Investigating Specialized Discourse

I. Defining the notion of “specialized discourse”

In the 1920s-1930s scholars belonging to the Prague School turned their attention to the so-called “functional
style”, which characterises scientific and technical discourse. At first, their approach was conservative, since
it tended to classify such discourse at a lower level, totally separated from the language of everyday use.
Research into the concept of “register” published after the Second World War attempted to identify the
morphosyntactic, lexical and stylistic features that characterize specialized discourse.
The transition from an uncontextualized view of language, typical of the Chomskyan tradition, 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.
The communicative situation combines several contextual factors, making it difficult to attribute a given
linguistic feature to a single factor. Many scholars have tried to group together the contextual factors capable
of identifying the parameters which distinguish different genres within a specialized language. There are
some specialized languages, such as the legal language, which are highly codified and 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.
This interrelationship between various factors has led scholars to examine specialized discourse according to
a coordinate system with a horizontal dimension concerning the disciplinary domain (economic discourse,
legal discourse, scientific discourse) and a vertical dimension relating to its sociological layer (its degree of
formality and functional style).
1.1 The issue of terminology
Another controversial aspect which still seeks consensus by scholars investigating specialized discourse is
the term used to define its object. Sometimes specialized discourse has been thought comparable to the
notion of “restricted language”, although the term is applied to restricted codes that employ certain
sentences of general language in specialized communication. This is the case, for example, of flight control
communication, based on the exchange of standard messages using set phrases wit a set of agreed variants.
Elsewhere the term “special language” has been used to denote languages with special rules and symbols
deviating from those of general language. It could be non-linguistic, involving numbers and punctuation
marks borrowed from other languages and it follows totally independent conventions,

• Difference between “special languages” and “specialized discourse”: a specialised 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 of “specialised discourse”: it reflects more clearly the specialist use of language in
context which are typical of a specialized community stretching across the academic, the
professional, the technical areas of knowledge and practise. This perspective stresses both the type of
user and the domain of use. In specialized discourse, comprehension problems depend not only on
unfamiliar lexis, but also on conceptual content.

1.2 The multi-dimensional nature of specialized discourse

The world of specialized discourse is not as homogeneous as it may first appear. There is a clear distinction
between different specialized languages, though any distinction based mainly on lexis is too simplistic in this
context. As a general language is not a uniform entity but contains many varieties, common rules and
features of specialized discourse coexist with specific ones separating each variety from the others.
There is a further distinction to be made in the field of specialized languages: there are 3 different situations
in which a specialist may address a topic relating to his profession.
1. The expert addresses other specialist to debate issues within his disciplinary field (describe a
research project, report results; in this case, the author can make frequent use of specialized
terminology whose semantic meaning is taken for granted.
2. Specialists address non-specialists to explain notions belonging to their disciplines; for educational
purposes the meaning of specialized lexis is illustrated whenever it occurs for the first time
(academic textbooks, instructions manuals).
3. A specialist provides information of a technical nature mainly through everyday lexis to reach out to
a wider audience.
These three situations lead to three different uses of language, or rather to three levels of specificity in
language use. Only the first two involve a truly “specialist” use of language.
Some authors, like Altier Biagi, also allow for a fourth level – the highest in the hierarchy – namely
“condensation into formulae”: it relies on non-verbal rather than verbal language, because all scientific
disciplines tend to adopt symbolic formulations, because the verbal code is often polysemous.
1.3 General features of specialized discourse
Hoffmann provides a long list of the desirable qualities of specialized discourse; the main points are:
- simplicity and clarity
- objectivity
- density of information
- brevity
- emotional neutrality
- unambiguousness
- logical consistency
Not all the criteria mentioned by Hoffmann are applicable to all specialized languages. However, there are
also inconsistencies in his list, because, for example, the need for clarity may conflict with simplicity.
Hoffmann’s study does not discuss such conflicting links and fails to identify which criteria become
dominant in a situation of conflict.
