CAPÍTULO II: FORMAS DEL RECONOCIMIENTO
4. Capitulaciones matrimoniales
Corpus analyses can also be used to establish factors on which the extent of the use of English in job advertising
will identify six such factors from the model described in Chapter 1.3. These factors relate to aspects of the organisation offering the vacancy, aspects of the job that is advertised, of the job advertisement, and of the English words used in the job ad. First, the organisational aspects will be discussed (the multinational vs. domestic status of the organisation; the sector to which the organisation belongs), followed by the level of the job, job ad elements, and, finally, aspects at word level (the presence or absence of Dutch equivalents; the potential difficulty of the English words for Dutch readers). The factors investigated all concerned non-symbolic reasons for the use of English as defined in Chapter 1.3. Such reasons were considered
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suited for corpus analyses because they refer to aspects that are objectively observable in the advertisement or the real world outside the advertisement.
Factors relating to symbolic reasons for the use of English were not investigated, because such reasons involve qualities or characteristics that are not objectively observable, and, were, therefore, not considered suited for corpus analyses.
Multinational vs. domestic status of the organisation offering the vacancy As we have seen in Chapter 3.3.3, Larson (1990) suggests that job ads published in Sweden by multinational companies use English-language job titles, as well as English words for the field in which these organisations work, for the sake of international consistency. It was pointed out that this was in line with statements by makers of product advertisements that English words and phrases, such as slogans, are used in ads from international companies in various countries as part of a global marketing strategy (Alm, 2003, p. 150). For product ads, these observations are supported by empirical research. In a study of Polish magazine advertisements, Griffin (1997) found that ads for foreign products and from foreign advertisers contained more English than ads for Polish products and from Polish advertisers. However, it has not yet been established with numerical data whether the extent to which English is used in job ads in the Netherlands or any other EFL country is indeed determined by whether the organisation placing the ad is a multinational or only operates in the country in which the ad appears.
This factor concerns a non-symbolic reason relating to the sender of the job ad message, the organisation that advertised the vacancy.
The sector of the organisation offering the vacancy
In his study of examples of the use of English in job advertisements in Switzerland, Watts (2002, p. 118) observes that company descriptions may include English “terms which are specific to the business interests of the firm”. It would seem logical to expect more English to be used in job ads from organisations in certain lines of business than in others. ICT companies,
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for instance, are likely to use a great deal of English in Dutch job ads, since computer terminology used in the Netherlands is generally of English origin
little educational background” (Alm, 2003, p. 151). In line with this, Alm also found that the use of English in names of shops in shopping centres for higher social classes was more widespread than in shopping centres for lower social classes. She links this to a better knowledge of English among (Van der Sijs, 1996, p. 322; 2005, p. 339). Empirical studies in various EFL countries have shown that English is used more in advertisements for certain types of products than for others (e.g. Cheshire & Moser 1994;
Gerritsen, Nickerson, Van Hooft, et al., 2007; Griffin 1997; Hsu, 2008;
Neelankavil, Mummalaneni, & Sessions, 1995). However, quantitative research has not yet been done to establish whether the use of English in job ads indeed depends on the sector to which the organisation offering the vacancy belongs.
This factor concerns a non-symbolic reason relating to the context in which the organisation with the vacancy operates, the economic sector to which it belongs.
The educational level required for the position advertised
In Chapter 2.2.5, it was pointed out that the level of English proficiency of Dutch secondary-school pupils depended on their educational level – the higher the secondary school type, the higher pupils’ English language proficiency (Bonnet, 2004, p. 139; Van Hest, De Jong, & Stoks, 2001, as cited in Edelenbos & De Jong, 2004, p. 24) – and on the basis of this, it was suggested that organisations may use less English in job ads aiming at less well educated candidates, in order to prevent comprehension problems (Chapter 2.3). However, whether the use of English in job ads depends on the educational level required for the position offered has not yet been established with quantitative studies.
