ABSTRACT
The discourse of global aviation, particularly the communicative processes at work between airline pilots and air traffic controllers (ATCs) is markedly different from other registers of professional spoken language. Despite its complexity, pilots and ATCs are typically able to manage to move heavy pieces of machinery all over the world to permit global travel, troubleshoot emergency situations, and avoid accidents. Aeronautical radiotelephony is used by pilots and ATCs to exchange relevant information during the course of a complete flight. The International Civil Aviation Organization has provided phraseology to be used in conjunction with plain operational language to standardize and manage these aeronautical communications. Investigating the function of questions in pilot–ATC communication, S. W. Hinrich compiled a corpus of 24.5 hours of air traffic communications at the Toronto and Dublin airports. The aim of this dissertation was to examine how questions are used by ATC and pilots to repair and find or clarify miscommunications.
