UNDERSTANDING SPECIALIZED TEXTS

1
UNDERSTANDING SPECIALIZED TEXTS

• daniel.gile_at_laposte.net
• www.cirinandgile.com
• EST www.est-translationstudies.org

2
COMPREHENSION OF LANGUAGE LANGUAGE UNIT
IDENTIFICATION

• INVOLVES A PREREQUISITE
• IDENTIFICATION OF SOUNDS/IMAGES
• AS LANGUAGE UNITS
• THIS REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE OF THE LANGUAGE
• AND EXTRALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
• IMAGES/SOUNDS ARE COMPARED TO PATTERNS STORED IN
  MEMORY AND DECISIONS ARE MADE WITH RESPECT TO
  THEIR IDENTIFICATION
• COGNITIVE EFFORT IS INVOLVED IN THAT
• THOUGH NOT NECESSARILY CONSCIOUS

3
TEXTS AS POINTERS NOT EXPLICIT DESCRIPTORS

• WORDS INDICATE SOMETHING IN THE REAL
  UNIVERSE
• INFORMATION
• WISHES
• FEELINGS
• BUT THEY GENERALLY ONLY POINT TO THIS SOMETHING
• AND CANNOT MAKE THEIR MESSAGE FULLY EXPLICIT
• SOME INTERPRETATION OF THE WORDS WILL HAVE TO BE
  CARRIED OUT BY THE RECEIVER
• (READER, LISTENER, VIEWER)

4
THE COMPONENTS OF COMPREHENSION

• EXTRALINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
• (THE WORLD)
• LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE
• (WHAT SIGNS AND RULES ARE USED TO POINT TO PARTS
  OF THE WORLD)
• ANALYSIS
• (THE ACTIVE ENGINE WHICH WILL PROCESS THE SIGNS
  AND MAKE SENSE OUT OF THEM
• USING
• LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE AND EXTRALINGUISTIC
  KNOWLEDGE)

5
COMPLEMENTARITY

• A MINIMUM LEVEL OF EACH IS ALWAYS NECESSARY
• BUT
• THE HIGHER THE LEVEL OF EACH, THE LOWER THE LEVEL
  OF THE OTHERS CAN BE WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING
  COMPREHENSION

ANAL.
LK
ELK
6
COMMUNICATION RULES

• LAW OF LEAST EFFORT, OF MAXIMUM
  EFFICIENCY/RELEVANCE
• MINIMUM INFORMATION TO ALLOW EFFICIENT
  COMMUNICATION
• THIS APPLIES IN PARTICULAR TO AUTHORS OF
  STATEMENTS (SENDERS)
• PROVIDE ENOUGH LINGUISTIC INFORMATION
• (BE EXPLICIT ENOUGH)
• SO THAT RECEIVER CAN UNDERSTAND MESSAGE WITHOUT
  TOO MUCH EFFORT
• (NOTE THAT THE AMOUNT OF EFFORT EXPECTED VARIES
  DEPENDING ON THE SITUATION AND ON THE CULTURE)

7
LSP AND GL (NON-SPECIALIZED OR GENERAL LANGAUGE)

• IN LSP, SENDERS FORMULATE THEIR UTTERANCES FOR
  RECEIVERS
• WHO SHARE THEIR SPECIALIZED EXTRALINGUISTIC
  KNOWLEDGE
• OTHER RECEIVERS
• (BYSTANDERS, TRANSLATORS)
• DO NOT HAVE THE SAME ELK
• SO THE DEGREE OF LINGUISTIC EXPLICITATION IN THE
  UTTERANCES ARE NOT OPTIMIZED FOR THEM
• WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS AND THE PRACTICAL
  RESULTS?

8
MYOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS

• Myobacterium tuberculosis is transmitted in
  aerosolized droplets, and the majority of
  infected patients develop an asymptomatic,
  self-limited pneumonia that heals by granuloma
  formation with eventual scarring and
  calcification.
• I understand this sentence
• 0 not at all 1 A little 2 So-so 3
  Rather well 4 Well

9
COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES

• NO GRAMMAR PROBLEM
• TECHNICAL TERMS
• MYOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS
• AERSOLIZED
• ASYMPTOMATIC
• GRANULOMA
• CALCIFICATION
• NON-TECHNICAL
• DROPLETS, SELF-LIMITED, SCARRING

10
INITIAL COMPREHENSION

• ON THE BASIS OF GENERAL CULTURE
• - THE SENTENCE IS TALKING ABOUT A DISEASE
• - INFECTIOUS DISEASE
• - IT IS TRANSMITTED BY A BACTERIUM CALLED
  MYOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS
• IT AFFECTS THE LUNGS AND RESULTS IN SOME KIND OF
  PNEUMONIA
• - GENERALLY NOT VERY SEVERE
• - NOT DANGEROUS
• - THE SENTENCE SAYS HOW THE DISEASE HEALS
• (THIS PART IS MORE DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND)

11
TECHNICAL TERMS INITIAL ANALYSIS

• MYOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS NAME OF BACTERIUM
  WHICH TRANSMITS THE DISEASE
• AERSOLIZED AEROSOL
• ASYMPTOMATIC NO SYMPTOMS
• GRANULOMA LINKED TO GRANULE?
• CALCIFICATION LINKED TO CALCIUM
• NON-TECHNICAL
• DROPLETS, SELF-LIMITED, SCARRING

12
TECHNICAL TERMS RESEARCH IN OXFORD ADVANCED
LEARNERS DICTIONARY

• AERSOLIZED AEROSOL
• ASYMPTOMATIC NO SYMPTOMS
• GRANULOMA ? GRANULE? SMALL GRAIN
• CALCIFICATION CALCIFY TO BECOME HARD OR MAKE
  SOMETHING HARD BY ADDING CALCIUM SALTS
• SCARRING ?

13
HOW WELL DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS SENTENCE NOW?

• I understand this sentence
• 0 not at all 1 A little 2 So-so 3
  Rather well 4 Well
• MOST PEOPLE AT LEAST ONE LEVEL UP
• OFTEN TWO LEVELS UP

14
THE LAYPERSONS COMPREHENSION (1)

• ENTITIES, MOST OFTEN NOUNS
• QUALIFIERS, MOST OFTEN NAMED AS IN GL
• LINKS, MOST OFTEN GL VERBS, WORD ORDER ETC.

15
THE LAYPERSONS COMPREHENSION (2)

• SO LAYPERSONS UNDERSTAND THE UNDERLYING LOGICAL
  STRUCTURE
• HAVE SOME IDEA OF THE MEANING OF THE SPECIALIZED
  TERMS, BUT FUZZIER THAN SPECIALISTS

16
THE EXPERTS COMPREHENSION

• ENTITIES ARE LINKED UP BY MANY OTHER LINKS
• TO MANY MORE ENTITIES
• DENSER NETWORK

17
ADVANTAGES

• MUCH INFORMATION IN THE STATEMENT IS REDUNDANT
  FOR EXPERT, NEW TO LAYPERSON SO EXPERT REQUIRES
  LESS PROCESSING
• CAN DISAMBIGUATE MORE EASILY IF CLUMSY WORDING

?
18
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• BUT BASICALLY, COMPREHENSION IS THE SAME
• EXPERTS EXPERTISE IS RELATIVE AN EXPERT IS A
  MORE EXPERTS LAYPERSON
• IF ADOPT POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND APPLY CAREFUL
  ANALYSIS, YOU CAN UNDERSTAND MUCH MORE THAN YOU
  THINK AND GET MUCH MORE FROM SPECIALIZED TEXTS
  THAN PEOPLE TEND TO THINK