The cooperation between applied linguists and professional experts in the analysis of specialized discourse

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibilities of cooperation between applied linguists and professional experts in the analysis of specialized discourse. This type of cooperation has often been underlined in the ESP literature in the last few decades. Many scholars have emphasized the importance of promoting interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration, highlighting the usefulness of the integration of methodological diversity, as well as the exploration of possible connections among procedures and knowledge in order to achieve more focused and purposeful action. This interdisciplinary collaboration is deemed essential to better understand how practitioners use language to achieve the objectives of their professions. Indeed, in specialized communication, conditions of production and reception are crucial. The use of linguistic and semiotic resources can help to better understand and clarify professional practices or actions in typical institutional and specialized contexts. The positions expressed in this paper will be drawn from relevant literature as well as from the writer’s direct experience in specific interdisciplinary research projects. The first case study refers to an interdisciplinary research project on the language and method of John Maynard Keynes’ General Theory. This project was first suggested by various economists who had contacted some linguists jointly working on the analysis of economic discourse in order to reach a better interpretation of this text, and thus confront the problem of the various existing readings of the General Theory. The second case study refers to two interdisciplinary research projects on the discourse and practices of international commercial arbitration. This research was promoted by a joint group of arbitration experts/practitioners and applied linguists jointly working on the problematic aspects of the formulation of arbitration texts in connection with recent changes in arbitration practices and with the process of increasing harmonization at an international level. The issues identified show that linguistic explanations can be of great help to disciplinary experts – in this case economists and arbitration practitioners – to attain a more correct interpretation of the texts and practices in which they are commonly involved. Participation in interdisciplinary research with applied linguists has enabled practitioners to become more aware of the hidden implications of their practices and to discover how their own performances reflect their professional values and institutional goals in different contexts.