Professional Discourse

Britt-Louise Gunnarsson holds the chair in Sociolinguistics at Uppsala University, Sweden. She has directed several large research projects and published extensively on professional language and discourse.

• Acknowledgements; PART I: INTRODUCTION; 1. Introducing the topic and the book; 2. A theoretical model for contextual analysis of professional discourse; 3. Methodology to explore the dynamic relationship between text and context; PART II: SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE; 4. The sociohistorical construction of medical discourse; 5. Non-verbal representation in articles within technology, medicine and economics; 6. From a national to an international writing community: The case of economics in Sweden; PART III: LEGISLATIVE DISCOURSE; 7. The functional comprehensibility of legislative texts; 8. The legislative writing process; PART VI: WORKPLACE DISCOURSE; 9. Communication at work: a sociolinguistic perspective on workplace discourse; 10. The multilingual workplace: discourse at a hospital and a large company; PART V: DISCOURSE IN LARGE BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS; 11. The multilayered structure of enterprise discourse: the case of banks and structural engineering firms; 12. Business discourse in the globalized economy: a diversity perspective on company websites; PART VI: CONCLUSIONS; 13. Professional discourse in the 21st century; References; Index.

"Drawing largely on her own extensive research that spans the last three decades, Professor Britt-Louise Gunnarsson has produced an account of professional discourse in contemporary Europe that is fresh, lucid and uncluttered. Many readers will be particularly interested in the latter chapters exploring the increasing role of discourse in organizations. Students of professional communications will also find many valuable methodological insights in this important volume." - John M. Swales, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, The University of Michigan, USA