Sager hypothesise three main criteria governing the choices made in specialized discourse:
1. Emphasis on the need of accuracy (economy)
2. Precision in the linguistic signs employed to express the required meaning
3. Perlocutory effectiveness of the message for successful communication (appropriateness); it
influences the presuppositions that can be made about prior knowledge.
These are considered interdependent, in that maximum communicative effectiveness is achieved when the
requirements of all three are satisfied. Sager’s study represent an interesting effort to move beyond the mere
description of linguistic phenomena and offers a practicable approach to their representation.
 II. Lexical Features of specialized discourse
1.1 Monoreferentiality
The most-widely investigated distinctive feature of specialized lexis, as compared to the general language, is
monoreferentiality. This term is not used to indicate that each term has only one referent, but to signal that in
a given context only one meaning is allowed. Denotation is prevalent and the meaning of specific terms may
be inferred without reference to their context. Term and concepts are related by a fixed “defining agreement”
whereby the term cannot be suitably substituted by a synonym but only by its definition or a paraphrase.
“Terminological tendency” (Sinclair): the tendency for a word to have a fixed meaning in reference to the
world. This means that every term signals a concept and effectively condenses the semantic value
contributed by the defining process which generated it.
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 difficulty of substituting a term with its synonym has major consequences for lexical choices made in
the textualization of specialized discourse and produces a certain lexical repetition.
The use of monoreferentiality in scientific fields is due to the scientific community’s effort to avoid
alternative terms for the same concept. This need arose in the 17th-18th centuries, because the pursuit of a
perfectly biunivocal link between concept and language was so urgent, that scientists created a new universal
language capable of expressing both clearly and directly the new concepts employed by the international
scientific community.
2.2 Lack of emotions
Another feature of specialized languages highlighted in the literature is their lack of emotive connotations.
Unlike words, terms have a purely denotative function; The informative purpose of specialized language
prevails over some elements like emotions and aesthetics typical of general language. Lack of emotions
prevails whenever a text is mainly informative: if the pragmatic purpose is persuasive, the emphasis on
emotion surfaces also in specialized texts.
2.3 Precision
Every term must point immediately to its own concept. This requirement excludes the recourse to indirect
reference systems in specialized communication, through devices such as euphemism. This phenomenon
arose in response to the need of precision advocated by the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
2.4 Transparency
It is the possibility to promptly access a term’s meaning through its surface form. This criterion was
particularly 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 coherent view of science and covers both its conceptual and terminological dimension.
One of the most widely used 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.
2.5 Conciseness
Concepts are expressed in the shortest possible form. The need of conciseness generally leads to a reduction
in textual surface, for example zero derivation, which allows the omission of affixes.
It is possible to merge two lexemes into a single term, or to omit prepositions and premodifiers in nominal
groups containing two nouns (juxtaposition), or also to use acronyms and abbreviations.
2.6 Conservatism
Opposite to the 17th-18th century scientist’s need to redefine specialized concepts and replacing existing
terms with new ones, lawyers appear conservative about introducing new terms. Their fear was that new
terms may lead to ambiguity, so they favoured the permanence of traditional linguistic traits, which are
preserved even if they disappear from general language. Moreover, formulaic language is used to ensure the
action’s validity.
The need for reform in legal language is felt as regards interpretative difficulties of statues 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 convinced President Jimmy
Carter to issue guidelines for the use of “clear and simple English” in all government regulations, such as
public and private organisations, banks and insurance companies.
2.7 Ambiguity
Many texts show frequent violations to the principle of monoreferentiality and the presence of manny cases
of ambiguity and polysemy. Sometimes this ambiguity is not planned, other times it is the result of the
author’s decision. This is the position adopted by those economists who are against the use of
monoreferential type of language because of its excessive rigidness and its inability to describe complex
phenomena in an adequate way.
In his choice of everyday language, Keynes adopts the tripartite division proposed by Malthus, who
identifies the definitional patterns employed in three main research fields: the mathematical sciences, the
natural sciences and the moral sciences. Each type of science is characterised by a particular kind of
language and therefore adopts its own definitional pattern.