There is some evidence that the use of English in product advertising and branding may depend on the socio-economic and educational status of the target group. Interviews with representatives of Ecuadorian advertising agencies revealed that they use English especially when targeting the “upper-middle and upper classes” and that they avoid using it in advertising targeted at the lower and lower middle classes “with
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the higher social classes, who have received better education (p. 147). While Alm’s findings suggest that the use of English in messages aimed at people with a higher level of education is likely to be more extensive than in messages aimed at people with a lower level of education, her findings may not automatically be extrapolated to the Netherlands since the social economic conditions and educational level of especially the lower classes are likely to be different in the Netherlands and Ecuador.
In a study of the use of English in product advertising in five European countries, including the Netherlands, Gerritsen (1995) hypothesised that English would occur more frequently in print media aiming at higher social classes than in those targeting lower social classes.
Although she observes that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which media target w
327), she expected the following hierarchy of media, in order of descending number of ads glossy women’s magazines > news 8). On the whole, the frequencies of all-hich social class, and that different publications within one print medium category may target different social classes (p.
containing English: newspapers >
magazines > family magazines (p. 32
English and partly English ads found in Gerritsen’s study did not confirm this hierarchy. However, the findings for the Netherlands did show that English was used most frequently in glossy women’s magazines and least frequently in family magazines. The use of English here is at least partly in line with the expected hierarchy, which may be taken to indicate that a readership with a higher social class may at least sometimes lead to a greater use of English in product ads (for an alternative interpretation in terms of life style rather than social class, see Gerritsen, p. 340).
While there are indications that the use of English in product advertisements and branding may depend on the educational level of the readership, no studies have yet investigated whether the use of English in job ads depends on the educational level of the ad’s target group, in other words, the educational level required for the position offered.
This factor concerns a non-symbolic reason, the educational level required for the position that is advertised, which could be said to relate to the content of the job ad message, or to characteristics of the receivers of the job ad message.
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Job ad element
Many of the comments made about the use of English in job ads in EFL countries suggest that it is particularly frequent in certain job ad elements and less so in others. As we have seen in Section 3.1, Schreiner (1990, p. 7) states that English is used frequently in job titles in Dutch job advertisements. In fact, most of the examples of English in Dutch job ads quoted to illustrate its frequency are job titles (Jansen, 2006; Nortier, 2009;
Renkem
sts that this use is considered most characteristic of the use of English in job ads in the Netherlands. With respect to Swedish job ads, Larson (1990, p. 367) points xt, but where the English lexicon is used most is in descriptions of work areas and
a et al, 2001, as discussed in Section 3.1; see also the cartoon from the Ampzing society in Figure 3.1 in Section 3.3.6), which sugge
out that “English vocabulary can be found scattered throughout the te
occupational titles”.10 Hilgendorf (1996) observes that “numerous positions advertised in German in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) have job titles reflecting various degrees of Englishization” (p. 10), while English in headlines in these ads is “used sparingly” (p. 11). Taavitsainen and Pahta (2003, p. 8) say that two forms of English usage are common in job advertisements in the biggest Finnish newspaper: completely English ads, and ads in which the job title is in English while the remainder of the ad is in Finnish. However, none of these writers quantify the relative frequency of the use of English in particular parts of job ads. Research into product advertising has also studied the relative frequency of English in various parts of advertisements in EFL countries (e.g. Alm, 2003; Bhatia, 2001;
Cheshire & Moser, 1994; Gerritsen, 1995; Gerritsen, Nickerson, Van Hooft, et al., 2007; Piller, 2001). Although not all these studies present numerical data for all of the ad elements they distinguish (Alm, Gerritsen, and Gerritsen, Nickerson, Van Hooft, et al. do, while Bhatia and Piller only present figures for some of the elements), they all find that the frequency with which English is used varies per element of the advertisement. Some of the studies of English in product advertising indicate that it is important to determine the parts in which English is relatively frequently used because the use of
In term
“work a
description.
