Professional Discourse in Customer Service Communication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51773/sssh.v4i2.1039Keywords:
professional discourse, customer service communication, politeness strategies, pragmatics, institutional communication, intercultural communicationAbstract
Customer service communication has become an important sphere of professional and institutional interaction in the contemporary globalized world. English-speaking customer service representatives are expected not only to resolve customer-related issues effectively but also to maintain politeness, professionalism, and communicative competence during interaction. This study investigates professional discourse in customer service communication with particular attention to its linguistic and pragmatic characteristics. The research focuses on politeness strategies, empathy expressions, indirect speech acts, and formal communicative structures commonly employed in customer support interactions. The study applies qualitative research methods to the analysis of authentic customer service materials collected from online chat support, email correspondence, and call-center transcripts. The findings demonstrate that politeness strategies play a significant role in reducing communicative tension, increasing customer satisfaction, and maintaining institutional professionalism. In addition, intercultural communicative competence is identified as an essential component of effective communication in international customer service environments characterized by linguistic and cultural diversity. The study contributes to the fields of pragmatics and discourse analysis by emphasizing the role of professional discourse in institutional communication and customer relationship management.
References
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). *Politeness: Some universals in language usage*. Cambridge University Press.
Cutting, J. (2002). *Pragmatics and discourse: A resource book for students*. Routledge.
Lakoff, R. (1973). The logic of politeness: Or, minding your p’s and q’s. *Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society*, 292–305.
Leech, G. (1983). *Principles of pragmatics*. Longman.
Levinson, S. C. (1983). *Pragmatics*. Cambridge University Press.
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2008). *Culturally speaking: Culture, communication and politeness theory* (2nd ed.). Continuum.
Yule, G. (1996). *Pragmatics*. Oxford University Press.
