RIASSUNTI GOTTI - INVESTIGATING SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

Primo riassunto
DEFINING THE NOTION OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

1920s-1930s Prague school gives attention to functional style, which characterizes scientific and
technical discourse. At first the approach was conservative (classify discourse at lower level,
separated from the language that we use every day). After 2nd World War it attempted to identify
the morphosyntactic, lexical and stylistic features of the technical language.

Uncontextualised view (Chomsky) ----------- contextualised (social relationship, geographic

varieties). So there is the use of subcodes, chosen by a determined community of users (they serve a
circumscribed field of experience and can be said they have their own grammar and dictionary).

Register analysis turned its attention to the description of any feature that diverges from the
common language and the lexical dimension is very important.

Register analysis has also helped the passage from a quantitative approach to a qualitative approach.
(Sometimes phenomena classified as specialized discourse have turned out not to be so (for ex.
words by people who have difficulties in pronunciation).

In English technical language there is the omission of contracted forms. The communicative
situation combines several contextual factors which distinguish different genres. (The schema at
pag. 20 distinguish text production in: -WRITTEN: frozen (official documents) / formal (opinions)
-SPOKEN COMPOSED: frozen (marriage, instructions) / formal (lawyers’ examinations and
arguments) -SPOKEN SPONTANEOUS: consultative (lawyer client interaction) / casual (lobby
conferences, lawyers conversations). So there are written text that are more/less formal…And oral
text that can have different levels of formality.

The choice of TERMINOLOGY can appear secondary, but it is central. In specialized discourse we
have a restricted code (ex. ‘flight control communication’, that is based on standard messages).
Special languages denote languages with special rules, used in the telecommunication sector.

We classify register according to 3 parameters: -MODE (channel of communication) -FIELD(place

of interaction) -TENOR (social roles, status of participants). The use of specialized terminology
depends on speaker’s profession and his knowledge. This is the jargon (often the message is
incomprehensible to outsiders).

There is a distinction between different specialized languages, because “specific” doesn’t

necessarily imply the presence of exclusive rules. As a general language, rules can by applied in
different situations. There are 3 different situation (by Widdowson):

1. If the addressees share a considerable amount of knowledge, the author can make frequent use of
specialized terminology (scientific exposition)

2. When the specialist address non-specialists to explain notion of the discipline (scientific
instruction) 3. A specialist provides information of a technical nature through everyday lexis, in
order to rich a wide
audience (scientific journalism) Specialized concepts There are non verbal elements in the deep
structure of specialized

discourse, on the assumption that they are universal and independent of any single language

TEXTUALIZATION Verbal (text) / non verbal (formulae, diagrams, tables)

Verbal non verbal 1

Hoffman provides a list of qualities of specialized discourse:

1. Simplicity and clarity

2. Objectivity

3. Abstractness

4. Generalization

5. Density of information

6. Brevity

7. Emotional neutrality

8. Unambiguousness

9. Impersonality

10. Logical consistency

11. Use of defined technical terms, symbols and figures

But they are not applicable to all specialized languages and its various genres. There are also
inconsistencies, because the need of clarity can conflict with simplicity. So Sager suggests 3
dominant criteria in the specialized discourse:

1. ECONOMY 2. PRECISION 3. APPROPRIATENESS

They are interdependent. If conflicts arises between the first two, the third becomes decisive:

APPROPRIATENESS IS THE MEASUERE OF EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTENCTION AS

IT IS EXPRESSED AND UNDERSTOOD IN A MESSAGE AND, AT THE SAME TIME, IT
ARBITRATES BETWEEN PRECISION AND ECONOMY.

The first two are subordinated in terms of quantity and quality.

The third reminds to concepts that can be observed also in general language.

2
LEXICAL FEATURES OF A SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

1. MONOREFERENTIALITY

It is the most distinctive feature of specialized lexis. It signalizes that only one meaning is allowed
in a context. Every term signals a concept and condenses the semantic value contributed by the
defining process which generated it. It means that users are forced to create new terms in order to
define new concepts without ambiguity or misunderstandings.

In technical jargon, specialized texts can be classed as lexically “poor”, because the number of
lexical items found in each specialized field is not particularly large.

(The importance of creating new terms dates back to 1700 when scientists in various parts of the
world told that each country needs clear expressions, directly connected to the meaning).

2. LACK OF EMOTION

It has a purely denotative function

Ex. word “lion” pride, majesty, aggressiveness / “lion” for zoologists is a feline.

So the tone of specialized discourse is neutral, other meanings derive from the arrangement of
concepts.

It is evident that lack of emotion prevails in texts that are very informative .

3. PRECISION

Every term must point immediately to its own concept.So it excludes euphemism. (from Wikipedia:
euphemisms are used in a variety of situations for numerous reasons. A person who wishes to be
vague might conceal words that are too precise in the social context. Euphemistic language is also
used to replace crude or inappropriate language).

4. TRASPARENCY

The possibility to access a term’s meaning through its surface form, to allow readers to immediately
identify the nature of the compound concerned. Every science comprises three elements: a body of
facts, the ideas based on these facts and the worlds used to express such ideas. The terms used
immediately suggest the idea they express.

In science there are lots of classical worlds, because in 18 th scientists decided not to use general
language, to avoid misunderstandings.

One of the most important elements ensuring transparency in specialized discourse is the affix ex. –
ite (calcite, fluorite, magnetite ecc). It denotes that all those things derive from other forms.

5. CONCISENESS
Concept expressed in the shortest possible form. Reduction of textual surface for ex. merging of
two terms in a single term, or the reduction of the term itself.

Another type is the juxtaposition which omits prepositions and premodifiers in nominal groups
containing two nouns. Sometimes in specialized discourse, conciseness relies on acronyms and
abbreviations.

6. CONSERVATISM

Old formulae are preferred to newly-coined words because of their century-old history and highly
codified, universally accepted interpretation.

Some disciplines are conservative ex.legal lexis are antiquated: -eth (the actual es) / doth (the actual
does).

Legal discourse has often been criticizes (often citizens don’t understand the legal procedures).

7. AMBIGUITY IN SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

Many texts do not respect the principal of monoreferentiality, they are ambiguous. Sometimes it is
not planned, while other times it is the result of author’s decision.

KEYNES says that use univocal terms is an obstacle, because concepts changes and they require
flexible expressions.

In his choice of everyday language he adopt a tripartite division proposed by Malthus (mathematical
/ natural / moral sciences and each type is characterized by a particular kind of language).

8. IMPRECISION IN SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

Precision is a prominent feature, it is a distinctive quality, but there are several exceptions to this
rule. One of the areas is legal language .. ex: a proper portion (of the rental) / a proper portion (in
monetary terms) / to enter the Property etc.

9. REDUNDANCY IN SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

Some specialized languages contain instances of redundancy, general a double use of lexical items.
It is a violation of the principle of conciseness the number of elements is higher than necessary.

Legal language violates this principle: words that now appear synonymous could be semantically
distinct in earlier centuries.

Probably this repetition derives from the Anglo Saxon repetition for the alliterative purposes, in fact
legal text are rich in assonances and alliterations (ex. to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing
but the truth).

10. SEMANTIC INSTABILITY

The semantic variation of words depends on cultural innovation. Sometimes this change is gradual.
The presence of new meanings which eventually replace existing ones may lead ambiguity, because
the two may overlap in actual use. For ex. “atom” points to the notion of indivisibility and
“hypnosis” to sleep.

11. THE RELATIONSHIP WITH GENERAL LANGUAGE

The specialization of words dates back to 17-18th because of the technological and scientific
developments.

Specialization process has produced new lexemes which are not longer appropriated (ex. worlds
like healing, treatments, therapy refers to the same semantic field, but the evolution of medical
science has changed their meaning).

5 phases of borrowings:

• Roman occupation of England

• 6th-7th religious terminology

• Classical borrowings during Renaissance

• 17th – 18th classical borrowings extended to general language

• The borrowings of the last two centuries still have their inflection and appear “foreign” to English
people.

And there is an interesting conceptual evolution. An ex. are the names of the body parts and they
equivalent adjective: brain/cerebral, heart/cardiac, skin/dermal etc.

12. METAPHOR IN SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

Metaphorisation: creation of terms drawn from general language. This process has a number of
advantages.

1. Termilogical transparency is produced by referring new concepts to pre-existing items within the
interlocutor’s semantic repertoire.

2. The choice of a given lexeme points immediately to a body of existing information known by the
interlocutor.

3. The tangible quality of images from physical world used to represent abstract and often complex
concepts that would otherwise be difficult to define.

“Dead metaphors”: metaphors established in everyday usage that their metaphoric value is hardly
perceived.

But metaphors are used not only among specialists. The use of words in a metaphoric context is
generally made to highlight the expressive connotation of a concept. “Shortened similes” are
metaphors in which the two terms have similar semantic values linked by an equivalence and their
value is purely stylistic and only adds connotation to the specialized term. In some cultures, like
Black culture, metaphors have also an interactive function: it arises when the second term does not
qualify the semantic features of the first term, but adds new ones ex. “man is a wolf”. It doesn’t
mean that man is aggressive or cruel, but he is put in a special light. Interactive metaphors contain
no explicit reference and have to be inferred by the interlocutor. The same kind of metaphor is
found in specialized discourse ex. “the brain is a computer” where direct association is established
between computer science and human functions.

Metaphors can generate imprecision and it depends on the immaturity of scholarship in the field,
when the semantic content is not yet well established. But imprecision can be positive, because it
stimulate specialists to improve definition of new theoretical concepts.

Metaphors have evocative power and allow the establishment of referential links at various levels of
language and in different experiential domains.

In language community there are different metaphors in specific semantic fields: Ex. I demolished
his argument / He shot down all my arguments / He attacked every weak point. Etc. (other ex. at
page 62-63).

13. LEXICAL PRODUCTIVITY

In specialized discourse there are words taken from general language, which are incorporated
through a process of specialization and metaphorisation. But also worlds coined in a specialized
setting are becoming part of everyday lexis. The high number of specialized terms (often
metaphorically) in general use has convinced many linguists that the lexical system is more
productive than the general. The process of terminological creation has followed the same rules
present in standard language. So the constant production of specialized terms depends on the rapid
evolution of disciplinary fields and the constant redefinition of existing terms and concepts.

SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF SPECILIZED DISCOURSE

There are syntactic patterns that don’t occur in general language. They do not contain any rules not
found in general language. The conclusion is that the specific morphosyntactic phenomena found in
specialized languages is quantitative and not qualitative. (Some forms can occur in general
language, but they have an high frequency in specialized discourse that are associated to specialized
languages).

1. OMISSION OF PRHASAL ELEMENTS A prominent characteristic of specialized discourse is

the compact syntactic structure. A common way to make the sentence more concise is to omit one
of its constituents. The omission of one element can be reconstructed by knowledge shared by the
language community. Sometimes there are omission of elements in faxes and emails for business
communication (ex. omission of the subject). Often in technical manuals, articles are omitted to
make the text more compact. The omission of articles and preposition is typical of Italian manuals
“premere pulsante A, accusare ricevuta ecc”. The omission of articles can also be found in legal text
“proporre ricorso, presentare istanza ecc”.

2. EXPRESSIVE CONCISENESS 6

Make the sentence denser. These do not follow rules restricted to specialized languages but
normally implement rules found also in general language.
• In specialized texts there is the substitution of relative clauses with adjectives, usually obtained by
means of affixation. Prefixes and suffixes adopted have precise semantic values, which enable the
decoder to interpret their communicative function.

• Another way is to simplify a relative clause containing a passive form consists in omitting its
subject and auxiliary (ex. pieces of iron left in the rain become rusty –> pieces of iron which are
left…) (This is particularly used when the relative clause refers to a concept explained previously).
If the agent is to be stated, the link between the two elements is mead explicit by an hyphen (ex. a
computer-calculated result a result which has been calculated by a computer). When the verb of a
relative clause is followed by the adverbial phrase ‘in this way’ we use “thus” and “so” to avoid the
relative clause and to avoid awkward coordinated clauses joined by the expression “and in this
way”.

• Another strategy to reduce the complexity of a sentence consists in the transformation of the verb
of relative clause into a present participle (tungsten is a metal retaining …is a metal which retains).
It is often adopted in Italian specialized texts The present participle is often used as an adjective (the
construction is possible also in general language, but more frequent in specialized (ex. a robot
controls the moving line...which controls).

3. PREMODIFICATION Is the phenomenon of relative clause reduction that switch from

postmodification to premodification. This transition is particularly evident in English, because
syntactic rules allow several adjectival uses of phrasal elements. -A distinctive aspect is the nominal
adjectivation (the use of a noun to specify another with an adjectival function. This type of
specification can cover such features as the material of which an item is made, its use, its function
and others. COMPOUNDS consisting of two short terms merge into a single term after a certain
period of use (flowchart, plugboard, sumcheck etc). Specialists show a preference for nominal
adjectivation which makes exposition denser.

-Another aspect is the frequent use of attributive nouns rather than adjectives. The maximum
number of items is generally six, but humans can remember few of them. And there are cases in
which noun compounds can be interpreted in different ways. Ex. A small car-factory (a small
factory for making cars) / (a factory for making small cars).

At times the ambiguities is generated by a polysemous premodifier Ex. silver lead ore (silver refers
to the mineral and the whole phrase denotes a mineral compound of silver and lead) Ex.2 silver
copper (silver refers to the colour and the whole group denotes NOT a metal combination of silver
and copper, but the silvery colour of a special type of copper).

The use of premodification offers advantages in terms of greater textual conciseness, but a loss of
conceptual clarity. At the same time premodification allows the construction of more complex
sentences (ex. the final compound can be used as subject, object or indirect object of another
sentence) The rate at which inflation grows / The rate of inflation growth / The inflation growth
rate.

Another advantage is the potential for concept formation. The combination of two or more terms
produces not only a union of existing concepts, but there is a rise of new concepts of a new nature,
adding new meanings and uses.

4. NOMINALIZATION It involves the use of a noun instead of a verb to convey concepts relating
to actions or processes. Specialized discourse makes frequent use of nominalization and this gives
an higher nominal density in it. But nominalization also occurs in general language.
7

Ex. the verb observe the noun observation : a day and night weather observation station (a station in
which people observe the weather both by day and by night). – other ex. at page 79.

By reintroducing concepts in thematic position, nominalization also allows an easier flow of

information from new to given, facilitating text development. In this way text acquire more
cohesion.

Nominalization allows the writer to emphasise verbal action through thematization. Ex. the verb
“discharge” is in thematic position – discharge of the contents of the tank is effected by a pump (the
contents of the tank are discharged by a pump).

The verb “to be” is often used as linkage between nominal or adjectival phrases that derives from
syntactic transformation of verbs with a strong semantic content. Ex. oscillations are frequency-
dependent (oscillations depend on frequency) The tyre is non-skid (the tyre does not skid) Danger is
practically no-existent (danger does not practically exist).

5. LEXICAL DENSITY One consequence of frequent nominalization is the increase of lexical

density (high percentage of content words in a text). Lexical density is very high in written text. A
more natural style, closer to spoken language makes concepts more explicit and requires more noun
phrases, but they make the text less compact. (page 82 text A / text B).

We can see that even if textual items have increased by almost 52% and the number of sentences
has risen from 5 to 17, content words are unchanged. There are only 3 extra items In text B there’s
more lex.dens.

6. SENTENCE COMPLEXITY One effect of nominalization is the simplification of syntactic

structures within the sentence. By switching from verbal to nominal forms specialists tend to
simplify the surface structure of sentences: NOUN PHRASE + VERB + NOUN PHRASE (n.p. are
usually very complex). By simplifying surface structure textual comprehension is easier.

In English there is the tendency to avoid subordinations. Ex. The testing of machines by this method
entails some loss of power (if machines are tested by this method, there will be some loss of power).

Also in this ex. there is the elimination of subordination. The secondary clause contains a non-finite
verbal form, precede by the adverb thereby, to introduce the result/consequence of the action
mentioned in the main clause. Ex. The rivet contracts as it cools, thereby drawing the plates
together (the rivet contracts as it cools and draws the plates together).

7. SENTENCE LENGTH Another factor which complicates the comprehension of specialized

discourse is sentence length. This happens specially for scientific or legal texts. The frequency of
finite verb forms and relative clauses creates a highly fragmented sentence structure, broken by
embedded sentences which in turn produce further subordinate clauses. So we need to minimize
ambiguity and misunderstandings. (Page 87).

8. USE OF VERB TENSES In specialized language there is a different use of verb tenses. In great
majority of cases (89%) the present indicative tense is considered a feature of specialized
languages. The present indicative it is not associated to the specificity of the topic, but to the text’s
special communicative purpose.
8

When the text is very complex, verbs are found more widely and approximate their use in general
language. When generality is high, the choice falls on simple present, while it falls on present
perfect when generality is low. If an event occurs once the simple past is preferred. So, verb forms
are not chosen according to the time, but are linked to the type of text and topic.

In specialized language there are a lot of non-infinite forms, rather than general language. -Present
participle is often employed to avoid relative clauses Ex. More and more research laboratories have
installed computing services operating in conversational mode (more and more research
laboratories have installed computing services which operate in conversational mode). -Also the use
of infinitive is not rare: Ex. the record to be located is searched in the file (the record which is to be
located is searched in the file). -Another non-finite form very used is the past participle, which is
the result of simplification of passive forms. Ex. When inserted the data will appear on the screen
(when they are inserted the data will appear …). -The “ing” form allows great simplification of the
sentences Ex. The results in the current being lower than if inductance were not present (the result
of this is that the current is lower than if inductance were not present).

9. USE OF THE PASSIVE In English it is used to depersonalize discourse. (Italian has the
impersonal operator “si”). The agent is normally omitted in passive clauses because it is the same
for all the operation described or because there is not a specific actor behind a given action. Ex. the
system is composed of… / the plate was located at… / The sensor is housed in…

The passive form allows the thematic element to identify given information, while new information
is normally presented rhematically.

An active voice is used to describe the author’s actions, while the passive refers to the actions of
others. The choice between active and passive forms may be influenced by sentence length.

10. DEPERSONALIZATION The absence of an explicit agent suggests the presence of specialized
texts of a tendency to depersonalize discourse. Ex. in scientific texts, we use the terms: demonstrate,
suggest, indicate, confirm etc. The constant depersonalization of scientific texts has produced
through centuries a whole range of personalized different forms. There is an increasing of
nominalization (ex. Smith’s suggestion is that). The use of depersonalization makes possible the
fact that an author refers to himself indirectly, through the 3rd person pronouns. (The research team
says that…) And with the depersonalization not only we have the omission of the subject –speaker,
but also a reduction of any direct reference to the interlocutor. (ex. Steel well backing should be
sufficiently thick so that the molten metal will not burn through the backing).

But depersonalization cannot be considered a general feature of all specialized discourse. In

argumentative texts, for ex, first person pronouns are used referring to the author, because they
convince the reader emphasising the argumentative structure of discourse. In argumentative
specialized text the author sometimes emphasizes his presence in the text: Ex. The classical theory
of employment has been based, I THINK, on two fundamental postulates… It is noticeable that an
author’s notoriety increases self confidence and the use of a more personal style.

TEXTUAL FEATURES
There are a number of features that distinguish specialized texts. Many of them are shared by all
type of texts, not only by specialized texts.

1. ANAPHORIC REFERENCE It increases textual cohesion. It forms the textual framework which
accounts for a text’s constituent features. This phenomenon is common in general language, less in
specialized. For example in legal writing lexical repetition is preferred. At times, however, there is
excessive recourse to lexical repletion even in cases where the risk of ambiguity is very slight or
inexistent. And the recourse to lexical repletion also takes place in those rare cases in which the text
employs anaphoric referential elements.

Legal texts need maximum precision and it is confirmed by the use of EXOPHORIC REFERENCE.
An ex. are the sentences containing vocative forms of the interlocutor’s surname (ex. Philip’s).

Quite often specialized discourse also uses cohesive devices to illustrate textual organization or
authorial intention more clearly. In this case LEXICAL ANAPHORA HAS PRAGMATIC
FUNCTION.

2. USE OF CONJUNCTIONS They not only add cohesion to texts but also have a pragmatic
function, which clarifies the purpose of the sentence that follows. (But, however, on the other hand,
since, for, because etc.)

3. THEMATIC SEQUENCE Refers to the sequence of the thematic items (TOPIC OR THEME)
and rhematic item (what it is said about the theme). There is a distinction between “given” and
“new”. The given item is often the same as the theme. (A standard paragraph sequence has each
new theme referring back to the rheme of the previous sentence t1, r1, t2, r2) This sequence makes
the text cohesive and coherent. But different variants exist (ex. t1, r1, t1, r2 parallel thematic
sequence). Another one is a model in which the rheme of the first sentence originates two different
themes (scheme pag. 110).

Any information considered of secondary importance is given rhematically

4. TEXT GENRES

10

There is a close link between the type of specialized text and its structure, which implies a number
of correlation between the conceptual, rhetoric and linguistic features that characterize the text
itself. In the 1600s and 1700s there was a considerable growth of scientific newspapers and also
textbook, diary etc. Another text adopted in recent years is the abstract (ex. the summary of an
article published in a scholar journal). The abstract provides readers with a short summary that
shows if a topic is relevant and worth the time required to read the whole article. Specialized text
are well organized. For ex. legal documents are divided into numbered sections, with a space among
them and there is an appendix. This kind of organization is different from a standard division,
because in the second one the text is divided into paragraphs.

The division of text improves the comprehension and makes the meaning easier to decode.

In specialized discourse there is not always a perfect match between the conceptual and physical
dimension of paragraphs. Sometimes the main point is expressed in on paragraph and investigated
in the following one. Ex. the RESARCH ARTICLE usually consists of: introduction, problem,
solution, conclusion Ex. the SCIENCE ARTCILE (psychology) presents: introduction, theory,
problem, experiment, comment, conclusion. And each part can be divided into others. Ex.
Experiment (project, methods, materials, results).

This means that the quality of text organization facilitates comprehension of content but also the
pragmatic function of each section: some are informative, other evaluative, predictive etc.

Ex. business correspondence is divided into categories according to their pragmatic function:
enquiries, offers, orders, complaints, etc. The structure is: -opening (sender and receiver’s address,
date, reference number, salutation) -body (latter’s main content) -closing section (greetings,
signature and reference to attachments). Business letters do not normally require much creative
effort on the writer’s part, because the senders tend to use standardized letter formulae stored. The
standardization of business communication also makes texts more concise and comprehensible to
the reader.

