Based on the texts of ‘Management Discussion and Analysis on Financial Status and Business’ collected from 118 American corporate annual reports, this study investigated how the professional discourse is realized from the dimensions of text, genre, professional practice and professional culture, according to the framework of the Critical Genre Analysis theory. It was found that In the text dimension, lexicon features regarding vocabulary volume, vocabulary highlighting, readability and sentiment are unique to MD&As; the genre of MD&As corresponds to a rhetorical (...) structure of 3 moves and 10 steps; the professional practice of MD&As is represented by three types of interdiscursivity, that is, shifting, mixing and embedding; the professional culture of MD&As is embodied through identity enculturation, human-oriented value, cooperation awareness and self-serving manner. The results of this study help to better understand the realization of professional discourse and expand the application of CGA in professional practice. The findings presented herein are expected to enhance interdisciplinary research that relates language with corporate performance. (shrink)

Expressing emotion is considered essential in the U.S. business communication tradition; however, its importance is uncertain beyond the U.S., and more specifically, in Chinese business contexts. This study explores emotion in U.S. and Chinese business communication through the analyses of attitude markers in the shareholders’ letters of U.S. and mainland Chinese corporations. The analyses reveal that while emotion is embedded in the discourse of companies from both cultural models, its expression is more frequent and intense in the U.S. texts. The (...) observed dissimilarities are discussed in terms of underlying sociocultural factors. Implications arise for the teaching and learning of business communication which are still largely defined by U.S. approaches. With the rising prominence of mainland Chinese corporations worldwide, the findings provide strong evidence for students and professionals to understand Chinese as well as U.S. rhetorical styles in business communication in order to be better prepared for the global business environment. (shrink)

Combining the frameworks of multi-dimensional analysis and rhetorical structure theory, this study examines the linguistic co-occurrence patterns in the discourse of corporate annual reports and interprets their underlying functional dimensions. Our corpus consists of texts of corporate 10K reports from firms listed on New York Stock Exchange. Five functional dimensions are quantitatively extracted and qualitatively interpreted: expression of direct persuasion; expression of impersonal stance; subjective versus objective positioning; integrative expression of stance versus fragmented expression; and expression of reliability. All these (...) dimensions contribute to the communicative function of persuasion. The analysis of the rhetorical structures of excerpts with high concentrations of co-occurring linguistic features on each dimension further indicates the communicative strategy of persuasion. The proposed MD model is then applied to analyze the effect of firm performance on the linguistic variation in CAR discourse. We found that firm performance can significantly affect the linguistic variation in CAR discourse. CAR discourse from firms with good performance is more reliable. The result reveals managements’ use of concealment strategy in impression management. This study has implications for MD analysis, business discourse analysis, language pedagogy and accounting research. (shrink)

ABSTRACTAlthough the profound impact of marketization in academic world has been extensively studied, analytical attention is substantially concentrated on the organizational operation of universities. Less attention has been paid to the impact of marketization on the structure of academic disciplines and the communication of academicians, which is particular true in non-English-speaking countries. Drawing on the theory of genre analysis, this study sets out to investigate how the uptake of market discourse reshapes the structure of one Chinese academic discipline – the (...) Chinese English Language Teaching discipline, and how it redefines the pattern of Chinese ELT practitioners’ disciplinary interaction. Textual data examined include textbooks, policy documents, curricula, syllabus, and insiders’ accounts. Analytical results demonstrate that marketization is both a force driving the commercialization of Chinese ELT academic activities and a force facilitating the fragmentation of the formerly monolithic Chinese ELT discipline. (shrink)

