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Cap II Lexical Features of Specialized Discourse The main lexical features of specialized discourse are: monoreferentiality ( kind of reference that you set between language and its meaning) It is the most distinctive feature of specialized lexis. The term monoreferentiality signal that in a given context only one meaning is allowed. Indeed, term and concept are related by a fixed “ definingagreement” whereby the term cannot be suitably substituted by a synonym but only by its definition or a paraphrase. Monoreferentiality is limited to the disciplinary field in which a term is employed. It is not surprising that dictionaries list several definition of the same term, each applicable to a separate context. The difficulty of substituting a term with its synonym has major consequences for lexical choices made in the textualisation of specialized discourse and produces a certain lexical repetition. Consequently while in literary texts the type/token ratio is around 1, in specialized texts it drops to far lower values. As a result the number of lexical items found in each specialized field isnot particularly large. The relative dearth of lexical resources in each discipline is due primarly to the scientific community’s effort to avoid alternative terms for the same concept. This need arose in the 17th-18th centuries in response ro research by such pioneers as Galileo, Newton and Lavoiser. Lack of emotion Another feature of specilized languages is their lack of emotive connotations. Unlike words terms have a purely denotative function. The word Lion for instance is generally associated with such qualities as fierceness, aggressiveness, pride etc.. in specialized language these connotations are lost. For zoologist, lion means a specific feline species. Precision Every term must point immediately to its own concept. This requirement excludesthe reclurse to indirect systems through such devices as euphemism. As e idence of the inappropriateness of euphemisms in legal language,reference may be made to the case mentioned by Pannick of a Cambridge don reportedto the academic authorities for immoral behaviour towards students. The complaint however was insufficient for the professor to be charged because of the euphemistic wording used by the authorities” she was walking with a member of the University. Despite their insistence that in academic circles the expression was an equivalent of the more overt form “ to be in company with an undergraduate for an immoral purpos3” the court rejected the University’s complaint on the grounds that “ to be walking with a member of the Iniversity” does not constitute a criminal offence under common law or any official law or explicit rule contained in the statute of the University. Despite the sworn statement made to the court bt ghe Pro-Proctor of the University of Cambridge,confirming that the expression clearly referred to the professor’s immoral behaviour ( she was defined to be a reputed prostitute) the judge upheld the literal meaning of the complaint. Transparency It is the possibility to promptly access a term’s meaning through its surface form.an idea should refer directly to the facts observed, likewise the terms used should immediately suggest the idea they express. The use of mostly Greek-based sufgixes date sas far back as the Middle Ages and the Renaissance although the best choice when coining a neologism was often a matter of the author ‘s personal preference. An example of this is the surviving use of the sufgix -ptera proposed by Linnaeus for each order of insects: Hemiptera, Hymenoptera, Diptera. A considerable advantage affored by the kind of system is its extension of the principle of transparency also to other fields where the separate lexical components of a specialised term can easily be decoded to reconstruct the meaning of the whole word. The convenience of this system for lexical formation is illustrated
by the following example: when processing the term “gastroenterology “ we recognise its components gastro,entero and logy, which in turn point to three semantic equivalences: gastro:stomach,entero: instestine,logy: study. By joining these part-mean8ngs together, the overall meaning of the term gastroenterology is identified as “study of the stomach and intestine”. Conciseness Conciseness means that concepts are expressed in the shortest possible form. The need for conciseness generally leads to a reduction in textual surface, as for example in zero derivation which allows the omission of affixies. Examples are saldo from saldare or rimborso from rimborsare ( no suffix). Another neological pricess in this class is the merging of two lexemes into a single term. The italian informatica or telematica produced by the merging of telecomunicazione and informatica. In other case greater conciseness is achived through reduction of the term itself either internally or terminally. Another type of conciseness device observed in specialized languages is juxtaposition. Sometimes conciseness in specialized discourse relies on acronyms and abbreviations. Conservatism ( this happen in law; to keep the same things for several years) For example in shipping contracts the term “bill of lading” includes an antiquated form of the modern word loading, which has survuved to this day only in this kind of document. Some disciplines are conservative to the utmost degree, an example of this in legal lexis are the antiquated forms whosoever,wherefore,thereof. The archaic nature of legal discourse is also seen in the use of third-person singular -eth with