5. TEXTUAL ORGANIZATION Codification of specialized genres increases semantic-conceptual

coherence and transparency. Adopting Hoey’s model (1979) we can structure a specialized text
according to a sequence of 3 main macroats: SITUATION – PROBLEM – SOLUTION. The
introduction is mentioned only at the beginning of the article. The solution is given in detail toward
the end of the body. While oral text consist of 4 main stages: Ex. “doctor-patient” (doctor request
for information / visit itself / doctor’s diagnosis / advise for treatment and follow-up). Those stages
have been investigated also by specialists who have found a number of metacommunicative
functions linked to the speaker’s (generally the doctor’s) need to make his communicative intention
clear and transparent (list at page 120come è strutturata la visita dal buongiorno alla fine).

TRIMBLE (1985) has developed an analytical model for specialized texts, based on 4 levels. 1.
Identifies the main objectives of discourse (pragmatic functions) 2. It is the “general rhetorical
function” that develops the objectives of the first level

(starting purpose / reporting past research / setting the problem / presenting information used in an
experiment / presenting information on experimental procedures.

3. Analysis of the rhetorical functions found in the second level 4. Accounts for the rhetorical
devices that enable the development of semantic/pragmatic links within

and among the microacts assigned to the third level.

It is quite difficult to analyze links between macroacts and microacts also because of the rhetorical
functions that may be applied at both macro and micro levels.

11

Generally the sequence of macro and micro acts follows some norms: cause-effect / condition-
consequence / problem-solution / hypothesis-evaluation / experiment-results.

6. SPEECH ACTS Language often serves different purposes. The range of speech acts based on
Austin’s and Searle’s taxonomies is similar in specialized and non specialized texts. Language in
the law is probably more performative than in any other field. There is the use of 1st person singular
pronoun and a conventional formula making the act legal and valid. Ex. I pronounce you husband
and wife.
7. ARGUMENTANTIVE PATTERN A main purpose is to convince readers that the author’s
perspective is right one. For this reason text is organized according to a “compositional plan”
designed to serve a given thesis. This plan depends on the thesis considered, on the specialist’s
method and his personal style. After analyzing and observing data, the author identifies problems
and suggests solutions. Through logical argumentation supported by adequate proof he research a
conclusion.

Given the highly persuasive value of language, authors use their linguistic skills with great care and
strategic competence to create consensus around their claims. One way to add value to a thesis is to
weaken alternative options: alternative claims are presented like without logic and inaccuracy.
Sometimes criticism is not expressed directly but in a tactful (it occurs when the author’s opinion is
presented as an obvious conclusion to be drawn from his analysis).

If personal or passive forms rather than active ones are used, the style is kept personal by the use of
the possessive adjectives “my” and “our”. (this will be or contention / our theory can be summed
up…etc). Sometimes authors need to invent new terms or redefine existing ones. The modals
commonly employed to carry out this metalinguistic function are “must, should, shall, will”. (we
must define the 3 rd category etc) In order to be more persuasive often the author appeals directly to
his reader (you) or use the 3 rd person Ex: The reader will notice that…

The argumentative process consists therefore of a process of reduction on uncertainty which can be
summed up in this modality:

Probably – possibility – positive certainty -------(or)-------- improbability – impossibility – negative

certainty

8. LINEAR STRUCTURE AND HEURISTIC METHODS Specialized texts present a close link
between the author’s language and his heuristic method. Keynes’ heuristic method speaks about two
opposite needs: the need to examine the various economic variables as isolated elements and the
need to bring these independent studies together and to show the interrelations among the various
variables examined.

Another important feature for Keynes is the heuristic value of insights. The intuitive capacities are
important not only to understand the texts, but also in the process of composition.

9. THE EMOTIVE FORCE OF SPECIALIZED TEXTS One remarkable feature of specialized

discourse is the great referential value of texts and the limited emotional involvement of their
receivers. The persuasive element of argumentation has been reconsidered: the aim of the author is
to convince audience not only through demonstrations, but also through plausible, persuasive
argumentation. For this reason there is the use of emotive language. Emotive language has an
immediate impact on the reader. The choice of lexis in Keynes’ text, in fact, demonstrates the
author’s ability in using the linguistic code to criticize the existing economic theory and present his
new ideas in a extremely figurative and connotative

12

language. The language used by Keynes not only expresses his controversies with economists, but
also describes divergences of opinion among other economists. A rhetorical device often used by
Keynes to highlight the emotional tone of his discourse is CONTRAST. (rational expectation /
irrational choices).
Another rhetorical device is the METAPHOR: what creates the emotional effects is once again the
use of item taken from fields not directly connected to the economic discipline.

10. THE LITERARY VALUE OF SPECIALIZED TEXTS Aesthetic considerations are not a
priority in specialized discourse, but in literary texts. It is not appropriated to assign aesthetic value
to specialized texts because it is not a priority for the authors in the scientific community.

13

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

The use of English in specialized texts caused a heated debate in 17th: the need to adopt other
languages. The criticism of methods traditionally adopted in the study of the sciences and the
development of a new scientific system implied a change not only in the approach to the
observation and interpretation of the laws of nature, but also in the way in which phenomena ought
to be described and opinions expressed. So the “new universe” required a new language based on
innovative principles. Till that moment scientists who intended to use verbal language in the
expression of scientific phenomena often pointed out its deficiencies and inaccuracies. There should
be a strict relationship between the observational process and its representation and in this relation
priority must be give to reality over language and not vice versa.

Another criticism is the POLISEMY of language, that makes the texts very ambiguous. And
specific accusation were made against English language, inadequate for scientific purposes, because
of its imperfection. A limitation of English is the limited amount of vocabulary present in the
language (more things expressed by the same words).

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LEXIS OF SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH

The realization that English language was inappropriate refers both to the qualitative and the
quantitative point of view. So British scientists made great efforts to increase the number of
specialized terms to improve the exactness of their meaning. They used 2 methods: -using the
resources of the native tongue -using borrowings from a foreign language.

Sometimes specialists added a specialized meaning employing a word already existent, but most of
the times used borrowings from other languages, specially from Latin. In adopting the loan(prestito)
the translator usually adapted the word that he was borrowing to the morphological features of the
receiving language, following the conventions in the use concerning word- farmation. ex. from
Latino “atio” : “-ation”. Once a loan had been introduced it was frequently used as a root from
which further words could be formed by means of affixation. We can see many English words
created in 17th century: archeology, zoology, pathology, meteorology, mineralogy, psychology (gy)
/ barometer, micrometer, thermometer, hydrometer, hygrometer (er).

Latin loans were sometimes employed to express a more technical or figurative meaning of a word
already in use. Ex. “maturitie” mature. In some cases there are words which have a general and a
technical meaning that are neo Latin. They were borrowed in Middle English period, while the
latter appeared in Early English period: count/compute, ray/ radius, gender/genus, prove/probe,
palsy/paralysis etc.

THE OPAQUENESS OF LANGUAGE The borrowings from Latin were massive and sometimes
they were criticized. Criticism come from people who had problems in decoding meanings because
of the limited knowledge of Latin. However borrowers defended their practice by pointing out that
the strangeness of loans only lasted for a short period: people in few time would become familiar
with such terms. But when an author choose borrowings should think about the difficulties of
interpretation that readers might meet when they encounter the new terms. So the opaqueness of
Latinate forms is reduced by means of a glossary provided by the publisher at the end of the book
with an explanation of the new terms.

THE TRASPARENCY OF LANGUAGE

The operation of creating new terminology adopted other criteria based on the pragmatic principle
of maximum transparency, which is extremely important in specialized discourse. In the application
of

14

this principle, the specialist created terms in such a way that their form clearly reflected the concept
to which it referred. Ex. witcraft = logic / endsay = conclusion / naysay = negation / saywhat =
definition / yeasay = affirmation / forespeache = preface.

These transparent terms were usually obtained by means of the juxtaposition of worlds already
existing in the English language. This process of compounding was particularly favored by the
brevity of English words (the most were monosyllables and could be easily linked to form
compounds, which weren’t too long).

Another advantage was considered to be the fact that monosyllables could best represented the
concepts they stood for. They give conciseness and for this reason are very important in the
structure of specialized discourse. Sentences should be as concise as possible. This preference for a
clear, simply style was generally accepted by 17th century scientists.

The principle of monoreferentiality was seen as fundamental in specialized literature, as a strict

relationship between world and referent would leave no possibility for connotation or other indirect
meaning. So in this period we can see a strong condemnation of metaphors.

This strict reduction of the function of worlds to its denotational value led scientists to envisage a
radical reform in the use of language.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE SYNTAX OF SCIENTIFIC ENGLISH

The 17th century also showed interesting developments in the syntactic features of scientific
English. The new research methods conflicted with the constraints of the language and forced them
to adapt the rules to their expressive needs.

Sentences were quite long, with noun phrases preceding and following the verb. So it sentences
started to be simplified, with few or not subordinated clauses, preferring coordinate clauses. There
was a preferred use of nouns derived from verbs . The verb lost lots of it importance, that was
acquired by the noun. This process promoted a better cohesion of the text.

There was also a tendency toward depersonalization Ex. “From those colours we could argue”
“those colours argue”. So there is a more objective and impersonal style typical of modern scientific
texts.

CONCLUSION
17TH is important for the introduction of lots of new terms and makes English tongue more suitable
for the expression of any kind of subject. Through the adoption of various possibilities language
offers for the formation of new words: addition of meanings, derivations, borrowing from other
languages. And from a syntactic point of view there is an increase in the process of nominalization
and objectification of specialized discourse.

THE ORIGINS OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ESSAY

The experimental essay(saggio) was originated in the early modern English period as result of a
complex process of scientific evolution in 17th century. So we have prevalently literary type of
texts. The innovative characteristics of this new type derived from the great importance attributed to
the experimental process in the research programs of early Modern English men of science,
following Francis Bacon’s intuitions. Bacon’s teachings were philosophical: the DEDUCTIVE and
the INDUCTIVE approach. Some natural philosophers continued to write following the past
authority, while others preferred the direct experience and personal observation. So in 17th the
ROYAL SOCIETY was formed (to promote Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning”.

15

To carry out their communicative task, scientists needed a new expository form. The first one who
tried to create a new form was Bacon, who tried to convey personal observations relating to short
and specific items. There was the need to develop a shorter form which would offer the scientist the
opportunity to report briefly experiments carried out. This genre would allow immediacy of
communication and would protect the writer from any accusation of incomplete theoretical
exposition.

The means of communication identified as appropriate for scientific purposes was the experimental
essay, to report scientists’ experiences with immediacy and precision.

THE MAIN FEATURES OF EXPERIMENTAL ESSAYS.

We analyze the 4 main features of the Early Modern English which influences not only scientific
but also literary writing.

1. BREVITY Enables the researcher to report even limited experiences without describe them at
book-length. In 17th a lot experimental essays consisted of reports of single experiments. The
principle of conciseness and economy of discourse is often pointed out by specialists: sentences
should be concise as possible. However this brevity doesn’t mean a concise treatment of the subject
experiments are reported very fully with details and descriptions, which are vivid and with an
abundance of data providing a precise and immediate representation of the experience reported. The
precision is visible thanks to the use of specific terminology. And the provision of maximal
information confirms the main pragmatic goal: to give as many details as possible. The abundance
of detail and precision of the narration of the experimental events may be attributed to the writer, to
provide his readers with as many opportunities as possible to understand his report clearly. The
criterion of conciseness is subordinate to the higher principle of clarity of exposition, the most
important in terms of perlocutionary value.

2. LACK OF ASSERTIVENESS There isn’t the need for the author to arrive at definite conclusions
. The data are to be reported as they are observed, without author’s hypothesis or comments. It
reduce the risk to be criticized . The same principle enables writers to report also experiments that
have been unsuccessful and they help other writers to avoid the same mistakes.
It is frequent the use of the narrating technique compared with the very limited space allotted over
the author’s reflections. Also the introduction to the experimental essay is usually very short. This
confirms the non argumentative but mainly informative purpose of the genre.

3. PERSPICUITY (chiarezza) Authors should adopt a ‘philosophical’ rather than a ‘rhetorical’ style
, is a style which does not coincide with the traditional way of writing, typical of literary and
philosophical works. This is the reason why in several scientific texts of this period we find a strong
condemnation of metaphors, which are seen as deceitful devices. Rhetorical device should not be
banned from scientific texts completely, but they should be avoided when unnecessary, when are
not illustrative but make the text more confused and more difficult to understand. All works should
be written in clear language so that everybody can decode contents and so improve knowledge of
the subject. The solution proposed is the use of specialized terminology.

An accuse made by scientists concerns the polysemy characterizing most words which makes texts
ambiguous (scientists can’t tolerate it). So a way to solve this problem is by specifying the context
of reference. Another feature of the language that guarantees maximum comprehension is the
adoption of a plain style (simple web-forms

16

and sentence-constructions with an active voice active presence of the scientist). But there is also a
use of passive voice that diminish the scientist responsibility (consequence of external forces).
Another case in which passive voice is used is in reporting how certain procedures have been
carried out.

4. OBJECTIVITY This quality requires the researcher to report events faithfully and sincerely and
to express opinions and conclusions with de degree of positiveness corresponding to the fact
described. Ex. use of modal expressions and verbs like to seem and to appear. The experimenter not
only shows his professional correctness in that he reports, but offers a picture of himself as a
reliable and faithful witness to the events that he is reporting (the essay also includes mention of the
experimenter’s reactions).

Another important principle followed in the writing of experimental essays is the reproduction of
the same distinction adopted by scientist: the setting out of the facts observed and his consideration
on them.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ESSAY

The experimental essay was accepted by scientific community in 17th century. Its popularity
allowed the circulation of a lot of scientific journals. In the course of time the experimental essay
has certainly evolved and has found a more cohesive structure, consisting in the following steps:

• Stating of purpose • Description of the apparatus • Account of the phenomena to be investigated •

Narration of the experiment(s) • Record of the results • Expounding of any theoretical implication

There is a more frequent use of the passive form and the abandonment of the report of unsuccessful
experiments.

THE FORMATION OF THE LEXIS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Information science has assumed a very important role in the modern world, because the use of
computers has become widespread in all countries. Information science has developed its own
terminology, part deriving from general English and part created for this discipline only.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE LEXIS OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Before starting the analysis some clarifications have to be provided: of the 3 categories of lexis
(functional, subtechnical and technical words) only the latter will be taken into consideration. The
language examined here is that used by specialists of computer science to the communicate among
them and it should not be confused with “programming languages” that are the symbolic codes used
to give instructions to computers.

1. SPECIALIZATION AND BORROWINGS

17

The first category of words includes all words borrowed from the general language turned into a
new meaning (ex. hardware, chat group, program, disk etc) and there is a preference for American
spelling (because of the supremacy of American computer industry and also the creation of this
language).

Another method of borrowing general English words is the use of metaphors. It is quite frequent
specially in the early stages of the development of this new discipline. (ex. memory, address, bus,
gate, menu, mouse, spamming etc). -When given a new meaning some of these worlds are also
assigned a new form (ex. mouse the plural of this world is irregular in common English, but regular
in computer science:mouses). -In other cases words are assigned to a different grammatical category
(ex. format used as a verb).

A few terms have also been borrowed from other fields: mathematics, engineering, physics,
electronics and also from the field of linguistics, especially where a metalinguistic terminology is
required.

-Worlds can maintain their original form, but assume new meanings (ex. mantissa borrowed from
mathematics is the positive decimal part of a logarithm, while in computer science it refers to a
fixed point number composed of the most significant digits of a given floating point number).
-Some other words have modified their form, they are usually compressed (reduction of their
length) Ex. alphameric (from alphanumeric) / digitize (from digitalize).

2. NEOLOGY They are created for the purpose. There are some cases in which the origin is
difficult to trace (ex. byte) The coinage of new terms makes use of the typical English processes.
-One of the process most frequently employed is derivation, with the affixation technique (ex.
autocode, kilobyte, megabit, non-formatted, mini-computer, buffering, processor etc). -Another
process is the analogy: a new word formed by being modelled on an already existing lexeme. (ex.
software, created on the analogy of hardware). -The use of similes is another technique of word-
formation used in computer-science to coin expressions which refer to the aspect or the category of
an item (ex. bridge connector, banana plug, star connection etc).

Sometimes there are more complex forms of composition. -One way is the process of compounding.
In fact a compound is the result of a process of compression of different items with the omission of
the linking function words (ex. programmer of computers computer programmer. Often, after a
certain period of usage, some of these compounds are joined either by a hyphen or fused into a
single word. Ex. plugboard, sumcheck, on-line etc.). Compounds often include more than two
words: line control procedure, address translation slave store etc. Longer groups of words present
great difficulties of comprehension, so they are often simplified by means of a process of ellipsis
(alphabetic character string alphabetic string / floppy disk drive floppy drive etc). Another way of
making compounds shorter is the blending of the various elements into single words. Ex. infocenter
(information center) / bit (binary digit) / modem (modulator-demodulator) etc.

3. ACRONYMY AND ABBREVIATION The need to make groups of words as concise as possible
leads the computer specialist to create a great many acronyms. In computer science the n° of
acronyms is very high. Ex: -ASCII (American standard code for information interchange) -RAM
(for random access memory) -ROM (for read only memory) -DOS (for disk operating system)

18

The desire of specialist is to create acronyms easy to remember and which suggest immediately
specific ideas.

But in the language of the computer science there are also several cases of abbreviations. Ex: -CPU
(central processing unit) -ALU (arithmetic and logical unit) -FAQ (for frequently asked questions)
etc.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS There is a frequent use of derivation and in particular of suffixation.

The most commonly is the suffix in –ER (internetter, e-mailer. Then there is the –ING
(cymberizing, netwriting etc. And the use of the suffix in –IE (nettie: inexperienced user of
internet), (newbie: it is the jargon of the Net).

Analogical derivation is also common. It is visible in the contrast existing between the process of
examining a messages off/on line. The process of derivation also makes use of combining forms
(ex. internaut user of the internet. Internaut is the adoption of ‘astronaut’, which has a frequent use
in common language / or cybernaut: the shorter form is cyber and it is combined to other words:
cyberchat, cyberculture etc. Because of it is very widespread, cyber is the prefix that means ‘future’.

THE LANGUAGE OF POPULARISATION

We have to distinguish popularisation from specialized texts. The main criterion for distinguishing
is the different audience targeted. Popularisation addresses not an expert group but an audience of
non-specialists. 5 genres:

-Popular magazines / newspapers -Scientific American and popular books -High school texts
-Introductory college texts -Scholarly journal, specialized book-length study.

The different purpose of various texts genres also influence the expository technique employed:
popularization remains as closed as possible to the primary culture introducing terms that replicates
the semantic content of general language.

POPULARISATION AND TRANSLATION Both of this these involve the transformation of a

source text into a derived text. Every popularization implies the presence of specialized text. The
process doesn’t alter the disciplinary content, but remodel language to suit a new target audience
(there is an intralinguistic translation). Another aspect in which both are involved is that both
processes tend to produce an imperfect equivalence of the source text approximation).
Approximation become more evident when there is a non-specialist audience. There is a large use
of metaphors which establish a direct link with the public’s general knowledge and it makes the
content easier to identify. But this technique sometimes risks ambiguity and wrong associations.

19

LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF POPULARISATION The study of popularization has not so far

attracted much research, for this reason the results are partial.

A feature that distinguishes popularization from specialized texts is the absence among the former
of linguistic expressions and the stress on authorial contribution in terms of conceptual innovations.
In fact in popularization there isn’t explicit authorial reference (omission of expressions like “I
have/I argue etc.).

DEFINITION OF POPULARISED TEXTS Different text typesdifferent use of terminology Fewer

technical terms are employed in popularization, where words are similar to general language. In
specialized discourse the author only employs definition when a new term is coined, or new
meanings are attached to existing worlds or borrowings from other discipline or general language.

The 1st person subject never appears in definitions from popularization, because definitions are
linked to their originator, so impersonal and passive form are the norm Ex: “Individual genres are
involved in biological processes, a widely accepted concept known as pleiotropy”.

Very common is juxtaposition: a process in which the specialized term is followed by periphrasis,
with the two separated comma, dash or parenthesis. Ex. More than 99% of atmospheric water vapor
is in the troposphere, the turbulent, weather producing zone below about 40.000 feet. Ex. The single
light beam is pulsed at a rate of 140 million bits (megabits) per second.

There are 2 different logical process: 1. INDUCTIVE: in the former the author first present the
features of the concept conveyed by the term

and later gives the term itself 2. DEDUCTIVE: in the latter the definition follows the term

Ex1: Certain atoms are unstable combination of the fundamental particles…..This process,
radioactivity, was discovered by Becquerel in 1896.

Ex2: In a process called fusion, the brain compares information received from each ear and
translates the differences into a unified perception.

Very often the 2 parts of definition are joined by metalinguistic items as: called, known as, that is
etc.

The great need for clarity in popularization often leads authors to rely on figurative language taken
from everyday experience and on approximation (expressed with inverted commas). Because of the
informative rather than argumentative nature of this text, the author opts for cautious expressions
exemplified by the dubitative adverb “perhaps”.

Periphrasis is very important and it opens the reader to different variants. Ex. the term ‘inflation’

Inflation is an excess of global demand as related to global apply Inflation is an increased mass of
circulating money or monetary revenues Inflation is a general rise in price levels Inflation is the loss
of value of a national currency
20

Secondo riassunto
The MODE can be written, spoken-composed or spoken-spontaneous. The STYLE can be frozen,
formal, consultative or casual.

Special language uses special rules and symbols deviating from those of general language.

Specialized discourse reflects more clearly the specialist use of language in typical context of a
specialized community.

Halliday, Gregor and Carroll classified the registers according to three parameters. 1. Mode
(channel, medium of communication); 2. Field (object of communication); 3. Tenor (relationship
between participants).

There are three different situations in which a specialist may be involved. 1. Specialist/specialist
discourse; 2. Specialist/non-specialist discourse; 3. Specialist which use everyday language to
convey messages to the addressees.

Widdowson distinguished three levels of specificity in language use, the 4th level is allowed by
other authors.

1. Scientific exposition; 2. Scientific instruction; 3. Scientific journalism. 4. Formalization or

Condensation into formulae.

The non-verbal conventional code is constituted by formulae, symbols, flow-charts, diagrams and
they’re universal, always according by Widdowson.

Hoffman provided a long list of the desirable qualities of specialized discourse: • Exactitude,
simplicity, clarity; • Objectivity; • Abstractness; • Generalization; • Density of information; •
Brevity or laconism; • Emotional neutrality; • Unambiguousness; • Impersonality; • Logical
consistency; • Use of defined technical terms, symbols and figures.

But there are some inconsistencies in his criteria.

Shannon and Weaver modified it, focusing on the need for: • Accuracy; • Precision; • Effectiveness.

