Social Cognition of Temporality and Environment: Lingua Franca English Construction

Abstract

When English is used as a lingua franca for business interactions in Asian countries, the inherent and complex interplay that occurs in communications may fail to be captured when observed and analyzed through a conventional structuralist approach, one restricted by the binary view that language and culture are mutually exclusive. Thus, we employ a neo-constructivist approach which involves paying attention to the participant’s cognition of temporality and environmental communicative resources. This article analyses data from spontaneous interactions between students and local tourism professionals in an intercultural destination marketing project where the description illustrates the process of situated Lingua Franca English (LFE) discourse under construction. Our analysis suggests ways to develop LFE competence among Japanese speakers operating in international business. Our data demonstrate that, on the jobsite, various types of LFE are constructed in relation to the participants’ social cognition of temporality and to the semiotic resources available in this situation. We conclude that socially constructing situation-specific LFE requires participants to distribute their attention to team members by gradually forming consensus on a certain style of communication. Furthermore, our findings imply that cognition and active employment of various semiotic resources made their view of LFE communication shift from passive risk-avoiding English users to owners of LFE.