the present indicative of verbs that in modern English bear the morpheme -s. A similar case is the obsolete auxiliary form doth instead of its modern equivalent does. Reforming legal discourse Legal discourse has often been criticised even by legal experts. In Utopia, for instance Thomas Mode has no place for lawyers in his ideal world, because they are a “sort of people whose profession is to disguise matters”. Even worse is Jonathan Swift’s opiniom of the profession described in Gulliver’s Travels. In the 1970s the need for reform in legal language gave tise in the United States to the Plain English Movement, whose efforts to obtain a reform of legal language eventually convinced President Jimmy Carter to issue guidelines for the use of clear and simple English in all government documents but soon spread to other public and private organisations, such as banks and insurance companies, which revised the standard exprassions allowed in their forms and contracts. This reforming movement has been so strong in the US that it has inspired similar movemnets in other countries for clearer language in the drafting of government circulars and statues. It is in the field of business and governmental documents that the simplifying action of the Plain Language Movement has been more successful. Redundancy in specialized discourse Some specialized languages contain instances of redundancy. Legal language displays the highest occurence of violations of the principle of conciseness. Crystal and Davy’s analysis of the legal discourse, for example, stresses the habit of English legal drafters to emply two interchangeable terms for the same concept: e.g new and novel, false and untrue… Each of these pairs cleraly consists of a neo-Latin term coupled with an Anglo-Saxon parallel- a practice rooted in the age following the Norman Invasion, when England had two spoken languages: English and Norman French. The relationship with general language Semantic evolution very often originates from the specialisation of word meaning in the general language, Williams observes that such terms as experiment and experience have acquired an increasingly precise specification, which now denotes two separate types of knowledge: objective observation based on experimental evidence ( experiment) and subjective knowledge acquired
lenght. Some examples of the results of this compression technique are alphameric (derived from alphanumeric) digitize ( from digitalize). 1.2 Neology ( words that don’t exist in English) When new words are required and cannot be borrowed from general English, or other specialized languages or from foreign languages, they are expressly created for the purpose. There are some cases in which origin of a certain form is difficult to trave. This might be the case of the word byte, whose various suggested explanations a blend of bit and bite or an acronym of the expressionBinary digIT Eight. One of the process most frequently employed is that of derivation. By means of the mist common prefixes and suffixes present in general English and used also in other specialized languages, new computer science terms are formed. Some example are autcode, debug, interfix,kilobyte. Another process very frequently used is analogy. By means of this technique a new word is formed by being modelled on an already existing lexeme. An example of thus is the term software, created on the analogy of hardware. The use of similes is another technique of word-formation which commonly appears in the language of computer science. This process is generally employed to coin new expressions which refer to the aspect or the category of an item; some examples are: bridge connector, banana plug, star connection. In a few cases these similes are made more explicit by the addition of the words shaoed and type. Another way of making computer shorter is the blending of the various e,ements into single words. Some examples of these words are bit ( from binary digit), infocenter ( from information centre) modem ( from modulator). An interesting case of shorten3d terms is represented by pixel, which is the result of the blending of the words pictures element. The derivation of words from a colloquial register of the language is confirmed by other terms such as bootstrap ( meaning the technique of loading a program into a computer by means of certain preliminary instructions which in turn cann in instructions to read programs and data). Idioms and colloquialisms are not very likely to occur. 1.3 Acronymy and abbreviation The need to make groups of words as coincise as possible leads the computer specialist to create a great many acronyms. The number of these is very high. The desire of the specialistto create actonymsin such a way as to be mire easily remembered and to immediately suggest specific ideas of their decoders is more evident if we try to explain the insertion of certain letters besides the initials of various words giving origin to the acronym. A confirmation that the latters is an abbreviation and not an acronym comes from the use of the article an in front of it, as shown by the following quotatio:<< An FAQ list is a compendium of accomulated lore…. In an attempt to forestal FAQs. ( questo capitolo usa quello che abbiamo visto nel capitolo 2). Cap 3: Syntactic Features of Specialized Discourse Scholars investigating specialized languages have often argued that these are equipped with unique syntactic patterns which do not occur in general language. Charrow claims that legal discourse follows specific syntactic rules. The specificity of morphosyntactic phenomena found in specialized discourse is not a qualitative but a quantitative one. The main syntactic features displayed by specialized texts are: Omission of phrasal elements A very common,straightforward way to make the sentence more coincise is to omit one of its constituents. Omission is especially frequent in specialized texts,although some of the phenomena identified in the literature are related to the channel employed rather than the specificity of a given language. Omission of articles and auxiliaries in fa es and emails for business communication as an example of this aspect of specialized discourse, forgetting that such omissions are not instrumental to the subject matter but rather to the channel of communication, which for external reasons requires a reduction to the minimum in the number of words employed. Omission of