Sager suggested three more aspects who are unavoidable in specialized discourse: • Economy; •
Precision; • Appropriateness.

Lexical features of specialized discourse

• MONOREFERENTIALITY: In a given context, one only meaning is allowed, no synonymies are

permitted, but only definitions or paraphrases. The highly referential nature of terminology is a
major advantage for conciseness. This forced the creation of new terms to refer to specific
meanings. M. is limited to the disciplinary field, in fact dictionaries have lots of meanings for a
word, each applicable to a separate context;

• LACK OF EMOTION: Terms must have a purely denotative function, the tone must be neutral,
the informative purpose must overcome other traits;
• PRECISION: Every term has to point directly to its meaning (scientific revolution in 17th
century);

• TRANSPARENCY: The possibility to access a term’s meaning through its surface form. The use
of (Greek-based) affixes is an example, because each one refers to something.

• CONCISENESS: When the concepts are expressed in the shortest possible form. Juxtaposition is
frequently used in English, and it omits prepositions and pre-modifiers in nominal groups
containing two nouns. C. often relies on acronyms and abbreviations;

• CONSERVATISM: In several fields, old formulae are preferred to newly- coined words. There
are some lexemes which have disappeared from general language (legal language, which for Bacon
is excessively prolix, can’t be changed because of an ideological motive, that is to say that law-
people retain power over ordinary citizens, and this causes a different expressive way). USA is in
the seventies involved in the Plain English Movement which proposed a clear and simple English,
this movement also inspired other states to simplify the spoken language.

The aspects we’ve just seen are opposite to:

• AMBIGUITY; • IMPRECISION; • REDUNDANCY; • SEMANTIC INSTABILITY.

Many specialists in several fields are against monoreferentiality.

The reason is the excessive rigidity that prevents the description of complex phenomena. Otherwise,
monoreferentiality is good in those subjects who don’t require multiple definitions for the concepts
employed.

For example, is useful in positivistic sciences such as physics, mathematics, who characterized by
univocal references and objective concepts, but useless in non- positivistic sciences such as
economics. Each science adopts its own definitional pattern, but it’s important to have a constant
reference of a specific definiens to the same definiendum.

In legal language, the use of adjectives can often allow subjective interpretations, because
everything is defined according by the personal point of view, and adjectives are an example.

The pleonastic (unnecessary, futile) use of lexical items involves a violation of the principle of
conciseness. Legal drafters employ two interchangeable terms for the same concept (new and novel,
false and untrue, made and signed, terms and conditions, able and willing), where one of them is
Anglo-Saxon coupled with its Latin parallel. This is due to the Norman invasion, that provoked the
fusion between the English Anglo-Saxon terms and the Norman French. Another case of
redundancy is in the expressions like “within and not exceeding” […], or in court-oath.

The semantic variation caused by cultural aspects is often gradual, purchase is a word which since
1500 means “acquisition through payment”, but that was before associated to the idea of
“acquisition though force/violence”. Some terms like atom (idea of indivisibility) or hypnosis
(sleep), owe to scientific discoveries the alteration of their essential nature.
Experiment and experience are two terms which could be easily interchanged until 17th/18th
century, but now they mean something which is totally different. Experiment: objective observation
based on experimental evidence; Experience: subjective knowledge (mainly) acquired by senses.

Latin or Greek are still used in specific language because they can be considered as dead languages,
which evolution is obviously ceased, and this implies a non- modification of the meanings, through
the time.

Hughes identifies five generations of borrowings from classical languages. 1. From the Roman
occupation of England, concerns Latin and its influence; 2. 6th/7th centuries, involves religious
terminologies; 3. Renaissance, with literary connotations; 4. 17th/18th expansion to specialized
discourse; 5. Perfectly foreign to native English speakers.

(kilo, auto, mega, mini, multi are just 5 of the numerous suffixes/prefixed which are classical-
rooted). The classical influence can be proven trough he analysis of the body parts and the
adjectives which refers to those names.

Brain → cerebral Chest → toracic Heart → cardiac Liver → hepatic Rib → costal (costola) Skin →
dermal Lung → pulmonary

Metaphor is often used not only in general/everyday language, but also in specialized discourse. It
has several positive aspects:

• Terminological transparency; • Conciseness; • Tangible quality of the images.

Something which is very important to remember is that almost each metaphor requires a
background knowledge of the interlocutor, so it’s very important to be sure of the effect the
metaphor would have, if not, the result would be different than one expected. This is what
McCloskey said.

Kornai highlights the close conceptual link between specialized literature and medical terms.

Hubler identifies three main metaphoric paradigms: 1. Natural catastrophe (easily comprehensible);
2. M. related to the semantic field of aggression/physical violence; 3. M. expressed in terms of
suffering, resisting and escaping.

They’re strictly linked and placed along a hierarchical scale.

Specialized discourse is more productive than general d. because of its high number of terms.

Syntactic features of Specialized Discourse

The specificity of morpho-syntactic phenomena is a quantitative one. Its syntactic structure is

compact, and this confirms the principle of conciseness. The omission of one of its constituents
helps in this way. 1

The reduction is drastic, and the messages sent in specialized fields are essential. The omission of
articles and preposition is something which is diffused also in Italian. A possibility commonly
employed is the substitution of relative clauses with adjectives usually obtained by means of
affixation. A passive form consists in the omission of the subject and the auxiliary, this often
happens when the subject is explained previously. The passive construction can be also avoided by
turning the verb into a past participle and using the latter as a post-modifier. The prefix -un gives a
negative value to the following word. An hyphen can be inserted between the p.p. and before the
noun. The verb of a relative clause can be transformed into a present p. Present p. is often used as
an adjective. AND MORE… Five-sided figure: a figure which has 5 sides. […] A progressive
simplification can may lead to a name which specifies another name, like: A train which carries
passengers → A passenger train.

or: An engine which is driven by diesel oil → A Diesel engine. PREMODIFICATION: A

characteristic of English language which allows the right- to-left construction. Nominal
adjectivation is a distinctive aspect. This type of specification can cover features such as the
material an item is made of, its use, its function and so on. The compounds consisting of two short
nouns soon merge into a single term after a certain period of use. The maximum number of items is
generally 6, because of the memory-limitation of human mind. The hyphen is used as a
disambiguator, like in the following example. A small car factory could mean “a small factory for
making cars” or “a factory for making small cars”. We’ll solve using an hyphen. A small car-
factory: a small factory for making cars; A small-car factory: a factory for making small cars.

L-shaped computer room: Here the adjectivation originates from the evolution of noun
groups/phrases containing other items such as adjectives and past p. The transition from post-
modification to pre-modification allows the construction of more complex sentences, which will be
conceptually richer and syntactically shorter and more compact. N.B. The combination of two terms
produces a mere union, but the pre-modification gives rise to a new concept which alters their
nature adding meaning and uses.

Nominalization involves the use of a noun instead of a verb to convey concepts relating to actions
or processes. N. leads to higher nominal density in specialized texts, simplifies the informational
flow and text development. The verbal action is emphasized, and the verb is reduced to a copula,
which is just a link between increasingly complex noun/adjectival phrases. (Copulative verbs
examples: be, become, form, mean, require, depend, consist of) Gerbert suggests an analogy
between this structure and mathematics, because the two parts are interchangeable. The use of
elliptic sentences is really appreciated in several fields, such as medical one. The lexical density is
the percentage of content words in a text.

NOUN PHRASE+VERB+NOUN PHRASE is the easiest surface structure and is recommended by

linguists. N.P. are very complex, involving PRE and POST modification. The subordination is
something which’s often omitted, because it makes the sentence heavy. The sentences in specialized
discourse are generally too long, and it’s not hard to misunderstand. TO is a preposition that
shouldn’t be ever omitted. The present simple active is the most used verbal tense, and the
imperative is the less used. Above all in scientific text the functions are definitions, descriptions,
observation, describing qualities, features […], and this requires the present indicative to underline
its communicative purpose. Simple past is preferred to refer to one-time events. The -ing form
simplifies concessive clauses, avoids the coordinated clause, eliminate the relative clause. It has a
simplifier function. The passive is a good idea when we have to underline the result of a process,
and the agent is normally omitted.

Depersonalization When it’s necessary to emphasize the physical aspects and not the human
intervention. We can use typical verbs, such as demonstrate, suggest, highlight, indicate, confirm.
The author may refer to himself in third person.

1
This solution is used when it’s necessary or wanted a reduction of any direct reference with the
interlocutor, for example in hard science it’s used to look the less direct and personal possible.

TEXTUAL FEATURES There are several features which can distinguish a specialized discourse.
The anaphoric reference is deployed to increase textual cohesion. Its strong points are mainly three:

• Maximum clarity and avoidance of ambiguity; • Avoids the anaphoric reference of agents; • Avoid
the possibility that this pronoun might erroneously be made to refer to

notice. Anaphors depersonalize sentences too and gives to the sentences the detached tone which is
required in specialized discourse.

Conjunctions add cohesion and have a pragmatic function, which clarifies the purpose of the
sentence that follows.

Halliday elaborated a theory on thematic and rhematic structures. Thematic items: which introduce
topic or theme; Rhematic items: which contains what’s said about the theme.

This distinction overlaps (si sovrappone) with the definition of “given” and “new” item. The
sequence of T. and R. items makes the discourse cohesive and coherent.

Text genres There’s generally a close link between a genre and its structure. With time, several text
types have arisen. Executive summary: a list of the general point of the subject, which summarizes
long documents. We need to reduce. Abstract is the summary of an article published or of a paper
presented at a conference.

Recently it’s always more common to divide a text into (numbered) sections, with more punctuation
and spaces between the sections. The physical layout tries to reflect the pragmatic function, even if
not always a section is the conceptual unit. This gap is explained by Trimble. For Van Dijk, there’s
instead a standardized pattern, which can be resumed as follows. RESEARCH ARTICLE:
introduction-problem-solution-conclusions; PSYCHOLOGY: introduction-theory-problem-
experiment-comment-conclusions; (PROJECT-METHODS-MATERIALS-RESULTS is the
subdivision of experiment section).

ANALYSIS-PREDICTION-PROPOSAL is a pattern proposed by Merlini Barbaresi.

Hutchins method proposes a methodological framework:

• Current hypothesis/paradigm; • Demonstration of inadequacies; • Statement of ‘problem’; •

Statement of ‘new’ hypothesis or of alternative hypotheses; • Testing of hypothesis or hypotheses; •
‘Proof’ of hypothesis or of one of alternative hypotheses; • Implication of ‘solution’.

CARS: create a research space model.

Hoey’s model is divided into three macro acts:

1. SITUATION 2. PROBLEM 3. SOLUTION

The scholars have found 23 recurring functions in doctor talk to patients during surgery visits,
despite the difficult of assigning a single pragmatic purpose to each interactant.

Trimble identifies the main steps for the analytical model of specialized text.

Terzo riassunto
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

mainly through the senses ( experience). The specilization of words borrowed from everyday
language was particularly intense in the 17th ans 18th centuries, when rapid technological and
scientific development made it necessary to estabilish a specific lexis for separate disciplines and
phenomena. The impact of technology and scientific discoveries was so strong that the secondary
meanings added to such terms over the last two centuries have in fact displaced their semantic
priorities and now the specialized meaning often prevails over more general interpretations. In his
study of English lexical development Huges identifies five generations of bortowings from classical
languages. The first phase, dating from Roman occupation of England, The second phase occured in
the 6-7th centuries involved above all religious terminology. A third phase of classical borrowing
with literary connotations took place during the Renaissance. In the 17-18th centuries clasdical
borrowings extended to specialized discourse. The classical borrowings of the last two centuries
belong to a fifth ohaxe , as they preserve their original infectiom and spelling to the point of
appearing perfectly “foreign” to native English speakers.

 Metaphor in specialized discourse Metaphor serves the purpose of catachresis ( putting new
senses into old words). It has a number of advantages: the terminological transparency,conciseness,
and the quality of images from the physical world used to represent abstract concepts: concepts are
presented in an effective and persuasive way. Some examples are: the elasticity of demand, the
economic depression… sometimes metaphors are “ shortened similies”: “the brain is a computer”,
there is a direct association between computer science and human functions. Metaphors can
sometimes be imprevise and ambiguous: for this reason they require a great efforf on the
interlocutor’s part for decoding.

 Cap 8: The formation of the Lexis of Computer Science 1. Main features of the lexis of computer
science (developed in Silli con Valley)

There are three categories of lexis found in scientific and technical texts by Inman (1978):
functional,subtechnical and technical.

1.1 specialization and borrowing the first category of words found in the language of computer
science includes all words borrowed from the general language and to which a new contextual
meaning is given. This is the case of words such as hatdware,chat group, program and disk. The
latter two words draw our attention to a prime feature of this specialized language, which consists
of a preference for American spelling. Due to the supremacy that the American computer industry
has achived not only in the development of the technological know-how of such a field, but also in
the creation of its language made in the USA and exported all over the world. Another method of
borrowing general English words to make up the terminology of computer science is the use of
metaphors. Common examples of the metaphorical transfer of everyday words into computer
science texts are memory,address, store, menu, mouse (whose plural form is irregular in general
English, while in the lamguage of computer science it is regular mouses) and spamming ( spam:
marca di carne in scatola che si spiaccica dappertutto—> idea di qlc che si sparge casualmente
senza regole). When given a new meaning some of these words are also assigned a new form such
as email, commonly used nowagays as a countable noun and even as a verb. In other cases, words
borrowed from general English are assigned to a different grammatical category. Some examples of
this process of conversion are abort and interrupt ( in english you say abortion and interruption)
used as nouns in specialized contexts besides their generale use as verbs. Apart from general
English a few terms have also been borrowed from other fields, in partilcular mathematics,
engineering, physics and electronics, that is from the branches of knowledge most closely linked to
information technology. When borrowed from other specialized languages some terms are
compresssed that is reduced in

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)

If the verb of the relative clause is accompained by an adverb, the latter is placed before the present
participle. They have selected a fast-growing plant (=they have selected a plant which grows fast).
This construction is also used when the verb of the relative clause is followed by an object, in the
transformation the latter is placed before the present participle. Malaysia is a rubber-producing
country. (=Malaysia is a country which produces rubber). In many case the semplification process
proceeds further with also the disappearance of the verb itself. A pentagon is a figure which has a
five sides > a pentagon is a figure with five sides> a pentagon is a five-sided figure.

 Premodification The phenomenon of relative clause reduction shows a frequent switch from
postmodification to premodification. Although not an exclusive option of specialized languages,
this feature occurs more frequently and generally produces longer compounds in specific fields, as
illustrated by the following data in a study by Salager:

Average lenght of components Percentage of compounds in text

Technical english 2.61 15.37

Medical english 2.55 9.76

General english 2.51 0.87

There are various cases in which noun compounds may be interpreted in different ways. To solve
ambiguities of this type, linguistic competence alone is not sufficient and has to be integrated by
specialist knowledge of the topic and of other factors such as context and co-text. For instance the
noun phrase a small car factory allows two interpretation:

1. A small factory for making car 2. A factory for making small car.

The hypen( trattino) is employed as a disambiguator to avoid multiple interpretations and it signals
semantic links between words. For example 1.A small car-factory 2. A small-car factory.

 Nominalization ( nouns instead of verbs, because nouns refered directly to processing). This
involve the use of a noun instead of a verb to convey concepts relating to actions or processes.
Specialized discourse makes frequent use of nominalization because verb-derived nouns seem to
reflect the parallel process whereby results are inferred from experiments and objects from their
construction process. In the following example, nominalization of the verb observe into the noun
observation allows use of the syntactic compression devices: A day and night weather observation
station. ( = a station in which people observe the weateher both by day and by night).
Nominalization also allows the writer to emphasise verbal action through thematization, in the
following example the verb discharge is placed in thematic position by means of the noun
discharge: Discharge of the contents of the tank is effected by a pump (= the contents of the tank are
discharge by a pump) The pervasiveness of nominalization leads to a loss of verbal value, as a result
the verb is weakened and often function mearly as a copula: Oscillations are frequency-dependent(=
oscillations depend on frequency).
6

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:

1. Present simple active form (64%)

7
2. Present simple passive form (25%) 3. 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

through such noun phrases as “ the author”, “ the research team” etc. or conveying his personal
view to personalised forms of the type. A trend of depersonalisation is observed not only in
omission of the subject-speaker but also in the reduction of any direct reference to the interlocutor.
The addressee is avoided through indirect forms and the use of passive modals. Despite the
widespread use of depersonalisation in s.d it can’t be considered a general feature of all specialized
discourse.

 Textual Features of Specialized Discourse There are a number of features that distinguish
specialized texts also from the textual standpoint.

 Anaphoric reference Anaphoric reference is one of the most common device deployed to increase
textual cohesion. In legalwriting, for example, it is normally avoided in favour of lexical repetition.
Ex: The member Firm shall notify Grantor… the member Firm, as licensee,shall have.. Here the
repetiotion of such kexical item sas Member Firm, Grantorand any (such) third party/parties is far
more accettable than anaphoric reference through personal pronouns. This preference- observed
already in Crystal/Davy-stems from the need for maximum clarity and avoidance of ambiguity,a
typical trait of legal discourse mentioned earlier and confirmed by the texts in the Appendix. In the
following quotation the repetition Land-lord instead of his/her seeks to avoid the anaphorical
reference of agents to the word Tenant in subject position: [the Tenant will] Permit the Landlord or
the Landlord’s agents at reasonable hours in the daytime to enter the Property to view the state and
condition thereof. In the following example the repetition of the lexeme Property instead of its
referent ithelps to avoid possibility that this pronoun might be made to notice board or notice: [the
Tenant will not] place or exhibit any notice board or notice on the Property or use the Property for
any other purpose than that of a strictly private residence. The frequent use of adverbials such as
hereto,herein,hereof and thereto generally refer to a document or a part of it and specify its exact
locationor identification; in other cases they accompany past participle which otherwise might be
interpreted erroneously: -In section 21 thereof -Fully recited herein - The day and year first above
written The need for maximum precision in legal language is confirmed by exphoric reference, with
detailed specification of any contextual item mentioned in the sentence. Ex: JUDGE: uh Richard
Reuchensten, is Richard Reichesten your true name,sir? DEFENDANT: yes,sir ( to avoid
ambiguity)

 Use of conjunctions This items not only add cohesion to texts but also have a pragmatic function,
which clarifies the purpose of the sentence that follows: -now,therefore,in consideration of the
premises and of the mutual covenants hereinafter set forth the parties agree as follows. -in the event
that (if) is decided that action should be taken against any such tired party, the Member Firm may
take such action in its own name.

 Text genres One of the phenomena that most distinguishes specialized discourse is compliance
with the norms governing the construction of its different text genres. There is usually a close link
between the type of specialized texts and its structure,which in turn implies a number of correlations
between the conceptual,rethorical and linguistic features that characterize the text itself. Genre not
only provides a conventional framework but also affects all other textual features. Through training
and

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:

1. Reference to a previous offer 2. Order for the goods required 3. Instructions concerning packing,
delivery,insurance etc 4. 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

10

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

11

on mathematical principles. Even those scientists who intended to use verbal language in the
expression of scientific phenomena oftn pointed out its deficiencies and inaccurances. Bacon for
example, criticized the fact thatin the scientific tradition the useof language was usually detached
from the physical reality to which it referred. The priority must be given to realityover language,
and not vice versa. Another criticism is the fact that most words in any language made texts
ambiguous. The new scientists could not tolerate the uncertainty of meaning inherentin existing
words and condemned all those who did not use language in an accurance way. Rober Boyle
attacked alchemists for the “intolerable ambiguity “ with which they used the same termto refer to
different conveptsand suggested a remedy consisted in the coming of new terms providing a stricter
delimination of meaning. Walter Charleton was one of several who accused the English language of
imperfaction, also Sir Kenelm Digby pointed out the limitations of the English language and he
talked about a “scarcity of our language “, both of them wanted to use English but they realize it is
not appropiate. Robert Recorde pointed out the difficulties encountered in choosing to write in his
native language.

1. Development in specialized lexis ( metalinguistic comments, to justify what they are doing —>
referring to the language itself)

The realization that the English language was inadequate for the needs of expression of men of
science led to its gradual amelioration,both from a quantitative and a qualitativ point of view.

- (At first I try to look at my language, but if I don’t find the right word, I borrow it from another
language.)

This is the case, for example, of Newton’s use of the word gravity,which as a consequence of his
important innovationsin the field of physics, took on a new meaning. However, the most frequently
adopted strategy was the borrowing of terms from other languages, particularly from Latin. In that
case when the translator came across a word with no equivalent in the tongue into which he was
translating, he was obliged to use the original word, thus enriching the lexicalload of the receiving
language. This practice is confirmedby the following statement expressed in the Preface to the
Rheims-Douai Bible: For necessite, “English not hauting a name… of an other tongue” In adopting
th loan,the translator usually adapted the word that he was borrowing to the morphological features
of the receiving language. Latin words ending in -atio were provided with the suffix -ation and
similarly other Latinate terminations commonly in use in the English language ( such as -ence, -ity,-
ment) were used as equivalents for the Latin endings. There are some words such as pathology,
barometer, thermometer that are borrowings from Latin or Greek. Latin loans were sometimes
employed to express a more technical meaning of a word already use, for this reason Thomas Elyot
create the term mature in order to contrast it with the existing word ripe, the former to be used when
referring to human condition, the latter to fruit. As there was no words usedatthe time for the
figurative function of the term Elyot was constrained to use a latin word callying it Maturite. In
some cases both forms, general and technical were neoLatin: in these cases the former was already
present in the language,having been borrowed during the Middle English period, while the latter
appeared in the language in the Early Modern English period, some examples of these doublets are
count/compute, prove/probe, spice/species.

2. The opaqueness of language ( opaque: they couldn’t be understood) Use of terms that are not
clear because they came from Latin or Greek such as fluidity or fixation., etc.The use of loans from
Latin or Greek had been criticized due to its opaqueness, there are writers such as Walter Charleton
that justifies his use of borrowed words saying that Latin or Greek loan enriched and ennobled
English language and these have become familiar with such terms. In order tohelp readers in the
imterpretation of new items some specilaists givea

12

oharaphrase or a synonym when they firstly appear in the text,or they write a glissary atthe end of
the book.

3. 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.

4. 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) 5. 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

13

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. 1. 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.

