Verbs in the standard marine communication phrases as a sublanguage of maritime English

Abstract

This paper focuses on lexical aspect making the core of the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) – the verbs. Given that the key feature of this specific maritime sublanguage laid down by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Standard Marine Communication Phrases i s to convey precise information in English between seafarers on board and in external ship - to - ship and ship - to - shore communication at sea, the semantic analysis of the verbs in the SMCP was carried out, applying theoretical knowledge in the semantic domain s of verbs (Biber et al., 1999) and verb patterns (Francis et al., 1996). The discursive function of verbs and verb patterns, as well as verb phrases making up idiomatic expressions in the SMCP, is explained in the light of conceptual knowledge or knowledg e of the professional (maritime) setting in which they occur. This study also supports idea that results of analysis carried out by the use of modern linguistic quantitative tools should be incorporated in teaching SMCP phrases and presented to seafarers i n the form of e - documents like screenshots, concordance lists and formulaic structures. Due to lack of time spent on shore, seafarers particularly benefit from computer - based learning and prefer economic and short information.

Keywords

• Standard Marine Com munication Phrases
• verbs
• verb patterns