Linguistic literature addressing the roles of discourse particles in English Lingua Franca (ELF) settings currently remains scarce. Research has shown that ELF communication presents different...Show moreLinguistic literature addressing the roles of discourse particles in English Lingua Franca (ELF) settings currently remains scarce. Research has shown that ELF communication presents different rules and structures than native English conversations. This study aims to explore the use of the particle I mean in ELF business communication. Building on general work in the subject, it asks two main questions: What are the functions of I mean as a DP used by ELF speakers in business settings? To what extent is I mean employed to pre-empt communicative misunderstanding? Based on the review of previous findings and the analysis of empirical data from a corpus of ELF business meetings, this thesis demonstrates the multifunctionality of I mean executing 15 functions. The results indicate that speakers in such contexts stay engaged in discourse, anticipating any potential source of misunderstanding. On that basis, it is recommended that further research should concentrate in the study of the influence situations involving hierarchical structures like business meetings have on the behaviour of I mean.Show less
This thesis sets out to explore workplace communication of a multinational organization, through electronically transmitted messages (emails) involving employees in three power distance...Show moreThis thesis sets out to explore workplace communication of a multinational organization, through electronically transmitted messages (emails) involving employees in three power distance relationships, namely superiors to subordinates, subordinates to superiors and equals to equals. To carry out this study a corpus of 107 primary, work-related internal emails, written in English as a lingua franca by twelve participants, was gathered. Importantly, the participants belong to different nations, thus they have different linguistic backgrounds. This study aimed to examine the language use in the informants’ email and to shed more light on how people of various levels within a company, communicate in different ways. Therefore, intercultural communication is used as the principal analytical framework, so as to describe the communication between different employees, from various ethnicities and with various cultural backgrounds while performing a discursive and socio-pragmatic study using speech act and politeness theories. In this study, speech act theory, in an adapted version, is used for allocating the email messages gathered based on their communicative functions. Further, in order to investigate important pragmatic aspects of language use the theory of Brown and Levinson (1987) concerning universal politeness strategies is employed. The study further considered significant factors, which may influence the linguistic choices people make when communicating through email in the workplace, namely ethnicity, social distance and gender. The findings revealed that hierarchy played the most significant role in the composition of email messages, amongst the three power distance relationships. Likewise, social distance and cultural background were influential factors, however, the study found that gender differences did not play a crucial role in the politeness level displayed in workplace email communication. Interestingly, the study provided evidence that workplace culture plays a critical role and can affect the language use in email communication amongst employees at all hierarchical levels.Show less
This research examines the effects of the new language policy and language planning in Rwanda where English has replaced French as the medium of instruction in education. The main aim is to study...Show moreThis research examines the effects of the new language policy and language planning in Rwanda where English has replaced French as the medium of instruction in education. The main aim is to study the impact of this change in the language policy in primary education, looking particularly at the practice of this policy and attitudes of the affected stakeholders in different school systems (public and private) in Kigali, with the final purpose of determining the effect this change has on the education of pupils. The data in this comparative case study has mainly been gathered through participant-observation, semi-structured interviews and a review of policy documents and literature. The main finding is that the socio-cultural and –economic background of the stakeholders influence the interpretation of the language policy, affecting the way in which it is being practiced, and gradually also influencing the success of the implementation. This research discusses and concludes that a language policy would need to be better adapted to the realistic and specific circumstances of a school type, which includes teaching methodology, teaching conditions and motivation of the stakeholders.Show less