14

- Objectivity The style adopted should reflect the writer ‘s honestly: this quality requires the
researcher to report events sincerely. This leds the author to use modal expressions and verbs like to
seem and to appear to report with caution the action sas he perceives them. To make the narration
more reliable he carefully inserts the testimony of his collaborators and of the persons who were
presents while he was carrying out his activities. Boyle suggests the importance of leaving an
interval on the page between the two textual parts: report of experimental findings and personal
reflections. - The evolution of experimental essay The experimental essay was ideoy accepted by
the scientific community of the 17th century. Its popularity became vaster with the increase in
circulation of scientific journal. The 1st scientific journal to appear in England was the
Philosophical Transaction edited by H. Oldenburg, and various members of the Royal Society
published many essays in it. In the course of time ithas evolved and it has found a more cohesive
structure. Some ofthe features of the early essay have changed, for instance there is more frequent
use of passive. Nowadays: ~unsuccessful articles not published anymore, ~ great theoretical
interest,~ style has became depersonalised,~ great competition more than cooperation.
15

Quarto riassunto
I – The Notion of “Specialized Discourse” Interest in specialized discourse dates backs (risale) to
the 1920s-1930s, when scholars belonging to the Prague school turned their attention to the so
called “functional style” which characterises scientific and technical discourse. Their approach was
conservative and they classified this type of “language” at a lower level and totally separate from
the language of everyday use. Moreover their studies were only focused on the morphological and
lexical characteristics of these languages. Studies on register analysis started only after the Second
World War and there was a transition from an uncontextualized view of language to its perception
as a highly flexible means of communication employed in different situations.* So this placed the
study of specialized discourse within the wider spectrum of situational-contextual varieties.* Finally
register analysis has helped to shift the researchers’ focus from a chiefly statistical-quantitative
approach to a mainly “qualitative” approach which seeks to identify the peculiarities of specialized
texts in a perspective that is not only microlinguistic but takes into account the discourse in which
they are embedded. (look at Linguaggi Specialistici pp. 7)

The issue of terminology: Different expressions are commonly used to denote this “subject”, but
they are not all equally acceptable. Sometimes specialized discourse has been thought comparable
to the notion of “restricted language/code”( i.e. flight control communication). The terms restricted
code and specialized discourse are not interchangeable (because the latter exploits the language
code in a far more creative and varied way). Sometimes the term “special language” has been used
but this should denote a language with special rules and symbols deviating from those of general
language (lingue speciali). An example in this class is Code Q which is used in the
telecommunications sector. Moreover the term “special language” could be applied to
languagessharing the communicative conventions of a given language but also possessing other
conventions which are not part of these resources. So, for the sake of terminology, the terms
“special language” and “specialized discourse” should be kept separate, because the latter,
specialized discourse, is distinguished from general language not for its use of special linguistic
rules absent from general language, but for its quantitatively-greater and pragmatically more
specific use of such conventions ! Definition* Specialized discourse does not appear to share the
constraints and the simplifications assumed by some

authors but possesses all the lexical, phonetic, morphosyntactic and textual resources of general
language (including the expressive richness and the communicative function of standard
language).*

Definition*: Specialized discourse reflects the specialist use of language in contexts* ! which are
typical of a specialized community stretching across the academic, the professional, the technical
and the occupational areas of knowledge and practice. This perspective stresses both the type of
user and the domain of use, as well as the special application of language in that setting. All 3 of
these factors need to be present:

1. Mode: The channel and mediumof communication (written, spoken-composed, spoken

spontaneous).

2. Field (or topic): The object of the communication and everything related to it;
3. Tenor: The relationship between participants (the addresser and the addressee)

(Many linguists, as Halliday, tend to subordinate the specificity of specialized discourse to their
topic but sd isn’t determined solely by its topic).

Different genres within specialized discourse: Mode: written; spoken-composed; spoken-

spontaneous (look at the table of pp. 20). Several and different features can coexist within the same
text and, therefore, texts are not mono-modal.

The horizontal and the vertical dimensions: The interrelationship between (these) various contextual
factors has led scholars to examine specialized discourse according to a coordinate system with
horizontal dimension, concerning the disciplinary domain dealt with (economic, legal, scientific
discourse etc.) and a vertical dimension relating to its sociological layer (e.g. its degree of formality
and functional style)! *

Thelexis: Specialized discourse has a specialized terminology/lexicon which can results

incomprehensible for the uninitiated (inesperti) or the outsiders. This incomprehension depends not
only on unfamiliar lexis but also on conceptual content (contenuto). On the other hand, the so called
“jargon”, a kind of use of lexis linked to the interactants’ profession, avoids transparency in a
deliberate attempt to make the message incomprehensible to the outsiders.

The multi-dimensional nature of specialized discourse: There are manyvarieties of specialized

discourse (due not only by the lexis). Disciplinary variation produces not only special lexical
connotations but also influences other options (morphosyntactic, textual and pragmatic), thus
reflecting at the same time the epistemological, semantic and functionalpeculiaritiesof a given
variety of specialized discourse. There is a further distinction to be made in the field of specialized
languages: that of its level of specialization. There are 3 different situations in which a specialist
may address a topic relating to his profession:

1. The first case is when the expert addresses other specialists to debate issues within his
disciplinary field, to describe a research projects, report results, explain the use of equipment etc. If
the addresses share a considerable amount of knowledge, the author can make frequent use of
specialized terminology whose semantic value is taken for granted.

2. The second case is when specialists address non-specialists to explain notions pertaining to their
discipline. For educational purposes, the meaning of specialized lexis is illustrated whenever it
occurs. Typical texts of this nature are academic textbooks and instructions-manuals.

3. The third case is when a specialist provides information of a technical nature mainly through
everyday lexis.The purpose here is to reach out (avvicinarsi) to a wider audience, as generally
observed in newspaper or magazine articles presenting scientific or technical information.

These 3 different situations lead to 3 different uses of language, or rather to 3 different levels of
specificity in language use. It’s clear that only the first two involve a truly specialist use of
language.

Some authors, like Biagi, have mentioned a fourth level called “formalisation” or ”condensation
into formulas”. Formulas as well as all the non-verbal elements in specialized discourse (diagrams,
tables etc.) cannot be considered as its deep structure. In fact all these non-verbal elements can
simply offer an alternative, non-linguistic representation of specialized notions.

General features of specialized discourse: In 1984, Hoffmann provides a long list of the desirable
qualities of specialized discourse. He reviews 11 main points:

• Exactitude, simplicity and clarity;

• objectivity;

• abstractness;

• generalisation;

• density of information;

• brevity (or laconism);

• emotional neutrality;

• unambiguousness

• impersonality;

• logical consistency;

• use of defined technical terms, symbols and figures.

Not all the criteria mentioned are applicable to all specialized languages and likewise
(analogamente) the criteria chosen for a given specialized language are not always applicable to its
various genres. They are also inconsistent.

There is another model,designed by Sager, which includes 3 dominant criteria: Economy; precision
and appropriateness. They are interdependent and the degree of interdependence varies according to
the communicative situation.

II – Lexical Features of Specialized Discourse

1. Monoreferentiality Synonymity

2. Lack of emotion Metaphor

3. Precision Ambiguity

4. Transparency Imprecision

5. Conciseness Redundancy

6. Conservatism Semantic Instability

a) Monoreferentiality is one of the most distinctive features of specialized lexis. This term signals
that in a given context, only one meaning is allowed. So one of the distinctive characteristics of
specialized lexis is itssemantic uniqueness. Denotation(il significato primario, oggettivo di una
parola) is prevalent and the meaning of specific terms may be inferred (dedotto) without reference
to their context. According to the principle of monoreferentiality, a term cannot be substituted by a
synonym but only by its definition or a paraphrase. This means that every term signals
a(specific)concept. The need for a single referent generally means that users are forced to create
new terms , rather than use existing terminology, in order to define new concepts without ambiguity
or misunderstanding. The expert Piesse says: “Never change your language unless you wish to
change your meaning, and always change your language if you wish to change your meaning”.

It is not surprising, therefore, that dictionaries list several definitions of the same term, each
applicable to separate (distinti) contexts.

The highly referential nature of terminology is a major advantage for conciseness* but 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*.

b) Lack of emotion is another feature of specialized languages and it means the lack of emotive
connotations (la connotazione rappresenta, al contrario della denotazione, uno o più significati
aggiuntivi, di solito traslati, ricchi di allusioni e implicazioni di tipo emotivo/soggettivo). Unlike (a

differenza) words (which are richly connotated), terms have a purely denotative function! For
example, the word lion, in general language, is often associated with such qualities as fierceness,
aggressiveness, pride, majesty etc. Instead, in specialized language, the termlion means a specific
feline species. So, the tone of specialized discourse is neutral/objective. (Emotion in specialized
discourse creates ambiguity*). It is evident that lack of emotion prevails whenever a text has an
informative purpose but if the pragmatic purpose isn’t informative but mainly persuasive (as for
example in advertising messages or in a politic debate) the emphasis on emotion surfaces also in
specialized texts/language (i.e. in political discourse).

c) (Referential) Precision means that every term must point immediately to its own concept. This
requirement excludes the recourse to indirect reference systems in specialized communication,
through such devices as euphemism.

d) Transparency is another important feature of specialized lexis and it is the possibility to

promptly(rapidamente)access a term’s meaning through its surface form (look at Linguaggi
Specialistici pp. 14). The surface form/structure of a term must be easy to decode. To get all of this,
one of the most employed devices ensuring (che garantisce) transparency in s.d. is the use of
conventional affixes, which have acquired precise values in each discipline. They ensuring the
logical categorization of words/terms. For instance, in chemistry, medicine or mineralogy every
suffix has a determined meaning. In mineralogy the suffix -ite denotes derivatives of other elements
(magnetite, calcite, fluorite).

In the 17th and 18th centuries, to get transparency, they were used suffixes of Greek and Latin
origin. For example, Lavoisier gave to each of these suffixes a specific meaning making a
distinction among similar terms. A similar attempt was made in Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, which
used Greek or Latin terms to mark groups and subgroups of the natural world. The use of classical
terms in science reflected the effort to avoid the lexis of general language, prone to dangerous
misunderstanding and ambiguities.
e) Conciseness a criterion applied to word-formation by specialists. It means that a concept must be
expressed in the shortest possible form. The need of conciseness generally leads to a reduction in
textual surface. For instance, this reduction is made by the use of zero derivation which allows the
omission of affixes. Examples in Italian are: saldo from saldare; convalida from convalidare;
utilizzo from utilizzare; rimborsofrom rimborsare etc. In the second case, greater conciseness is
achieved through the reduction of the term itself (urinalysis is the reduced form of urinoanalysis
and contraception of contra-conception). In the third case, another type of conciseness device is
juxtaposition, which omits prepositions. In the fourth case, another device can be the use
ofacronyms and abbreviations.

f) Conservatism: As mentioned earlier, one of the main principles asserted by 17th-18th century
scientists was the need to redefine specialized discourse and replace existing terms (often imprecise
or synonymous) with new ones, usually drawn from classical languages which ensured
monoreferentiality. This new thrust (spinta) is not found in all fields of knowledge as, for example,
in the field of the law, in which the trend is intensely conservative and old terms are still used, even
if disappeared in general language. The reverence for tradition observed in legal language is due to
its close link with the ancient practise of using special formulae for oaths, edicts, statutes etc.
Moreover, these formulae are universally accepted. The archaic nature of legal discourse is also
seen in the use of lexis and of third-person singular with the present indicative of verbs.
Conservatism is also found in business language for the same reasons (i.e. the term bill is still used
and widely accepted).

g) Ambiguity: The criterion of monoreferentialityis frequently violated and there are many cases of
ambiguity and polysemy. At times this ambiguity is not planned, but in other cases it is the result of
the author’s decision. Ambiguity could be due to the fact that, many times, the use a person makes
of a certain term determines the meaning that he/she attributes to it and so it provides his/her own
view of the world. This “nominal” definition confers the author’s personal value on the term. The
specialist is not denied (non è negato) the right to redefine the value of some concepts or the
meaning of some terms, especially when this redefinition is part of an innovative conceptual
revision; however, in order not to give rise to misunderstanding or incomprehension, this semantic
redefinition should be clearly stated (dichiarata) and terms should be used

consistently with the new meaning(s) throughout (lungo tutto) the text!

h) Imprecision: Despite the recurring claim that precision is a prominent feature of specialized
discourse, there are several exceptions to this rule in certain disciplinary fields. One of the least
consistently precise areas is legal language. For example, the use of certain adjectives sometimes
allows subjective interpretation. An example of this is the use of the ad. proper in the following
legal clause and the other ad. reasonable in the second sentence:

“The tenant will pay for a proper proportion of the rental or other recurring charges to be assessed
according to the duration of the tenancy” → The text does not clarify what a proper proportion
amounts to in monetary terms.

“Reasonable wear and damage by fire excepted.” → It’s indeterminate and allows for a highly
personal evaluation.

i) Redundancy is the violation of the principle of conciseness. It’s generally due to the pleonastic
(superfluo) use of lexical items and it occurs when the number of lexemes employed is far higher
than necessary. Legal language, in particular, displays the highest occurrence of redundancy. In
fact, in English legal texts, we can found:
• The naming of concepts through two different languages (generally pairs which consist of a neo-
Latin term coupled with an Anglo-Saxon parallel, as for example new and novel; false and untrue).
This process ensured comprehension by all sectors of the population.

• Another case of redundancy is the repetition of a concept through its negated opposite, as in the
expression “within and not exceedingtwo months” → “entro e non oltre due mesi”.

• Lexical doubling; assonance; alliteration (generally used to enhance the perlocutory force:
persuading, convincing, scaring, inspiring etc.). A degree of redundancy may be observed in the
expression “to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothingbut the truth.”

l) Semantic instability (or variation): Termsundergo (subiscono) manysemantic transformations.

This semantic variation of words is due to cultural (social and technological) innovations and is not
onlytypical of general languagebut also of specialized discourse (in which semantic change is due to
a disciplinary evolution).

Sometimes semantic change is gradual, in line with slow conceptual transformations related to the
evolving view of a given item. For example, the term purchase denoted, in its early stages, the
acquisition of something through force; slowly it specialized and came to mean acquisition through
one’s actions and, finally, it took on its modern meaning of acquisition by payment of a sum.

Sometimes the transformation process is due to specific actions that enable us to date exactly when
the change occurred, as for example in the case of the term freehold.

To conclude, the presence of new meanings, which eventually replace existing ones, may lead to
ambiguity! This ambiguity may be due to: the overlap of the two meanings or because the (old and)
original concept originally assigned to the term is weakened (indebolito) when the concept’s
constituent features change in response to evolving disciplinary knowledge. It is the case of the
terms atom or hypnosis(which originally means sleep),which scientific discoveries have altered and
which now fail to reflect their original etymological meaning.

m) The relationship with general language: Semantic evolution very often originates from the
specialization of word meanings in the general language! It is, for example, the case of the words
experiment and experience, which were largely interchangeable until the 1700s and which have
recently acquired a precise specification that now denotes two separate types of knowledge: 1-
objective observation based on experimental evidence; 2- subjective knowledge acquired mainly
through the senses.

The specialization of words borrowed (prese in prestito) from everyday language was particularly
intense in the 17th and 18th centuries, when rapid technological and scientific development made it
necessary to establish a specific lexis for separate disciplines and phenomena. Very often the
specialized meanings prevail over the general ones. Examples of these are the terms industry and
recession, whose economic significance usually prevails over the original notion of “creative
activity” or “retreat” (ritirata).

At other times, the specialization process has produced new lexemes alongside existing ones which
are no longer appropriate.

Increasingreferential specialization and terminological contrast with general languageis possible

thanks tothe use of Latin or Greek! It’s the example of the terms speed, which possesses a physical
concept based on Latin, and gynecologist,based on Greek, which was coined to contrast with the
existing (and inadequate) term midwife (ostetrica).

In the study of English lexical development, Hughes identifies 5 generations of borrowings from
classical languages:

1. The first phase, dating from the Roman occupation of England, chiefly concerned Latin and its
influence;

2. the second phase occurred in 6th and 7th centuries and involved above all religious terminology;

3. A third phase of classical borrowings with literary connotations took place during the
Renaissance.

4. In the 17th and 18th centuries classical borrowings extended to specialized discourse!

5. The classical borrowings of the last two centuries belong to the fifth phase.

Many classical-rooted termshave producedhybrid affixes and suffixesthat are widely used in
specialized languages! We have for example kilo-; auto-; mega-; micro-; mini-; multi-.

Moreover, if we look at the names of body parts and their equivalent adjectives, we can see that the
nouns are mostly Anglo-Saxon, whereas the adjectives are generally rooted (radicati) in classical
languages.

Brain cerebral

chest thoracic

heart cardiac

liver hepatic

rib costal

skin dermal

lung pulmonary

n) Metaphor in specialized discourse: Even if metaphors in specialized discourse could create

ambiguity, they are used as a common deviceto create terms drawn from general language,
especially for the purpose of catachresis (the putting of new senses into old words)! In fact they
have severaladvantages all related to the general criteria of specialized discourse mentioned earlier:
terminological transparency; conciseness; [...] preciseness.

• Transparency, achieved when a metaphor is used instead of a neologism, is produced

throughsimiles and semantic associations (by referring new concepts to pre-existing items within
the interlocutor’s semantic repertoire). i.e. “l’atomo è un sistema solare in miniatura”.
• Conciseness: The choice of a given lexeme points immediately to a body of existing information
known to the interlocutor. So, the information is conveyed without complex explanations or
complex terminological definitions.

• The third advantage is the quality of images from the physical (and real) world, which is used to
represent abstract and often complex concepts that, otherwise, could be difficult to describe.

• Preciseness is produced through loans (prestiti) from common language or other special codes.

Many metaphors are so well established in everyday usage that their metaphoric value is weakened.
So they have transformed into everyday lexis and they are called “dead metaphors”.

On the other hand, in specialized discourse metaphors are seldom(raramente)employed as

substitutes and their function is chiefly stylistic! In fact their use is generally employed to highlight
the expressive connotations of a concept and to increase its aesthetic value.

(Economic language is full of metaphors).

Lexical productivity: As discussed earlier, specialized discourse employs words drawn from general
language, which are incorporated through a process of specialization and metaphorisation (for
further exemplifications of neologisms in specialized discourse). But the opposite has also occurred,
especially over

the last century: terms coined in a specialized setting are increasingly likely to become part of
everyday lexis. It is the example of the economic term bank which now is applied to define
containers for disposal or recycling of human organs, bottles and data instead of “a place for the
storage of money”.

The high number of specialized terms now present in general use has convinced many linguists that
the lexical system of specialized discourse is more productive than that of standard language, but
there is no evidence of

this. In fact, the constant production of specialized terms is not due to the greater potential inherent
in the lexical system of specialized discourse but rather to the rapid evolution of disciplinary fields
(settori/campi) and the constant redefinition of existing terms and concepts!

III – Syntactic Features of Specialized Discourse

Syntactic forms and features found in the several studies on Specialized Discourse do not contain
any special rules not found in general language. In fact, certain features also occur in general
language and the unique thing that distinguishes these feature from those of specialized discourse is
the higher frequency found in the latter (which, moreover, make them typical of specialized
discourse). Therefore, the most likely conclusion is that the specificity of morphosyntactic
phenomena found in specialized languages is not qualitative but quantitative!

Let’s see these features, their originality, their frequency and also the pragmatic motives that
originate them:

1. Omission of phrasal elements;

2. Expressive conciseness (synthesis);

3. Pre-modification (versus post-modification);

4. Nominalization;

5. Lexical density;

6. Sentence complexity;

7. Sentence length;

8. Use of verb tenses (tempi verbali);

9. Use of the passive form;

10. Depersonalization.

1. Omission of phrasal elements: Specialized Discourse hasan extremely compact syntactic

structure which also confirms the principle of conciseness. The common way to make the sentence
more concise is to omit one of its constituents. This doesn’t prevent textual comprehension because
the value of any omitted element may be inferred (dedotto) from the context or reconstructed by
reference to knowledge shared by the language community!

The omissionconcerns (riguarda): prefixes, suffixes, subjects and auxiliaries.

These omission in specialized texts are due to the need for conciseness, as in the case of technical
manuals or instructions but, in other cases, omission is not instrumental to the subject matter but
rather to the channel of communication, as for example in the cases of the e- mails (A volte,
l’omissione di alcuni elementi non è dovuta alla materia trattata che richede sinteticità, quanto al
canale di comunicazione utilizzato, che necessita, di per sè, brevità del messaggio e richiede un
numero limitato di parole).

2. Expressive conciseness: is a linguistic strategies employed in English specialized texts to avoid

relative clauses and make the sentence structure lighter.

There are many possibilities to do this:

• The first one is the substitution of the relative clause withadjectives which are obtained by means
(ricorrendo a) of prefixes or suffixeswith precise semantic values. “Workable metal” instead of “A
metal which can be worked”. “Reactive force” = “A force which reacts”. “Absorbent material” =
“A material which absorbs”.

• The omission of the subject and auxiliaryof a relative clausecontaining a passive form. “Pieces of
iron which are left in the rain become rusty” → “Pieces of iron left in the rain become rusty”. “He
devised an instrument which is called a spectroscope” → “He devised an instrument called a
spectroscope”.

(When the relative clause refers to a concept explained previously, the verb of the relative clause is
turned into its past participle and placed after the noun) Example: “A pilot tube was used to
measure the flow. The instrument (the pilot tube previously mentioned) used was type 4CA”).
• The passive construction is also avoided by turning the verb into a past participle and using it as a
premodifier. “Air which is compressed can be used for several purposes” → “Compressed air can
be used for several purposes”.

(if the agent is to be stated, it is placed before the past participle (which is used as a premodifier).
“A result which has been calculated by a computer” → “A computer-calculated result”.

• When the relative clause is negative, it’s omitted and the negative prefixun- is added to the past
participle always used as a premodifier. “The liquid which is not wanted” → “The unwanted
liquid”.

• When the passive form is modified by and adverb , the latter is joined by means of a hypen
(trattino) to the past participle of the verb and placed before the noun. “A bridge which is designed
incorrectly” → “An incorrectly- designed bridge”.

• The adverbial phrase “in this way” of a relative clause is substituted by the expressions “thus” or
“so” and they are placed before the past participle of the verb. “The results which were obtained in
this way were inaccurate”. → “The results thus / so obtained were inaccurate”.

• Another adverbused to avoid a relative pronoun is“whereby”(con cui, attraverso il quale etc.). It is
used in place of the expression “by means of”. “Cracking is the process by means of which
kerosene is extracted.” → “Cracking is the process whereby kerosene is extracted”.

• Another strategies 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 which retains hardness at red-
heat.” → Tungsten is a metal retaining hardness at red-heat”. This strategies is also used in Italian
specialized texts: “Un mobile che cade” → “Un mobile cadente”.

• The present participle is often used as an adjective. “A robot controls the line which is moving”.
→ “A robot controls the moving line”.

