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Multilingual organizations as 'linguascapes': Negotiating the position of English through discursive practices

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  • Steyaert, Chris
  • Ostendorp, Anja
  • Gaibrois, Claudine

Abstract

To address the complexity of multilingual communication, this paper applies a discursive approach to analyze how people account for the ways that specific languages are used in multilingual companies. Through our discourse analysis, we identify six different ways of accounting for language use. Further, we map the various tensions between these accounts through which we can understand how the rise of English alters the discursive negotiation in two different organizational contexts. Inspired by Appadurai's understanding of "globalization from below", we suggest the term linguascape to conceptualize how the flow of languages that cross a specific organizational space is discursively mediated.

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  • Steyaert, Chris & Ostendorp, Anja & Gaibrois, Claudine, 2011. "Multilingual organizations as 'linguascapes': Negotiating the position of English through discursive practices," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 270-278, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:46:y:2011:i:3:p:270-278
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    Cited by:

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    5. Jan Ketil Arnulf & Kai Rune Larsen & Øyvind Lund Martinsen, 2018. "Semantic algorithms can detect how media language shapes survey responses in organizational behaviour," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(12), pages 1-26, December.
    6. Helene Tenzer & Siri Terjesen & Anne-Wil Harzing, 2017. "Language in International Business: A Review and Agenda for Future Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 815-854, December.
    7. Päivi Karhunen & Anne Kankaanranta & Tiina Räisänen, 2023. "Towards a Richer Understanding of Language and Identity in the MNC: Constructing Cosmopolitan Identities Through “English”," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 507-530, June.
    8. Aichhorn, Nathalie & Puck, Jonas, 2017. "Bridging the language gap in multinational companies: Language strategies and the notion of company-speak," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 386-403.
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    14. Harzing, Anne-Wil & Pudelko, Markus, 2013. "Language competencies, policies and practices in multinational corporations: A comprehensive review and comparison of Anglophone, Asian, Continental European and Nordic MNCs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 87-97.
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