2.8 Imprecision
Despite the recurring claim that precision is a prominent feature of specialized discourse and one of its
distinctive qualities, there are several exceptions to this rule in certain disciplinary fields. One of them is
legal language, where terms are to a certain extent referentially fuzzy.
2.9 Redundancy
Redundancy is generally due to violation of the principle of conciseness. Legal language displays the highest
occurrence of violations to the principle of conciseness. Redundancy is visible through lexical doubling,
namely two words one close to the other coming from two different languages or from the same language.
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. Another case of redundancy is the repetition of a concept through its
negated opposite, as in the expression within and not exceeding.
However, words that now appear synonymous could be semantically distinct in earlier centuries, so their
combined use could help ensure semantic coverage of the whole target meaning. A possible example of this
last case is the phrase last will and testament: the pair is linked to the use of such terms made by the English
lawyers, who often applied will to movables and testament to real estate.
2.10 Semantic instability
Terms undergo many semantic transformations, which are linked to ongoing disciplinary evolution. The
semantic variation of words due to cultural innovation and evolving social usage is not only typical of
general language, but also of specialized discourse. Sometimes semantic change is gradual, sometimes the
transformation process is due to specific actions that enable us to date exactly when the change occurred. For
example, the term purchase denoted in its early stage the acquisition of something through force; slowly it
specialized and came to mean acquisition by payment of a sum.
The presence of new meanings which eventually replace existing ones may lead to ambiguity, because the
two may overlap in actual use.
2.11 The relationship with general language
Semantic evolution very often originates from the specialisation of word meanings in the general language.
Terms like experiment and experience were easily interchangeable until the 1700s and have since then
acquired an increasingly precise specification, which now denotes two separate types of knowledge.
Experiment is the objective observation based on experimental evidence, while experience is the subjective
knowledge acquired mainly through the senses.
Many classical-rooted terms have produced hybrid prefixes and suffixes that are widely used in specialized
languages, like kilo-, auto-, mega-, micro-, mini-.
2.12 Metaphor in specialized discourse
Metaphor creation is a frequent feature not only for everyday language, but also of specialist texts, especially
for the purpose of catachresis. This process has several advantages:
1. terminological transparency is produced by referring new concepts to pre-existing items within the
interlocutor’s semantic repertoire;
2. conciseness, whereby the choice of a given lexeme points immediately to a body of existing
information known to the interlocutor, favouring rapid information transfer without complex
terminological definitions;
3. tangible quality of images from the physical world used to represent abstract and often complex
concepts that would otherwise be difficult to define.
The use of words in a metaphoric context is generally made to highlight the expressive connotations of a
concept, increasing its aesthetic value. They are more creative but may also allow more arbitrary
interpretations.
2.13 Lexical productivity
Terms coined in a specialized setting are increasingly likely to become part of everyday lexis. 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. The constant production of
specialized terms is due 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. The most likely conclusion is that the specificity of
morphosyntactic phenomena found in specialized languages is not a qualitative but a quantitative one.
3.1 Omission of phrasal elements
A prominent distinctive feature of specialized discourse is its extremely compact syntactic structure. A very
common 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 element may be inferred form the context or
reconstructed by reference to knowledge shared by language community.
The omission of articles and prepositions is a standard example of omission.
 3.2 Expressive conciseness
The linguistic strategies employed in English specialized texts to avoid relative clauses and make the
sentence structure “lighter” is not limited to specialized discourse, but it is a feature also found in general
language. A first possibility commonly employed in specialized texts is the substitution of relative clauses
with adjectives usually obtained by means od affixation. Another device adopted to simplify a relative clause
containing a passive form consist in omitting its subject and auxiliary: Pieces of iron (which are) left in the
rain become rusty.
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, instead of Air which is compressed can be
used for several purposes.
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.
In many cases the 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 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.
3.3 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. English can easily employ right-to-left construction, which
shortens sentences and makes the noun phrase dense. A distinctive aspect of the right-to-left pattern is
nominal adjectivation, namely the use of a noun to specify another with an adjectival function. The hypen is
employed as a disambiguator to avoid multiple interpretations and it signals semantic links between words: A
small car-factory / A small-car factory.
