30.2199, Review: Applied Linguistics; General Linguistics: Humbley, Budin, Laurén (2018)
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LINGUIST List: Vol-30-2199. Mon May 27 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.
Subject: 30.2199, Review: Applied Linguistics; General Linguistics: Humbley, Budin, Laurén (2018)
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Date: Mon, 27 May 2019 23:31:18
From: Marijana Javornik Čubrić [mjavorni at pravo.hr]
Subject: Languages for Special Purposes
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/29/29-4335.html
EDITOR: John Humbley
EDITOR: Gerhard Budin
EDITOR: Christer Laurén
TITLE: Languages for Special Purposes
SUBTITLE: An International Handbook
SERIES TITLE: De Gruyter Reference
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2018
REVIEWER: Marijana Javornik Čubrić
SUMMARY
The handbook comprises 572 pages and it is divided in five parts. The first
part is entitled “Fundamental Aspects” and it explains what Language for
Special Purposes (LSP) is and what it is used for. The introductory article
investigates the evolution of the concept of genre as applied to the field of
LSP and concludes that the recent innovations in Information and Communication
Technology tools have not only favoured important changes in existing genres
and the creation of new ones to meet emerging needs of the community of
specialists, but have promoted a serious discussion about the construct of
genre itself. It announces the shift in LSP studies which resulted from the
development of ICT tools, and that is the increasing availability of
large-scale corpora which makes vast amounts of specialised texts available
for analysis. The following two contributions in the section are devoted to
studying LSPs as instruments for communicating knowledge and as instruments
for intercultural communication. The next chapter discusses LSP lexicography
and offers a general typology of specialized dictionaries based on
lexicographical functions, dictionary types and user types. The last chapter
in the section provides a new perspective on teaching LSP to technical
communicators and gives some examples for developing technical communication
curricula.
The second part entitled “LSPs in different domains and language communities”
analyses LSPs in some of its most prominent domains, such as legal language,
economic language and medical language, as well as LSP in certain language
communities, in particular LSPs in French, Finnish for special purposes,
Norwegian LSPs and the dominance of ESP in various domains in the context of
global English. The first three contributions attempt to show why LSP is
crucial for domain knowledge and how these special languages have developed.
The contributions devoted to LSPs and language communities deal with two
international languages (French and English) and two Scandinavian languages
(Finnish and Norwegian) and the very different challenges that they face. The
last contribution in the section examines the relationship between gender and
LSP from a historical point of view.
The third part, “Corporate and controlled communication”, deals with the role
of LSPs in vocational situations, including an article about the language used
by companies and organisations to express their own needs, sometimes referred
to as 'company-speak', an article about controlled language used to reduce
ambiguity and complexity in written procedural or descriptive technical
documents, an article about the central concepts of technological
communication and documentation and finally an article about instructional
texts which notes that, contrary to the accepted notion, not all texts for
teaching purposes are instructional, and that the scope of instructional texts
surpasses a mere educational context.
The first contribution in the fourth part which is called “Science
communication” introduces a systemic-functional perspective on the language of
natural sciences. The second article examines the role and characteristics of
oral discourse in scientific research, whereas 'scientific' refers to any
discipline of research. The article points out that LSP also refers to the
spoken form of communication, not just the written one, and it discusses the
discourses of PhD defences, research group meetings and conference
presentations. The third article examines the concept of legal discourse as an
example of domain-specific science communication, and the last one explores
LSPs as instruments for science communication, focusing on various new aspects
which characterize LSPs in science communication, placing science
communication in a global perspective and examining aspects of
multi-languaging and the need to adapt to change, as well as complexity as it
affects scientific communities through diversity, competition and required
instruction.
The final part of the handbook is dedicated to terminology and its various
aspects and it is entitled “Terminology and multilingual domain
communication”. Its first chapter asserts that term formation is a central
part of LSP theory and practice, and it examines the various mechanisms by
which new terms come into being and the way they are accounted for by
linguistic theories. The second chapter discusses concept systems from the
point of view of terminology work and terminological concept analysis. The
third chapter presents a survey of work done in socioterminology since its
inception in the 1980s, providing an outline of its historical development,
presenting its methods and some research projects undertaken in the field.