• If the verb of the relative clause is accompanied by an adverb, the latter is placed before the
present participle. “They have selected a plant which grows fast”. → “They have selected a fast-
growing plant”. The same process occurs when the verb of the relative clause is followed by an
object *: “Malaysia is a country which produces rubber” → “Malaysia is a rubber- producing
country.”

• Finally, in many cases the simplification process proceeds further, withthe disappearancenot only
of the subject of the secondary clause and its auxiliary, butalso of the verb itself ,whose
meaningthus (in this way) become implicit. “A pentagon is a figure which has five sides” → “A
pentagon is a figure with five sides” → “A pentagon is a five-sided figure”.

In some cases this process implies several instances of simplification and the result may bea noun
specified by another noun. “A train which carries passengers” → “A train for carrying passengers”.
→ “A passenger-carrying train” * or “A passenger train”.

These elliptical forms offer a higher degree of compactness and they are widely adopted in
specialized texts, where the criterion of expressive conciseness is greatly appreciated.
3. Premodification: The phenomenon of relative clause reduction shows a frequent switch from
post-modification to premodification. This transition is possible because English’s syntactic rules
allow

several adjectival usesof phrasal elements. Moreover, English can easily employ right-to-left
construction, which shortens sentences and makes the noun phrase especially dense. A distinctive
aspect of the right-to-left construction is nominal adjectivation:

• A noun used as an adjective before another noun (or…) Costruire un messaggio prima del nome.

• The use of a noun to specify another with an adjectival function. This type of specification can
cover such features as: the material of which an item is made, (ferrite core; paper tape, silicon chip)
its use, (access arm; load program) its function (control byte) and many others.

The decoding of long nominal groups isn’t easy and it poses a major interpretative challenge (sfida)
for the addressee. There are indeed various cases in which noun compoundsmay be interpreted in
different ways. This can create ambiguity (in some cases solved by putting an hypen which signals
the semantic links between words (e.g. A small car factory 1) A small factory for making cars; 2) A
factory for making small cars).

(If premodification can create ambiguity, why is it so common in specialized texts? Because
ambiguity is often apparent rather than real and because premodification has a great potential for
concepts formation. In fact the combination of two or more terms gives rise to new concepts and
adds new meanings and uses).

4. Nominalisation Is an other very common syntactic phenomenon of specialized discourse. This

involves the use of a noun instead of a verb to convey concepts relating to actions or processes (or:
a verb transformed into a nominal syntagma and then used as an adjective). Specialized discourse
make frequent use of nominalisation because verb-derived nouns seem to reflect the parallel process
whereby results are inferred from experiments and objects from their construction process.
Nominalisation is not unique to specialized discourse (where it is more frequent and more
specialized) but it also occurs in general language. It allows an easier flow of informations, it
provides conciseness and texts acquire far greater cohesion.

Examples of nominalization:

1) The provisions for the recovery of possessions → The provisions for recovering possessions.

2) The amount of all charges made for the use of the telephone → The amount of all charges made
for using the telephone.

3) Except charges for the supply of gas → Except charges for supplying gas.

The pervasiveness of nominalisation leads to a loss of verbal value. As a result the verb is weakened
and, often, it functions as copula (a link between complex noun phrases). In this cases, the preferred
verb is“to be”. The verb to be, which provides a lot of objectivity, is often used as linkage between
nominal or adjectival phrases, which in turn derive from syntactic transformation of verbs.

E.g. 1) Oscillations are frequency-dependant → Oscillations depend on frequency (depend on → to

be dependant);
2) The tyre isnon-skid → The tyre does not skid (to be non-skid);

3) Danger is practically non-existent → Danger does not practically exist (to be non-existent).

Like an equation, the two parts of the sentence joined by the copula are interchangeable: Indeed,
specialized discourse often exhibits instances of inversion within the sentences, withthe subject
complement placed in initial position: E.g. 1) Typical is the case of carbon monoxide. 2) More
important is the solution of any priority problems that may arise.

This inversion of sentential items is extremely useful, especially when the subject is far longer than
the complement. By placing the shorter phrase at the beginning of a sentence, the decoder’s short-
term memory is not forced to wait too long for the complement to disambiguate the meaning of the
whole sentence.

(A verbal noun usually ends in suffixes such as -ation; -ition; -ity; -ment; -ness. E.g. to produce →
productivity).

5. Lexical density: In specialized discourse one consequence of frequent nominalisation and other
premodifying devices is lexical density: a high percentage of content words within a text. It is
especially high in written texts, where discourse is planned more carefully, without hesitations
markers and with less redundancy.

6. Sentence complexity: Another effect of nominalisation is the simplification of the syntactic

structure. By switchingfrom verbal to nominal forms, the surface structure of a sentence is
minimized into simple patterns of the type NOUN PHRASE + VERB PHRASE + NOUN
PHRASE. Noun phrases are usually very complex, while the verb phrase often consists of a
copulative verb. The surface structure is simplified but the lexical density of the sentence and the
complex patterning of the noun phrases make the interpretation more demanding (esigente).

7. Sentence length: Even if in specialized discourse many authors often employ syntactic devices
that shorten sentences and limit their complexity (premodification, omission of relative clauses
using past and present participles and other options), in English legal language/texts we can see the
opposite phenomenon: a high number of postmodifiers* and relative clauses. This is due to the need
of maximum clarity and to minimise ambiguity and misunderstanding.

*post-modification: Building a message/sentence after the noun. It occurs especially in romance

languages. Example: A room for computers which has the shape of an L (post-modification) ≠An L-
shaped computer room (premodification and nominalisation).

8. (The different) Use of verb tenses: In specialized discourse we can see a prevalence of 10 verb
tenses:

1. present simple active form (64%)

2. present simple passive form (25%)

3. future simple active form (3,7%)

4. present perfect passive form (1,7%)

5. present perfect active form (1,4%)

6. past simple active form (1,2%)

7. past simple passive form (1,2%)

8. future simple passive form (0,7%)

9. present progressive active (0,6%)

10. imperative (0,3%)

In the great majority of cases (89%) the present(active and passive forms)indicative tense is
considered a feature of specialized languages. This is not a specialists’ deliberate choice but it is
due to the fact thatmost of the common communicative functions found in s.d. call for the use of
this verb tense. For example, in expository scientific texts, whose prevalent pragmatic functions
are:definitions, descriptions, observations, stating general truths ,illustrating qualities and features,
postulating scientific laws, explaining standard procedures, the present indicative tense is the most
suitable (adatta).

Therefore, the first conclusion is that: the present indicative tenseis not associated to the specificity
of the topic but rather to the text’s special communicative purposes, which are, for scientific texts,
those previously saw and for another type of text, as for example for a manual, to provide
instructions. Providing instructions (the communicative purpose) requires another verb tense: the
imperative form.

On the other hand, a frequent usage ofpast indicative tenses was found in texts dealing with the
topic of rocks and formation emplacement, and with previous studies on this subject. In particular,
simple past is preferred when an event only occurred once.

Moreover, authors like Lackstom, Selinker and Trimble show how the use of different verb tenses
varies according to the degree of generality attributed by authors to the phenomena considered:

1. When generality is high, the choice falls onthe present simple;

2. When generality is low, the choice falls onthe present perfect;

3. If an event only occurred once, past simple is preferred.

In conclusion, we can say that verb forms are chosen not according to the time axis(assi
temporali)of the events concernedbutaccording to rhetorical factors linked to the type of text and
topic.

9. Use of the passive form: Another feature of specialized discourse is its considerable use of
passive verbs (28/26% of passive form of all verb forms compared to only 3% in general texts).
Especially in English, the passive isthe main device used to depersonalise discourse (whereas Italian
has the impersonal operator “si” and French has “on”).

In passive clauses the agent is normally omitted for different reasons:

• because it is often the same for all the operations described (in this case it produces redundancy);
• because there is no specific actor behind a given action: this accounts for stative verb forms
expressing a condition rather than an event.Their surface form is similar to the passive but with the
past participle used as an adjective: “The system is composed of...”; “The plate was located at...”;
“The sensor is housed in...”.

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 same text for different communicative purposes. Indeed, the syntactic
rules of the English language allow for different textualisations of the same concept. But,
sometimes, the choice may be influenced by sentence length or by the need for special prominence
(rilievo/importanza).

Examples: “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-textual factors rather than syntactic considerations. Their
importance in the textualisation process varies according to the type of text or specialized field and
cannot be generalised.

The widespread use of the passive in s.d. is not common to all text types. For example, in legal texts
we found a lower proportion of passive forms.

10. Depersonalisation:The pervasiveness of passivization coupled with the absence of an explicit

agent suggests the presence in specialized texts of a tendency to depersonalise discourse.
Depersonalisation is a process which decreases the human component (subjectivity) and increases
the personification of the object/product.

We can found typical research-process verbs as for example: to demonstrate, to suggest, to

highlight, to indicate, to confirm. They have inanimate subjects consisting of facts, events and
elements.

Increased use of depersonalisation is also confirmed by a very common feature of specialized texts:
the author referring to himself indirectly through third-person pronouns and through such noun
phrases as: “the author”; “the research team” etc. or conveying his personal views to personalised
forms of the type: “The book investigates...”; “This articles demonstrates...”.

Examples of Impersonality: “As you can see from the data” → “As can be seen from the data” or
“As the data show”.

A trend to depersonalisation is observed not only in omission of the subject-speaker*, but also in
the reduction of any direct reference to the interlocutor. The addressee is avoided through indirect
forms and the use of passive modals.

Despite the widespread use of depersonalisation in s.d., it can’t be considered a general feature of
all specialized discourse. In fact, in argumentative texts, first-person pronouns are widely used
because the emphasis is often on the author. *In academic writing we avoid uses of ‘you’. So, the
more informal 'give you' has been replaced with ‘provide’.
IV – Textual Features What is a text? It’s a communicative event.

Halliday and Hasan’s definition, 1989: “A text is characterised by coherence (continuità di senso);
it hangs together. At any point after the beginning, what has gone before provides the environment
for what is coming next. This sets up internal expectations; and these are matched up with the
expectations referred to earlier, that listener or reader brings from the external sources, from the
context of situation and of culture.”

From notes: A group of sentences can be considered a text if only it provides cohesive relations*
(connessioni di tipo sintattico e lessicale tra gli elementi di superficie) in each sentence and among
all of them!

These cohesive relations give texture to the text. What’s the texture? (tessitura) It is “a set” of
cohesion markers* and/or implicit semantic relations*(which held together the different parts of a
text). A text can be considered a real text when it has texture. Examples:

• Wash and core six cooking apples. Put them into a fireproof dish (explicit cohesion marker)

• Milk finished! Gone to the supermarket (implicit cohesion)

• A> The bell is ringing B> I’m in the bathroom (implicit cohesion)

Moreover, so that (affinchè) a text/a communicative event can be considered a real text, it must
satisfy7 conditions:

1. Cohesion (coesione)

2. Coherence (coerenza)

3. Intentionality (intenzionalità)

4. Acceptability (accettabilità)

5. Informatività

6. situazionalità

7. intertestualità

1. Cohesion: La coesione testuale riguarda l’insieme delle risorse linguistiche di superficie, a

disposizione di ogni lingua, per collegare semanticamenteuna parte del testo con un’altra. Lavora
sulpiano sintattico/lessicale, e, dunque, può essere una coesionelessicale e/o grammaticale ed è
costituita dalegami coesivi quali: relazioni coreferenziali(anafora e catafora, sostituzione ed ellissi)
e connettivi testuali.

Le relazioni coreferenziali possono essere esoforiche (outside) o endoforiche (inside):

Example:Esoforica: “Look at that” →

Endoforica: A) Anaforica: L’anafora è una delle più importanti funzioni di coesione linguistica dei
testi. Serve appunto a mettere in opera dei legami tra porzioni di un testopiù o meno vaste e più o
meno distanti tra loro. Tale legame è indicato come rapporto anaforico e coinvolge soprattutto
sintagmi nominali e pronomi. Es: “Look at the sun, it’s going down quickly.

B) Cataforica: La catafora è sempre una funzione di coesione linguistica dei testi. Consiste nella
relazione tra una espressione anaforica e un'altra espressione,successiva, che determina il
riferimento. Si tratta, dunque, dell'opposto dell'anafora. Da Wikipedia

Esempi: Te lo dico per l'ultima volta: no! ; “it’s going down quickly, the sun”.

Other examples of relazioni coreferenziali:

• Forma ripetuta:The Prime Minister recorded her thanks to the Foreign Secretary. The Prime
Minister was most eloquent.

• Forma parzialmente ripetuta:Dr. E.C.R. Reeve chaired the meeting. Dr. Reeve invited Mr. Philips
to report on the state of the gardens.

• Sostituzione lessicale: Ro’s daughter is ill again. The child is hardly ever well.

• Forma pronominale:Ro said she would have to take Sophie to the doctor.

• Forma sostituita: Jules has a birthday next month. Elspeth has one, too.

• Forma elisa: Jules has a birthday next month. Elspeth has \\ too.

Marcatori di coesione o connettivi testuali:

• Additiva: and, or, furthermore, similarly, in addition etc.

• Avversativa: but, however, on the other hand, nevertheless etc.

• Causale: so, consequently, for this reason, it follows from this etc.

• Temporale: then, after that, an hour later, finally, at last etc.

2. Coherence: La coerenza testuale, invece, non è una proprietà intrinseca del testo ma viene
costruita dall’emittente del testo, in collaborazione con il destinatario, nel collegamento logico delle
frasi all’interno di un dato contesto di interpretazione. Diversamente dalla coesione, la coerenza
lavora sul piano semantico e si realizza grazie ai rapporti di:

• casualità,

• scopo,

• successione temporale,

• relazioni di causa-effetto,

• ordine logico.

Examples: Milk finished! Gone to the supermarket!

Jack fell down (A) - and broke his head ( B) (A causes B) ≠ Jack fell down and drove his head (A ?
B)

3. Intentionality: Si riferisce a tutti i mezzi utilizzati da chi produce il testo per perseguire e
realizzare le proprie intenzioni → forza illocutiva dell’emittente.

Ex: A > The bell is ringing B> I’m in the bathroom

4. Acceptability: Si riferisce alla disponibilità da parte del ricevente a partecipare allo scambio
comunicativo e a perseguire un fine comune → effetto perlocutivo sul destinatario.

Nell’esempio: A > The bell is ringing B> I’m in the bathroom

5. Informatività: Si riferisce al grado di conoscenza/attesa, alle aspettative relative ai contenuti del

testo, testo inteso come messaggio: le informazioni contenute nel messaggio sono note, condivise
dall’emittente e dal destinatario.

Ex: Call us before you dig. You may not be able to afterwards.

6. Situazionalità: Si riferisce all’insieme dei fattori che rendono rilevante un testo per una
determinata situazione:

Ex: For he’s a jolly good fellow and so say all of us → relazione coreferenziale esoforica che
soddisfa la condizione di situazionalità*: festa (a popular song that is sung to congratulate a person
on a significant event*, such as a promotion, a birthday, a wedding, the winning of a championship
sporting event etc.).

7. Intertestualità: In linguistica, l'insieme dei rapporti che ogni testo ha/intrattiene con tutti gli altri e
che permette al ricevente di collocarlo in una determinata tipologia (per esempio indicazioni
stradali, messaggio pubblicitario, poesia, fiaba, ecc.). → da Google

oppure: Si riferisce sia alla produzione che alla ricezione di un testo, processi che utilizzano i
rapporti di interdipendenza con altri testi già noti → uso delle formule.

I principi regolativi della testualità: Il loro compito è quello di rendere le relazioni testuali, e quindi
il testo, efficiente, efficace e appropriato.

1. Efficienza: L’evento comunicativo (il testo) deve richiedere il minimo sforzo/impegno da parte
dei partecipanti all’evento stesso → (la massima di qualità/quantità).

2. Effettività: Il testo deve raggiungere lo scopo della comunicazione → (la massima di

qualità/rilevanza).

3. Appropriatezza: Il testo deve riflettere una composizione armonica tra contenuto e aspetti testuali
→ (la massima di qualità/maniera).

Sono legati alle massime di Grice*

* The cooperative principle (Grice 1975)

MAKE YOUR CONVERSATIONAL CONTRIBUTION SUCH AS IS REQUIRED, AT THE
STAGE AT WHICH IT OCCURS, BY THE ACCEPTED PURPOSE OR DIRECTION OF THE
TALK EXCHANGE IN WHICH YOU ARE ENGAGED.

The 4 maxims:

1. QUANTITY: 1) MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION AS INFORMATIVE AS IS REQUIRED

(FOR THE CURRENT PURPOSES OF THE EXCHANGE); 2) DO NOT MAKE YOUR
CONTRIBUTION MOREINFORMATIVE THAN IS REQUIRED.

2. QUALITY: TRY TO MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION ONE THAT IS TRUE. 1) DO NOT

SAY WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE FALSE; 2) DO NOT SAY THAT FOR WHICH YOU
LACK ADEQUATE EVIDENCE.

3. RELATION: BE RELEVANT.

4. MANNER: BE PERSPICUOUS. 1)AVOID OBSCURITY OF EXPRESSION; 2) AVOID

AMBIGUITY; 3) BE BRIEF (AVOID UNNECESSARY PROLIXITY); 4) BE ORDERLY.

Thematic organization of a sentence: A text is built up according to a progressive sequence between

the thematic and rhematic parts of discourse.

The theme: it’s always the left component, the beginning of a sentence. It’s also the know part of
discourse.

The rheme: It’s whatever comes after the theme and it is related to it because it has the function of
explainingit (the theme).It’s also the unknown part of discourse.

Theme (in some sources, also “topic,” “background,” or “presupposition”) is the semantic point of
departure of a clause, about which some information is provided:

• Tom likes travelling.

• Our friends have invited us.

In these examples, theme (Tom/our friends) is in the initial position. This is the most common
position for theme in English. Due to SVO (subject-verb-object) structure of a typical English
sentence, theme is often the subject of the sentence; however, passive voice violates this rule.

Rheme (in some sources, also “comment” or “focus”) is the destination where the presentation
moves after the departure point:

• Tom likes travelling.

• Smoking is harmful for our health.

In examples 3 and 4, rheme is represented by “like travelling” and “is harmful for our health”.
Structurally,

rheme usually follows theme in English. Theme – rheme relationship makes discourse both
cohesive and coherent !making parts of a sentence a communicative whole.
From Blogonlinguistics

- Thematic sequence (from the third book’s paragraph): A thematic structure is the sequence of
thematic items (introducing topic or theme) and rhematic items (containing what is said about the
theme). This division overlaps (si sovrappone) with another distinction: those between “given” (an
item of information known to the addressee) and “new” (information that is not found in the
preceding text or context). The given item is often, but not always, the same as the theme.

Now, let’s see some different typical thematic sequences which we can found in texts.

• Standard thematic sequence: T1 → R1 T2 → R2.

• Parallel thematic sequence: when its “different” themes refer to the same opening theme, as in the
text below: (The opening theme is the subject I which occurs 4 times)

“I have called this book the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. I have placed the
emphasis on the prefix general to contrast the character of my arguments and conclusions with
those of the classical theory. I have become accustomed, perhaps perpetrating a solecism, to include
in ‘the classical school’ the followers of Ricardo, including (for example) J. Stuart Mill, Marshall,
Edgeworth and Prof. Pigou. I shall argue that the postulates of the classical theory are applicable to
a special case only and not to the general case, the situation which it assumes being a limiting point
of the possible positions of equilibrium.”

This sequence is: T1 R1

T1 R2

T1 R3

T1 R4

• There is another thematic sequence, the Hutchins’ thematic sequence, in which the rheme of the
first sentence originates other two different themes, as in the texts below:

“All substances (T1) are divided into two classes: elementary substances (R1a) and compounds
(R1b) (R1= R1a + R1b). An elementary substance(T2 = R1a) is a substance(R2) which(T2) consists
of atoms of only one kind(R3). A compound(T3 = R1b) is a substance (R4) which(T3) consists of
atoms of two or more different kinds (R5).

This kind of sequence is commonly employed in general language.

EXERCISES:Task: draw a diagram for each text.

1. Jack goes up the beanstalk again. He comes to the giant’s house and he sees the giant’s wife.

2. Mr. William Serby who died aged 85 on September 20 was County Treasurer to Bukinghamshire
County Council from 1929 to 1961. He was commissioned in the Queen’s (R.W. Surrey Regiment)
in 1915 and served in France until he was wounded in 1916. From 1917 to 1919 he served as liaison
officer with the French and Russian forces in the North Russian Expeditionary Force. In 1926 he
was appointed County Accounter to the Cornwall C.C. During the Second World War he
commended the Home Guard in Wendover and in later years was actively concerned with the work
of the RNIB, the Oxford Diocesan Board of Finance, the Bucks Historic Churches Trust and in
many local organisations in Wendover. In 1926 he married Jean Durns and they had one son and
two daughters.

3. Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought.
Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held, especially since the charge
against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held him was strong.
He thought he could break it.

- Thematic progression and organizations: IN THE RHETORICAL ORGANIZATION OF

DISCOURSE, THE LOGICAL AND HIERARCHICAL SEQUENCE OF INFORMATION IS
REFLECTED INTO RHETORICAL UNITS SUCH AS:SECTIONS, CHAPTERS,
PARAGRAPHS, ETC.

Example: “There are three basic ways to improve a system’s performance: make it carry more data
at the same time, make it run faster, or make it more efficient”.

T1 → R1 → { R1a; R1b; R1c }

3 following paragraphs titled:

1. Improving data capacity (R1/a);

2. Improving processing speed (R1/b);

3. Improving efficiency (R1/c).

* Textual features: (inizio quarto capitolo)

1. Anaphoric reference: Various studies have shown that anaphoric reference is one of the most
common devices deployed to increase textual cohesion! In conjunction with other referential
phenomena, alongside (affianco) ellipsis, substitution and lexical cohesion, it forms the textual
framework which, combined with suitable cohesive devices, accounts for (rappresenta) a text’s
constituent features. […] Anaphora does not simply refer back to the semantic value of the previous
sentence but also to its performative value and specifies its illocutionary orientation.

This phenomenon is familiar in common language but far less so in specialized texts, as for
example in legal writing, where it is normally avoided in favour of lexical repetition.

2. Use of conjunctions: These itemsnot only add cohesion to texts but also have a pragmatic
function, which clarifies the purpose of the sentence that follows. For example: after such
expressions as but, however, on the other hand, one expects a sentence semantically opposed to the
previous one. With conjunctions like as, since, for, because and others, generally introducing a
reason or explanation.

3. Text genres: One of the phenomena that most distinguishes specialized discourse is compliance
with the norm governing the construction of its different text genres. Usually, there isa close link
between the type of specialized text and its structure, which in turn implies a number of correlations
between the conceptual, rhetorical and linguistic features that characterize the text itself.
Genre not only provides a conventional framework but also affects all other textual features and
constrains (vincola/limita) their conceptual and rhetorical development, which in turn determines
the linguistic choices made as the text unfolds.