3.4 Nominalization
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. Nominalization
also allows an easier flow of information from new to given, facilitating text development. Nominalization
also gives the opportunity to confer greater objectivity to the author’s views.
3.5 Lexical density
In specialized discourse one consequence of frequent nominalization is increasing lexical density, namely 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, making the text less compact.
3.6 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 the 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
copulative verbs like be, become, like, 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 thanks to simplified
surface structure, but the lexical density of the sentence and the complex pattering of the noun phrases makes
interpretation more demanding.
English specialized discourse usually avoids subordination, so main clauses prevail over subordinates. The
low proportion of explicit subordinates does not indicate that specialized texts are simple.
3.7 Sentence length
Written specialized texts are encoded by longer sentences than those found in general language. The
considerable length of legal texts, for example, is due to the high number of items required to minimise
ambiguity and misunderstandings.
A further feature of specialized discourse is that whenever special needs due to the specificity of the subject
matter produce inconsistencies or conflict with general language, the specialist prefer to alter such linguistic
rules for pragmatic purposes (for example, the omission of the preposition to). In the case of legal language,
the specialist’s need for clarity prevails over the syntactic conventions of general language.
3.8 Use of verb tenses
In the great majority of cases, the present indicative is considered a feature of specialized languages. 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.
The use of verb tenses varies according to the degree of generality attributed by authors to the phenomena
considered. When generality is high, the choice falls on the simple present, while it falls on the present
perfect when generality is low; if an event only occurred once, the simple past is preferred.
The wide use of non-finite verbs is not surprising, since these help to compact the text’s expressive form. For
example, the present participle is often used to avoid relative clauses. The -ing form also simplifies
secondary concessive clauses, as it does not require the explicit mention of the subject when the latter is the
same as that of the main clause. Past participle is useful to simplify passive forms.
3.9 Use of the passive
In English the use of passive forms is very high because it is the main device used to depersonalise
discourse. Depersonalising is an important element of specialized language since it emphasises the effect or
outcome of an action rather than its cause or originator. The agent is normally omitted in passive clauses also
because it is often the same for all the operations described. In such cases the agent becomes a redundant
feature.
The widespread use of the passive in specialized language is not common to all text types (Legal texts).
3.10 Depersonalisation
The pervasiveness of passivation coupled with the absence of an explicit agent suggests the presence in
specialized texts of a tendency to depersonalize discourse. The phenomenon is confirmed by inspection of
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
indicative 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.

IV. Textual features

There are a few features that distinguish specialized texts also from the textual standpoint. In some cases,
specialized texts seem to avoid the use of standard textual norms in favour of ‘deviant’ options.
 4.1 Anaphoric reference
Various studies have shown that anaphoric reference is one of the most common devices employed to
increase textual cohesion. Together with other referential phenomena like ellipsis, substitution and lexical
cohesion, it forms the textual framework which accounts for a text’s constituent features. This phenomenon
is familiar in common language but far less so in specialized texts.
In legal discourse, the repetition of some lexical items is more acceptable than anaphoric reference
though personal pronouns, in order to avoid ambiguity.
4.2 Use of conjunctions
Conjunctions not only add cohesion to texts, but also have a pragmatic function, which clarifies the purpose
of the sentence that follows. 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.
4.3 Thematic sequence
Some studies of specialized discourse focus on the thematic structure, namely the sequence of thematic items
(introducing topic or theme) and rhematic items (containing what is said about the theme). 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 sequence of thematic and rhematic items
in the text makes discourse both cohesive and coherent.
There are cases when the specialist appears highly aware of the advantages of placing certain information
items in thematic rather than rhematic position or vice versa, so he is able to enhance the text’s pragmatic
values.
4.4 Text genres
One of the phenomena that most distinguishes specialized discourse is compliance with 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 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 (pragmatic
functions) and constrains their conceptual and rhetorical development, which in turn determines the
linguistic choices made as the text unfolds.
