Operational Communication: applied linguistics at work

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Operational Communication(applied) linguistics
at work

• Mark Garner
• University of Aberdeen

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The task

• AirwaveSpeak
• Developing national Standard Radio Practices to
  be used by the police forces and other agencies
  of England, Wales, and Scotland

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The background

• Airwave digital radio technology is being adopted
  by
• all mainland police forces
• other agencies

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Why do we need standards ?

• Increased operational efficiency
• Greater safety
• Reduced use of air-time
• Dealing with emergencies

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Why national standards ?

• National teams
• Inter-agency work
• Cross border operations
• European policinguse of English
• Combining text and speech

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Operational communication

• 25 years of research and development, including
• Maritime Radio (Seaspeak)
• Vessel Traffic Control
• Air Traffic Control
• Inter-Agency (Intacom)

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for police forces

• PoliceSpeak
• Police Call-handling
• Computer Mediated Police Messaging (LinguaNet)
• Forensic linguistics

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What are Standard Radio Practices (SRP) ?

• Simple recommendations for language usage, based
  on
• Existing good practices
• Prior regional work
• New nation-wide research
• The possibilities of the new technology
• Major incident procedures

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Recommendations for language usage

• Protocols
• Keywords
• Formats
• Lets look at these more closely

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What will SRP Protocols cover ?

• Rules for interaction, for example
• Making, Maintaining and Breaking Contact
• Constructing Messages
• Message checking

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Where are Keywords helpful ?

• Within protocols (over, out, please repeat )
• For certain types of information, e.g.
• Units of measurement (location, time )
• Addresses locations
• Personal vehicle details (NASCH, CoMMuTeR)
• Message function (request, instruction)

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What will SRP Formats cover ?

• Formula messages, such as
• PNC checks
• Major incident reports, c.

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Three levels of SRP

• Mandatory
• Discretionary
• Recommended

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Do SRP improve communication (1) ?

• SRP for Kent Constabulary
• radio conversations ? 17
• words used ? 18
• individual transmissions ? 29
• transmissions per conversation ? 13
• (Source PoliceSpeak in Action)

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Do SRP improve communication (2) ?

• Garbled speech ? 38
• (Source PoliceSpeak in Action)

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Do SRP improve communication (3) ?

• Approval for SRP
• No formal training (29 officers) 65?
• Up to 2 hours (39 officers) 73?
• 2-4 hours (8 officers) 85?
• 4-8 hours (20 officers) 90?
• (Source PoliceSpeak in Action)

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The project will cover

• Making and maintaining contact
• Information markers
• Message construction
• Message checking
• Talk group phraseology
• Links to text and data
• Formatted messages
• Inter-agency issues
• Special operations

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Implementation of SRP

• One-days training
• Training materials
• Users Guide

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An exampleaffirmation

• (statement of answer, without YES)
• Affirmative
• All right then
• Aye go ahead
• Cheers
• Cheers thanks
• Confirm.
• Copied
• Copied thank you
• Excellent thank you
• Fine
• Fine go ahead.
• No problem
• Oh roger
• Okay not a prob
• Received thank you.
• Received thats the one
• Received.

• Right
• Right then
• Roger
• Roger thank you
• Roger that
• Roger there no problem
• Thank you
• Thats a received thank you.
• Thats copied
• Thats correct
• Thats received.
• Yeah
• Yeah 3545 weve just turned into Whitley Bay erm
  thats received.
• Yeah copied
• Yeah copied thank you
• Yeah no problem
• Yeah not a problem.

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Continued (2)

• Right
• Right then
• Roger
• Roger thank you
• Roger that
• Roger there no problem
• Thank you
• Thats a received thank you.
• Thats copied
• Thats correct
• Thats received
• Understood
• Yeah
• Yeah 3545 weve just turned into Whitley Bay erm
  thats received.
• Yeah copied
• Yeah copied thank you
• Yeah no problem
• Yeah not a problem.

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Continued (3)

• Yeah thats copied thank you
• Yeah thats copied yeah thank you
• Yeah thats it
• Yeah thats received
• Yeah thats right
• Yeah thats the one
• Yeah will do
• Yep
• Yep no bother at all.
• Yep standby.
• Yep thats no bother at all.
• Yes as copied

• Yes copied
• Yes copy
• Yes go ahead
• Yes it does have thank you
• Yes monitored thank you
• Yes no bother at all.
• Yes thats affirmative
• Yes yes all copied thank you
• Yes, yes
• Yes, yes go on
• Yes, yes LB no probs
• Yes, yes thank you.

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Analysis

• In 800 radio turns, 60 different forms of
  affirmation
• These express 3 major functions
• What you say is correct
• I have received that
• I will comply
• With SRP, there would be only 3 different forms

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Another example please wait

• Ill do you a hash DL if you give uz two seconds.
  
• Just hang on see if I can find it
• Yes thats affirmative erm standby
• Standby a couple of seconds Im dealing with a
  high three vehicle RTC just two seconds
• standby if its urgent
• Yep standby Ill do it for you now
• Yeah just hang on Ill do it
• Ill just check

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Analysis

• In 300 radio turns, 8 different ways of asking a
  caller to wait
• A total of 46 words (7.75 words per item)
• With SRP, there would be one form, 16 words (2
  words per item)

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Op Com research as applied linguistics (1)

• Driven by the need to solve a problem
• Collaboration with the professionals
• Solutions determined by
• A) wide theoretical base
• B) detailed analysis to the level required
• C) what works in practice
• D) what the professionals will accept

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Op Com research as applied linguistics (2)

• Focus on situated language patterns practice
  (ecological view)
• Theory formulated on the basis of the problem
• Theory revised in the light of practical outcomes
• Development of a coherent theory of the nature of
  language

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Operational Communicationapplied linguistics at
work

• End of presentation