ABSTRACT
As discussed in Chapter 1, one of the key characteristics which distinguishes workplace discourse from ordinary conversation is the fact that the discourse participants have specifi c institutional roles and identities. Many interactions are therefore asymmetrical or unequal in terms of the power relationship which these institutional identities entail. However, the analyses of different workplace genres in Chapters 3 and 5 have shown that the discursive roles participants take on in relation to the goals of the genre can also entail a type of power or ‘dominance’ which is a key factor infl uencing the discourse. Furthermore, we have seen that talk at work is not simply a refl ection of speakers’ transactional goals in performing a given genre, but that participants’ relational goals are also central in shaping the interaction and infl uencing linguistic choice and discourse strategies.