With time, several text types have arisen. In the 1600s and 1700s, there was a considerable growth in
scientific newspapers and academic proceedings, which explains the success of shorter, more publishable
genres such as the experimental essay or letter, which coexisted with earlier, less manageable genres like
dissertation, dialogue, diary. Despite the 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
adopted in recent years is the abstract, namely the summary of an article published in a scholarly journal or
of a paper presented at a conference. 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. In specialized discourse there is not
always a perfect match between the conceptual and physical dimension of paragraphs; indeed, the conceptual
paragraph may be inconsistent with physical paragraph.
All the different textual genres usually follow a clearly codified ad widely accepted pattern. For instance, the
research article usually consists of introduction – problem – solution – conclusions. In the social sciences
(psychology), the standard sequence is introduction – theory – problem – experiment – comment –
conclusions. 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 predictive, etc. these tend to form
standard sequences that typically reflect the specialist’s theoretical or practical activities.
 4.5 Textual organization
The considerable codification of specialized genres increases semantic-conceptual coherence and
transparency, as signalled by textual organisation. A considerable number of studies on the organisation of
specialized texts concentrate on the relationship between microacts and their dependence on certain
macroacts. The sequence of macro- and micro- acts generally follows clarly-codified norms which are
widely accepted within the discipline, but it may also be governed by inherent semantic-pragmatic
requirements leading to natural sequences of the type: cause-effect, condition-consequence, problem-
solution, experiments-result. The different microacts and macroacts in specialized texts (temporal
specification, links, hypothesis, comparison, suggestion, conclusion, prediction) generally coincide with the
pragmatic dimension of general language.
4.6 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 an
unacceptable simplification. Speech acts with a performative orientation, namely with first-person singular
pronoun and a conventional formula making the act legally valid, are very important, especially in legal
language.
4.7 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 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” carefully designed to serve a given thesis. Though this plan is
not identical in all argumentative specialized text (because it depends on the thesis considered and the
specialist’s method and personal style), there is an overall pattern underlying most texts. This structure
comprises various stages: after analysing previous literature and/or observing data, the author identifies the
problem and suggests a viable solution. Through logical argumentation supported by adequate proof, he
reaches a conclusion and affirms it with a certain degree of certainty. This model allows for a degree of
subjectivity when the author attributes certainty to his conclusions.
Authors use their linguistic skills with great care and strategic competence to create consensus around their
claim, taking up positions and expressing judgements trough a range of rhetorical and linguistic resources.
One way to add value to a thesis is to weaken alternative options: an author should offer new insights that
contradict earlier opinions. These are generally presented in a pro-aut-contra rather than pro-et-contra
progression, as the author does not merely list diverging viewpoints but steers the reader towards his own
conclusions. The mastery of the writer is shown by his adoption of a more neutral tone and the use of less
subject-oriented modality. 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 from facts to conclusion are can and must: in this
way, thw author is not standing conclusions which might be perceived as probable, but as inferential
statements adequately warranted by evidence.
4.8 Linear structure and heuristic methods
The analysis of specialized texts points to the presence of a close link between the author’s language and his
heuristic method. This relationship surfaces especially in the text’s drafting plan, which is organised
according to the discipline’s theoretical foundations. The close link between method and composition creates
major difficulties for authors.
 4.9 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. Theoretical validity and the evidential weight of observations are
considered sufficient to confirm the value of an author’s claims, whereas any emotive content is carefully
removed. In recent years, however, the persuasive element of argumentation, also in specialized discourse,
has been reconsidered. Its aim is to convince the audience not only through demonstration and experimental
evidence but also through plausible, persuasive argumentation. For this purpose, authors deploy every device
available in specialized discourse, including figurative and emotive language. (vedi esempio libro)
4.10 Literary value of specialized text
Aesthetic considerations are not a priority in specialized discourse as they are in literary texts. Some scholars
have indeed looked at the aesthetic value of specialized texts, but the term is used out of context and applied
to functional rather than aesthetic features. It is not appropriate to assign aesthetic values to specialized texts
because such values are not a priority for authors in the scientific community.