Job-hunting in Italy: Building a
glossary of “English-inspired” job titles
Structure of research paper
1. Introduction and research aims
2. Methodology
3. Results
4. Analysis
5. Discussion and Conclusion
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A. Andreani , V. Pulcini, ‘Anglicisms in specialized discourse’
1. Introduction
Pervasive presence of Anglicisms in the language of the job market
English used for branding and product advertising
e.g. FCA Fiat Crysler Automobiles – a merger – adoption of an English name
Job advertisements potential area of enquiry
a growing habit of using English for designating job titles
previous studies in Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland
Observe the rise of «multiple terminology», thinking of the widespread use of
such terms as manager and engineer, in competition with native equivalents
Previous findings
English is more frequently used in adverts posted by multinational companies
English is more frequently used in advertisements for higher level jobs
(manager, CEO)
English is used in transport, storage, communications and commerce (rather
than in the financial sector)
English and domestic terms have different associations in the users’ minds
Sometimes English job titles are opaque (runner) and have a mystifying
function in the business world (engineer)
Research aims
Analysing a sample of English job titles in the context of
Italian job advertisements
Build a glossary of English job titles and Italian
equivalents
Hypothesis: some terms are opaque and are used to
confuse or deceive prospective applicants
2. Methodology
Data mining
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job finding agencies
human resources consulting companies
(Adecco, Manpower)
Corpus building
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a domain-specific corpus of Italian job advertisements
using the WebBootCat tool of the SketchEngine
Corpus querying
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Analysis of context, collocations and PoS
Data mining: job finding agencies
data entry
development eng.
hostess
Ti chiedo scusa di averti disturbato per
Carriera e Futuro http://www.carrieraefuturo.com/
niente.
order entry
promoter
receptionist
telemarketer
visual merchandiser
web designer
Orienta http://www.orienta.net/
Preliminary list of job titles
 data entry
 development engineer
 hostess
 order entry
 promoter
 receptionist
 telemarketer
 visual merchandiser
 web designer
Corpus building: WebBootCat
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domain-specific corpus of Italian job advertisements
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WebBootCat procedure tool implemented in the
Sketchengine
 iteration of procedure at weeks’ distance to avoid
retrieval of same advertisements
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Tokens: 241,021
Corpus querying: job titles in context
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Analysis of context and PoS
Dictionaries and newspapers
General and specialized dictionaries for English:
 Collins English Dictionary online (CED)
 Cambridge Business English Dictionary online (CBED)
General and specialized dictionaries for Italian:
 Zingarelli 2014 (ZING)
 Economics & Business (Picchi 2014) (E&B)
Online historical archives for verifying the currency of Anglicisms
in Italian:
 La Stampa (1867-2000)
 La Repubblica (1984-present)
Additional resources
 Official documentation
International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 08)
www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/istat/isco08/index.html
 Classificazione delle Professioni (Classification of Occupations)
produced by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT
CP2011) www.istat.it/it/archivio/18132
 Classification of job types:
 English job finding resources www.prospects.ac.uk
3. Results
accountant
area manager
baby sitter
barman
beauty sales agent
data entry
deejay
development engineer
electrical
instructor
practical
export area manager
(financial) controller
first article inspector
hostess
instrument
practical
instructor
mistery shopper
order entry
(junior) programmer
project manager
promoter
receptionist (junior)
retail sales manager
runner
sales account
sales manager
shop assistant
store manager
store specialist
telemarketer
visual merchandiser
web designer
CED
accountant
area manager
baby-sitter
barman
agent
deejay
engineer
instructor
CBED
accountant
babysitter
barman
agent
(other meaning)
deejay
ZING
area manager
baby-sitter
barman
agent
(other meaning)
deejay
mod+engineer
sales agent
mod+engineer
instructor
export manager
export manager
(financial) controller
(financial) controller
controller
inspector
hostess
instructor
inspector
hostess
instructor
hostess
mystery shopper
mystery shopper
programmer
programmer
project manager
promoter
receptionist
project manager
promoter
receptionist
retail manager
runner
E&B
accountant
area manager
sales manager
shop assistant
(other meaning)
sales manager
shop assistant
telemarketer
merchandiser
web designer
telemarketer
merchandiser
web designer
project manager
promoter
receptionist
(other meaning)
sales manager
merchandiser
controller
project manager
promoter
(other meaning)
sales manager
shop assistant
store manager
telemarketer
merchandiser
4. Analysis
Formal features
• Polymorphemic one-word items: -er, -ist, -or, -ant, -man
endings that typically denote the agent of the action
– accountant; controller; programmer; promoter;
receptionist; runner; telemarketer
• Complex words: solid compounds or 2- or 3-word compounds,
characterized by the modifier+head structure
– barman
– sales manager = a person in charge of a company’s sales
activities and its sales force (CBED)
Further word-formation mechanisms
Premodification can trigger even more
complex items to classify duties or skills
beauty sales agent; electrical practical instructor
In Italian the order of the elements may be
changed
project manager junior (instead of junior project
manager)
“Stiamo ricercando un project manager junior per gestione
progetti C++/C#.”