phrasal elements in specialized texts is due to the need for conciseness. For example, in the following excerpt from a technical manual, articles are often omitted to make the text more compact ( the asterisk shows that an article would normally be presented in that position): Ex. Rubber plug method of tubeless ture repair ( riparazione di pneimatici senza camera d’aria). (No article: uncountable, contable used in a general way. )The omission of articles and prepositions is a standard feature of instructions also in Italian manuals, as illustrated by such expressions as premere pulsante A. The omission of the article also be found in legal texts, as in proporre ricorso, presentare istanza. Expressive conciseness ( try to short a sentence by using other sintactic structure) The linguistic strategies employed in English specialized texts to avoid relative clauses and make sentence structure “lighter”. A first possibility commony employed in specialized texts is the substitution of relative clauses with adjectives usually obtained by means of affixation such as Workable metal ( metal which can be worked) or Reactive force ( force which reacts). Another device adopted to simplify a relative clause containing a passive form consists in omitting its subject and auxiliary such as: Pieces of iron left in the rain because rusty. (= pieces of iron which are left in the rain because rusty)—> General English prefers the one in braket, specialized discourse prefers the first. The passive construction is also avoided by turning the verb into a past participle and using the latter a premodifier: -compressed air can be used for several purpose (=Air which is compressed can be used for several purposes). If the agent is to be stated, it is placed before the past participle; the link between the two elements is made explicit by means of a hyphen: The car has a water-cooledengine (= the car has an engine which is cooled by water). By exploiting the shared knowledge concerning the negative value of the prefix un- , negative clauses are often omitted and this prefix is added to the past participle used as a premodifier: The unwanted liquid was thrown away. (= the liquid which was not wanted was thrown away). When the passiv form is modified by an adverb, the latter is joined by means of a hyphen to the past participle of the verb and placed before the noun: An incorrectly-designed bridge may have a short life ( =a bridge which is designed incorrectly may have a short life) The use of thus, so adverbs followed by a gerund form confers greater conciseness to the sentence: When the piston is drawn sharply unwards, the air below the piston rises, thus causing the pressure to fall.(= when the piston is drawn sharply upwards, the air below the piston rises, and in this way it causes the pressure to fall.) Another adverb commonly used in English to avoid a relative pronoun is Whereby: Cracking is the process wherby kerosene is extracted(= cracking is the process by means of which kerosene is extracted). Another strategy to reduce the complexity of a sentence consists in the transformation of the verb of a relative clause into a present participle: Tungsten is a metal relating hardness at red-heat (= Tungsten is a metal which retains hardness at red-heat. This strategy is often used also in Italian specialized te t sas the following examples show: un mobile cadente da un piano superiore (=un mobile che cade da un piano superiore)—> now is not used in italian. The present participle is often used as an adjective: A robot controls the moving line. (= a robot controls the line which is moving)
At time the loss of verbal value is so marked that the verb is omitted altogether. An example of this is found in the following dialogue (pag 61), in this description of a patient’s condition, there is no verb but merely a series of noun group. The verb may be easily inferred, however, because its function is only copulative. Use of elliptic sentences like this one does not deplete the text’s communicative force but makes its content denser and more concise, adding a quality that is highly prized among specialists in the field. Lexical density In specialized discourse one consequence of frequent nominalization is lexical density: ahigh percentage of content words within a text. It is especially high in written texts, where duscourse is planned more carefully, without hesitation markers and with less redundancy. Meaningfull words: have a meaning ( nouns,verbs..); grammar words, just help the meaningful words ( auxiliars,articles..exc). Sentence complexity Another effect of nominalization is the simplification of syntactic structures within the sentence. By switching from verbal to nominal forms, specialists tend to semplify the surface structure of sentences, which