Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?

This paper is based on the premise that the analysis of company discourse from the perspective of English for Specific Purposes contributes to the discovery of a specialized culture and bears witness to the values of a given period. Previous studies have shown that the media and the public react dif...

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Main Author: Fanny Domenec
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos 2014-03-01
Series:Ibérica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.aelfe.org/documents/03_27_Domenec.pdf
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spelling doaj-44d10f6a662640ec9d3aecddce6021e42020-11-25T01:12:42ZdeuAsociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines EspecíficosIbérica1139-72412014-03-01275176Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends? Fanny Domenec0Université Sorbonne-Paris IV (France)This paper is based on the premise that the analysis of company discourse from the perspective of English for Specific Purposes contributes to the discovery of a specialized culture and bears witness to the values of a given period. Previous studies have shown that the media and the public react differently to environmental and technological controversies in the United States and in the United Kingdom. It is thus relevant to assess how the specialized community formed by technological risk companies is impacted by the cultural context. This paper focuses on the specialized discourse produced by two American companies involved in agricultural biotechnology and oil production – Monsanto and Chevron, respectively – in specific sociocultural contexts. More precisely, their British and American websites are analyzed so as to determine how their form and content are influenced by public concerns. Differences in form and content between the American and British websites can be said to reflect specific corporate responses to the controversy in different contexts. Company discourse should thus be considered as a reflection of social trends, as the rhetorical strategies implemented by Monsanto and Chevron vary depending on the local audience. It is assumed that this particular aspect of company discourse reflects the specificity of the discourse community formed by technological risk companies within the corporate world. http://www.aelfe.org/documents/03_27_Domenec.pdfdiscourse analysiscompany discourseweb genrespecialized languagesspecialized languagestechnological risk companies
collection DOAJ
language deu
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Fanny Domenec
spellingShingle Fanny Domenec
Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
Ibérica
discourse analysis
company discourse
web genres
pecialized languages
specialized languages
technological risk companies
author_facet Fanny Domenec
author_sort Fanny Domenec
title Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
title_short Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
title_full Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
title_fullStr Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
title_full_unstemmed Monsanto’s and Chevron’s home pages in the US and the UK: Corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
title_sort monsanto’s and chevron’s home pages in the us and the uk: corporate discourse as a reflection of social trends?
publisher Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos
series Ibérica
issn 1139-7241
publishDate 2014-03-01
description This paper is based on the premise that the analysis of company discourse from the perspective of English for Specific Purposes contributes to the discovery of a specialized culture and bears witness to the values of a given period. Previous studies have shown that the media and the public react differently to environmental and technological controversies in the United States and in the United Kingdom. It is thus relevant to assess how the specialized community formed by technological risk companies is impacted by the cultural context. This paper focuses on the specialized discourse produced by two American companies involved in agricultural biotechnology and oil production – Monsanto and Chevron, respectively – in specific sociocultural contexts. More precisely, their British and American websites are analyzed so as to determine how their form and content are influenced by public concerns. Differences in form and content between the American and British websites can be said to reflect specific corporate responses to the controversy in different contexts. Company discourse should thus be considered as a reflection of social trends, as the rhetorical strategies implemented by Monsanto and Chevron vary depending on the local audience. It is assumed that this particular aspect of company discourse reflects the specificity of the discourse community formed by technological risk companies within the corporate world.
topic discourse analysis
company discourse
web genres
pecialized languages
specialized languages
technological risk companies
url http://www.aelfe.org/documents/03_27_Domenec.pdf
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