Lexical Features of Specialised Languages

Recurrent features Monoreferentiality Lack of emotion Precision Transparency Conciseness Conservatism Ambiguity Imprecision Redundancy Semantic instability Metaphor Lexical productivity

Monoreferentiality Term and concept are related by a fixed ‘defining agreement’ (Bloomfield) A term: condenses the semantic value contributed by the defining process Neologisms to avoid ambiguity Lack of synonyms  repetitions  lower lexical density (type/token ratio)  lexically ‘poor’

Lack of emotion  objective viewpoint Terms have a denotative function; connotations are lost Applicable to texts with informative rather than persuasive functions PRECISION Devoid of indirect references (euphemisms)  terms must point immediately to their own concepts

Transparency The possibility to promptly access a term’s meaning through its surface form Terms/affixes of Greek and Latin origin to avoid ambiguity and polysemy Systematisation and standardisation through conventional affixes Explicitation H.E. Mattila: Transfer of Latin expressions from Latin to Modern Languages: in the Romance languages and in English Latin words were often adopted with minor orthographic changes (large acceptance); in German, Scandinavian languages and Slavic languages: loan translations were more common.  acceptance of the foreign in translation

Conciseness Word-formation: zero derivation Acronyms and abbreviations AMBIGUITY Violations of monoreferentiality

Conservatism: law Archaisms: bill of lading ( loading), forthwith, thereof, absent in general language ‘established’ meaning/construal (universaly accepted interpretations)  ‘comforts of precedent’ Plain English campaign Obscure language as power: Latin used in the legal process  legal language was incomprehensible, hence, impressive and frightening (Matilla)

Imprecision Legal language with fuzzy boundaries (weasel words: reasonable, proper) REDUNDANCY Legal English: made and signed, terms and conditions, will and testament (historical reasons)

Semantic instability Shifts in meaning: semantic transformations linked to disciplinary evolution May lead to ambiguity when old and new meanings coexist  memorandum of association

Lexical productivity Employing words from general language by specialization and metaphorisation Productivity linked to the rapid evolution of disciplinary fields