are minimized into simple patterns of the type NOUN PHRASE+VERB++ NOUN PHRASE. Noun phrases are usually very complex, involving lengthy pre- and post-modification, while the verb phrase often consists of a copulative verb like be,become,form,mean,require. An example in this class is the following: The complete development of the fracture model requires an understanding of the bond-repture reaction. The sentences of specialized texts usually exhibit a high number of non-finite forms, the use of non-finite verb forms does not generally involve distinctive syntactic rules but only those applicable to general language. The following non-finite subordinate is employed to avoid coordination and another main clause: The starter motor is switched off, the engine accelerating under its own power(= the starter motor is switched off, and the engine accelerates under its own power). In the following example we have the elimination of coordination; to introduce the result or consequence of the action mentioned in the main clause, the secondary clause containing the non-finite verbal form is preceded by the adverb thereby: The rivet contracts as itcools, thereby drawing the plates together.(= the rivet contracts as it cools, and draws the plates together.) Sentence lenght ( the exeption: legal language, instead of short (redundancy), keep adding details. Written specialized texts are encoded by far longer sentences than those found in general language. The considerable sentence lenght of legal texts is due to the high number of items required to minimise ambiguity and misunderstanding. This is due to the need of maximum clarity and to minimise ambiguity and misunderstanding.(Clarity is more important than grammatical correction for legal texts (ambiguity is not tolerate). Increased lenght often implies ore complexrelations between a noun and its postmodifiers. It is easy to explain the considerable lenght of sentences in English legal writing, generally twice that of the other specialized languages. It is due to the rare occurence of devices that condense the surface lenght of a sentence,such as nominal attributes, pre-modification,main clauses reduced to subordinates, omission of relative clauses, frequent use of non-finite rather than finite verbs. Use of verb tenses In specialized discourse we can see a prevalence of 10 verb tenses:
- Present simple active form (64%)
- Present simple passive form (25%)
- Future simple active form (3,7%) In the great majority of cases the present indicative tense is considered a feature of specialized languages. It is due to the fact that most of the common communicative functions found in s.d call for the use of this verb tense. The first conclusion is that the present indicative tense is not associated to the specificity of the topic but rather to the text’s special communicative purposes. On the other handa frequent use of past indicative tenses was found in texts dealing with topic of rocks and formation emplacement. In conclusion we can say that verb forms are chosen not according to the time axis of the events concerned but according to rethorical factors linked to the type text and topic. Use of the passive In English the passive is the main device used to depersonalise discourse. The pervasiveness of the passivemay be accounted for by its usefulness as a depersonalising device in specialized discourse,which generally emphasises the effect or outcome of an action rather than its cause or originator. The agent is normally omitted in passive clauses for different reasons: bevause is often the same for all the operations described, because there is no specific actor behind a given action: this accounts for stative verb forms expressing a condition rather than an event. The passive is also important in textual terms, as it is normally employed to thematize the process, fact or action mentioned in a previous sentence, which makes the flow of information more effective and natural. No purely syntactic explanation can account for the switch between active and passive voice. Both forms can be used within the sametext for different communicative purposes. Ex. We can divide 9 by 3 without a remainder; 9 can be divided by 3 without a remainder; 9 is divisible by 3 without a remainder; The division of 9 by 3 leaves no remainder. The choice is determined by pragmatic-textualfactors rather than syntactic considerations. Their importance in the textualisation process varies according to the type of textor specialized field and cannot be generalised Depersonalisation The pervasiveness of passivization coupled with the absence of an explicitagent suggests the presence in specialized texts of a tndency to depersonalise discourse. Depersonalisation isa process which decreases the human component ( subjectivity) and increases the personification of the object. Increased use of depersonalisation is also confirmed by a very common feature of specialized texts: the author referring to himself indirectly through third-person pronounsand