This article is a qualitative study charting the dimensional range of a particular type of translative phenomenon, namely, intralingual translation within educational practice. Theoretically, the article is based on a broadened concept of translation that encompasses any kind of sign translation, including the transcending of a language-internal comprehension barrier, such as the one between scientific and lay linguistic registers. Further, the article assumes that such intralingual translation is conceptually identical with the interpretive procedures found in didactic practice, given that the (...) central aim of (much) pedagogy is to make sense of new and unfamiliar knowledge – typically embedded in abstract, scientific concepts – to learners. The article also draws on the Bakhtinian concept of “dialogized heteroglossia,” i.e., the view that different language varieties may be fused into, and brought into dialogue with each other within, one and the same text. Empirically, the article investigates intralingual translation in didactic practice through analyses of textbooks and one classroom lecture in five different academic disciplines, spanning both the natural and social sciences and the humanities. The analyses identify a handful of different translational strategies, some of which are shared across several disciplines, and others of which are unique to a single discipline only. (shrink)

Recent advances in Information and Communication Technology have had a strong impact on how members of the global financial community interact. In particular, communications for purposes of financial disclosure have evolved from traditional written reports or oral presentations to new ICT-driven forms. This study describes the generic profile of earnings calls, that is, conference calls during which company executives present periodic financial results to investment analysts connected via telephone and the Internet. A qualitative discourse analysis performed on the transcripts of (...) 20 earnings calls revealed a rather consistent structural patterning, as well as evidence of intertextuality and interdiscursivity that shows how the financial community has shaped its own distinctive communicative practices. For additional interpretive insights, a professional informant from the financial sector was consulted. These findings enhance our understanding of a spoken genre that is destined to play an increasingly important role in corporate financial disclosure. (shrink)

Despite the growing interest in developing a micro-level understanding of strategy practices, there are few studies focusing on the official textual expression of these practices in the form of strategic plans. Using a large corpus of strategic plans from public and third sector organizations, this article examines the particular features of the strategic plan genre of communication. This corpus is systematically compared with nine other corpora derived from the same general domain or having similar expected characteristics. Our analysis combines linguistic (...) analysis with an analysis of the moves characteristic of the genre. The article seeks to advance a genre-based view of strategy practices to study the professional and institutional practices of strategists. (shrink)

This article examines the types of textual and discursive relations that can be found within a genre system and across the borders of such a system. Based on the results, the need for and possibility of drawing genre boundaries between texts with different genre labels is discussed. The study is based on four communication strategy texts from two Finnish insurance companies. Communication strategy texts, such as communication strategies, policies and plans, are used in organizations to regulate the corporate communication function. (...) The analysis is based on genre theory and the model of intertextual analysis presented by Charles Bazerman. The results indicate that the intertextual profile of the texts studied is relatively uniform, whereas the interdiscursive profile tends to vary according to the company and the intended audience. The texts studied form overlapping combinations of genres with multiple communicative purposes, which reflects the somewhat labile character of strategy texts in general. (shrink)

As a type of public discourse closely related to litigation practices, Chinese legal news reports incorporate the important progress in China’s judicial reform. Meanwhile, due to the competitive pressure and driven by profit, Chinese legal news reports are characteristic of an evident trend of marketization. This article examines how and to what extent sensationalism invades Chinese legal news reports. The research methodology combines the theoretical paradigms of critical discourse analysis and genre analysis, with particular attention paid to the notions of (...) genre and interdiscursivity. The data include 70 legal news reports in Legal Daily. Analytical results show that Chinese legal news reports, although being a highly institutional genre, include a number of sensational strategies which promote the restructuring of legal news reports in China. (shrink)

This article focuses on the global phenomenon of the marketization of higher education and how it has shaped the discourses of China’s top universities. By analyzing the university presidents’ messages published in the websites of 36 top-ranked universities in China, the aim is to ascertain the extent to which this institutionalized genre imbricates a marketizing role with other ideological imperatives. Informed by the theoretical principles of Critical Discourse Analysis and adopting a genre analysis methodological approach, we first examined the macro-level (...) rhetorical structure followed by a micro-level analysis of the discursive strategies used in the presidents’ messages. The findings reveal a dynamic interweaving of three distinct discursive strands – bureaucratic, conversational and advertising – constructed in and around the move structure of the presidents’ messages. This interdiscursive analysis reveals competing imperatives and contestations that reflect the dual role of the presidents’ messages to project a globalized, international outlook while maintaining an allegiance to political ideologies and national interests that top-ranked universities in China have to simultaneously negotiate. (shrink)

