1. Lexical Features of Specialised Languages

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

3. 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’

4. 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

5. 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

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

7. 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)

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

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

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