[…] Despite the high number of text genres in use, new text types are added every year to the list.
For example, one of the latest additions is the executive summary, written for top managers in the
business world. Another text form widely adopted in recent years is the abstract: the summary of an
article published in a scholarly journal or of a paper presented in a conference.

The conventional use of genres also produces certain expectations among their audience, and
whenever the rules are broken a text may be misunderstood or rejected.

Such conditions are followed very closely in specialized texts. An example of this phenomenon is
the textual construction of English legal documents. In this genre, it is increasingly common to
divide a text into numbered sections, with more punctuation and spaces between sections.

Paragraphs: They don’t only reflect a conceptual unit within the text but also perform a special
pragmatic function. The physical layout itself on the page replicates the conceptual-pragmatic
dimension, favouring the identification of separate text parts and highlighting their functions and
interactions. This improves comprehension of textual organisation and makes the meaning easier to
decode.

But, as shown by Trimble, in specialized discourse there is not always a perfect match
(collegamento) between the conceptual (importance) and physical dimension of paragraphs! In fact
sometimes the main point is expressed in one (may small) paragraph and investigated in the
following one (may bigger than the previous one). Sometimes, always the main point is not
expressed explicitly but has to be inferred (dedotto) from the details provided (an “implicit
paragraph”).

The quality of textual organisation facilitates comprehension of content and also of the pragmatic
function of each section: some are informative, others evaluative, or predictive, etc. These tend to
form standard sequences that typically reflect the specialist’s theoretical or practical activities. For
example: ANALYSIS – PREDICTION - PROPOSAL.

Quinto riassunto
I. DEFINING THE NOTION OF ‘SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE’

Interest in specialized discourse dates to the early decades of linguistic investigation. In the 1920s-
1930s,

scholars belonging to the Prague school turned their attention to the so-called ‘functional style’
which

characterizes scientific and technical discourse. At first, their approach was conservative, since it
tended to

classify such discourse at a lower level, totally separate from the language of everyday use.
Scholars sought
above all to produce clear-cut definitions to the differences between specialized and general
discourse. Yet

the specific features of word morphology (foreign words retaining their original plural suffix,
obsolete

forms of verbs and adjectives) and formation (the use of classical prefixes, certain types of nominal

premodification) pointed out in those studies are not limited to scientific or technical discourse,
though

they occur more frequently and regularly in such varieties.

Research into the concept of ‘register’ published after WWII attempted to identify the
morphosyntactic,

lexical and stylistic features that characterize specialized discourse. The transition from an
uncontextualized

view of language (Chomsky), to its perception as a highly flexible means of communication

employed in

different situations placed the study of specialized discourse within the wider spectrum of
situational-

contextual varieties. These studies focus on the link between the receiver and the type of
communicative

or social relationship established, while highlighting the synchronic varieties shaped by geographic,
social or

situational factors. Here several ‘subcodes’ are seen to be at work, i.e. situational varieties
specifically

correlated to the topic of communication and to the approach chosen by a determined ‘community’
of

users. Register studies by British linguists often signal a keen interest in the autonomy of
specialized

discourse as compared to the general language. Register analysis turned its attention to the
description of

any feature that diverges from the default level of common language.

However, the mere identification of marked elements is not enough to account for their origin or for
the

rationale which has led to their appearance. Register analysis has helped, on the other hand, to shift
the
researchers’ focus from a chiefly statistical-quantitative approach (which continues to this day, also
thanks

to digital word-processing technology) to a mainly ‘qualitative’ approach, which seeks to identify

the

peculiarities of specialized texts in a perspective that is not only microlinguistic but takes into
account the

discourse in which they are embedded.

The last five decades have seen the appearance of a great many articles and books that highlight all
types

of detail in various disciplinary fields and at every level of linguistic analysis. Sometimes, however,

phenomena classified as distinctive of specialized discourse have turned out not to be so (e.g..: the

research on the phonetics of specialized discourse).

At other times the analysis of a given register relies instead on parameters which are alien to the
linguistic

domain under investigation. Specialized languages are often assigned certain features which do not
qualify

them as subsystems but as varieties stemming from other factors within their sociolinguistic setting
(ex.:

the omission of contracted forms in English technical language, due to the formal variety employed
in most

written texts). This does not imply that several features cannot coexist within the same text. What
matters

is that no confusion is made between the distinctive elements of specialized discourse and features
due to

other factors.

The communicative situation combines several contextual factors, making it difficult to attribute a
given

linguistic peculiarity to a single originating factor. This awareness has led to the identification for
each

specialized language of textual genres linked to sets of consistent features. Many scholars have tried
to

group together the contextual factors capable of identifying the parameters which distinguish
different
 

genres within a specialized language. Thus, for legal language, Danet (1980) adapted Joos’s (1961)
stylistic

categories for degree of formality to the different modes of text production (WRITTEN/ORAL;

COMPOSED/SPONTANEOUS). She developed a sociolinguistic scheme for the genres of legal

language:

There are genres which combine highly formal traits with features typical of the written mode.
Others,

although written exhibit a lower degree of formality. Also oral texts may contain highly formal
traits.

These genres are highly codified and typically exhibit standardised, easily predictable sentences,
often

amounting to formulaic expressions. There are also less predictable genres, which allow for a
greater

degree of spontaneity and variation, both in content and expressiveness. They are usually oral and
take on

different levels of formality.

1. The issue of terminology

Another controversial aspect which still seeks consensus by scholars investigating specialized
discourse is

the term used to define its object.

The choice of terminology is central, because of the close link between term and referent.
Sometimes

specialized discourse has been thought comparable to the notion of ‘restricted language’ (Wallace
1981),

although the term is applied to restricted codes that employ certain sentences of general language in
specialized communication. The term ‘restricted code’ and ‘specialized discourse’ are not
interchangeable

because the latter exploits the language code in a far more creative and varied way.

Elsewhere the term ‘special languages’ has been used, but this should denote languages with special
rules

and symbols deviating from those of general language. The term ‘special language’ could also be
applied to

languages sharing the communicative conventions of a given language but also possessing other

conventions which are not part of these resources. The terms ‘special languages’ and ‘specialized
discourse’

should be kept separate because the latter is distinguished from general language not for its use of
special

linguistic rules absent from general language but for its quantitatively greater and pragmatically
more

specific use of such conventions.

The term ‘microlanguage’ is also inappropriate for its reference to a microcosm lacking the
expressive

richness of standard language. Specialized discourse does not appear to share the constraints and

simplifications assumed by some authors but possesses all the lexical, phonetic, morphosyntactic
and

textual resources of general language. Such resources are commonly employed in the construction
of

specialized texts.

‘Specialized discourse’ reflects more clearly the specialist use of language in contexts which are
typical of a

specialized community (the concept of ‘community’ is crucial to the field of specialized discourse
as the

features and forms of specialized texts are recognized and shared by the members of specific
professional

groups) stretching across the academic, the professional, the technical and the occupational areas of
knowledge and practice. This perspective stresses both the type of user and the domain of use, as
well as

the special application of language in that setting. For specialized discourse to develop, all three of
these

factors need to be present.

Instead the emphasis has often been placed on one factor alone, as in Halliday (1978), who
subordinates

the specificity of specialized discourse to its topic. He classifies all registers according to three
parameters:

mode (=medium of communication), field (=topic) and tenor (=relationship between participants).

However, the choice of specialized discourse is not determined solely by its topic.

Specialized discourse ≠ jargon. Jargon avoids transparency in a deliberate attempt to make the
message

incomprehensible to outsiders, whereas in specialized discourse comprehension problems

encountered by

the uninitiated depend not only on unfamiliar lexis but also on conceptual content.

2. The multi-dimensional nature of specialized discourse

There is a clear distinction between different specialized languages. Disciplinary variation produces
not only

special lexical connotations but often also influences other options (morphosyntactic, textual and

pragmatic), thus reflecting at the same time the epistemological, semantic and functional
peculiarities of a

given variety of specialized discourse. Specific use does not necessarily imply the presence of
exclusive

rules, but it calls for appropriate analytical tools and caution is needed whenever the features
observed in

one specialized language are extended to others.

The mere presence of a specialist is not enough to ensure specialized use of a language, and this in
turn is

not limited to peer-communication alone. There are three different situations in which a specialist
may
address a topic relating to his profession:

1. The expert addresses other specialists to debate issues within his disciplinary field. The only
words

explained are those coined or redefined by the author himself →SCIENTIFIC EXPOSITION;

2. Specialists address non-specialists to explain notions pertaining their discipline. For educational

purposes the meaning of specialized lexis is illustrated whenever it occurs for the first time →

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTION;

3. A specialist provides information of a technical nature mainly through everyday lexis, while
drawing

on the layman’s everyday experience when a specialized concept is introduced. The purpose here is

to reach out to a wider audience, as generally observed in newspaper or magazine articles

presenting scientific or technical information→ SCIENTIFIC JOURNALISM.

These three situations lead to three levels of specificity in language use (Widdowson, 1979). Only
the first

two involve a truly ‘specialist’ use of language. Widdowson includes non-verbal elements
(formulae,

diagrams, tables, etc.) in the structure of specialized discourse, on the assumption that they are
‘universal’

and independent of any single language. It is difficult, however, to accept this view because of the
largely

conceptual nature of non-verbal elements, which simply offer an alternative, non-linguistic

representation

of specialized notions.

 
II. LEXICAL FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

1. Monoreferentiality

The most widely investigated distinctive feature of specialized lexis, as compared to general
language, is

monoreferentiality. The term ‘monoreferentiality’ is used to signal that in a given context only one
meaning

is allowed. The term cannot be suitably substituted by a synonym but only by its definition or

paraphrase→every term signals one concept.

The need for a single referent means that users are forced to create new terms, rather than use
existing

terminology, in order to define new concepts without ambiguity or misunderstanding.

Monoreferentiality is limited to the disciplinary field in which a term is employed. Each scientific
field

adopts its own epistemology for theoretical speculation, and this implies specific languages that
sometimes

contain lexical items occurring also in other disciplinary contexts.

The relative dearth of lexical resources in each discipline is due primarily to the scientific
community’s

effort to avoid alternative terms for the same concept. This need arose in the 17th-18th centuries in

response to research by such pioneers as Galileo, Newton and Lavoisier. The pursuit of a perfect
biunivocal

link between concept and language was so urgent in the 1700s that scientists in various parts of
Europe

sought not only to eradicate ambiguity from everyday language but also to create a new universal
language

unfettered by the historical and geographical constraints of each country and capable of expressing
both

clearly and directly the new concepts employed by the international scientific community.

2. Lack of emotion
Lack of emotive connotations. Unlike words (which are richly connotated), terms have a purely
denotative

function. The tone of specialized discourse is usually neutral, as its illocutionary force derives from
the

logical, consequential arrangement of concepts and of supporting evidence rather than the use of
emphatic

language. The informative purpose of specialized language prevails over other traits typical of
general

language, lending professional communication a seemingly cold and artificial tone. The
monoreferentiality

inherent in the defining process of specialized terms maximises their semantic value, making
emphasis

redundant.

If a particular attribute is to be emphasized, the emphasis must be achieved by contextual

contiguity,

syntactic devices, additional reference, etc., but in special codes the emphasis is already present
through

prior delineation of the subspace, which effectively excludes all attributes which are not assigned by
the

social norm of the discipline.

Lack of emotion prevails whenever a text is mainly informative. If the pragmatic purpose is
persuasive, the

emphasis on emotion surfaces also in specialized texts.

3. Precision

Referential precision: every term must point immediately to its own concept.

This requirement excludes the recourse to indirect reference systems in specialized communication,

through such devices as euphemism. Also this phenomenon arose in response to the need for
precision

advocated by the scientific revolution of the 17th century.

 
4. Transparency

Another important feature of specialized lexis is the possibility to access a term’s meaning through
its

surface form. This criterion was valued by the French chemist Lavoisier, who developed a new
naming

system for chemical compounds to allow readers to immediately identify the nature of the
compound

concerned. The system reflects the author’s globally coherent view of science and covers both
conceptual

and terminological dimension.

As 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 suffixes dates to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, although the
best

choice when coining a neologism was often a matter of the author’s personal preference. Under
Lavoisier’s

reform, each suffix was assigned a precise meaning that allowed a functional distinction of similar
terms

and clearly established the physical properties shared by compounds employing the same suffix.
This

change introduced a systematic order to specialized knowledge, whilst providing rules of

terminological

development not only for the redefinition of known elements but also for naming new elements as
they

were discovered. Before Lavoisier’s reform, terminology was coined according to divergent criteria,
based

on such arbitrary assumptions as reference to the element’s appearance, the name of its originator
and its

possible applications.
A similar attempt was made in Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae (1737), which divided the natural world
into

three main categories (animal, vegetable, mineral), each comprising separate groups and subgroups

divided according to clear, coherent criteria signalled by Latin or Greek terms. The frequent use of
classical

words in science reflects the widespread effort of 18th century scientists to avoid the lexis of
general

language, prone to misunderstandings and ambiguities associated with everyday use. By drawing
their

lexical repertoire from two dead languages, scientists could redefine the natural elements with
univocal

meanings, free of polysemy so common in a living language.

A considerable advantage afforded by this kind of system is its extension of the principle of
transparency

also to other fields (such as medicine) where the separate lexical components of a specialized term
can

easily be decoded to reconstruct the meaning of the whole word→there is a correlation between the

qualitative and quantitative aspect, with each adjunct to the lemma signalling also semantic
addition.

One of the most widely employed devices ensuring transparency in specialized discourse is the use
of

conventional affixes, which have acquired precise values in each discipline as a result of the
systematisation

and standardisation process. The structure of such affixes regulates the cataloguing of terms in
logical

categories but also allows the enlargement of each category within an open system that is both
highly

organised and codified. In such disciplines as chemistry, medicine and mineralogy suffixes have a
clearly-

defined meaning.

Despite the process of simplification and rationalisation, certain suffixes retain more than one
meaning and
function. Their polysemy originates from the incomplete re-organization of defining processes in
each

discipline and from the constantly evolving nature of scientific knowledge, which is often so rapid
that

there is no time to develop new linguistic tools suited to the purpose; in such cases, rather than
create new

items, existing lexemes are often assigned new meanings and functions.

5. Conciseness

Conciseness = concepts are expressed in the shortest possible form. The need of conciseness leads
to a

reduction in textual surface.

A neological process in this class is the merging of two lexemes into a single term (e.g.:
information +

automatique = informatica). In other cases, greater conciseness is achieved through reduction of the
term

itself, either internally (e.g.: contra-conception = contraception) or terminally (e.g.: haemostatic

forceps =

haemostat).

Another type of conciseness device observed in specialized languages is juxtaposition, which omits

prepositions and premodifiers in nominal groups containing two nouns.

Sometimes conciseness in specialized discourse relies on acronyms (you read them as a word, e.g.:
RAM)

and abbreviations (you read them letter by letter, e.g.: WWW).

6. Conservatism

One of the main principles asserted by 17th-18th century scientists was the need to redefine
specialized
concepts and replace existing terms with new ones, usually drawn from classical languages for
greater

monoreferentiality. The same innovative thrust is not found, however, in all fields of knowledge.
For some,

such as the law, the trend is, instead, intensely conservative. Fear that new terms may lead to
ambiguity

favours the permanence of traditional linguistic traits, which are preserved even when they
disappear from

general language. Old formulae are preferred to newly-coined words because of their century-old
history

and highly codified, universally accepted interpretations.

The reverence for tradition observed in legal language is also due to its close link with the ancient
practice

of using special formulae for oaths or appointments, for drafting edicts and statutes, for issuing
laws,

conferring honours or assigning property. In this context, formulaic language is used to ensure the
action’s

validity.

Some disciplines are conservative to the utmost degree, producing a language whose subservience
to

tradition leads to empty archaic formulae. For example, the antiquated forms wherefore, thereof,

forthwith, henceforth, etc. and lexemes which have disappeared from general language, such as
terminate,

deem, expiration. 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 –(e)s (e.g.:
witnesseth

instead of witnesses; doth instead of does).

6.1 Reforming legal discourse

Legal discourse has often been criticized, even by legal experts. Many magistrates and legal experts
advocate an end to the use of archaic formulae and obsolete lexis. The need for reform in legal
language is

especially felt as regards interpretative difficulties of statutes and circulars, which target not only
specialists

but also the general public. In the 1970s, this need gave rise in the USA 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 regulations. This change in
language

use was not limited to government documents but soon spread to other public and private
organizations,

such as banks and insurance companies. In order to implement this Plain Language policy, several
official

guidelines have been drawn up to make public documents easy to read and interpret.

This reforming movement has been so strong in the USA that it has inspired similar movements in
other

countries for clearer language in the drafting of government circulars and statutes. It is in the field
of

business and governmental documents that the simplifying and reorganising action of the Plain
Language

Movement has been more successful.

Instead, changes to legal language have been few and far between. The survival of archaic linguistic
forms

has been attributed to the use of standardised formulae as a convenient smokescreen for law-makers
and

lawyers unwilling to relinquish the ‘comforts of precedent’. Even less noble motives are alleged to
bolster

the conservatism and imprecision of legal language, which increases the amount of speculation (and
work)

for legal practitioners.

Another motive is the preference of lawyers and law-makers for obscure legal language as a means
to
retain their power over ordinary citizens, relying on exclusive access to the hidden significance of
laws and

legal procedures. In this view, courtroom debates are in the hands of those proficient in legal jargon,
which

allows control of specialist knowledge and information.

7. Redundancy in specialized discourse

Some specialized languages contain instances of redundancy, generally due to the pleonastic use of
lexical

items. This involves a violation of the principle of conciseness, when the number of lexemes
employed is far

higher than necessary. Legal language displays the highest occurrence of violations to the principle
of

conciseness. Crystal and Davy’s (1969) analysis of legal discourse stresses the habit of English
legal drafters

to employ two interchangeable terms for the same concept: e.g. false and untrue, terms and
conditions.

Each of these pairs clearly 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
(which

accounts for the Anglo-Saxon term) and Norman French. The naming of concepts through both
languages

ensured comprehension by all sectors of the population.

Sometimes, however, lexical doubling involves the same language and derives from its historical

development, as in null and void (both from French) or without let or hindrance (from Old
English). Here the

device seems to serve no specific purpose and one of the two terms appears redundant, as it adds no

semantic content to the sentence. Also in the following expressions the meaning of each term is
implied by
its parallel: lawful authority, mutually agreed. A degree of redundancy is observed in English
contract lexis:

e.g. undertakes to employ (instead of simply employs). Another case of redundancy is the repetition
of a

concept through its negated opposite, as in the expression within and not exceeding two months.

Some cases are apparently unaccountable by standard interpretative resources but may be explained
in

diachronic terms, as in the past terms did not always possess their present-day meaning. Their
combined

use could help ensure semantic coverage of the whole target meaning (e.g.: last will and testament).

A degree of redundancy may be observed in the expression to tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing

but the truth. In oaths this repeated lexeme and its subsequent qualification are a century-old
practice

inherited from an age when law-makers needed to specify that the whole truth was required.

Compliance to tradition is stronger in legal discourse than in the research for concision. Specialists
in the

field shun the responsibility of further simplifying the standard language and closely follow the
practices

codified by centuries of use.

8. The relationship with general language

Semantic evolution very often originates from the specialisation of word meanings in the general
language.

Williams (1976) observes that such terms as experiment and experience – largely interchangeable
until the

1700s – have since acquired an increasingly precise specification, which now denotes two separate
types of

knowledge: objective observation based on experimental evidence (experiment) and subjective

knowledge

acquired mainly through the senses (experience).

The specialization of words borrowed from everyday language was particularly intense in the 17th-
18th

centuries, when rapid technological and scientific development made it necessary to establish a
specific

lexis for separate disciplines and phenomena. The impact of technology and scientific discoveries
was so

strong that the secondary meanings added to such terms over the last two centuries have in fact
displaced

their semantic priorities and now the specialized meaning often prevails over more general
interpretations.

Examples of this are the terms industry and recession, whose economic significance usually
prevails over

the original notion of ‘creative activity' or 'retreat'.

At other times the specialization process has produced new lexemes alongside existing ones which
are no

longer appropriate. The words healing, treatment and therapy, for example, all refer to the same
semantic

field of disease treatment but the concept's semantic evolution reflects a parallel change in medical

science, whereby the lexeme healing was eventually joined by treatment and later by therapy, in a
process

of increasing specialization.

For increased referential specialization and terminological contrast with general language, the
preferred

option is to use Latin or Greek. Thus, for the physical concept of 'speed' the Latin-based velocity
was

chosen, as opposed to the everyday word speed; similarly, the Greek-based gynaecologist was
coined for a

specialist in the female reproductive system and its ailments instead of the existing term midwife,
which

was inadequate because it implied a different, less specialized profession.

In his study of English lexical development, Hughes (1988) identifies five generations of
borrowings from

classical languages:

1. From the Roman occupation of England, Latin and its influence were concerned;

2. 6th-7th centuries, this phase involved above all religious terminology;

3. Renaissance, classical borrowings with literary connotations;

4. 17th-18th centuries, classical borrowings extended to specialized discourse;

5. The last two centuries, classical borrowings preserve their original inflection and spelling to the

point of appearing perfectly ‘foreign’ to native English speakers. These borrowings are likely to

agglutinate (e.g.: otorhinolaryngology).

Many classical-rooted terms have produced hybrid prefixes and suffixes that are widely used in
specialized

languages, e.g. kilo-, auto-, mega-, micro-, mini-, multi-. Within this category, there is a group of
items used

initially or terminally: Bauer (1983) refers to them as ‘combining forms' rather than affixes because,
unlike

the latter, they are combinable. Their union produces such compounds as protogen, biocrat,
graphoscope,

electrophile, etc.

The study of lexemes within a given semantic field may therefore provide interesting evidence for
our

understanding of conceptual evolution. An example of this insight are the names of body parts in
and their

equivalent adjective:

Brain→ cerebral

Chest→thoracic

Heart→cardiac

Liver→hepatic

Rib→costal
Skin→dermal

Lung→pulmonary

An investigation of lexical resources related to body parts shows that the nouns are mostly Anglo-
Saxon,

whereas the adjectives are generally rooted in classical languages. This reflects the development of

knowledge in anatomical science: from the superficial description of outward appearance typical of
Old-

English writers, to the more scientific approach followed in later centuries and confirmed by the

introduction of Latin- and Greek-based words into English lexis.

