This paper proposes a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of positive online reviews of US and UK law firms and the corresponding business owners’ responses. The aim is to better understand and describe their linguistic nature and their structure, and assess whether and to what extent cross-cultural variation occurs. The methodology used to carry out the analysis combined different approaches to linguistic inquiry. It started with a lexico-grammatical description of reviews and responses through corpus methods, then continued with a move structure analysis that focused on rhetorical differences between British and American reviews and responses and ended with an attentive cross-cultural analysis on the usage of positive evaluative adjectives in reviews, conducted through the lens of appraisal theory. The cross-cultural analysis indicated that US reviews and responses are more oriented towards experience-sharing, recommendation, and publicity. By contrast, the UK’s samples are characterised by a more attentive expression of politeness and conversational rituals. Moreover, the adjectives used to express positive evaluations revealed an interesting tendency: that of foregrounding communication and social skills in US reviews and technical and professional skills in UK reviews.
“I found this law firm on Google Reviews, and I wasn’t disappointed”: A Linguistic Study of Positive Law Firm Client Reviews and Business Owner Responses in the US and the UK
Gianmarco Vignozzi
Primo
2023-01-01
Abstract
This paper proposes a corpus-assisted discourse analysis of positive online reviews of US and UK law firms and the corresponding business owners’ responses. The aim is to better understand and describe their linguistic nature and their structure, and assess whether and to what extent cross-cultural variation occurs. The methodology used to carry out the analysis combined different approaches to linguistic inquiry. It started with a lexico-grammatical description of reviews and responses through corpus methods, then continued with a move structure analysis that focused on rhetorical differences between British and American reviews and responses and ended with an attentive cross-cultural analysis on the usage of positive evaluative adjectives in reviews, conducted through the lens of appraisal theory. The cross-cultural analysis indicated that US reviews and responses are more oriented towards experience-sharing, recommendation, and publicity. By contrast, the UK’s samples are characterised by a more attentive expression of politeness and conversational rituals. Moreover, the adjectives used to express positive evaluations revealed an interesting tendency: that of foregrounding communication and social skills in US reviews and technical and professional skills in UK reviews.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
