Abstract:

One of the problems EFL teachers encounter every day is how to improve ways to explain modern Business English rhetoric to students. Theoretical grounding to help solve the problem is provided by functional-linguistic research into various aspects of deliberately deconventionalized discourse and non-standard verbal means, such as, for instance, manipulating intertextual elements to modify the situation to your advantage, influence interlocutors’ decision-making and viewpoints on a particular topic and create a desired pragmatic impact on the audience. Postmodernism as a specific way of perceiving reality has gradually become an integral part of even the most conventional and restricted communicative spheres, long-existing rules of both oral and written speech being transformed or modified. Analyzing big amounts of texts one can easily notice how popular it is in modern business discourse to actualize pragma-semantic elements expressed with the help of different linguistic means of intertextuality. In Business English reminiscences, veiled links, hints and references to texts of other non-business genres may often conflict with the Gricean Maxims of Quantity, Relation and Manner which regulate interlocutors’ verbal behaviour and tell speakers to make their contribution to the conversation as informative as it is necessary, be relevant, avoid ambiguity and obscurity of expression. Decoding information conveyed with the help of intertextual means requires business discourse participants to activate their intellectual powers and know the vast vertical context, i.e. understand various allusions, be aware of historical facts, memorable quotations, idioms and lan-guage units with social, economical, geographical and ideological denotation. Otherwise, if this requirement isn’t fulfilled, it can lead to misunderstanding, losing a considerable share of discourse semantics and pragmatics, communicative failure in general. This paper is devoted to different aspects of intertextuality from the angle of teaching Business English.

Keywords:

Business English, teaching methodology, functional linguistics, rhetoric, intertextuality.