professional engagements, specialists learn to follow given norms and patterns in each type of text; the conventional use of genres also produces certain expectations among their audiance, and whenever the rules are broken a text is misunderstood or rejected. For instance, the research article usually consists of INTRODUCTION-PROBLEM-SOLUTION-CONCLUSIONS. IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES the standard sequence is introduction- theory-problem-experiment-comment- conclusions. The EXPERIMENT section may be subdivided into project-method-materials-results. Textual standardisation occurs in all disciplinary fields and is strongest when a text is not free- standing but is the redrafting of an earlier text, incorporating all data reflecting the new comditions. This is the method followed for drafting legal contracts which are often based on pre- printed forms with spaces for parties’ names and special clauses to meet individual requirements. A similar case is found in business correspondence, with the main types of letter generally grouped into categories according to their pragmatic function: enquires,offers, orders, complaints etx. Each category follows a standard pattern, with certain sections arranged in a set sequence. Besides the structure shared by all business letters- with an opening ( sender’s and receiver’s addresses,date,reference numbers,salutation) a body (containing the letter’s main content) and a closing section ( greetings, signature and reference to attachments) there is a conventional pattern for each type of letter. An order for goods is generally organised as follows:
- Reference to a previous offer
- Order for the goods required
- Instructions concerning packing, delivery,insurance etc
- Specification of the method of payment preferred. Business letters do not normally require much creative effort on the writer’s part, because the sender tends to use standardised letter formulae stored in his computer files; these are customized by adding details about the transaction concerned. The standardisation of business communication also makes texts shorter,more concise and comprehensible to the reader-a key factor in specialized transactions and global communication. Textual organisation
Swales has analysed several genres of acad micwritings, a chapter of his book is devoted to research articles in English and a detailed analysis of its various parts is provided. As regards introductory sections of scientific articles, he has identified a general structure, called CARS ( create a research space) model. The different microacts and macroacts in specialized texts generally coincide with the pragmatic dimension of general language. Speech acts ( very important in legal texts) Here the wording of text is crucial, as the use or insertion of a given expression may alter the act’s value. Accordingly , the value of legal act often hinges on the Use of a specific formula. A will, for example, is valid only if it contains the phrase I bequeath,while a wedding’s validity requires the formula I pronunce you husband and wife. Language in the law is probably more performative than in any other field. Indeed the mere statement of guilt or innocence pronounced by a judge makes the culprit guilty. Similiarity, a court can declare legally “deceased” a person who has been missing for a long time, ev n if that person may have moved to another country or changed his identity and therefor is not, physically speaking,dead. The importance of speech acts with a performative orientation,with a first-person singular pronoun and a conventional formula makingth act legally valid,is confirmed by the following transcription of questioning in the courtroom, where the accused admits guilt (i did it)but only pleads guilty from a legal point of view at a later stage. Ex pag 99 Locutionary—> surface level Illocutionary —> function(what you do) Perlocutionary—> what you obtain Cap 5: The Development of Specialized Discourse in the 17th Century The great methodological developments taking place in the 17th century determined the need for corresponding changes both in the ways of communicating the new discoveries attained by means of innovative producers and apparatus, and in the expressive tool to be used to describe and argue about the new phenomena observed and analysed. Some criticism required the adoption of a new language, Galileo for example pointed out the need for a novel specialized language based
oharaphrase or a synonym when they firstly appear in the text,or they write a glissary atthe end of the book.
- The transparency of a language Apart from these processes of word-formation, the operation of creating new words adopted other criteria based on transparency. The principleof transparency is extremely important in specialized discourse. Thespecialistcreated terms in such a way that their form clearly reflect the concept to which it referred.For example, Recorde invented terms such as tweylike and threlike triangles for isosceles and equilateral triangles. Arthur Golding created the word fleshstrings for muscles. These transparent terms were obtained by means of juxtaposition, favoured by the brevity of English words, which were mainly monosyllabes.
- The conciseness of the language Specialists pointed out that sentences should be as coincise as possible, this stylistic indication was codified by the Royal Society and accepted by the 17th century scientists. Particular emphasis was put on the criteria of economy and directness of reference: the principle of monoreferentiality was seen as fundamental in specialized literature. This is way in this period we find a strong condemnation of metaphors, specialist attacked the eloquence by men of science seen as superfluity of talking. This brought to a radical reform in the use of language, concerning:
- A revision of the English tomgue
- The adoption of a new tool of expression (which implied the use of languages other than English)
- The evolution of the syntax The 17th century also showed interseting developments in the syntactic features of specialized texts. Here changes took place in a non-explicit way:
- Sentences were quite long, with many noun phrases.
