Language is not to be considered neutral for it works to establish privileged interpretations of reality that assume the illusion of a shared and natural reality. This study examined how consultants specializing in multicultural organizational interventions construct a particular meaning of "diversity" in their responses to a…

Two approaches to analyzing service encounters (instances of face-to-face interaction between a server designated in a particular area and a customer receiving service from the server) are examined. Some linguists view service encounters as business transaction texts. The two approaches are the "top-down" approach, in which linguists make direct…

This paper considers the language patterning in two situations, the student-staff meeting and student resolutions, with special reference to how the use of modal items in directives can serve as a guide to the balance of power in student-staff interactions. (Contains 10 references.) (Author)

This article analyzes post-accident investigation reports from a feminist perspective, showing how a feminist interpretation can change the way technical writers look at expertise and evidence. In comparing formal documentation of mine inspection reports with women's testimony about conditions in the mines, the article shows: (1) how the…

This paper is an exploration of the philosophical and semiotic implications of educational acts of meaning-making that are mediated through narrative inquiry. The paper discusses the risks of a narrative view of teacher education as it is related to the "I"--philosophy tradition of Subjective Idealism. Indeed, modelling the Self may be…

As the development of an individual's identity may be linked to the opportunity to write or to construct knowledge through participation in social dialogue, women historically have lacked self awareness. The 17th century British writer Elizabeth Cary illustrates the rhetorical difficulties that women face in appropriating dominant discourses to…

Although slave narratives have enjoyed critical attention as literature and autobiography, when presenting them to undergraduates, there is some confusion--usually centering on the dissimilarities between the narratives and traditional autobiography. The narratives are not as linear, not as focused on personal development; the narrators are not as…

Some language features are described that could account for feelings of people from different cultures not being on the same "wave length" when they communicate with each other in business negotiations. Candlin's explanatory approach involving a "top-down, bottom-up" methodology is used. It views language as being indeterminate…

Conversations are cooperatively achieved speech events. In introducing a new topic, there are specific procedures followed to close the old topic. Because these procedures take place over a series of utterances, both/all participants must cooperate to close a topic. Analysis of conversations among adults who know each other suggests that there are…

A study investigated the use of qualifiers, words and phrases used to indicate the level of approximation of propositional content or of speaker commitment to the proposition, in an atypical form of medical interview: conversations between physicians and patients on a radio talk show. Qualifiers used were classified as hedges (suggesting…

Each discourse community teaches and uses a particular version of reality. In the field of accounting, the interpretation of reality is an objective one. Such an interpretation is a constraint on writing, as are accounting's reliance on exclusionary language, its need to meet legal and professional requirements, its adherence to stylistic and…

The effects of various discourse variables on the psycholinguistic processing of sentences within paragraphs by 36 competent adult readers were investigated. Eye movement measures were used as the dependent variables reflecting psycholinguistic processing. When all of the constraints within which the study had to be performed were examined, it…

Transcripts of 24 spontaneous speech samples from 2 year old children are analyzed for use of nouns and pronouns in sentences. (Author/DEP)

Three types of jokes are distinguishable according to the style of speech used: 1) the merely prosaic joke, 2) the joke with a fictitious dialogue, and 3) the dialogue joke. These are analyzed in terms of communication, discourse analysis, and semantics. (Text is in German.) (DS)

A content analysis system was developed to examine the frequency of themes for 359 secrets obtained through an encounter group exercise. Sex-related secrets occurred most often, followed by failure-related secrets. Secrets relating to sex, mental health, and violence or destruction were perceived as the most risky statements. (Author)