9. Metaphor in specialized discourse

Another common device used in specialized discourse to create terms drawn from general language
is

metaphorisation. Metaphor creation is a frequent feature not only of everyday language but also of

specialist texts, especially for the purpose of catachresis (= the use of a word in some new sense in
order to

remedy a gap in the vocabulary; catachresis is the putting of new senses into old words).

One of its advantages is terminological transparency, achieved when a metaphor is used instead of a

neologism so that its lexeme exploits the semantic association linking a clearly-codified signatum to
an

existing signans: transparency is thus produced by referring new concepts to pre-existing items
within the

interlocutor's semantic repertoire. Another advantage is the conciseness allowed by

metaphorisation,

whereby the choice of a given lexeme points immediately to a body of existing information known
to

the interlocutor, thus favouring rapid information transfer without lengthy conceptual explanations
or

complex terminological definitions.

 
9

The third advantage is the tangible quality of images from the physical world used to represent
abstract

and often complex concepts that would otherwise be difficult to define. The greater the
effectiveness of

presentation, the greater the degree of persuasiveness of a new theory. An element that may
increase

effectiveness is the tangible quality of terminology, which metaphor brings to the fore alongside

transparency and conciseness. Many of these are so well established in everyday usage (not only
among

specialists) that their metaphoric value is hardly perceived – qualifying them for the status of ‘dead

metaphors’. This has meant a progressive weakening of markedness and a gradual transition into
everyday

lexis.

Linguists have also defined certain metaphors as ‘shortened similes’. They date back to Aristotle's
Rhetoric

and occur whenever the two terms of a metaphor have similar semantic values linked by an
equivalence.

The device is also found in specialized discourse, as confirmed by two examples from Boyd (1979):
“the

brain is a computer” and “information is stored in the memory”, where direct association is
established

between computer science and human functions.

Since the pairing of two semantic fields is a very unusual option, however, these metaphors require
a

greater effort on the interlocutor's part for decoding. Even metaphors that produce catachresis may,
out of

their original context, lead to instances of ambiguity. The imprecision of metaphors is therefore
inherent in

their nature and ambiguous interpretation may occur even when the utmost clarity was intended. At
times,

imprecision depends on the immaturity of scholarship in the field, when the semantic content or a
new
metaphoric term is not yet well established. But this is also the stage when metaphor may contribute

significantly (though imprecisely) to the circulation of theoretical innovations that would be

impossible to

convey through evidence or by more scientific means.

Some specialists widely employ metaphoric processes in theoretical writings, on the assumption
that they

are especially suited to the textualisation of their argumentative method. By exploiting their
evocative

power, metaphors allow the establishment of referential links at various levels of language and in
different

experiential domains. Some scholars even campaign for a greater use of figurative language in
specialized

discourse.

Lakoff and Johnson's analysis of English shows that the systematic arrangement of different
metaphors in

specific semantic fields is a consequence of conceptual patterning within the language community.

An example of this is their list of metaphors demonstrating how the notion of 'argument' is normally

interpreted as 'war’:

Your claims are indefensible.

He attacked every weak point in my argument.

His criticisms were right on target.

I demolished his argument.

I've never won an argument with him.

If you use that strategy, he'll wipe you out.

He shot down all my arguments. (Lakoff/Johnson 1980:4)

Many other examples are supplied to prove the common conceptual origin of metaphor groupings,
e.g.

‘time is money’, ‘language communication is a channel’, ‘good is up’, ‘bad is down’, etc.

 
10. Lexical productivity

Specialized discourse employs words drawn from general language, which are incorporated through
a

process of specialization and metaphorization. But the opposite has also occurred, especially over
the last

century: terms coined in a specialized setting are increasingly likely to become part of everyday
lexis. A

well-known example of this is the word bank, often applied to containers for disposal or recycling
of human

organs, bottles, data: a clear deviation from the original meaning of a place for the storage of
money.

10

The high number of specialized terms now present (often metaphorically) in general use has
convinced

many linguists that the lexical system of specialized discourse is more productive than that of
standard

language. The frequent appearance of technical neologisms is no proof, however, that specialized

languages possess a more powerful system of lexical formation. The process of terminological
creation has

followed the same rules present in standard language. Specialized discourse employs a greater
number of

morphemes per lexical unit and has a higher lexical concentration, as well as more prefixes and
suffixes,

borrowings and calques, but all these phenomena are also found in general language. So the
constant

production of specialized terms is not due to the greater potential inherent in the lexical system of

specialized discourse but rather to the rapid evolution of disciplinary fields and the constant
redefinition of

existing terms and concepts.

III. 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. It also differs significantly from normal
usage. It

is more than a professional jargon, as it contains its own peculiar syntactic constructions.

The syntactic forms mentioned in such studies, however, do not contain any rules not found in
general

language. This impression is based on the inspection of various studies on the syntactic features of

specialized discourse focusing on phenomena that are not unknown also in general language. The
most

likely conclusion is that the specificity of morphosyntactic phenomena found in specialized

languages is not

a qualitative but a quantitative one. Certain features may also occur in general language but their
higher

frequency in specialized discourse makes them typical only of the latter.

1. Omission of phrasal elements

A prominent distinctive feature of specialized discourse is its extremely compact syntactic structure.
This is

not surprising but indeed confirms the principle of conciseness. A very common, straightforward
way to

make the sentence more concise is to omit one of its constituents. This does not prevent textual

comprehension because the value of any omitted elements may be inferred from the context or

reconstructed by reference to knowledge shared by the language community. 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. Some authors have mentioned
the

omission of articles and auxiliaries in faxes 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 (i.e. financial) reasons requires a
reduction

to the minimum in the number of words employed.

There are many other cases where omission of phrasal elements in specialized texts is due to the
need for

conciseness. For example, articles are often omitted to make the text more compact (the asterisk
shows

that an article would normally be present in that position):

Rubber plug method of tubeless tire repair

1. Remove * puncturing object if still in the tire. (* Tire is not dismounted from the rim.)

2. Fill * tire with air to 30 psi. Dip * probe into * cement, insert it into * injury and work up and
down to

lubricate * injury.

3. Grasp each end of * patch. Stretch and roll * center of * patch into * eye of * needle. Remove *
protective

covering from both sides of the patch, being careful not to touch * raw rubber.

4. Dip * perma strip into * cement, making sure that all surfaces are coated.

5. Insert * patch slowly and steadily into * injury, up to * handle. Then turn * needle %4 turn and
remove.

11

6. Without stretching the patch, cut it 1/8" from the tread.

7. Inflate to * proper pressure. * Tire is now ready for service.

(Bricker, Automobile Guide: 476; quoted in Trimble 1985: 121)

The omission of the article can also be found in legal texts.

2. Expressive conciseness

Apart from the simple omission of phrasal elements, there are other linguistic devices which make
the
sentence denser. An overview of the different cases found in specialized texts clearly indicates,
however,

that these do not follow rules restricted to specialized languages but normally implement rules
found also

in general language. The linguistic strategies employed in English specialized texts to avoid relative
clauses

and make the sentence structure “lighter'. The rules that allow for such devices are not limited to

specialized discourse but are found also in general language. The substitution of relative clauses
with

adjectives is usually obtained by means of affixation. The prefixes and suffixes generally adopted
have

precise semantic values, which enable the decoder to interpret their communicative function

appropriately. Here are a few examples of this use of affixes:

Workable metal. (= Metal which can be worked.)

Reactive force. (= Force which reacts.)

Another device commonly adopted to simplify a relative clause containing a passive form consists
in

omitting its subject and auxiliary:

Pieces of iron left in the rain become rusty. (= Pieces of iron which are left in the rain become
rusty.)

This is particularly frequent when the relative clause refers to a concept explained previously. In
this case

the verb of the relative clause is turned into its past participle form and placed after the noun it
specifies:

The instrument used was type 4CA.

The passive construction is also avoided by turning the verb into a past participle and using the
latter as a

premodifier:

Compressed air can be used for several purposes. (= 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-cooled engine. (= The car has an engine which is cooled by water.)

These processes obey the criteria of conciseness and transparency. The resulting expressions are
shorter

than the original ones containing relative clauses; moreover, they are clear, as the omitted elements
can

easily be deduced by the decoder. By exploiting the shared knowledge concerning the negative
value of the

prefix un-, negative relative 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 passive 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.)

When the verb of the relative clause is followed by the adverbial phrase in this way, this expression
is

substituted by thus or so, which is placed before the past participle of the verb. Thus and so are not
only

used to avoid a relative clause, but also to avoid awkward coordinated clauses joined by the
expression and

in this way. The use of one of the above-mentioned adverbs followed by a gerund form confers
greater

conciseness to the sentence, as can be seen in the following example:

 
12

When the piston is drawn sharply upwards, 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 whereby 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 retaining hardness at red-heat. (= Tungsten is a metal which retains hardness at
red-

heat.)

The present participle is often used as an adjective. This construction is also possible in the general

language, but is much more frequent in specialized discourse:

A robot controls the moving line. (= A robot controls the line which is moving.)

If the verb of the relative clause is accompanied by an adverb, the latter is placed before the present

participle:

They have selected a fast-growing plant. (= They have selected a plant which grows fast.)

This construction is also used when the verb of the relative clause is followed by an object. In the

transformation, the latter is placed before the present participle:

Malaysia is a rubber-producing country. (= Malaysia is a country which produces rubber.)

In many cases this simplification process proceeds further, with the disappearance not only of the
subject

of the secondary clause and its auxiliary, but also of the verb itself, whose meaning thus becomes
implicit:
A pentagon is a figure which has five sides. > A pentagon is a figure with five sides. > A pentagon
is a five-

sided figure.

In some cases this process implies several instances of simplification, and the result may be a noun

specified by another noun:

An engine which is driven by diesel oil.

An engine driven by diesel oil.

A diesel (oil)-driven engine.

A diesel engine.

As these elliptical forms offer a higher degree of compactness, they are widely adopted in
specialized texts,

where the criterion of expressive conciseness is greatly appreciated.

3. Premodification

The phenomenon of relative clause reduction shows a frequent switch from postmodification to

premodification. This transition is particularly straightforward in English because its syntactic rules
allow

several adjectival uses of phrasal elements. While Italian relies on left-to-right construction, English
can

easily employ right-to-left construction, which shortens sentences and makes the noun phrase
especially

dense. A distinctive aspect of the right-to-left pattern is nominal adjectivation, i.e. the use of a noun
to

specify another with an adjectival function. Although not an exclusive option of specialized
languages, this

feature occurs more frequently and generally produces longer compounds in specific fields.

Specialists show a preference for nominal adjectivation, which not only makes exposition denser
but also

attaches great semantic weight to the compound. This is shown also by the frequent use of
attributive
nouns rather than adjectives.

The maximum number of items in a noun compound is generally six, due to the human mind's
limited

capacity for short-term memorisation, which seldom exceeds sequences of seven elements.
Moreover, the

13

decoding of long nominal groups poses a major interpretative challenge for the addressee, who is
forced to

identify the semantic-syntactic links between different groups, subdividing them.

Of course, this kind of division is possible if the addressee draws not only on his awareness of
syntactic

rules but also on his knowledge of the semantic value of each word within the compound – a
knowledge

associated with his specialised training. There are indeed various cases solve ambiguities of this
type,

linguistic competence alone is not enough and has to be integrated by specialist knowledge of the
topic and

of other factors such as context and co-text. For instance, the noun phrase a small car factory allows
two

interpretations:

A small factory for making cars,

A factory for making small cars.

The hyphen is employed as a disambiguator to avoid multiple interpretations and it signals semantic
links

between words. For example:

A small car-factory. (= A small factory for making cars.)

A small-car factory. (= A factory for making small cars.)

Therefore the use of premodification offers advantages in terms ofmgreater textual conciseness,
offset,
however, by a loss of conceptual clarity. Ambiguity is often apparent rather than real, because
specialist

knowledge helps the addressee to rule out inappropriate meanings in the decoding process. The
transition

from postmodification (typical of elementary utterances) to premodification allows the construction

of

more complex sentences.

Sentences including noun compounds are conceptually richer and syntactically shorter and more
compact.

First through the device of relative clause omission (leading to verbal nominalization) and later
through

nominal adjectivation there is a transition from a subordinate clause (with its impact on logical
linearity) to

a nominal compound, which functions more easily as subject, object or indirect object in subsequent

sentences. Another advantage of premodification is its potential for concept formation. The
combination of

two or more terms produces not only a mere union of existing concepts but the premodification
process

often gives rise to a new concept that alters their nature, adding new meaning and uses. In this light,
the

semantic value attached to each element of the compound loses its identity to produce a new entity,
which

in turn becomes a conceptual referent and a starting point for the emergence of new compounds.

4. Nominalization

Another very common syntactic phenomenon of specialized discourse is nominalization. This

involves the

use of a noun instead of a verb to convey concepts relating to actions or processes, a use commonly

referred to with the term ‘grammatical metaphor' within Systemic Functional Linguistics (cf.
Halliday 1994).

Specialized discourse makes frequent use of nominalization because verb-derived nouns seem to
reflect
the parallel process whereby results are inferred from experiments and objects from their
construction

process. The preference for nominalized forms leads to higher nominal density in specialized texts.

Naturally nominalization is not unique to specialized discourse, as it also occurs in general

language. What

makes it distinctive is its frequent use by specialists and the high level of pre/postmodification
involved.

Increasing reliance on nominalization cannot be explained only as a search for greater conciseness,
though

it is an important reason for transformations of this type. In certain cases there is a clear preference
for

nominalization even when a verb allows for fewer lexical items.

The same consideration may be made about the number of phrasal items resulting from other
instances of

substitution, with nominalized forms taking the place of verbs. An overview of this phenomenon in

different specialized text types points to other motives linked to textual construction. By favouring
the

reintroduction of concepts in thematic position, nominalization also allows an easier flow of

information

14

from new to given, thus facilitating text development. By thematizing information through
nominalization

text also acquires far greater cohesion.

Nominalization allows the writer to emphasise verbal action through thematization.

The pervasiveness of nominalization leads to a loss of verbal value. As a result the verb is
weakened and

often functions merely as copula, a link between increasingly complex noun phrases. In this case,
the

preferred verb is clearly to be. The verb to be is often used as linkage between nominal or adjectival

phrases, which in turn derive from syntactic transformation of verbs with a strong semantic content.
At times the loss of verbal value is so marked that the verb is omitted altogether. The verb may be
easily

inferred, however, because its function is only copulative. Use of elliptic sentences 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.

5. Lexical density

In specialized discourse one consequence of frequent nominalization and other premodifying

devices is

increased lexical density, i.e. a high percentage of content words within a text. Lexical density is
especially

high in written texts, where discourse is planned more carefully, without hesitation markers and
with less

redundancy. A more natural style, closer to spoken language, would make concepts more explicit
and

require more noun phrases for paraphrase, thus making the text less compact.

6. Sentence complexity

One effect of nominalization is the simplification of syntactic structures within the sentence. By
switching

from verbal to nominal forms, specialists tend to simplify 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, depend, consist of.

Specialized languages are simpler in terms of linearity because conceptual complexity is expressed
by
syntactic and semantic relations within noun phrases. Textual comprehension is easier, therefore,
thanks to

simplified surface structure but the lexical density of the sentence and the complex patterning of the
noun

phrases makes interpretation more demanding. Even if surface structure seems elementary from a

syntactic viewpoint, such sentences generally derive from various transformations of more complex

syntactic structures.

Tendency of English specialized discourse to avoid subordination. The reliance on coordination is

confirmed

by different studies.

7. Sentence length

Written specialized texts are encoded by far longer sentences than those found in general language
(e.g. in

legal texts.)

The considerable sentence length of legal texts is due to the high number of items required to
minimize

ambiguity and misunderstandings. Each mention is supported by specifications that clarify its
identity.

It is easy to explain the considerable length of sentences in English legal writing – generally twice
that of

other specialized languages. It is due to the rare occurrence of devices that condense the surface
length 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, etc. If alongside such syntactic

phenomena one also considers the cases of lexical redundancy, evidence clearly points to the
greater

length and complexity of sentences in English legal discourse. The frequency of finite verb forms
and

relative clauses creates a highly fragmented sentence structure, broken by embedded sentences
which in
 

15

turn produce further subordinate clauses. The resulting structure operates therefore at various levels
and is

more complex than in other specialized languages.

8. Use of verb tenses

Various linguists have emphasised the different use of verb tenses in specialized discourse as
compared to

general language. Among others, Barber (1985: 8) found a prevalence of the following ten tenses in
his

corpus of English scientific texts:

1. Present Simple Active (64%)

2. Present Simple Passive (25%)

3. Future Simple Active (3.7%)

4. Present Perfect Passive (1.7%)

5. Present Perfect Active (1.4%)

6. Past Simple Active (1.2%)

7. Past Simple Passive (1.2%)

8. Future Simple Passive (0.7%)

9. Present Progressive Active (0.6%)

10. Imperative (0.3%)

In the great majority of cases (89%) the present indicative tense is considered a feature of
specialized

languages, since the percentage of its occurrences is far higher than that found in common texts. At
the

same time, as Barber himself admits, there is a strong correlation between these results and the type
of

text considered. Barber's corpus only contains expository scientific texts, whose prevalent
pragmatic
functions are definition, description, observation, illustrating qualities and features, stating general
truths,

postulating scientific laws, require indicative tense. The present indicative is not associated to the

specificity of the topic but rather to the text's special communicative purpose, which requires a
given tense

even with non-specialist subject matter. If the texts considered were taken from English technical

handbooks - where the main function is to provide instructions for the use of a tool or procedure –
there

would certainly be a prevalence of the imperative form. Accordingly, analysis of a laboratory report
would

reveal a prevalence of the past indicative tense. This consideration leads to the conclusion that, in
order to

be reliable, corpora should take into consideration a high number of different types of texts.

The present indicative may be said to prevail in specialized texts (although less often than found by
Barber).

Most of the common communicative functions found in specialized discourse usually call for the
use of this

tense. When the text is very complex and involves several communicative functions – e.g.
argumentative

texts on a specialized topic – verb tenses and auxiliaries are found more widely and approximate
their use

in general language.

An interesting point identified by studies on verb tense in specialized discourse is the higher
number of

non-finite forms encountered than in general language. This wide use of non-finite verbs is not
surprising,

since these help to compact the text's expressive form. Thus, for example, the present participle is
often

employed to avoid relative clauses.

The -ing form also simplifies secondary concessive clauses, as it does not require the explicit
mention on

the subject when the latter is the same as that of the main clause.
In specialized discourse also the infinitive occurs more frequently than in general language as it
shortens

the wording of the text. The infinitive is often the result of the elimination of a relative clause:

The record to be located is searched in the file. (= The record which is to be located is searched in
the file.)

Another non-finite form very frequently used in specialized discourse is the past participle, as it
may

perform several functions. It can be the result of the simplification of passive forms:

If allocated consecutively, data can be read one after another. (= If they are allocated
consecutively, data

can be read one after another.)

16

Suppression of subject and auxiliary is also possible with progressive forms. In this case the
resulting verb is

a present participle:

When typing a text in at the keyboard, the operator does not have to worry about getting to the end
of a

line. (= When he is typing a text in at the keyboard, the operator does not have to worry about
getting to

the end of a line.)

Clearly, all verb forms in this section are also acceptable in general language (like any
transformation

leading to simplified sentence structure). But while finite verb forms reach frequencies comparable
with

those of general texts, non-finite verb forms occur twice as often in specialized texts because of
their

greater potential for streamlined, more concise sentences.

9. Use of the passive

Another widely-investigated feature of specialized discourse is its considerable use of passive
verbs.

The percentage is especially high in English, where the passive is the main device used to
depersonalise

discourse (whereas Italian has the impersonal operator si, French has on, German man, etc.). The

pervasiveness of the passive may 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. Significantly, the agent is normally omitted in passive clauses, also because it is often
the

same for all the operations described. For example, texts reporting the different stages in an
experiment

have the same researcher or team of researchers performing all the procedures. In such cases
specification

of the agent becomes a redundant feature. Sometimes the agent is omitted because there is no
specific

actor behind a given action: this accounts for stative verb forms expressing a condition rather than
an

event. Their surface form is like the passive but with the past participle used adjectively. For
example:

The system is composed of…

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.

The passive allows the thematic element to identify given information, while new information is
normally

presented rhematically. This sequence appears perfectly natural and the two elements are inverted
only if

the agent needs to be emphasised as the focus of an utterance.

No purely syntactic explanation can account for the switch between active and passive voice, which
also

reflects complex pragmatic and textual functions. Both forms may be used within the same text for
different communicative purposes.

The choice between active and passive forms may be influenced by the need for special
prominence. The

syntactic rules of the English language allow for different textualisations of the same concept,
whether

through active/passive forms, adjectivation, nominalization or other linguistic devices.

The choice is determined by pragmatic-textual factors rather than syntactic considerations. Their

importance in the textualisation process varies according to the type of text or specialized field and
cannot

be generalised. The widespread use of the passive in specialized discourse described by linguists is
not

common to all text types. Legal have a lower proportion of passive forms than claimed by Barber,

Huddleston and others. In legal contracts, for example, what matters most is not the set of rights and

duties established between the parties but rather the specific people bound to such rights and duties.

When stressing the personal nature of legal obligations, the best option is the active voice, which
places the

actor in thematic position

10. Depersonalisation

The pervasiveness of passivization coupled with the absence of an explicit agent suggests the
presence in

specialized texts of a tendency to depersonalise discourse. The phenomenon is confirmed by

inspection of

17

various specialized texts based on a positivist empirical approach. Their objectivity rests on the
assumption

that principles and properties are suggested to the scientist by direct observation of phenomena.
This

inductive process is realised linguistically by reduction of the human element and personalisation of
the
experiment's physical aspects. In expressive terms, the phenomenon is signalled by such typical
research-

process verbs as demonstrate, suggest, highlight, indicate, confirm, etc. with inanimate subjects
consisting

of facts, events and elements.

Halliday (1988) points to the constant depersonalisation of English scientific language, a trend
which has

produced over the centuries a whole range of variously personalized different forms.

Increased use of depersonalisation is also confirmed by a very common feature of specialized texts:
the

author referring to himself indirectly through third-person pronouns and such noun phrases as the
author,

the research team and others, or conveying his personal views to personalised forms of the type the
book

investigates, this article demonstrates, etc. Very often behind these depersonalised forms lurks the
author's

fear of accountability. However, even in specialized argumentative texts first-person pronouns

(whether

singular or plural) are sometimes used when referring to the locutor, because the emphasis is often
on

authorial autonomy within the discipline. Academic writers employ first person markers for three
main

purposes:

1. To organise arguments and structure their texts;

2. To introduce or discuss research activities;

3. To explicitly indicate their attitudes to findings or align themselves with theoretical position.

In this case the use of first-person pronouns is indicative of the effort to convince the reader by

emphasising the argumentative structure of discourse.

