DOI: 10.4324/9781003349860-8
6 Language dynamics and legitimacy
in crowdfunding
6.1 Language and its role in the social context
Language plays a key role in social interaction and permeates organizational life,
as actors ‘use it to get things done, to solidify relationships, to inform others,
and so on’ (Holtgraves, 1997: 624). As mentioned in Chapter 1 of this book, lan-
guage encompasses dierent dimensions: (i) a ‘linguistic’ dimension – that refers
to the structure of the words and the vocabulary used to build sentences; (ii) a
‘communicative’ dimension, that focuses on the distinct instances of behaviours,
both verbal and non-verbal (i.e. talking, making gestures) that can be enacted
to communicate with each other; (iii) an ‘abstract’ ...