How do we 'perceive' bank reports? On the compatibility of (subjective) perception and the (supposedly neutral) se-construal
(2012) Vijfde Coglingdagen — Location: Groningen (14.December.2012)
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- In this paper, we will analyse the specific conceptualization that five perception verbs convey in the annual reports of Spanish banks (Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell and La Caixa) from 2006 till 2011. Annual reports are crucial for the communication of bank results to stakeholders, rating agencies and (civil) society. Some results may be subject to interpretation and, by consequence, the perspective from which they are presented is crucial. This genre has two main characteristics which are relevant for this research. On the one hand, it usually adopts a rather neutral tone (as opposed to publicity); on the other hand, it combines extensive visual data (mainly graphs) with text support. We will look into the effects of the interaction between these two communication modes ―text and images― on linguistic construal. In view of the neutral tone of bank reports, we focus on the use of se-constructions (a passivizing or agent defocussing construction). In order to analyse the interaction between images and text, we select the verbs that are most frequently used to express perception and deduction of tendencies and results: ver (‘to see’), observar (‘to observe’), entender (‘to understand’), apreciar (‘to appreciate’) and desprender (‘to infer’). First, we will look into the interaction between the neutral character of the se- construction and the semantic load of the verbs. Our hypothesis is that each verb, and, consequently, each se-construction, covers a different load of subjectivity. As such, we expect verbs like apreciar to be used more often in evaluative utterances; verbs like observar, on the contrary, would imply a more objectified interpretation. In the latter case, we expect a link with visual data (graphs and statistics) by means of an explicit reference to a graph and/or visual proximity between the utterance and the visual data. Secondly, can we consider this construal (or the construal realized with certain verbs) to be genre-specific? Does the importance of visual data in annual bank reports contribute to a higher and/or different use of perception verbs? In order to answer this question, we will compare the frequency and use with general language corpora, where the interaction between text and graphs or visual representation of data is less significant. This paper then contributes to the analysis of a cross-modal economic genre, viz. bank reports, and the specific position that se-constructions hold within it.
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De Cock, B., & Hanegreefs, H. (2012). How do we ‘perceive’ bank reports? On the compatibility of (subjective) perception and the (supposedly neutral) se-construal. Vijfde Coglingdagen, Groningen. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/158723