ABSTRACT
That there exists some kind of correlation between human language behaviour and the creation, extension and consolidation of business networks seems intuitively to be true. But demonstrating this as a fact is exceptionally difficult. Faced with this challenge, we are taking the unusual step of probing a distinct historical period for insights into the nature of the language of business as an occupation-specific form of language in its own right. This might seem at first glance to be both irrelevant and self-indulgent. It follows that an explicit motivation for this chapter is to refute that proposition.
