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7th WU Symposium on International Business Communication


LANGUAGE(S) AND LANGUAGE PRACTICES IN BUSINESS AND THE ECONOMY

October 23-25, 2014



WU Vienna

Despite a "linguistic turn" in economics, management and organisation studies, it has been observed that "[c]ompanies deal with language issues every day, they cope, the world continues to turn. How they do so, however, remains largely absent from the literature." (Maclean 2006: 1377). In increasingly multilingual and multicultural societies, the same could be said to apply to questions of language and language practices in a range of different institutional contexts beyond multinational companies. This symposium aims to contribute to filling this gap. Thus, we provide a forum for dialogue between scholars in management, economics and sociology and linguists working on issues connected to language(s) and language practices in institutions and society. Presentations encompass a range of possible issues, including but not limited to:

- language use and the creation of economic reality

- language as a (hidden) economic variable

- language policy and planning in institutions

- language education and education policies

- language needs and language competences in organisations

- language, diversity and identity in the workplace

- multiculturalism, multilingualism and migration

Program

Program (pdf)

Thursday, 23 October

Building AD, Meeting Room AD.0.114

15:30 - 16:00 Welcome & Registration
16:00 - 16:15 Opening
16:15 - 17:00 W. Ötsch (Kepler University Linz): How images and metaphors affect the economy: examples from the 18th century to present day Neo-liberalism
Abstract
17:00 - 18:30 Plenary discussion: G. Grund, W. Ötsch, R. Pirker, R. Rathmayr
18:30 Reception


Friday, 24 October

Building AD, Meeting Room AD.0.114

09:30 - 10:10 Welcome & Registration
10:10 - 10:50 R. Göke (WU Vienna): France - the new sick man of Europe. Metaphors and metonymies in media discourse about the economic crisis
Abstract
10:50 - 11:30 S. Jaworska (University of Reading): Why did no one notice it? The discourse of ignorance in the British media reporting on the global financial crisis 2009-2011
Abstract
11:30 - 11:50 Coffee
11:50 - 12:30 V. Efremov (Herzen State Pedagogical University): Economic crisis through the lens of political discourse
Abstract
12:30 - 13:10 R. Backhouse & V. Halsmayer (University of Birmingham, University of Vienna): Mathematics and the language of economics
Abstract Slides
13:10 - 14:30 Lunch
14:30 - 15:30 Guided campus tour
15:30 - 16:10 S. Lesk (WU Vienna): The role of human resource management in language policies of multilingual SMEs
Abstract
16:10 - 16:50 T. Garstenauer (WU Vienna): Foreign language use and language management in company locations in Russia
Abstract
16:50 - 17:30 E. Barakos (WU Vienna): Language policy as social and discursive practice - a critical examination
Abstract
18:30 Dinner


Saturday, 25 October

Learning Centre LC, Clubroom LC.1.300

10:00 - 10:40 F. Fahlbusch (University of Mainz): The good name as an asset: The communicative dimension of company names
Abstract Slides
10:40 - 11:20 H. Wochele (University of Jena/WU Vienna): Hello! Money: Strategies applied by European banks to brand their financial products (current accounts)
Abstract
11:20 - 12:00 A. Rocci (University of Lugano): The role of requests of confirmation of inference in earnings conference calls
Abstract
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch
13:00 - 13:40 C. Williams (Cardiff University): Language strategies, institutional competence and the limits of regulatory provisions
Abstract Slides
13:40 - 14:20 A. Hechtl (WU Vienna): Russian as a lingua franca in Central Asian business communication
Abstract
14:20 - 15:00 R. Piekkari (Aalto University): Taking language seriously: The Multinational Corporation as a Multilingual Corporation
Abstract Slides
15:00 - 15:15 Closing Remarks & Summing-up

Organizers:

Thomas S. Rankin (Institute for English Business Communication)

Fiorenza Fischer (Institute for Romance Languages)

Tatiana Stadler (Institute or Slavic Languages)

Elisabeth Peters (Department for Foreign Language Business Communication)

Contact:

Vera Poschauko

vera.poschauko@wu.ac.at

Phone: +431 31 336 5117