The language of hospitality:crossing the threshold between speech act and linguistic form

In order to address this dissertation’s overarching question of what hospitality is, we study hospitality from a pragmalinguistic perspective. We specifically focus on the issue of the gap between the pragmatic message of an utterance that is expressed by means of speech acts and the linguistic forms involved to construct these acts. In this regard, we are particularly interested in the contribution of certain linguistic forms in Spanish, such as modes of address and verb moods, to the pragmatic message conveyed in hospitality situations. In daily life, speakers say ‘Come in’ and ‘Have a seat’ in an attempt to be hospitable. Clearly, nobody feels surprised or offended, although the verb mood used is the imperative – a mood that is traditionally related to giving orders, a rather hostile act. If it is true that words can be both welcoming and inhospitable, words are not ‘just words’. A variety of data sources is analyzed to tap into a wide spectrum of linguistic forms that are related to hospitality. Our findings suggest that hospitality is a strategy that aims to give the interlocutor the feeling of being the beneficiary. Acting as the catalyst between speech act, linguistic form, and the intended communicative message, it explains how it is possible that, in daily life, utterances constructed in imperative mood may be interpreted as hospitable and not as offensive

Measuring language usage in hospitality situations

In this study, language usage in hospitality situations is measured. To this end, a corpus of utterances taken from a Colombian Spanish novel is quantitatively analysed. As a starting point of the analysis, it is illustrated that different modes of address (T and V) are used in hospitality situations, since they affect an interlocutor’s positive face. Likewise, different types of verb moods seem to be relevant to hospitality situations, as they  influence the negative face of speakers. Furthermore, whether linguistic forms enhance or threaten the interlocutor’s positive and negative face is determined by the type of social relationship between the speakers and the communicative situation in which they are used. Moreover, it is assumed that hospitality situations can be defined as interactions between non-relatives that are non-conflictive in nature. Based on this assumption, the quantitative analysis indicates that in hospitality situations V is more likely to be used than T, whereas in non-hospitality situations T is more likely to be used than V. In contrast, hospitality situations do not necessarily differ from non-hospitality situations in the use of verb moods. Together, these findings serve to illustrate how the use of language may shape hospitality experiences. They suggest that hospitality may be related to different linguistic systems interacting with the context. Hospitality professionals working in a field that is highly dependent on a smooth host-guest interaction could especially benefit from these findings. Furthermore, from an academic point of view, these findings may function as a starting point to further investigate the relation between the use of language and the experience of hospitality. Keywords: communicative situation, linguistic forms, modes of address, politeness, social relationship, speech acts, verb mood

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine