firstly, through a discussion of how culture has been conceived of in ELT and a critique of the often essentialist manner in which this has been done. This is followed by an examination of intercultural communication studies as related to language teaching. A distinction is drawn between essentialist approaches and more recent dynamic characterisation of intercultural communication. How culture and intercultural communication have been conceptualised in ELF is then presented, highlighting features of the intercultural communication literature which have been drawn on, but also a number of points of difference. It is argued here that ELF studies add to the growing body of post-modernist thinking and research in applied linguistics that can inform intercultural communication research through underscoring the dynamic and fluid manner in which form, function and context are constructed in intercultural communication through English as a lingua franca. At the same time intercultural communication research can be of use to ELF studies through the extensive body of work exploring conceptions of intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Crucially, it is this focus on ICC and communicative competence that ELT, intercultural communication studies and ELF share. However, ELF research emphasises the importance of a conceptualisation of ICC in which language and culture are seen as emergent resources in intercultural communication which need to be approached critically. To this end the notion of intercultural awareness is proposed as a dynamic framework for intercultural competence. Such critical perspectives in understanding intercultural communication through ELF and associated notions of competencies have fundamental implications for ELT which have yet to be adequately taken up in theory or practice.
This study systematically investigates how language barriers influence trust formation in multinational teams (MNTs). On the basis of 90 interviews with team members, team leaders and senior managers in 15 MNTs in 3 German automotive corporations, the authors show how MNT members’ cognitive and emotional reactions to language barriers influence their perceived trustworthiness and intention to trust, which in turn affect trust formation. The authors contribute to diversity research by distinguishing the exclusively negative language effects from the more ambivalent effects of other diversity dimensions. Their findings also illustrate how surface-level language diversity may create perceptions of deep-level diversity. Furthermore, their study advances MNT research by revealing the specific influences of language barriers on team trust, an important mediator between team inputs and performance outcomes. It thereby encourages the examination of other team processes through a language lens. Finally, their study suggests that multilingual settings necessitate a reexamination and modification of the seminal trust theories by Mayer, Davis and Schoorman, and by McAllister. In terms of practical implications, the authors outline how MNT leaders can manage their subordinates’ problematic reactions to language barriers, and how MNT members can enhance their perceived trustworthiness in multilingual settings.
The present needs analysis study uses data from a quantitative survey of language use and needs in 302 export firms to identify for which tasks and in which communicative situations English is used, and to what extent language difficulties are encountered. The survey data are then triangulated with those of two studies of job advertisements. The findings indicate that while a large number of staff in Norwegian export firms use English fairly well, many still experience difficulties involving language proficiency as well as communication skills. An important implication is that Norwegian institutions of higher education need to meet their students’ need for advanced proficiency in General English, English for Specific Purposes as well as the communication skills needed in occupational contexts. The findings also indicate that the prevailing focus on communication skills in recent studies of Business English as a Lingua Franca is inadequate, and that such skills must be complemented with advanced English proficiency.
The importance of language differences in multinational companies (MNCs) can hardly be overlooked. This paper therefore provides the first large-scale quantitative overview of language competencies, policies and practices in MNCs. It is based on data from more than 800 subsidiaries, located in thirteen different countries with headquarters in more than 25 different countries, which were aggregated into four distinct home country clusters. This comprehensive study allows us to differentiate prior conceptual or case-based findings according to home, host and corporate languages and to develop managerial implications which vary according to the different country clusters.
This article explores the role of English and other languages as perceived by members of upper management in a family-owned German multinational corporation in the technology sector. The findings show that, in the 21st century, English has become an indispensable “must” in the company and that there is a general understanding that staff at all levels develop their language skills as they see appropriate for their roles within the company. What needs to be learned, however, is not English as a native language but communicative effectiveness in English as a business lingua franca, which—as an international contact language—brings together nonnative as well as native Englishes from various linguacultural backgrounds spoken with varying degrees of proficiency. Learning to cope with the challenges of such diversity, in the context of business communication, seems to happen most effectively in business “communities of practice” rather than in traditional English training. The study also shows that, despite the dominance of English, other languages are not disappearing from the scene but are, indeed, used as a pragmatic or strategic resource. In particular, German, as the headquarters’ language, maintains an important role among individuals and within the organization.
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore the use of common corporate language(s) in multinational corporations (MNCs). These organizations are usually multilingual and characterized by high language diversity. Parallel streams of literature in international management and international business communications are built upon to problematize the notion of a common corporate language.
