TY - JOUR
T1 - "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies
AU - Kankaanranta, Anne
AU - Karhunen, Päivi
AU - Louhiala-Salminen, Leena
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman, Erving. 1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday. dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees may feel disadvantaged or disempowered. Second, the use of formal language testing in recruitment and performance appraisal may transform into a gate-keeping mechanism that leads to power inequalities. In our recommendations, we call for an emancipatory language policy accepting different standards of English for different positions and adopting ideas of the Plain Language initiative to better reach all MNC employees.
AB - This conceptual paper advances the notion of "English as corporate language" in the multilingual reality of multinational companies (MNC) with novel insights from the English as lingua franca (ELF) paradigm of sociolinguistics. Inspired by Goffman, Erving. 1959. The presentation of self in everyday life. New York: Doubleday. dramaturgical metaphor of social life, we develop the notion of English as corporate language by making a distinction between the frontstage official language used in corporate communication and backstage working language used in interactions among MNC employees. We argue that the former approaches the notion of English as a native language and the latter represents ELF in the business domain (BELF); they are different in terms of understanding language competence, multilingualism and role of language in building legitimacy. Our conclusions imply first, that the frontstage English may not always be accessible to the backstage BELF users, due to which employees may feel disadvantaged or disempowered. Second, the use of formal language testing in recruitment and performance appraisal may transform into a gate-keeping mechanism that leads to power inequalities. In our recommendations, we call for an emancipatory language policy accepting different standards of English for different positions and adopting ideas of the Plain Language initiative to better reach all MNC employees.
KW - BELF
KW - Corporate language
KW - English
KW - English as Business Lingua Franca
KW - multilingualism
KW - multinational company
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040991415&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1515/multi-2017-0077
DO - 10.1515/multi-2017-0077
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040991415
VL - 37
SP - 331
EP - 351
JO - MULTILINGUA: JOURNAL OF CROSS: CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION
JF - MULTILINGUA: JOURNAL OF CROSS: CULTURAL AND INTERLANGUAGE COMMUNICATION
SN - 0167-8507
IS - 4
ER -