IV. TEXTUAL FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE

There are several features that distinguish specialized texts also from the textual standpoint. Many
of these

are peculiarities shared by all types of text – not only in specialized fields – and do not constitute a

typological exception but rather a distinction in quantitative terms. In some cases, however,
specialized

texts seem to avoid the use of standard textual norms in favour of ‘deviant’ options.

1. Anaphoric reference

Anaphoric reference is one of the most common devices deployed to increase textual cohesion (cf.

Halliday/Hasan 1976). In conjunction with other referential phenomena, alongside ellipsis,

substitution and

lexical cohesion, it forms the textual framework which – combined with suitable cohesive devices –

accounts for a text's constituent features. This phenomenon is familiar in common language but far
less so

in specialized texts: in legal writing, for example, it is normally avoided in favour of lexical
repetition.

This preference stems from the need for maximum clarity and avoidance of ambiguity, a typical
trait of

legal discourse. This frequent recourse to lexical repetition also takes place in those rare cases in
which the

text employs anaphorical referential elements. This need for precision lies at the base of another
relevant

characteristic of legal texts, that is, the frequent recourse to the reference to the parts of the text
itself,

specifying in the clearest way the textual element being referred to. Notice, for example, the
frequent use

of the ‘textual-mapping' (Bhatia 1987) adverbials hereto, herein, hereof and thereto.These
adverbials

generally refer to a document or a part of it and specify its exact location or identification, in other
cases

they accompany past participles which otherwise might be interpreted erroneously.

The need for maximum precision in legal language is confirmed by exophoric reference, with
detailed

specification of any contextual item mentioned in the sentence.

18

Quite often specialized discourse not only deploys textual items to clarify or specify the relationship

between different parts of a sentence but also uses cohesive devices to illustrate textual organisation
or

authorial intention more clearly. In this case lexical anaphora has a pragmatic function, insofar as it
does

not replicate the semantic side of the repeated concept but clarifies its illocutionary value.

Anaphora does not simply refer to the semantic value of the previous sentence but also to its
performative

value and specifies its illocutionary orientation.

2. Use of conjunctions

The same point may be made about the use of conjunctions. These items not only add cohesion to
texts but

also have a pragmatic function, which clarifies the purpose of the sentence that follows. For
instance, after

such expressions as but, however, on the other hand and so forth, one expects a sentence
semantically

opposed to the previous one, with conjunctions like as, since, for, because and others generally
introducing

a reason or explanation. It is notable that legal language strongly emphasises the pragmatic function
of

connectives by making meaning more transparent through inclusion in the surface form of a lexeme

denoting their illocutionary value.

As the most common connectives may have several uses (and pragmatic values) despite their
expressive

conciseness, their place is often taken in legal texts by a longer but more pragmatically transparent
paraphrase. Textualization is subservient again to pragmatic requirements, as the need to ensure a
single

clear-cut interpretation prevails over text length.

3. Thematic sequence

Some studies of specialized discourse focus on the thematic structure, i.e. the sequence of thematic
items

(introducing topic or theme) and rhematic items (containing what is said about the theme) (cf.
Halliday

1973). This division overlaps with the distinction between 'given' (an item of information known to
the

addressee) and 'new' (information that is not found in the preceding text or context). The ‘given' (an
item

of information known to the addressee) and ‘new’ (information that is not found in the preceding
text or

context). The ‘given’ item is often the same as the theme. In English the theme of unmarked
sentences is

generally their subject and occurs initially. A standard paragraph sequence has each new theme
referring to

the rheme of the previous sentence, according to the following pattern:

Standard thematic sequence.

The sequence of thematic and rhematic items in the text makes discourse both cohesive and
coherent. This

is not the only pattern found in English: it has several variants. The thematic structure is parallel, for

example, when its different themes refer to the same opening theme. The diagram is then of the
following

type:

19

Parallel thematic sequence.

Besides these regular structures there are others based on their

variations and combinations. For example:

Hutchins’ (1977) thematic sequence.

One can observe that in his thematic structure the specialist adopts the same conventions commonly

employed in general language. What this seems to suggest is that legal texts do not present an
exceptional

case as far as the organization of elements within the sentence is concerned, since theme and rheme

correspond to given and new information, respectively, unless there is a good reason otherwise.

4. Text genres

One of the phenomena that most distinguishes specialized discourse is compliance with the norms

governing the construction of its different text genres. There is usually a close link between the type
of

specialized text and its structure, which in turn implies several correlations between the conceptual,

rhetorical and linguistic features that characterize the text itself. Genre not only provides a
conventional

framework but also affects all other textual features (with an overall pragmatic function) and
constrains

their conceptual and rhetorical development, which in turn determines the linguistic choices made
as the

text unfolds.
Despite the rather high number of text genres in use, new text types are added every year to the list.
One

of the latest additions is the executive summary written for top managers. Another text form widely

adopted in recent years is the abstract – the summary of an article published in a scholarly journal
or of a

paper presented at a conference. Its appearance and success is due once again to the huge number of

publications available (some 50,000 scholarly journals published every year, for a total of five
million

articles), which place a limit on the number of texts that a single reader can inspect. The abstract
provides

readers with a short summary that shows whether a topic is relevant and worth the time required to
read

the whole article. The success of this genre in conference programmes is due, on the other hand, to
the

high number of papers presented – often in parallel sessions – at such events, which forces
participants to

choose which presentation to attend.

Through training and 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
audience,

and whenever the rules are broken a text is misunderstood or rejected. Such conditions are followed
very

closely in specialized texts, even when the reasons underpinning certain features no longer exist. An

20

example of this phenomenon is the textual construction of English legal documents. In recent
contracts it is

increasingly common to divide a text into numbered sections, with more punctuation and spaces
between

sections, but in many instances the same devices are either omitted or occur only occasionally. This
is due
to a custom established before the invention of printing: writing across each line from margin to
margin,

without any punctuation, to avoid additions or alterations of the original meaning. Such conventions
have

in part survived to this day, although printing makes text alteration far more difficult.

This arrangement in blocks is typical of English legal documents and diverges from the standard
division

applied to general discourse and other specialized texts, which are normally divided into
paragraphs. The

paragraph does not only reflect a conceptual unit within the text but also performs a special
pragmatic

function. The physical layout itself on the page replicates the conceptual-pragmatic dimension,
favouring

the identification of separate text parts and highlighting their functions and interactions: this
improves

comprehension of textual organisation and makes the meaning easier to decode.

As for the structure of different textual genres, Van Dijk (1977) showed that they normally follow a
clearly

codified, widely accepted pattern. For instance, the research article usually consists of
INTRODUCTION -

PROBLEM - SOLUTION - CONCLUSIONS. In the social sciences, e.g. psychology, the standard
sequence is

INTRODUCTION - THEORY - PROBLEM - EXPERIMENT - COMMENT - CONCLUSIONS.

Further divisions occur

within each part: e.g. the EXPERIMENT section may be subdivided into PROJECT - METHODS -
MATERIALS -

RESULTS. As Van Dijk aptly remarks, the role of each subsection is pragmatic as well as semantic.
This

means that the quality of textual organisation facilitates comprehension of content but also of the

pragmatic function of each section: some are informative, others evaluative, or predictive, etc.
These tend

to form standard sequences that typically reflect the specialist's theoretical or practical activities.
The close
interrelation between epistemological and textual aspects is a common trait of specialized discourse
and

makes its realisations highly codified – in keeping with a standardised argumentative pattern.

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 conditions. This is the
method

followed for drafting legal contracts which, as they serve a range of recurring codified situations
governed

by specific norms, are often based on pre-printed forms with spaces for the parties' names and
special

clauses to meet individual requirements. Even when printed forms are avoided, the alternative is a

checklist of textual provisions, from which the user can draw those required in a given situation.
The texts

of contracts, wills and deeds are never written afresh every time a lawyer has to draw one up. The
lawyer

uses what are called in the profession 'formbooks', in which documents or paragraphs of documents
are set

out, and it is up to the lawyer to choose the appropriate paragraph or paragraphs for the particular

document s/he is drawing up. All the lawyer has to add to these documents are the personal
particulars of

the person or persons.

A similar case is found in business correspondence, with the main types of letter generally grouped
into

categories according to their pragmatic function: enquiries, offers, orders, complaints, reminders,
etc. 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, a body, and a closing section – there is a
conventional

pattern for each type of letter. 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 com prehensible to the reader – a key
factor in

specialised transactions and global communication.

5. Textual organisation

21

The considerable codification of specialized genres increases semantic-conceptual coherence and

transparency, as signalled by textual organisation. Studies on this aspect of text have not only
highlighted

its different parts but also the contribution of each part to the overall pattern. Swales (1990), for
example,

has analysed several genres of academic writings. As regards introductory sections of scientific
articles, he

has identified a general structure, called CARS (Create a Research Space) Model:

Trimble (1985) has developed an analytical model for specialized texts based on four levels. The
first of

these identifies the main objectives of discourse, equivalent to the text's main pragmatic functions.
The

second level tends to focus on what Trimble calls "the general rhetorical functions that develop the

objectives of [the first level of analysis]”. These draw attention to the text's macrofunctions and
inform its

rhetorical-conceptual framework. Thus an experimental report is likely to include the following

macroacts:

1. Stating purpose;

2. Reporting past research;

3. Stating the problem;

4. Presenting information on apparatus used in an experiment:

a) Description;

b) Operation;

5. Presenting information on experimental procedures.

The third analytical level sheds light on the specific rhetorical functions that develop the general
rhetorical

functions found at the second level. These are the microacts needed to realise each macroact: e.g.
the

description stage is divided into sub-stages for physical and/or functional and/or procedural
description.

Finally, this model accounts for the rhetorical devices that enable the development of
semantic/pragmatic

links within and among the microacts assigned to the third level. Physical description, for instance,
relies

mainly on spatial rhetorical resources, while functional description relies on causal resources, and

procedural description relies chiefly on a time-oriented structure.

Various aspects of Trimble's model have been criticised, especially as regards the inaccurate
linguistic

terminology and merging of terms from different linguistic fields (semantics, pragmatics, morpho-

syntax, textual analysis and rhetoric) without sufficient consistency. However, this model has
helped to

identify the different structural levels of specialized discourse and its simplicity has permitted
several

applications also for pedagogic purposes.

22

The different macroacts in specialized texts generally coincide with the pragmatic dimension of
general

language. In some cases, however, a given semantic-pragmatic realisation may identify a certain
text type.
This happens in insurance contracts, where the hypothetical-predictive principle prevails over the

macrostructure as a superordinate of the whole text.

Logical-semantic links of the hypothetical type are equally crucial in wills. Here the signatory's
decisions are

made dependent upon currence of certain events: not only the testator's death but also other
occurrences

involving the life and death of heirs mentioned in the will, of the type: should X die before Y, if any
of my

children die before me, if X has no children, etc. In terms of linguistic realisation, the prevalence of
this

logical-semantic function implies frequent recourse to hypothetical clauses. Elsewhere microacts

have no

dominant role in the macrostructure but take on greater pragmatic importance in certain genres.
This is

the case, for example, of the defining aspect in legal documents. Here it is customary to mark the
first

occurrence of a noun or phrase that recurs in the text with a conventional term that can be used later
on.

The new term – generally introduced parenthetically or by expressions of the type hereinaftercalled
or in

this agreement called or simply called – is placed immediately after the first occurrence of the noun
or its

description. Often the conventional term for a given concept is capitalised, to show that it refers to a

specific entity in a conventional manner. Some common terms are capitalised in legal texts to mark
a

special meaning, while in lower case they denote a general referent→accurate use of terminology
and

capitalisation stems from the need for clarity in legal writing.

6. Speech acts

One of the problems confronted by the analyst is how to profile certain speech acts within each part
of a
text, whether specialized or not. Language often serves different purposes, as the author employs
the text

to achieve various results simultaneously. Any attempt to assign a single illocutionary meaning to a
text is

therefore an unacceptable simplification. The range of speech acts based on Austin's (1962) and
Searle's

(1969) taxonomies is similar in specialized and non-specialized texts. However, there is one class

(performatives) that occurs far more frequently 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 a legal act
often hinges

on the use of a specific formula. Language in the law is probably more performative than in any
other

field. Many legal pronouncements are performatives: written or spoken words within the correct
context

are used to create contracts – performance obligations – between people. A marriage license a
written

legal formula – and certain oral pronouncements made with the proper legal authority join two
people in

marriage. If a legal notice is published where a fairly large number of people can be assumed to see
it,

there is, in certain circumstances, a presumption under the law that all people have been notified.
This is

despitethe fact that most people do not read legal notices, and probably would not understand them
if

they did read them.

7. Argumentative pattern

The highly-structured construction of specialized discourse is reflected also in its argumentative

pattern. As

the main purpose is to convince readers that the author's perspective is the right one, argumentation
(but
also clarity and logical coherence in the presentation of evidence) proceeds in a straight line to
achieve the

perlocutionary effect inherent in this type of text. For this reason, text is organised according to a

'compositional plan' (Werlich 1976) carefully designed to serve a given thesis.

Facts are constructed. Phenomena only acquire fact-like status by consensus and that consensus is
only

achieved by rhetorical persuasion.

Given the highly persuasive value of language, authors use their linguistic skills with great care and
strategic

competence to create consensus around their claims, taking up positions and expressing judgements

23

through a range of rhetorical and linguistic resources. One way to add value to a thesis is to weaken

alternative options: that is why authors often refer critically to previous studies. The very notion of

argumentation means that an author should offer new insights that contradict earlier opinions.
Alternative

claims are therefore presented in such a way that their logical inconsistency, inaccuracy or
incompleteness

are highlighted. In doing so, the author adopts a highly explicit tone and conveys personal criticism.

In this way the writer projects his ‘authorial self’ in the text. Sometimes criticism is not expressed
directly

but in a tactful way, as the author prefers to use an indefinite form such as one, someone or general
nouns

such as people, the majority rather than a personal pronoun (I, we).

This indirect way of expressing criticism occurs whenever the author's opinion is presented as an
obvious

conclusion to be drawn from his analysis.

Once the author has demonstrated that previous approaches to the subject have been unsatisfactory,
he

usually points out where the problem lies, and then puts forward his claim. In order to emphasize
his
commitment to the search for a suitable solution to the problem, the author often makes use of
deontic

modal verbs such as shall, will or would.

If personal or passive forms rather than active ones are used, the style is kept personal by the use of
the

possessive adjectives my and our.

In dealing with a topic in a new and original way, the author often needs to invent new terms or
redefine

existing ones. This operation, which implies a creative role on the part of the author, is usually
denoted

using modal verbs such as must, shall and will.

Modality is also adopted in those metatestual statements in which the author wants to make his
discourse

structure explicit.

In order to make his persuasive function more effective, the author sometimes appeals directly to
his

reader, although he usually employs a third person rather than a second person pronoun.

Very often, however, the writer chooses not to mention the reader explicitly for fear that he might
regard

this as a threat to face and therefore be unwilling to cooperate. He prefers instead to use more
impersonal

sentences, made more persuasive by means of deontic modals such as must or should.

The subtlest and most effective strategy generally adopted by skillful writers is that which gives the
reader

the impression of not being conditioned by the author, while he is actually being led along the

argumentative path which corresponds to the original compositional plan. In order to compel the
reader to

obey his argumentative instructions and reach the same conclusions that he has come to, the skillful
writer

does not use the type of modality commonly employed to place somebody under an obligation, that
is,
deontic modality, as this would produce the opposite effect. The mastery of the writer, on the
contrary, is

shown by his adoption of a more neutral tone and the use of less subject-oriented modality such as

dynamic or epistemic. In this way he gives the impression that his conclusions are not imposed on
the

reader, but rather that they are logically drawn from the evidence produced or the argumentative
strands

presented. The two modals principally used to persuade the reader to take this 'mental leap' from
facts to

conclusion are can and must.

In this way, the author is not stating conclusions which might be perceived as presumable or
probable, but

as inferential statements adequately warranted by evidence. The argumentative process consists

therefore

of a process of reduction of uncertainty which can be summed up in the following two continua of

modality:

PROBABILITY – POSSIBILITY - POSITIVE CERTAINTY

IMPROBABILITY – IMPOSSIBILITY - NEGATIVE CERTAINTY

The author's main aim is thus to demonstrate that by means of his argumentation, POSSIBLE (P)
becomes

NECESSARY (P) or that NOT (POSSIBLE P) becomes NECESSARY (NOT P). The choice of
must and can't to

reproduce the persuasive effect involved in the argumentative function is not casual, as their strong

24

epistemic value is only a gradient on their meaning continuum which also includes strong deontic
modality.

The gradience of the modals selected enables the writer to charge the original semantic value of his

statement 'It is necessarily the case that P/ not P' with the illocutionary value 'It is necessary for you
to

accept P/ not P'.

 

V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

The increasing need to use the English language for the expression of specialized texts caused a
heated

debate in 17th-century England, as the adoption of other languages (Latin, in particular) was felt to
be no

longer suitable for this purpose. The great epistemological and methodological developments taking
place

in that period determined the need for corresponding changes both in the ways of communicating
the new

discoveries attained by means of innovative procedures and apparatus, and in the expressive tool to
be

used to describe and argue about the new phenomena observed and analysed.

The criticism of the methods traditionally adopted in the study of the sciences and the development
of a

new scientific system implied a change not only in the approach to the observation interpretation of
the

laws of nature, but also in the way in which phenomena ought to be described and opinions
expressed.

Criticism was made both of how language was employed in the various processes of scientific
research and,

in particular, of the suitability of the tool itself for an accurate, precise expression of the concepts
reported.

Some critics maintained that an accurate interpretation and description of the complex phenomena
of our

universe required the adoption of a new language, based on innovative principles and using tools

specifically devised for the purpose. Galileo, for example, pointed out the need for a novel
specialized

language, quite different from ordinary speech and mainly based on mathematical principles.

Even those scientists who intended to use verbal language in the expression of scientific phenomena
often

pointed out its deficiencies and inaccuracies. Bacon, for example, criticized the fact that in the
scientific
tradition based on the Aristotelian method the use of language was usually detached from the
physical

reality to which it referred. In his opinion the terms used in that tradition were not correct, as they
referred

to 'divisions of nature which were not tested by any reference to reality, so that the discussions of
the

learned often ended up in disputes about words and names often referring to fictitious entities such
as

'Fortune', 'the Prime Mover', etc. Bacon maintained, instead, that terms should correspond to data

collected and reality observed, this being the only valid basis for the establishment of the laws of
nature.

There should be a strict relationship between the observational process and its representation, and a
direct

link should be established between reality observed and verbal expression. In this relationship,
however,

priority must be given to reality over language, and not vice versa.

Another criticism often made by scientists was the polysemy characterising most words in any
language,

which often made texts ambiguous. The new scientists could not tolerate the uncertainty of meaning

inherent in existing words and condemned all those who did not use language in an accurate way.
Robert

Boyle, for example, attacked alchemists for the “intolerable ambiguity” and the “unreasonable
liberty” with

which they used the same term to refer to different concepts, or for their misleading habit of giving
“one

thing, many names” (Boyle 1661/1967: 113). The conclusion he came to was that “this equivocal
way of

writing was not to be endured” (Boyle 1661/1967: 115). The remedy that he suggested consisted in
the

coining of new terms providing a stricter delimitation of meaning.

Specific accusations were made against the English language, the first being its inadequacy for
scientific
purposes due to its ‘imperfection'. Such inadequacy was mainly due to the limited amount of
vocabulary

present in the language. The field in which the English language proved to be particularly
inadequate was

that of ‘names of art', that is, of the technical terms which made up the basic lexis of a subject. This
lack of

specialized terms often made the translation of works into English an arduous task, or made it
difficult for

English scientists to write essays in their native tongue.

25

1. Developments in specialized lexis

The realisation that the English language was inadequate for the needs of expression of men of
science led

to its gradual amelioration, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view. British
scientists made

great efforts to increase the number of specialized terms and to improve the exactness of their
meanings.

Two main principles were followed in coining new terms: that of using the resources of the native
tongue,

either to give a specialized meaning to an existing word or to form a new one, or borrowing a
similar term

from a foreign language.

In defining a new concept, the specialist sometimes employed a word already existing in the
language,

adding a specialized meaning to its usual one(s). This is the case, for example, of Newton's use of
the

word gravity.

The most frequently adopted strategy was the borrowing of terms from other languages, particularly
from
Latin. The choice of a loan, rather than the specialization of an existing word or the coinage of a
new term,

was often suggested by the fact that the concept to be referred to was already expressed in a foreign

language. The availability of a term was particularly evident in the case of translation of texts. In
that case,

when the translator came across a word with no equivalent in the tongue into which he was
translating, he

was obliged to use the original word, thus enriching the lexical load of the receiving language.

In adopting the loan, the translator usually adapted the word that he was borrowing to the
morphological

features of the receiving language, following the conventions in use concerning word-formation.
Thus, for

example, Latin words ending in -atio were provided with the suffix -ation, and similarly other
Latinate

terminations commonly in use in the English language (such as -ence, -ity, -ment, -ate, -ous) were
used as

equivalents for the Latin endings. Moreover, once a loan had been introduced, it was frequently
used as a

root from which further words could be formed by means of affixation.

This process of borrowing did not only involve the adoption of single words, but also of prefixes
and

suffixes, which were used more and more often to create new terms.

Latin loans were sometimes employed to express a more technical or figurative meaning of a word
already

in use.

In some cases both forms (general and technical) were neo-Latin; in these cases the former was
already

present in the language, having been borrowed during the Middle English period, while the latter
appeared

in the language in the Early Modern English period; some examples of these doublets are count /
compute,

ray / radius, gender / genus, prove / probe, spice / species, palsy / paralysis. Foreign words were
sometimes
employed because they were thought to have the power to express a very complex concept in a
concise

way.

2. The opaqueness of language

Because of these advantages, the borrowing of Latinate forms was massive, although sometimes it
was felt

to be excessive and unjustified. Specialists were therefore often criticized (particularly by laymen)
and

became targets for satire. The harsh criticism of too many Latinate expressions (commonly known
as

'inkhorn controversy') is mainly triggered by the decoding problems experienced by those who have
a

limited or non-existent knowledge of Latin. People with a limited cultural background often
misquote

specialized terms because they find them too difficult to pronounce, understand and remember.

However, borrowers defend their practice by pointing out that the strangeness of loans only lasts for
a

short period, after which people become familiar with such terms.

Moreover, in this inkhorn controversy many specialists deny the accusation that they are
responsible for

the spoiling of the English language, and retort that on the contrary they are ennobling their native
tongue.