Abstract/Summary

This chapter begins with an overview of the major topics and directions in research on corporate discourse. First, studies concerned with internal corporate talk are discussed. Contrary to the common perception that corporate talk is dry and purely transactional, discourse-analytical and sociolinguistic studies of corporate talk have shown the prominence of interpersonal discourse features (hedges, humour, politeness, impoliteness) highlighting that in corporate life relational goals are as important as transactional ones. The chapter moves on to outline research on corporate communication with the outside world focusing specifically on discursive strategies that corporations employ to legitimise their actions and to persuade or dissuade stakeholders. Increasingly social media have become an important site for maintaining public relations. Yet, context collapse poses a challenge to business as usual and opens up ways for a wider public scrutiny of corporate practices. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some of the practical and ethical issues that arise when ‘doing’ a critical analysis of corporate discourses and outlines some of the opportunities and benefits that criticality and language awareness can bring to corporate life.