English as a lingua franca in Nordic corporate mergers: Two case companies

The article is based on findings from research into communication and language use in two international corporations, both formed as a result of a merger between a Swedish and a Finnish company. A questionnaire was sent to representatives of each case company, focusing on language use, communication practices, and cultural views. Using some of the results of the questionnaire as a starting point, we have studied two of the most frequent communicative events where English was used as a lingua franca in internal communication: email messages and meetings. This article focuses on the discoursal (dis)similarities of Swedish and Finnish interactants, and the resulting cultural and communicative challenges.