Cruzando las fronteras de la comunicacion profesional entre Mexico y los Estados Unidos. A descriptive context-sensitive rhetorical text analysis of the form, function, and emerging hybrid discourse of professional communication on a United States/Mexico

This dissertation explores the form and function of written professional communication on a US/Mexico border through a combined method of descriptive and context-sensitive rhetorical text analysis. Data is comprised of Spanish and English documents (letters and memorandums) from six border companies, three from each side of the El Paso, Texas/Juarez, Chihuahua border.;These border documents are analyzed through multiple passes for identifiable linguistic and rhetorical patterns in visual design, language usage, style, speech acts, the manifestation of interpersonal relations within the texts, and attention to audience and purpose. Documents are also analyzed for evidence of linguistic features typically identified with Mexican business discourse such as indirectness about purpose, ornateness and fluidity in style, and the placement of higher emphasis on personal rather than business issues. Identifiable patterns are isolated and more closely reviewed and interpreted to determine their significance and validity as recurrent rhetorical writing behaviors of Mexican/American border professionals.;Contrary to dichotomous analyses that create an essentialist division between Americans and Mexicans---"Us Vs. Them"---overall findings of this study suggest that, in general, the texts of Mexican/American border professionals are direct, purposeful, and practical, exhibiting attention to audience through interpersonal hybrid expressions of formal and conversational style that reflect everyday language as well as more formal business discourse. Additionally, neither the Mexican or American border texts give primary attention to personal matters but, rather, focus on the "business" of the text.;Thus, the Mexican/American documents analyzed here show characteristics of being both reader- and business-oriented, suggesting a decline in the "traditional," overly-formal, obsequious style of Mexican professional communication, and---perhaps because of the geographical uniqueness of border regions---suggesting that both sides of this US/Mexico border are adopting, and adapting to, shared communicative standards and practices in professional communication.