Anglicisms with Italian equivalents
accountant
area manager
baby sitter
barman
(financial) controller
programmer
project manager
sales manager
shop assistant
telemarketer
contabile
capoarea, direttore di zona
tata, bambinaia
barista
controllore della gestione
(=responsabile amministrativo)
programmatore
direttore di progetto, responsabile di progetto
direttore vendite, direttore commerciale
commesso/a
televenditore, operatore/addetto telemarketing
16
Anglicisms with no Italian equivalents
• dejay
• hostess
a) flight attendant (F)
b) conference assistant
c) nightclub hostess
•
•
•
•
•
mystery shopper
promoter
receptionist
runner
web designer
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‘English-inspired’ job titles
• Complex job titles:
beauty sales agent
electrical practical instructor
export area manager
first article inspector
instrument practical instructor
store specialist
visual merchandiser
• False Anglicisms
data entry, order entry, sales account
(The heads of the compounds are omitted: data entry clerk, order entry
clerk, sales account manager)
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Manager (borrowed in 1895)
= director of a company (or one of its departments)
Recorded Ita equivalents:
direttore; dirigente; imprenditore; amministratore
Corpus collocates (selection)
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modifier+head: account, area, credit, general, energy
mod+mod+head: business development, export sales, supply chain
Pre-modifications used to indicate area or sector (credit, sales),
and sometimes levels of managerial statuses (general vs. area)
Widespread across European languages (Dutch, Swedish)
Engineer
Usage label
= someone technical specialist competence
Italian equivalents:
- tecnico, specialista (without a degree)
- ingegnere (with a degree)
Corpus
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context:
Si ricerca per nostra azienda cliente, leader nel settore dell'automotive, nello
specifico nella progettazione e produzione di motori, un giovane TESTING
ENGINEER. Requisiti: - laurea in ingegneria meccanica o altro titolo di studio di
formazione tecnica
Potential
mystifying effect of multiple terminology
Runner
Not recorded as a job title in Ita dictionaries
= a person employed to perform various (generally menial or
unskilled) tasks
Possible Italian equivalents:
fattorino, magazziniere, addetto spostamento merci
Corpus
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context:
Per azienda moda lusso ricerchiamo 1 runner. Si richiede esperienza all’interno di
negozi di moda e abbigliamento in qualità di venditore e di magazziniere.
Expressive
use of English loanword
5. Discussion
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- Anglicization of the job market
- An opportunity to observe lexical innovation
- Job titles as a peripheral area of specialized lexis in the
domain of job advertisements
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English terms in competition with native equivalents
Monoreferentiality and semantic transparency often violated
-Reasons for the use of English in Italian Job advertisements
 stylistic reasons
 practical reasons
Conclusions
 advantages and disadvantages for job hunters
 conciseness and monoreferentiality (beauty sales agent)
 multiple terminology
 deceptive function of English terms
common etymology (engineer / ingegnere)
extended meaning (hostess)
obscure meaning (runner)
 development of local non-English creations, i.e.
sales account for (sales) account manager