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Part of
Discourse Studies in Public Communication
Edited by Eliecer Crespo-Fernández
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 92] 2021
► pp. 273–296

Chapter 12
Business discourse from a psycholinguistic approach

ORCID logo | Universidad de Cádiz, Spain
Business discourse has always captured the attention of several social and cultural fields. Within the framework of linguistics, disciplines such as pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and linguistic anthropology have contributed to the analysis of this communication process and the design of a linguistic model, suited to its contextual, social, and cultural determining factors. This chapter addresses the need for expanding this model by the incorporation of the latest achievements in psycholinguistics through a neurosemantic approach to language, focusing on three points: (1) the mental organisation of linguistic knowledge into networks; (2) the strong ties between linguistic processes and other cognitive functions; and (3) the effectiveness of the contrast principle which emerges from the lexical units and transcends the textual level. The business language data used in this study derive from texts related to and/or produced by three Spanish companies. The analysis is intended to attain a more comprehensive formulation of business discourse as a communicative modality, and, in addition, determine the major cognitive strategies found in its different textual manifestations.
Keywords: business discourse, language of negotiation, cognitive strategies, selection and combination mechanisms, lexicon-syntax interface, semantic contrast
Article outline
  • 1.Business discourse as a communication modality
  • 2.A psycholinguistic approach
  • 3.Versatility and creativity in business communication
  • 4.Selection and combination mechanisms in business discourse
  • 5.The contrast principle in business communication
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 7 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.92.12var
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