This book explores multiparty, multicultural interaction at international business meetings. It investigates discourse at an Italian company’s meetings of its international distributors, conducted mainly in English and attended by participants from different countries in Europe, Asia and North America. Data come from audio recordings of the meetings, normally lasting two to three days, and are supplemented by the author’s observations of the meetings. The study uses a series of approaches to analyze selected linguistic and interactional features, presenting an in-depth analysis and discussion of data extracts that draws on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. It highlights the way the main company speaker and some of the multilingual participants use discursive strategies to build common ground, to construct a cooperative business relationship or to negotiate or avert conflict. The study questions the role of cultural differences in approaching multicultural, multilingual meetings and argues that organizational roles, the business context and individual differences must also be considered.

The Author: Gina Poncini teaches English Business Communication at the University of Milan and Communication in Multilingual Business Contexts at the University of Lugano. Her research interests include business meetings, intercultural business communication, and tourism communication. She is currently Vice President Europe of the Association for Business Communication.

«In its empirical detailed linguistic analysis of multicultural, multilingual meeting interactions this volume provides a much needed stepping stone on the road towards a truly multidisciplinary agenda for business discourse analysis within a globalised economic context.» (Francesca Bargiela-Chiappini, English for Specific Purposes)

Leseprobe

Contents: Success and Failure in Intercultural Interaction – Discourse and Business in an International Context and in the Business World – Methodology and Data Collection – Personal Pronouns: Ambiguity, Shifting Identities and Fluid Relationships – Specialized Lexis and the Nature of the Group – Evaluation: Building Consensus for Image and Strategy – Evaluation in Interchanges with Distributors: Managing Participation and Construing Roles – Frames and the Group.