Design/methodology/approach
Information gathered from 36 personal interviews of the German‐based multinational Siemens is the primary source of data for this case study. The interviews were conducted in three different languages in three different organizational units of Siemens AG in Finland and Germany.
Findings
It was possible to identify powerful interplay between two languages – German and English – and to uncover discrepancies between company policy and employee practices with regard to language use. On the basis of these findings, the challenges of managing language in multinationals are discussed.
Originality/value
Argues that a common corporate language may not be as widely shared within the firm as the term suggests, given the multilingual nature of most multinationals, variation in the language proficiency of their employees, and the level of analysis used in previous research.
We begin by considering how the recent phenomenon of English as a Lingua Franca (henceforth ELF) fits in with the older notion of lingua francas in general as well as with older versions of ELF. We then explore the beginnings of ELF in its modern manifestation, including the earliest ELF research, and tackle the thorny issue of defining ELF. After discussing the main locations and domains in which ELF research has been carried out to date, we move on to examining research into three linguistic levels, lexicogrammar, phonology and pragmatics, concluding with a discussion of very recent findings revealing ELF's linguistic fluidity. Next, we discuss research into two domains where ELF has proved especially prevalent: business English and academic English. This is followed by a consideration of ELF as a globalized and globalizing practice. We end the article by exploring the implications of ELF research for ELF-oriented English teaching and the role that attitudes are likely to play in this. We conclude that while the relaxed attitudes towards ELF of younger people are promising, strong resistance is still felt by many others, and that the major challenge remains in convincing the examination boards that they should take account of ELF.
Human language has changed in the age of globalization: no longer tied to stable and resident communities, it moves across the globe, and it changes in the process. The world has become a complex 'web' of villages, towns, neighbourhoods and settlements connected by material and symbolic ties in often unpredictable ways. This phenomenon requires us to revise our understanding of linguistic communication. In The Sociolinguistics of Globalization Jan Blommaert constructs a theory of changing language in a changing society, reconsidering locality, repertoires, competence, history and sociolinguistic inequality.
This paper explores the assumptions underlying the core concept of language used in the growing field of language‐sensitive research in international management. We reviewed 92 articles on the topic of language(s) in multinational corporations published during the period 1997‐2015, and applied a linguistic lens to uncover how these articles “talk about language”. The assumptions found in these articles can be grouped into three complementary categories that take a structural, functional or social practice view of language. We go beyond the review by also reflecting on the consequences that these underlying assumptions have for the study of language in multinationals. We consider the social practice view the most promising one, and propose a future research agenda for advancing it and thereby contributing to theorizing about the multinational corporation more broadly.
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This article demonstrates the complex nature of the relationship between linguistic competence and the level of disempowerment that individuals perceive in global business contexts where English is increasingly used as a lingua franca. Most of the existing literature assumes that lower linguistic competence causes disempowerment, and that this relationship is largely static for individuals. This study, in contrast, finds that the sense of disempowerment caused by linguistic competence is negotiable as power dynamics between individuals can also be influenced by other relationships that act as potential sources of power. As a result, even for those with lower linguistic proficiency, perceived disempowerment can be reduced if other power-yielding factors compensate. An analysis of the narratives of 34 Japanese businesses demonstrates that such factors include value-of-information, goal sharing, and economic relationships. This article concludes by presenting a theoretical contribution to the conceptualization of the power of linguistic competence and the implications for educators.
Human language has changed in the age of globalization: no longer tied to stable and resident communities, it moves across the globe, and it changes in the process. The world has become a complex 'web' of villages, towns, neighbourhoods and settlements connected by material and symbolic ties in often unpredictable ways. This phenomenon requires us to revise our understanding of linguistic communication. In The Sociolinguistics of Globalization Jan Blommaert constructs a theory of changing language in a changing society, reconsidering locality, repertoires, competence, history and sociolinguistic inequality. • There is great interest in the issue of globalization and this book will appeal to scholars and students in linguistics, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics and anthropology • Richly illustrated with examples from around the globe • Presents a profound revision of sociolinguistic work in the area of linguistic communication
International business communication is sometimes perceived as being culture-neutral; however, the speakers’ linguacultural repertoires may be exploited as communicative resources in English as a Business Lingua Franca (BELF) interactions. Indeed, plurilingual phenomena can be inscribed in a view of ELF communication that sees such practices as a potential asset in intercultural communication. Multicultural competence – which may include the exploitation and integration of other linguacultures – alongside BELF competence and business-specific knowledge is identifiable as an essential skill for successful interactions on the workplace. This paper aims at exploring the domain of internationally oriented business communication in English by analyzing naturally occurring data of workplace interactions involving non-native speakers of English. Specifically, the analysis will look at how non-English linguistic and cultural elements are incorporated in ELF talk in business contexts. The Professional Business section of the VOICE corpus will be analyzed to this purpose through a qualitative approach in order to shed light on the functions of L1 and LN (other languages) cultural and linguistic elements in BELF interactions and their role in conducting successful business transactions.
