The Discursive Construal of Trust in the Dynamics of Knowledge Diffusion

This volume stems from a workshop organised by the Corpus Linguistics and Language Variation in English Research Centre, known as CLAVIER, held at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. It brings together a series of studies on the nature of the dissemination of specialist knowledge in English, its transformation from being a mere repository of information into a proactive source of understanding and empowerment. Through the chapters, the various principles, conceptualisations, constructs and pragmatic dynamics of knowledge dissemination are shown in a range of discourse genres. The studies reveal the multi-levels of knowledge, its varied typology and its ongoing co-construction, maintenance and updating among heterogeneous audiences.

Assuming that maintaining credibility and legitimacy is fundamental to successful communication in a globalised and virtual world, the essential complementary aspect to knowledge dissemination is the analysis of the language that builds trust in interpersonal interactions, in different contexts and settings. The first section of the book deals with the building of trust through different strategies in political, academic, tourist and educational contexts. The second discusses ways of building trust via linguistic devices in corporate communication. The third part is concerned with the maintenance and repairing of trust, and the fourth section presents the building/repairing trust processes in the medical sector.

The collection is addressed to scholars of linguistics, particularly those concerned with the analysis of specialized languages and their impact on effective communication. It will also appeal to university teachers of English for Special Purposes and researchers interested in corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis.