Language Influence in Services: Perceived Importance of Native Language Use in Service Encounters

A defining characteristic of most service encounters is that they are strongly influenced by interactions in which both the consumer and the service personnel are playing integral roles. Such is the importance of this interaction that it has even been argued that for the consumer, these encounters are in fact the service. Given this, it is not surprising that interactions involving communication and customer participation in the service encounters have received considerable attention within the field of services marketing. Much of the research on interactions and communication in services, however, appear to have assumed that the consumer and the service personnel by definition are perfectly able to interact and communicate effortlessly with each other. Such communication would require a common language, and in order to be able to take this for granted the market would need to be fairly homogenous. The homogenous country, however, and with it the homogenous market, would appear to be gone. It is estimated that more than half the consumers in the world are already speaking more than one language. For a company entering a new market, language can be a major barrier that firms may underestimate, and understanding language influence across different markets is important for international companies. The service literature has taken a common language between companies and consumers for granted but this is not matched by the realities on the ground in many markets. Owing to the communicational and interaction-oriented nature of services, the lack of a common language between the consumer and the service provider is a situation that could cause problems. A gap exists in the service theory, consisting of a lack of knowledge concerning how language influences consumers in service encounters. By addressing this gap, the thesis contributes to an increased understanding of service theory and provides a better practical understanding for service companies of the importance of native language use for consumers. The thesis consists of four essays. Essay one is conceptual and addresses how sociolinguistic research can be beneficial for understanding consumer language preferences. Essay two empirically shows how the influence of language varies depending on the nature of the service, essay three shows that there is a significant difference in language preferences between female and male consumers while essay four empirically compares consumer language preferences in Canada and Finland, finding strong similarities but also indications of difference in the motives for preferring native language use. The introduction of the thesis outlines the existence of a research gap within the service literature, a gap consisting of the lack of research into how native language use may influence consumers in service encounters. In addition, it is described why this gap is of importance to services and why its importance is growing. Building on this situation, the purpose of the thesis is to establish the existence of language influence in service encounters and to extend the knowledge of how language influences consumers on multilingual markets.

Swedish advertising language in Finland mirrored by the newspaper advertisements of the Stockmanns department store during the 20th century

The advertising business is often said to favour a modern, innovative language use. This is a statement not easily verified. Newspaper ads are in fact the genre of written language that linguists have paid the least attention to. People writing texts for newspaper ads are individuals representing contemporary language use. Advertisements representing different periods therefore diverge not only regarding the change of style and form advertising undergoes over time, but changes in the language itself also reflect the continuous process of alteration in a speech community. Advertisements and marketing material on the whole, are also read by many individuals who otherwise are not accustomed to reading at all. The marketing manager, the copywriter and the Art Director, in other words, produce texts that unconsciously function as language models. Changes are not created by, or urged on by linguistic expertise, but by ordinary users confronting other ordinary users. From a sociolinguistic perspective the widely diffused advertising language is therefore a most influential factor.

Reklamsvenska i Finland speglad genom varuhuset Stockmanns tidningsannonser under det 20e seklet - Swedish Advertising Language in Finland Mirrored by the Newspaper Advertisements of the Stockmanns Department Store during the 20th Century

Reklam sägs använda ett modernt, gärna ett nyskapande språk. Detta är ett påstående som inte så lätt kan verifieras. Tidningsannonsen är troligen den skriftspråksgenre som har fått minst uppmärksamhet av språkforskare. De som skriver texten i en tidningsannons är personer som representerar det samtida språkbruket. Annonser som representerar olika tidsepoker skiljer sig därför från varandra inte bara genom att annonsen förändras i fråga om stil och form. Annonsens språk avspeglar också den språkliga förändringsprocess som kontinuerligt pågår i varje språksamhälle. Annonser, och marknadsföringsmaterial över huvud taget, läses också av många människor som i övrigt läser mycket litet eller kanske inte alls. Marknadsföraren, reklamskribenten (copywriter) och AD:n producerar m.a.o. texter som på ett omedvetet sätt kommer att vara språkmodeller för sina läsare. Förändringar i språket kreeras inte och drivs inte på av språkforskare, utan av vanliga språkbrukare i interaktion med andra språkbrukare. Sett ur ett sociolingvistiskt perspektiv har det vitt spridda reklamspråket därför inflytande på språket i samhället. Syftet med det reklamspråksprojekt som presenteras i föreliggande rapport är att analysera hur och när förändringar i svenskan som uppträder i Sverige dyker upp i annonser som skrivs på svenska i Finland. Reklam på svenska Finland under 1900-talet står i fokus, och tidningsannonser för Stockmanns varuhus i Helsingfors utgör primärmaterialet. Tidningsannonser för varuhuset Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) i Stockholm under motsvarande tid tjänar som jämförelsematerial. I denna rapport presenteras projektets syfte, de uppställda forskningsfrågorna, och resonemanget illustreras med exempel ur projektmaterialet. Rapporten innehåller också en beskrivning av projektets reklamdatabas och basfakta om material och metoder. -

On the use of weather radar for mesoscale applications in northern conditions

Mesoscale weather phenomena, such as the sea breeze circulation or lake effect snow bands, are typically too large to be observed at one point, yet too small to be caught in a traditional network of weather stations. Hence, the weather radar is one of the best tools for observing, analyzing and understanding their behavior and development. A weather radar network is a complex system, which has many structural and technical features to be tuned, from the location of each radar to the number of pulses averaged in the signal processing. These design parameters have no universal optimal values, but their selection depends on the nature of the weather phenomena to be monitored as well as on the applications for which the data will be used. The priorities and critical values are different for forest fire forecasting, aviation weather service or the planning of snow ploughing, to name a few radar-based applications. The main objective of the work performed within this thesis has been to combine knowledge of technical properties of the radar systems and our understanding of weather conditions in order to produce better applications able to efficiently support decision making in service duties for modern society related to weather and safety in northern conditions. When a new application is developed, it must be tested against ground truth . Two new verification approaches for radar-based hail estimates are introduced in this thesis. For mesoscale applications, finding the representative reference can be challenging since these phenomena are by definition difficult to catch with surface observations. Hence, almost any valuable information, which can be distilled from unconventional data sources such as newspapers and holiday shots is welcome. However, as important as getting data is to obtain estimates of data quality, and to judge to what extent the two disparate information sources can be compared. The presented new applications do not rely on radar data alone, but ingest information from auxiliary sources such as temperature fields. The author concludes that in the future the radar will continue to be a key source of data and information especially when used together in an effective way with other meteorological data.

Why Don't Students Talk? Causes of Foreign Language Communication Apprehension in English Classes: A Comparison of High Apprehensive and Low Apprehensive Upper Secondary Students.

OBJECTIVES. Oral foreign language skills are an integral part of one's social, academic and professional competence. This can be problematic for those suffering from foreign language communication apprehension (CA), or a fear of speaking a foreign language. CA manifests itself, for example, through feelings of anxiety and tension, physical arousal and avoidance of foreign language communication situations. According to scholars, foreign language CA may impede the language learning process significantly and have detrimental effects on one's language learning, academic achievement and career prospects. Drawing on upper secondary students' subjective experiences of communication situations in English as a foreign language, this study seeks, first, to describe, analyze and interpret why upper secondary students experience English language communication apprehension in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. Second, this study seeks to analyse what the most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes are, and which features of different oral production tasks arouse English language communication apprehension and why. The ultimate objectives of the present study are to raise teachers' awareness of foreign language CA and its features, manifestations and impacts in foreign language classes as well as to suggest possible ways to minimize the anxiety-arousing features in foreign language classes. METHODS. The data was collected in two phases by means of six-part Likert-type questionnaires and theme interviews, and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The questionnaire data was collected in spring 2008. The respondents were 122 first-year upper secondary students, 68 % of whom were girls and 31 % of whom were boys. The data was analysed by statistical methods using SPSS software. The theme interviews were conducted in spring 2009. The interviewees were 11 second-year upper secondary students aged 17 to 19, who were chosen by purposeful selection on the basis of their English language CA level measured in the questionnaires. Six interviewees were classified as high apprehensives and five as low apprehensives according to their score in the foreign language CA scale in the questionnaires. The interview data was coded and thematized using the technique of content analysis. The analysis and interpretation of the data drew on a comparison of the self-reports of the highly apprehensive and low apprehensive upper secondary students. RESULTS. The causes of English language CA in EFL classes as reported by the students were both internal and external in nature. The most notable causes were a low self-assessed English proficiency, a concern over errors, a concern over evaluation, and a concern over the impression made on others. Other causes related to a high English language CA were a lack of authentic oral practise in EFL classes, discouraging teachers and negative experiences of learning English, unrealistic internal demands for oral English performance, high external demands and expectations for oral English performance, the conversation partner's higher English proficiency, and the audience's large size and unfamiliarity. The most anxiety-arousing oral production tasks in EFL classes were presentations or speeches with or without notes in front of the class, acting in front of the class, pair debates with the class as audience, expressing thoughts and ideas to the class, presentations or speeches without notes while seated, group debates with the class as audience, and answering to the teacher's questions involuntarily. The main features affecting the anxiety-arousing potential of an oral production task were a high degree of attention, a large audience, a high degree of evaluation, little time for preparation, little linguistic support, and a long duration.

Overwintering ecology of northern field layer plants : snow and photosynthesis in Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.

Winter is a significant period for the seasonality of northern plants, but is often overlooked when studying the interactions of plants and their environment. This study focuses on the effects of overwintering conditions, including warm winter periods, snow, and snowmelt on boreal and sub-Arctic field layer plants. Wintertime photosynthesis and related physiological factors of evergreen dwarf shrubs, particularly of Vaccinium vitis-idaea, are emphasised. The work combines experiments both in the field and in growth chambers with measurements in natural field conditions. Evergreen dwarf shrubs are predominantly covered by snow in the winter. The protective snow cover provides favourable conditions for photosynthesis, especially during the spring before snowmelt. The results of this study indicate that photosynthesis occurs under the snow in V. vitis-idaea. The light response of photosynthesis determined in field conditions during the period of snow cover shows that positive net CO2 exchange is possible under the snow in the prevailing light and temperature. Photosynthetic capacity increases readily during warm periods in winter and the plants are thus able to replenish carbohydrate reserves lost through respiration. Exposure to low temperatures in combination with high light following early snowmelt can set back photosynthesis as sustained photoprotective measures are activated and photodamage begins to build up. Freezing may further decrease the photosynthetic capacity. The small-scale distribution of many field layer plants, including V. vitis-idaea and other dwarf shrubs, correlates with the snow distribution in a forest. The results of this study indicate that there are species-specific differences in the snow depth affinity of the field and ground layer species. Events and processes taking place in winter can have a profound effect on the overall performance of plants and on the interactions between plants and their environment. Understanding the processes involved in the overwintering of plants is increasingly important as the wintertime climate in the north is predicted to change in the future.

Blue mussel beds as biodiversity hotspots on the rocky shores of the northern Baltic Sea

ABSTRACT The Baltic Sea is a vulnerable ecosystem currently undergoing a number of changes, both natural and human induced. The changes are likely to affect the species found on these shores, e.g. their distribution and interactions with other species. Blue mussels (Mytilus trossulus x Mytilus edulis) provide one of the main biogenic hard structures on the shallow shores of the Baltic Sea where they aggregate into dense beds and provide a number of resources for over 40 associated macrofaunal species, thus functioning as ecosystem engineers. The blue mussel, being a marine species, is highly likely to be affected by any changes in sea water salinity, circulation and/or water balance. These changes could trickle down also to affect the associated macrofaunal communities. The aims of this thesis were three-fold: first, I examined and described the macrofaunal communities found within blue mussel patches since the fauna associated with mussel patches had never been described in the study area prior to this thesis. Second, I explored how changes in mussel density, size as well as patch size and shape would affect the mussel communities. Finally, I tested how general landscape theories derived from terrestrial studies function in blue mussel systems. Theories included the structural heterogeneity hypothesis, species-area relationships, edge effects and patch isolation effects. The work shows that blue mussels in the northern Baltic Sea have an indisputable function as diversity hotspots and that the faunal assemblages found in mussel patches are extremely rich and unique. Further on, it shows that changes in mussel biomass, size, patch size and amount of edge have the potential to alter the faunal assemblages and diversity within patches. Finally, it shows that although some landscape theories, such as the structural heterogeneity hypothesis, seem to apply also in blue mussel communities, others cannot be directly applied due to the different prevailing conditions in the study system. This is a pioneering work looking at diversity shaping processes on the rocky shores of the Gulf of Finland, making up over 40% of the total water basin. A focus on niche construction, positive facilitation effects and ecosystem engineering could provide new insights and methods for conservation biology, but before this can be done, we need to fully understand the circumstances under which a species becomes an ecosystem engineer and recognize the systems in which it functions.

Microsite occupancy and spatial structure of regeneration in three late-successional Norway spruce forests in northern Europe

A comparison of microsite occupancy and the spatial structure of regeneration in three areas of late-successional Norway spruce dominated forest. Pallas-Ylläs is understood to have been influenced only by small-scale disturbance; Dvina-Pinega has had sporadic larger-scale disturbances; Kazkim has been affected by fire. All spruce and birch trees with diameter at breast height (DBH) ?10 cm were mapped in five stands on 40 m x 400 m transects, and those with DBH < 10 cm on 2 or 4 m x 400 m subplots. Microsite type was inventoried at 1m intervals along the centre line and for each tree with DBH < 10 cm. At all study areas small seedlings (h < 0.3 m, DBH < 10 cm) preferentially occupied disturbed microsites. In contrast, spruce saplings (h ? 1.3 m, DBH <10 cm) at all study areas showed less, or no, preference. At Pallas-Ylläs spruce seedlings (h < 1.3 m, DBH < 10 cm) and saplings (h ? 1.3 m, DBH < 10 cm) exhibited spatial correlation at scales from 32-52 m. At Dvina-Pinega saplings of both spruce and birch exhibited spatial correlation at scales from 32-81 m. At Kazkim spatial correlation of seedlings and saplings of both species was exhibited over variable distances. No spatial cross-correlation was found between overstorey basal area (DBH ? 10 cm) and regeneration (h ? 1.3 m, DBH < 10 cm) at any study area. The results confirm the importance of disturbed microsites for seedling establishment, but suggest that undisturbed microsites may sometimes be more advantageous for long-term tree survival. The regeneration gap concept may not be useful in describing the regeneration dynamics of late-successional boreal forests.