As an important tool to influence stakeholders’ perception, leader messages, subsumed under public relations discourse, play an integral role in corporate communication. Drawing on the analysis of linguistic move structure and communication styles employed by researchers, this study adopts a multidimensional framework by using both discourse and quantitative analysis to compare how leaders in Global 500 corporations in China and the United States rely upon specific linguistic features to engage stakeholders in corporate discourse published on their websites. The results show (...) pertinent differences in communication styles, where Chinese corporations tend to be more instrumental, elaborate and competitive while US corporations are more affective, succinct and harmonious. These observations depart from previous findings on interpersonal communication styles in cross-cultural research. This study also extends the boundary of corporate genre analysis by suggesting that the moves adopted in the structure of corporate messages are highly specific to the particular genre. (shrink)

Contemporary universities are characteristic of an evident proliferation of corporate discourse. A sole concentration on the production of new knowledge and the education of students does not ensure the prosperity or even survival of universities any longer, and equally important are the admission of elite students, the outcome-based evaluation of academic performance, the establishment of alumni network and also fundraising. This article examines how and to what extent this trend of marketization has invaded the order of discourse of Chinese universities. (...) The research methodology combines the paradigms of critical discourse analysis and the tenets of critical genre analysis [Bhatia VK Towards critical genre analysis. In: Bhatia VK, Flowerdew J and Jones RH Advances in Discourse Studies. London: Routledge, pp. 166–177], with particular attention paid to the notion of genre, interdiscursivity and conversationalization. The texts examined include ceremonial speeches, regulatory documents, insiders’ accounts and field notes. Analytical results show that the trend of marketization, in spite of a potential threat for academic integrity, does facilitate the institutional restructuring and transformation of universities in the context of Mainland China. (shrink)

The global demand for information has brought in new developments in the publicity of discursive practices of many professional areas. This study takes the professional practice of International Commercial Arbitration, a mechanism to resolve business disputes outside the courts and traditionally considered as private, to explore the process of resemiotization of information, from the strategies used by corporations in their press releases to the news reports published by national and international media. It takes the theoretical concept of interdiscursivity in critical (...) genre analysis to show that texts are the result of a combination of a very complex range of resources brought about by genres, professional practices and professional cultures, which derive not only from the ‘local’ representation of the transnational arbitration process, but also from the different corporate identities and their ways of coping with the increasing publicity of the facts of arbitration. (shrink)

This article focuses on an advertisement campaign run in Danish national newspapers promoting Boeing’s combat aircraft F 18 Super Hornet. The campaign received extensive media attention due to its scale and unconventional methods. On the basis of pragmatic text analysis we describe three features in the advertisements: Genre problems, a controversial depiction of sender and recipient, and problems relating to argumentation. We conclude that the analyzed text is predominantly commercial in intent, although framed as information by a sender position that (...) is partly ambiguous in terms of identity, and the campaign’s main arguments are flawed, since decisive justification is not accessible. Based on the findings, the conclusion suggests that the campaign is best understood as a hybrid between public relations and public affairs. (shrink)

Since their emergence, discourses of sustainability have been widely resemioticised in different genres and have intertextually merged with other discourses and practices. This article examines the emergence of Integrated Reporting as a new hybrid genre in which, along with financial information, organisations may choose to report the social and environmental impacts of their activities in one single document. Specifically, this article analyses a selected sample of IRs produced by early adopters to explore how discourses of sustainability have been recontextualised into (...) financial and economic macro discourses and how different intertextual/interdiscursive relations have played out in linguistic constructions of ‘sustainability’. We contend that, by and large, the term sustainability has been appropriated, mixed with other discourses and semantically ‘bent’ to construct the organisation itself as being financially sustainable, that is, viable and profitable and for the primary benefit of shareholders. From this stance, we argue that, through the hybridity of IR, most companies have primarily colonised discourses of sustainability for the rhetorical purpose of self-legitimation. (shrink)

Malaysian corporations have to disclose corporate social responsibility, and a typical genre for disclosure is CSR reports. These reports incorporate other discourses which indicate the presence of interdiscursivity. The article examines interdiscursivity in Malaysian CSR reports. It selects the CSR reports of 10 major corporations and pursues an interdiscursive analysis which involves four sequential stages. CSR reports contain discourses of public relations, sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting. Although the discourses are often multisemiotic, language maintains primacy in content, while (...) image tends to exemplify or simplify content. These discourses constitute an interdiscursive profile, and it has central and auxiliary discourses. The central discourse is public relations discourse, and it promotes corporations helping and not harming society. The auxiliary discourses are sustainability, strategic management, compliance and financial accounting discourses, and these discourses mitigate the promotional focus. Interdiscursivity enables the primarily promotional CSR reports to not seem overtly promotional. The choice of discourses is probably influenced by coercive, mimetic and normative reasons. These discourses enhance the reliability of CSR reports because their disclosure is anchored to various CSR aspects, international or reporting practices and professional domains. Interdiscursivity helps to build stakeholders’ confidence in disclosure and, therefore, in corporations. It joins other functions in CSR reports to convey corporations as agents of positive social change. The article also probes the relationship between interdiscursivity and intertextuality and advances a matrix of intertextual–interdiscursive use. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThe Norwegian government implemented a comprehensive welfare reform in 2012 to better manage an increasingly care-demanding patient demography while meeting budgetary constraints. This article discusses interdiscursive relationships between policy strategies and language use among rehabilitation professionals. It is based on a synthesis of textual analyses of policy documents and of transcribed interviews to produce complex insights into current rehabilitation discourse. The synthetic product is expressed in the form of two nodal discourses which subsume and articulate in particular ways the constituent (...) discourses of the policies and interviews. One nodal discourse approaches rehabilitation as a clinical practice; the other concerns rehabilitation as a management practice. These discourses serve different purposes. One is based in traditional medical science as a means for political action and relates to the body as an object of government policies and practices. The other relies on the individual... (shrink)

Based on ethnographic and linguistic analyses, this article describes the discourse-related practices and interactional role behaviours of an experienced lawyer who assumed a pivotal role in the negotiation of a Mergers-and-Acquisitions type transaction vis-a-vis a number of other legal and financial professionals. Set in an international business context, all communication took place in English and for the most part via email. Complex discursive processes facilitated close interdisciplinary engagement and, more particularly, required that a single individual assume a key interactional role (...) to oversee and advance the negotiation activities. This pivotal role entailed the strategic use of language and discourse to negotiate, account for, and justify the various stages of the negotiation. In addition to textual analyses of the negotiated contract and attendant emails, interviews were conducted with the principal lawyer and her senior partner in order to examine the textual findings grounded in the organisational context of a law firm and produce an ontology of this negotiation process. These research findings could be used to assist novice lawyers and business professionals to understand some of the discourse strategies and interactional roles that are often so critical for commercial contract negotiation activities. (shrink)

Pro-anorexia is an Internet-based movement that provides advice and support for the development/maintenance of an eating disorder. The movement is sometimes framed as a religion, with rituals, psalms, creeds and the invocation of a deity who personifies the ED. The latter aspect is likely to influence identities and behaviours as well as providing emotional support and motivation for community members. However, there is little sustained empirical analysis of how members themselves orient to and self-position within the religious discourse. Here, we (...) apply the concept of interdiscursivity to examine the construction of Ana as god. Drawing on a body of online interactions from one pro-ana website over a 47-day period, we discursively analyse members’ constructions of Ana and their relationship with her. With reference to biblical texts, we consider how these constructions directly reference concepts of Christian religion and faith. Implications for understanding pro-ana and interdiscursivity are discussed. (shrink)