occupation

• Members of a discourse community show inferential frameworks where knowledge is built up over time and used to understand implicit meanings
• Six distinctive features of workplace conversation proposed by Drew & Heritage (1992):

  • Goal Orientation: Participants usually focus on specific tasks and goals in workplace conversation
  • Turn Taking Rules / Restrictions: Specific turn-taking rules may be present in professional contexts like court, even if they are 'unwritten'
  • Allowable Contributions: Restrictions may exist on what is considered allowable in one's contribution (length/content)
  • Professional Lexis: Vocabulary used may reflect the workplace context, including special lexis and jargon
• • Structure: Workplace interactions may be structured to fit the context
  • Asymmetry: Workplace conversations often occur between two people with different power in conversation, in terms of status and knowledge (e.g. boss and apprentice)
• Discourse Community characteristics proposed by John Swales (2011):

  • Broadly agreed set of common public goals
  • Mechanisms of intercommunication among members
  • Use of participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback
  • Utilization of one or more genres in communicative furtherance of aims
  • Acquisition of specific lexis
  • Threshold level of members with relevant content and discoursal expertise
• Hornyak (1994) suggested that the shift from talk to personal talk is initiated by the highest-ranked person in the room (e.g. CEO/Boss)
• Holmes (1998) found that women managers are more likely to negotiate consensus than male managers and take time to ensure all members are in agreement
• Holmes (2005) found that women use humor as much as males, for reasons like controlling discourse and contesting superiors, but are more likely to encourage supportive and collaborative humor
• Janet Holmes (2006) researched gender and occupation in New Zealand, finding that employees 'do gender' while constructing their professional identity and meeting organizations' expectations