Curs 6. - 6.11.

2013
The notion of specialized language is the least ambiguous. Occupation varieties
registers restricted languages ergolects or !or" language.
There is no single and clear definition of the concept of specialized languages. There is
a boo"# $. %e&eaugrande's - ()pecial purpose language and linguistic theor*(+1,-./ - his
!ebsite- free material.
0n linguistics there are different opinions. 1 number of theorists refer strictl* to the
terminologies special languages as le2ical variants of general language.
3.g. of definition# (0t must be noted that the terms special language +specialized
language/ and common language onl* refer to a subset of language as a !hole that !hich
consists of le2emes +!ords/.( - Canadian terminologist 4. $ondeau.
Comple2 semiotic s*stems indicate the fact that special languages use other semiotic
s*stems# math s*mbols s*mbols from ph*sics chemical artificial language.
)pecialization is b* sub5ect field and also b* pragmatic factors users t*pe of communication
etc.
1 specialized topic determines the specialization of language. 0f !e loo" for criteria to
define special languages one of these is training. Originators !ho produce specialized
communication ac6uire this "no!ledge through training. Translators too.
Communication and special language is formal and occurs in situations governed b*
professional scientific criteria. $ondeau argues that it is onl* one special language is the fields
of science and technolog*.
7ariations in vocabular* +le2is/
0nside vocabular* there are subsets of !ords !ith restricted use.
proof - common - has specific sense in la! math etc.
heart - common
cordial - more literar* li"el* to be !ritten than spo"en
cardiac - scientific technical
tic"er - collo6uial slang.
8e2icolog* - science that studies vocabular*
9undamental vocabular*
Current literar* language
)tandard language
There is a lot of variation is special sub5ects.
There is a continuum of academic language#
:ard sciences --; empirical and ob5ective
:umanities --; interpretive
:ard science :umanities
linear gro!th dispersed "no!ledge
e2perimental discursive +based on discourse/
more concentrated readership varied readership
highl* structured genre +te2t t*pe/ fluid genres and discourses
<.1.= :allida* and >.$. <artin
0n their boo" :allida* identifies t*pical difficulties - e.g. technical ta2onom*
+classification/. :allida* describes le2ical densit* grammatical metaphor + metaphor !here
variation is in grammatical form/
e.g. The cast acted brilliantl* so the audience applauded for a long time. - if
grammatical metaphor applies !e get# The cast's brilliant acting dre! length* applause from
the audience.
4rammatical metaphor#
is more le2icall* dense
creates virtual phenomenon
is an e2tremel* po!erful abstract tool
increases the po!er that a language has for theorizing
$eshaping of e2perience involves 3 steps#
generalization# from proper to common noun
abstractness# from concrete categories to abstract ones
metaphor
3.g. of grammatical metaphor#
length - 5unction of the 6ualit* (long( ? the meaning of a noun (thing( - (8O@4( ? AT:0@4B
motion - (move( ? (thing( - (<O73( ? AT:0@4B
1ll these (things( are virtual phenomenon and abstract tools for thin"ing. 3ntities can
be measured generalized classified. Chere different "inds of meaning are combined the
level of information is ver* high.
Transformation related to le2ical densit* #
1d5ective# instable +6ualit*/ --; instabilit* +entit*/
transform +process/ --; transformation +entit*/
event --; thing
au2iliar* --; thing
circumstance --; entit*
e.g. !ith --; accompaniment
to --; destination
relater -- ; entit*
e.g. so--; causeD proof
To compute le2ical densit* is this number of content !ords divided b* number of
ran"ing clauses.
le2ical densit* E no. of content !ords D no. of ran"ing clauses
0f a clause functions as something lo!er that a clause it is said to be do!n- ran"ed
e.g. (0f this method of control is used trains !ill un6uestionabl* be able to run more
safel* and faster even !hen the !eather conditions are more adverse.( - 11D3 E 3.66
e.g. (The conical space rendering of cosmic strings gravitational propert* applies onl* to
straight strings.( - 1 clause - 10D1 E 10
Corpus linguists ma"e use of data bases. 0n corpus linguists TT$ +t*pe to"en ratio/ is
used.