Over the last two decades, the impact of language standardization in MNCs has attracted considerable research attention. However, although the current IB literature strongly suggests that the introduction of English can cause a significant barrier, we still have not fully understood the micro-foundations of such barriers. We conducted an inductive study and interpret our findings using an interdisciplinary approach drawing from both IB related research as well as research from the field of linguistics and language studies. We propose that a major challenge for MNC employees is the foreign language anxiety they typically experience in a non-native language. It is manifest in communication avoidance and withdrawal, as well as code-switching. Our findings indicate that such communicative behaviors can have a considerable impact on interpersonal communication, affecting both the content and relationship dimension. Our study contributes to emerging research on the role of anxiety-related factors as micro-foundations of language barriers and provides a so far rather neglected starting point for firms to reduce the language barrier in corporations.
Language matters in international business and global business expansion inevitably mean encountering challenges of communication, language and translation. This book presents a thorough and rigorous analysis of language related to all aspects of global business - international management, networks, HRM, international marketing, strategy and foreign operations modes. © Rebecca Piekkari, Denice E. Welch and Lawrence S. Welch 2014. All rights reserved.
The aim of this paper is to investigate micro-level processes and practices involved in "a progressive phase of enregisterment" of business English in an interaction in a multilingual workplace context. Enregisterment refers to a social process through which the form and values of a repertoire are being recognized as distinctive from the rest of the language (Agha, 2007). Drawing on recent sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological insights into language as repertoire in the context of globalization, this paper is a case study of a Finnish engineer's repertoire and practices in a multilingual meeting. With a novel application of enregisterment to the study of business practices, this paper contributes to current research in both sociolinguistics and business English by arguing that the achievement of shared understanding in business is not a matter of overall proficiency in English but of an overall competence to use particular, context-specific bits of a communicative repertoire, which consists of language, gestures and other resources.
In recent years, the use of English has become everyday practice in multinational companies (MNCs), and it has been investigated in three disciplines: applied linguistics, international management, and corporate communication, all of which can be housed in international business schools. While reviewing research in these disciplines, we ask the question: how does the research inform the teaching of “English”? By taking an example of an international business school located in a small non-English-speaking country, we present the educational environment and the needs of future business graduates before moving on to demonstrating a continuum of English as a shared language constructed on the basis of the disciplines. The continuum extending from “official English” to “working language” BELF (English as Business Lingua Franca) illustrates different uses that English as a shared language meets in the MNC environment and in the students' future work contexts. On the basis of this discussion, we conclude our paper by presenting the implications of the different conceptualizations of English for the teaching of “English” at an international business school.
Prologue Part I. Practice: Introduction I 1. Meaning 2. Community 3. Learning 4. Boundary 5. Locality Coda I. Knowing in practice Part II. Identity: Introduction II 6. Identity in practice 7. Participation and non-participation 8. Modes of belonging 9. Identification and negotiability Coda II. Learning communities Conclusion: Introduction III 10. Learning architectures 11. Organizations 12. Education Epilogue.
How workers experience and express status loss in organizations has received little scholarly attention. I conducted a qualitative study of a French high-tech company that had instituted English as a lingua franca, or common language, as a context for examining this question. Results indicate that nonnative English-speaking employees experienced status loss regardless of their English fluency level. Yet variability in their self-assessed fluency—an achieved status marker—was associated with differences in language performance anxiety and job insecurity in a nonlinear fashion: those who believed they had medium-level fluency were the most anxious compared with their low-and high-fluency coworkers. In almost all cases where fluency ratings differed, self-assessed rather than objective fluency determined how speakers explained their feelings and actions. Although nonnative speakers shared a common attitude of resentment and distrust toward their native English-speaking coworkers, their behavioral responses—assertion, inhibition, or learning—to encounters with native speakers differed based on their self-perceived fluencies. No status differences materialized among nonnative speakers as a function of diverse linguistic and national backgrounds. I discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for status, achieved characteristics, and language in organizations.