10 s of the job ad elements distinguished in Chapter 1.2.3, what Larson calls reas”, which from the examples he gives can be taken to indicate the field in which the organisation works (1990, p. 367), are part of the company
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English in certain parts may have more impact than in others. Cheshire and Moser (1994, pp. 456-457) and Piller (2001, pp. 161-162), for instance, suggest that English is given more prominence when it is used in parts of the ad
oreign loanwords (Hock, 1986, pp. 408-409; Wetzler, 2006, pp. 27-28), and was also mentioned as a reason for the use of English words in product advertising in savisut et al., 1986, p. 204; Takashi, 1990, p. 329). At the same time, it was stressed that this
ords which have panese equivalents but which are “borrowed to convey a modernity and sophistication about the subject matter under discussion” (p. 330). Gerritsen which stand out, in the sense that they are more likely to be noticed sooner by readers of the ad, parts such as the headline and the slogan as opposed to the body copy, for example. For job ads, De Witte (1989, p. 212) reports on eye movement research which indicated that the job title is an element that stands out, since this was what made readers of job advertisements decide
“to move to the next advertisement”. However, there are no quantitative data available that show how much English is used in job titles compared to other job ad elements, because no empirical research has been conducted to establish whether the quantity of English used differs per job ad element.
This factor concerns a non-symbolic reason relating to the job ad message, i.e. the part of the ad in which it occurs.
English words as lexical gap fillers
In Chapter 3.3.5, it was pointed out that a possible reason for the use of English words in job advertisements in EFL countries is that they fill lexical gaps: they have a meaning which is not expressed by existing words in the national language of the country in which the job ads appear. It was observed that this was cited as a general reason for the use of f
EFL countries (Alm 2003, p. 150; Gerritsen et al., 2000, p. 20; Ma
is only one of the reasons given for the use of foreign words. Prestige, for instance, is said to be another basic reason for using loanwords (Hock, pp.
408-409; Wetzler, pp. 27-28). In fact, research into product advertising indicates that reasons other than the need to fill a lexical gap are more important in explaining the use of English words. Takashi (1990) found that around 30% of the English loanwords used in Japanese advertising were technical and non-technical words for which there were no equivalents in Japanese, while about 45% were “special-effects-givers”, w
Ja
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et al 00, p. 20) reported that none of the commercials broadcast on Dutch n that they in
. (20
televisio vestigated “contained English words that lack good
must b translat
explain lish in job ads, quantitative research is necessary to etermine how many of the English words in Dutch job advertisements have Dutch t
again concerns a non-symbolic reason relating to the job d message, i.e. to aspects of the words in the advertisement.
he pote fficulty of English words for Dutch readers
; Taavitsainen & Pahta, 2003, p. 8) – as well as the Eiffel radio ommercials – have suggested that the use of English in job ads in EFL problems,
up like on of nglish word
ments in Swiss magazines,
these w ch readers are
xpected to know, or because they resemble German or French words, i.e.,
utch readers is a factor determining their use in Dutch job ads can be
have D
ad mess words in the advertisement.
Dutch equivalents”, from which they conclude that the use of these words e motivated by “image considerations” and a desire to save ion costs. In order to decide to what extent the lexical gap theory can the use of Eng
d
ranslation equivalents.
This factor a
T ntial level of di
As was discussed in Chapter 3.3.1, a number of authors (Jansen, 2006, p. 7;
Kuiper, 2007 c
countries, including the Netherlands, may present comprehension
while others suggest that English terms should be clear to the target gro of the job ad (Timmerman, 1992, pp. 165-166; Watts, 2002, p. 119). Just their perceived prestige-enhancing effect, the actual comprehensi E s can only be investigated in experiments. However, a corpus analysis can give an indication of the level of difficulty of English words. On the basis of a corpus analysis of product advertise
Cheshire and Moser (1994, pp. 457-458) argue that the majority of the English words used should be easy to understand for Swiss readers because
ords are part of the basic English vocabulary su e
have German or French cognates. In line with Cheshire and Moser’s argument, whether the potential level of difficulty of English words for D
investigated with corpus analyses that establish how many of these words utch cognates and how many belong to basic English vocabulary,
ary which is so frequent that most Dutch people may be
vocabul expected to
be familiar with it.
Again, this factor concerns a non-symbolic reason relating to the job age, i.e. to aspects of the
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