Contents

PREFACE ......................... XIII

0. Author’s preface............. XV0.1. The environment of this book .............. XV0.1.1. Changes in linguistic studies.............. XV0.1.2. The growth of scientific and technical knowledge..... XVI0.1.3. l owering of social barriers...............XVII0.1.4. Changes in communication....... XVIII0.1.5. Changes in the role of English............. XX0.2. The contents and scope of this book........... XXI0.2.1. Comparison with other studies.............XXII0.2.2. The readership....................XXIII0. 3. Acknowledgements. ............ XXIV

1. Introduction.................... 11.1. Problems concerning the definition and description of special

languages........................ 21.1.1. Special languages and the system of language........ 21.1.2. Special languages as a social phenomenon......... 31.1.3. Special languages in communication............ 31.1.4. Special languages and special knowledge.......... 41.1.5. Special languages and their use.............. 41.1.6. Types of special text units................ 51.1.7. The effectiveness of special languages........ . . . 51.2. The approach to these problems.............. 51.2.1. The pragmatic approach .................. 61.2.2. The semantic approach................. 81.2.3. The syntactic approach................. 91.3. Methodology...................... 101.3.1. Terminology...................... 101.4. Organisation of content................. 10

2. Functions of language............. 132.1. Definitions of language.................. 132.2. The nature of language and special languages........ 142.2.1. The referential nature of language............. 142.2.2. The systematic nature of language............. 152.2.3. The voluntary nature of language.........'. . . . 162.2.4. The communal nature of language............ 17

V

2.3. The uses of language................... 172.3.1. Uses and functions................... 172.3.2. Uses of language.................... 182.3.3. The communicative use of language............ 182.3.4. The classificatory use of language............. 192.3.4.1. The‘ideational’use of language.............. 202.3.5. Uses of special languages................ 212.4. The intentions of speech acts............... 222.4.1. Speech acts....................... 222.4.2. Intentions....................... 232.4.3. Types of intention.................... 252.4.3.1. Informative speech acts................. 252.4.3.2. Evaluative speech acts.................. 262.4.3.3. Directive speech acts.................. 272.4.3.4. Phatic speech acts.................... 282.4.4. Mixed intentions.................... 282.4.5. An example of intention analysis............. 28

3. Languages and sub-languages.............. 313.1. Originality and conformity in language........... 313.1.1. The notion of rule dependence in linguistics........ 313.1.2. Norms and rules in other systems............. 323.1.3. The nature of linguistic rules and norms.......... 333.2. The linguistic norm........ 333.3. The social norm..................... 353.3.1. Motivation of the social norm.............. 353.3.2. Modes of operation................... 363.3.3. Areas of operation................... 363.3.4. Linguistic manifestations................. 373.4. Development of special languages............. 383.4.1. Linguistic features of special languages.......... 403.5. Norms and standards................... 403.5.1. Norms - standards, natural - artificial languages...... 41

4. The communication process............... 434.1. A model of the communication process........... 434.1.1. Components of the model................ 444.1.2. The coding process................... 454.1.3. The channel and the noise factor............. 474.1.4. The general conditions of communication......... 474.2. Special subject communication............... 504.3. The conditions of special subject communication....... 524.3.1. The intention condition................. 524.3.2. The knowledge condition................ 534.3.3. The code condition................... 544.4. The nature of the code.................. 554.4.1. Code units....................... 56

VI

4.4.1.1. Syntactic criteria.................... 564.4.1.2. Semantic criteria.................... 574.4.1.3. Pragmatic criteria.................... 574.4.2. Multifunctionality of code................ 594.4.3. Situation dependency.................. 614.4.4. Redundancy of code and coding............. 624.4.5. Openness of code.................... 634.5. A definition of special languages.............. 634.5.1. Special language - dialects - sociolects........... 634.5.1.1. Pragmatic and linguistic differences............ 644.5.2. Special languages as subsystems.............. 654.5.3. The social norm of special languages........... 674.5.4. Definition....................... 68

5. The nature of special reference............. 705.1. A theory of reference................... 705.1.1. A model of knowledge.................. 705.1.2. Disciplines....................... 725.1.3. Social norms and knowledge............... 725.1.4. Knowledge and reference................. 735.1.4.1. Social norm and types of reference............ 745.2. Special subject codes................... 745.2.1. Words and terms.................... 755.2.2. Standardised terms................... 765.3. The process of designation................ 765.3.1. Linguistic methods of designation............. 785.3.2. The creation of terminological systems........... 795.3.3. The standardisation process............... 805.3.4. Problems in designation................. 835.4. Reference in usage.................... 835.4.1. Methods of referring.................. 855.4.2. Special reference in syntactic relationships......... 86

6. Special speech acts and message types......... 876.1. Traditional forms.................... 876.2. The environment and the situation of the speech act..... 886.2.1. The environment.................... 886.2.2. The stimulus of the speech act.............. 906.2.2.1. Intention........................ 916.2.3. The situation...................... 926.2.3.1. Personal factors..................... 936.2.3.2. Temporal factors.................... 956.2.3.3. Spatial factors..................... 966.3. The topic of the speech act................ 966.3.1. Horizontal and vertical stratification........... 966.3.2. Aspects........................ 976.3.3. Levels of expression and reference.............100

VII

102103103104108109109112114118120

124124124126127128128129129130131133133134135137138143145146147

182182184185186186186189190190190191191

Interaction of aspect and level .......Choices in the speech act..........Means of communication..........Message types...............Modes of expression...........The major message forms..........The dialogue...............The memo............... .The report.................The schedule................The essay.................