This article investigates the role of speech accommodation by native and nonnative speakers of English in a series of international business meetings. The study first of all reveals an awareness by some participants of the need to adjust language for an international audience and an intuitive understanding of some of the ways this can be achieved. Analysis of the meetings’ discourse further illustrates some of the normalization and convergence strategies used by some participants throughout the meetings to accommodate linguistic differences and difficulties. It is suggested that such authentic examples could be used as the basis for business communication training resources to help both native and nonnative speakers communicate more effectively in international contexts.
Business English as a lingua franca (BELF) has come to dominate as the shared code used to “get work done” in international business. In this article, the authors explore internationally operating business professionals’ perceptions of BELF communication and its “success” at work, based on selected data from an online survey (N = 987) and in-depth interviews (N = 27) conducted in European multinational companies. The findings show that BELF can be characterized as a simplified, hybridized, and highly dynamic communication code. BELF competence calls for clarity and accuracy of content (rather than linguistic correctness) and knowledge of business-specific vocabulary and genre conventions (rather than only “general” English). In addition, because BELF interactions take place with nonnative speakers (NNSs) from a variety of cultural backgrounds, the relational orientation is perceived as integral for BELF competence. In sum, BELF competence can be considered an essential component of business knowledge required in today’s global business environment.
This paper reports on an analysis of meetings data which forms part of a broader study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca in international business meetings. This discourse analytic stage of research builds on an initial survey which explored the use of English for International Business (EIB) in a particular European organisation. The survey uncovered a range of communication issues and frustrations raised by meeting participants as well as an awareness of some of the strategies that could be used to overcome them (Rogerson-Revell, 2007). This analysis of the meeting discourse attempts to relate these perceptions to the actual interactive characteristics of the meetings themselves. Initial findings suggest that there is some support for the issues raised in the survey, particularly with regard to levels of participation, for, although Native English Speakers (NSE) do not dominate talk in terms of talk time, there is a much higher proportion of inactive Non-Native English Speakers (NNSE) in the meetings. However, despite concerns from some participants that communication in English can be problematic, the analysis illustrates the overall positive linguistic performance of speakers in the meetings themselves. It also reveals some of the ways active participants employ a variety of interactive resources and strategies to achieve substantive goals and to establish a sense of normality in situ despite generic and linguistic constraints. The study also suggests that the apparent paradox between the negative perceptions of some participants and the overall positive performance of speakers in the meetings themselves needs further investigation.
This paper focuses on how culture can be treated as an explanatory variable in cross-cultural pragmatic studies. It starts with a review of pragmatic maxims [Grice, H. Paul, 1989. Logic and Conversation. William James Lectures, 1967. (Reprinted in Grice, H.P. (Ed.), Studies in the Way of Words, pp. 22–40); Leech, Geoffrey N., 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman; Journal of Pragmatics 14 (1990)237], discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the concept. It then presents the findings from a British-Chinese replication of Kim's [Human Communication Research 21(1996)128] cross-cultural study of conversational constraints, and argues that the notion of maxims should be reconceptualised as sociopragmatic interactional principles (SIPs). The notion of SIPs is defined and explained, referring to the sociopragmatic-pragmalinguistic distinction [Leech, Geoffrey N., 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman; Applied Linguistics 4(1983)91] and other cross-cultural pragmatic approaches [House, Julianne, 2000. Understanding misunderstanding: a pragmatic-discourse approach to analyzing mismanaged rapport in talk across cultures. In: Spencer-Oatey, H. (Ed.), Culturally Speaking. Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures. Continuum, London; 145–164; Journal of Pragmatics 9 (1985)145]. SIPs are also discussed in relation to Brown and Levinson's [Brown, Penelope, Levinson, Stephen C., 1987. Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage. CUP, Cambridge (Originally published ad ‘Universals in language usage: politeness phenomenon’ In: Goody, E. (1987), Questions and Politeness: Strategies in Social Interaction. CUP, New York.)] perspectives on the impact of culture on language use. The paper ends with a call for more research to establish on an empirical basis the types of interactional principles that exist, and their interrelationships.
The article is based on findings from research into communication and language use in two international corporations, both formed as a result of a merger between a Swedish and a Finnish company. A questionnaire was sent to representatives of each case company, focusing on language use, communication practices, and cultural views. Using some of the results of the questionnaire as a starting point, we have studied two of the most frequent communicative events where English was used as a lingua franca in internal communication: email messages and meetings. This article focuses on the discoursal (dis)similarities of Swedish and Finnish interactants, and the resulting cultural and communicative challenges.
“Can you spell that for us nonnative speakers?” – Accommodation strategies in international business meetings
An integrative model of organizational trust
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