However, the author concludes that socioterminology is not to be regarded as a
genuine new field of study, but rather as a branch of terminology that has
enriched it. The following four chapters examine terminology work in different
domains: technical terminology, legal terminology, medical terminology and oil
terminology. The final chapter of the book deals with legal translation.
EVALUATION
It should first be noted that the handbook uses the term 'languages for
special purposes' instead of the customary term 'languages for specific
purposes' in order to emphasise that the intention of the authors was to
analyse various manifestations of specialised discourse, and provide an
overview of the role of language in specialised communication. All the
contributors are well known authors in their respective fields.
It is stated in the Preface that one of the aims of the handbook was to give
more prominence to terminology, which has become an essential part not just of
LSPs, but also of linguistics as a whole. It is clear to all LSP
practitioners that terminology has indeed become an essential part of LSP, not
only in theory, but also increasingly in practice. Having that in mind, it
could be said that the handbook achieved this particular aim, and because of
that it is a welcome addition to the field.
As the handbook covers different vocational uses of LSPs, it is certainly
recommendable to LSP students and teachers, but definitely also to
professionals working in the analysed areas. The handbook is aptly divided
into sections, it presents a coherent volume and it is easy to follow. It
offers some new insights into LSP and provides an overview of the role of
language in specialised communication as it is perceived nowadays.
As a lecturer of Legal English, English for Public Administration and English
for Tax Professionals, I was especially interested in the articles that
examine LSPs in different domains, particularly legal language which is
prominent in the handbook, as three chapters are expressly devoted to it. The
first article is written by Heiki Mattila, the author of the influential book
“Comparative Legal Linguistics”, and it examines some of the issues covered in
that book, namely the notion of legal language, functions and characteristics
of legal language, the influence of Latin on the development of legal language
and on several important legal lingua francas (German, Russian, French,
Spanish and English), and finally the future of international legal
communication. Although English is the absolutely dominant lingua franca in
the world today, Mattila predicts that the rise of new powers, especially in
Asia, will create new lingua francas in the future, namely Chinese. At the
same time he believes that the rise of new powers will support the position of
English, as the countries of the Indian sub-continent and numerous African
countries will continue to use English for all legal purposes.
The remaining two articles about legal language are written by Peter
Sandrini, also a well-known author in this field. The first article identifies
the knowledge units of law by describing the features and characteristics of
legal concepts and stressing the importance of conceptual information for
legal terminology and legal translation, stressing that in legal translation
the translator has to have conceptual information on the legal topics the
source text is dealing with: first, legal knowledge of the target system in
order to understand the text itself, and second, knowledge of the target
system in order to offer an adequate translation. These issues are further
elaborated in the final chapter of the handbook by the same author and
entitled simply Legal translation. The article firstly discusses the
relationship between language and law, and then explains what distinguishes
legal translation from other types of technical translation, defining legal
translation as “the translation within the field of law of any texts that are
needed in law” (p. 550). This implies that any text whatsoever might be needed
in law, which further implies that any translation could, in fact, become
legal translation. Another problem associated with legal translation is that
the translator always has to be aware of the fact that translation involves
(at least) two languages that may be tied to very different legal systems. The
author proposes a layered model of legal translation and stresses that a sound
theoretical framework for this needs to be established in the future.
Particularly due to the three articles dedicated to various aspects of legal
language, the handbook can be heartily recommended to legal language
practitioners, law students and legal professionals, as well as to all those
interested in the complex relationship between language and law.
REFERENCES
Heiki E. S. Mattila, 2006. Comparative Legal Linguistics, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Sandrini, Peter, 1999. Legal Terminology. Some Aspects for a New Methodology.
Hermes Journal of Linguistics, 22, Aarhus School of Business.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Marijana Javornik Čubrić is a senior lecturer of English at the Faculty of
Law, University of Zagreb. She holds a PhD in linguistics and is interested in
legal linguistics, terminology and curriculum development.
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