- The verb started assuming the copular function
- Sentences were simple,with few or no subordinate clauses ( preference for co-ordination)
- Preference for the use of nouns deriving from verbs: increase in the use of nominalization
- Tendency towards depersonalization and the use of a more impersonal style. Conlusions In the 17th century there was a great increase in the lexis of the language obtained through the adoption of the various possibilities that the language offered: addition of meanings to terms already in use, derivation from existing lexical items by means of affixation,borrowing from other languages. From the syntactic point of view during the centuries following the 17th there was an increase in the process of nominalization and objectification of specilaized discourse. Cap 6: The Origins of the Experimntal Essay ( name ofresearch artcles before 10th cent) Experiments based—> research based on an emphirical hard science. The innovative characteristics of this new text type derived from the great importance attributed to the experimental process in the research programmes of Early Modern Nglish men of scienc shared theorinciple that the progress of knowledge could not be based on the servileobservance oftraditional theory, but should rely on the observation of natural phenomena and accurate experimental activity. According to Bacon,therefor, the correct way for a scientist to deal with past theory should be to “read not to contradict and confute,nor to believe and take for granted but to weigh and consider”. The attitude taken by the large group of scientists who in the 17th century promoted the formation of Royal Society was to based the evidence of their theoretical claims on direct experience and personal observation. These new researcher convinced that many natural philosophers in the past had been anxious to provide explanations and theories before having enough evidence to base them on,and
emphasized therefore the need for an experimental approach, so as to collect abundant data from which correct generalizations could be derived. Old English: germanic invasion: 5th century to 11th century ( similar to old german) Middle english : normqn invasion: linguistic consequencies Early Modern English. -Dialogue: pretend that there ar characters that interprets the new/old theoryes-> function to ask questions or make criticism. The pubblicity given to the work of the members of the Royal Society would further distinguish them from the group of alchemists, who considered secrecyone of th main characteristics of their research method. To carry out their communicative task, scientists needed a new expository form, the main forms available to the scientists were the essay( used for literaryor philosophical purposes retained unsuitable for scientific purposes ,the dialogue and the treatise (trattato), more suitable for long issues and when the purpose was mainly argumentative. ( essay: short experiments, like 1 chapter; treatise: more to say). Genres difference according to: function, community, style.
- The main features of experimental essays Early Modern English Experimental Essays main features are:
- brevity: essays do not impress with magnificent speech but they just explain the experimnt. It avoid devices such as digretion etc.. American english has much older lexis because it remains isolated from th french influence: changes in the kexis from 7th century. The precision of the narration is also visible in th use of very specific terminology appropiate to specialized writings.
- Lack of assertivenss ( say something and you are usre of what you are saying) Not a final truth but the write because they wish that something will find in the solution: just what they do and what they found but not a theory. There is no need for the author to artive at definite conclusions, the data are to be reported as they are observed. This principles enables writers to report also experiments that have been unsuccessful.
- Perspicuity ( write in a clear way in order to be understood) The style of experimental essay should be different from that of literary and philosophical works. It should consist of clear expression and use no rethorical devices.The author should adopt a “philosophical” rather than a rethorical style, this is the reason why in several scientific texts we find a strong condemnation of metaphors,seen as deceitful devices. Rethorical devices are not to be banned completely, but they should be avoided when unnecessary.Boyle stresses the importance of writing in a clear language so that everybody can decode the contents, he criticized those who use obscure language, for example “alchemists”, and he suggested a close relationship between the author’s clarity of language and his honesty of behaviour. The members of the Royal Society condemned the unjustified use of foreign loans when other English word with same meaning are available. Butt hey are also aware that the recourse to soecific terminology is at times unavoidable. Scintists also criticized the polysemy characterising most words.
- Simplicity of forms The experimental essay is characterized by a plain style, with simpl verb-forms and sntence constructions. The voice commonly used is active, so as to emphasize the experimenter’s actions. There is also appropriate use of passive forms to underline unexpected results or in reporting how certain standardized procedures have been carried out.