Typology of special forms........Traditional forms and major message types . .Form and the intention condition.....Primary and secondary characteristics . . .Forms and discourse analysis.......Designations for texts and text segments . . .Types of great generality.........Relaxed forms..............Broad and collective terms........Derived forms..............Text segments and partial text segments. . .Names of the material object.......Mimetic forms..............Subcategories of major text types......Types of special dialogues.........Types of special memos..........Types of special reports..........Types of special schedules.........Types of special essays..........Traditional forms in communicative situationsDescription and definition of traditional forms

The syntagmatic level..........The special languages of science and technologyInformative function of SE.........Method of syntax description.......Sentence types..............Declarative sentences...........Connective verbs in declarative sentences . .Inversion in declarative sentences......Sentences expressing cause and effect ....Verbs..................Conjuncts................Prepositions...............-ing form................

8.3.1.3.5. Relative clauses ...................1928.3.1.3.6. Clauses expressing purpose or result..........1938.3.1.3.7. Quantitative dependence...............1938.3.1.3.8. Adverbial clauses...................1948.3.1.3.9. Conditional sentences.................1958.3.1.4. Sentence links....................1988.3.2. Interrogative sentences................2018.3.3. Imperative sentences.................2028.3.4. Exclamative sentences.................2048.4. Finite verb forms...................2048.4.1. Tenses.......................2068.4.1.1. Simple present....................2078.4.1.2. Present perfect....................2078.4.2. Passive voice.....................2098.4.3. Modal auxiliaries...................2108.4.3.1. will.........................2108.4.3.2. should.......................2118.5. Non-finite verb forms.................2128.5.1. The infinitive....................2138.5.2. The past participle..................2148.5.3. The-ing form....................2158.6. Nominal groups...................2198.6.1. Premodification...................2208.6.2. Postmodification...................2218.6.2.1. Relative clauses...................2228.6.2.2. Reduced relative clauses................2238.7. Low frequency structures in SE.............2248.7.1. Idioms.......................2258.7.2. Personal pronouns..................2268.7.3. Contracted verb forms................227

9. The lexical level ..................2309.1. Lexical characteristics of special texts ..........2319.1.1. Lexical items and text forms..............2319.1.2. Identification of terminological units..........2329.1.3. Frequency of special vocabulary............2339.1.3.1. Frequency counts for subject identification.......2369.1.3.2. Density of special vocabulary.............2389.2. The form of special lexicon ..............2399.2.1. The nature of content forms..............2399.2.2. The nature of expression forms........... 2439.2.2.1. . The lexical potential of English............2449.2.2.2. The development of English..............2449.2.2.2.1. The change from synthesis to analysis.........2449.2.2.2.2. The sources of borrowing...............2459.2.2.2.3. The structural stability of English...........246

IX

9.2.2.3. The international use of English............2479.2.3. Motivation for designation..............2499.3. Modes of designation.................2519.3.1. Use of existing designations..............2529.3.1.1. Polysemy......................2529.3.1.2. Redefinition.....................2559.3.2. Modification of existing resources...........2579.3.2.1. Affixation......................2579.3.2.1.1. Prefixes.......................2599.3.2.1.2. Suffixes.......................2609.3.2.2. Backformation....................2649.3.2.3. Compounding....................2659.3.2.3.1. Noun compounds..................2679.3.2.3.2. Compounds with particles...............2729.3.2.3.3. Multiple compounds.................2729.3.2.3.4. Compound adjectives.................2749.3.2.3.5. Compound verbs...................2759.3.2.4. Conversion.....................2759.3.2.5. Compression.....................2779.3.3. The use of new resources...............2809.3.3.1. Neologisms.....................2809.3.3.2. Borrowing......................2849.3.4. General rules for term formation............2879.3.4.1. Appropriateness...................2889.3.4.2. Precision......................2909.3.4.3. Economy......................2909.4. Nomenclatures....................2919.5. List of prefixes and suffixes..............295

10. The phonemic and graphemic levels.........30110.1. Variation in written and spoken form..........30210.1.1. Pronunciation....................30210.1.2. Spelling.......................30410.1.3. Punctuation and other orthographic signs........30610.2. Special language codes................30710.2.1. Non-linguistic substance of expression.........30810.2.1.1. Programming languages................31110.2.2. Visual codes.....................311

11. The measurement of efficacy of communication . . . . 31411.1. Information theoretic considerations...........31411.1.1. Efficacy and norms..................31511.2. Economy......................31611.2.1. Economy in forms..................31711.2.2. Syntactic economy..................31811.2.3. Lexical economy...................31911.3. Precision......................319

X

11.3.1. Precision in forms..................32111.3.2. Syntactic precision..................32111.3.3. Lexical precision...................32211.4. Appropriateness ........ 32311.4.1. Appropriateness in forms...............32411.4.2. Syntactic appropriateness...............32611.4.3. Lexical appropriateness................32611.5. The efficacy of methods of designation ..........32711.6. ‘What is good style for engineering writing?’ .......328

12. Standardisation ...................329

12.1. The scope for linguistic régularisation ..........32912.2. Standardisation of terminology .............33012.2.1. The efficacy of standards...............33112.3. British Standards ...................33212.3.1. Purpose and types of standards............33212.3.1.1. Specifications....................33312.3.1.2. Methods of test and analysis.............33412.3.1.3. Codes of practice...................33512.3.1.4. Glossaries......................33512.3.2. BSI committees and procedures............33712.3.3. Arrangement of the content of British Standards.....33712.4. British Standards editorial and typographical conventions . . 33912.5. Fundamental British Standards .............34112.6. Fundamental international standards ...........342

BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................344INDEX............................364

XI