Page 522 - Актуальные проблемы обучения русскому языку XIII

FUNCTIONING OF PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY
IN NEW BUSINESS DISCOURSE

Julia Ageeva

Abstract: The paper provides an overview of linguistic features of business discourse (sourcing and
employment), in which a communicative center is presented as an interview of a recruiter with a job candidate.
Terms, professional vocabulary and barbarisms from various institutional spheres serve as discourse markers of
speech strategies of the recruiter (interviewer) and the job candidate (interviewee), which is determined by
extralinguistic features and interprofessional nature of the discourse. Recruiters use the terms primarily to
assess professional competence of job candidates while job candidates demonstrate a command of
professional vocabulary for self-presentation with hidden self-promotion. The paper presents examples of four
job interviews with job candidates from different career fields; the ratio of the number of terms is given. A
distinguishing characteristics of the discourse under study is the active use of such a group of special
vocabulary as professional terms including barbarisms mainly borrowed from other languages (predominantly,
from English) and not yet fully assimilated in the Russian language. It is noted that the boundaries between
terms and professional vocabulary, professional vocabulary and barbarisms are relatively flexible. The study
reveals the reasons why communicants frequently gain advantage of such vocabulary; the fundamental role of
extralinguistic factors is displayed.

Key words: job interview, discourse markers, terms, professional vocabulary, barbarisms

The focus of linguistic research has been shifted in recent decades: more attention is
paid to the process of vocabulary renewal which is connected with changes in verbal behaviour
of native speakers, as well as with the emergence of new types and genres of communication,
including the ones in an institutional sphere. A renowned supporter of the communicative ideas
V.I. Karasik highlights discourse types and notes that the professional discourse is «historically
changeable – a public institute as a specific cultural system disappears» which results in
disappearance of the respective discourse» (Karasik 2002, 194–195). Consequently, the reverse
process can be observed. Indeed, at the end of the XX century Russian communicative
environment included a new type of communication – the recruitment discourse (Ageeva 2016,
13-14) centered on a job interview, where the conversation is rightfully referred to the classical
types of discourse in its original meaning.
The empirical basis of the study is transcripts of real job interviews presented in episodes
of TV show «Kadry Reshayut» («HR Department Decides») on online «USPEH-TV» channel. It lets
analyze the most vivid and frequent speech indicators of discourse agents and clients. The use
of terms in combination with the nomenclature vocabulary is considered to be an attribute
of official papers - written texts of the official business style. However, the job interview as
an oral form of discourse shows how actively the communicants refer to terms and nomens
in the communicative process which is inextricably connected with various communicative
goals set by interviewers and interviewees. Recruiters use terminology primarily to assess
professional competence of job candidates while job candidates include specific vocabulary
for hidden positive self-promotion.
«It is rational to consider terminological vocabulary as terms, professionalisms, and
professional slang expressions within the framework of a cognitive discursive approach»
(Yevsyukova, Makhnitskaya 2009, 91). The dictionary defines the «term (from the Latin
terminus – the border, the limit) as a word or word combination which denotes the concept
of a special knowledge area or activity included into a general lexical system of the language
through a certain terminological system (terminology)» (EL 1990, 508). The terms which are
used as linguistic markers of professional discourse, as well as in scientific discourse, can be
divided into 1) general terms – common for various types of business discourse and 2)
special terms – characteristic of only one career field, the one which offers a vacancy.
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