Peculiarities of the Languages For Special Purposes



Posted: Tuesday, October 19, 2010

by Francesca Tessarollo

The languages for special purposes, from the economic to the medical one, can sound like foreign languages to the ears of most people.

The languages for special purposes, i.e. the languages that are used in specific fields, can leave you perplexed if you do not work in that sector, and you might feel like you do not understand anything of what you are listening to. An example is given by the economic language, which includes terms like derivatives pricing models or structured finance products, which can be difficult to understand if you do not have a smattering of economy.

The languages for special purposes have specific peculiarities, especially as far as lexicon is concerned, which distinguish them from the everyday language we all know and use. As above mentioned, the differences between the languages for special purposes and everyday language are to be found above all in the lexicon: according to Gotti, the languages for special purposes are characterized by a specific lexicon which is not the same as the one we use in everyday speeches. This is due to the specific contents and knowledge shared by the people who are part of the same specific sector, and although the languages for special purposes might sound difficult and obscure, their role is completely different: the languages for special purposes are born of the need to communicate in a more precise way, trying to be as clear and transparent as possible. Certainly this clearness and transparency is felt only by those who deal with that specific field: this is why when in the field of economy and finance, just to mention one of the sectors which has a very technical and special language, people speak about equity valuation models or interest rate swap valuation, if you are not used to the language of economy you cannot understand so much of what they are speaking about. Those who work in that field, on the contrary, immediately understand, since one of the peculiarities of the languages for special purposes, in addition to transparency and precision, is monoreferentiality: this means that in a given context a term can only have one meaning. This peculiarity evidently distinguishes the languages for special purposes from the common language, where a word can have different meanings and connotations depending on the context and on the way you use it.

We have spoken about the lexical peculiarities of the languages for special purposes, but lexicon is not the only sector in which there are differences between common languages and languages for specific purposes. There are differences also as far as syntax is concerned, for example: the languages for special purposes are more concise, meaning that some phrasal elements might be omitted and that more non-finite verbs are used, as well as nominalization, passive verbs, premodification and so on. All these peculiarities of the languages for special purposes result in other features of these types of languages: the use of passive, for example, makes the tone of the speech more neutral, impersonal, and the lack of emotiveness is one of the main features of the languages for special purposes.

The field where the languages for special purposes are used are numberless, from economy and finance, where people use terms like floors pricing pricing or forward rate agreements ratchet swaps, to medicine, from sport to computer science language, in fact, is what we are, what identifies human beings, distinguishing us from the other species; no wonder then that there are as many languages as the fields of the human knowledge.

This article was written by Francesca Tessarollo with support from derivatives pricing models. For more information please visit structured finance products or equity valuation models.
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