The subject of this Handbook is special languages. It deals with the following topics from various perspectives: their systematic constitution, their uses in oral and written (specialized) texts within the pragmatic framework of specialized (and non-specialized) communication, their lexicological arrangement in dictionaries and data banks and, finally, their investigation in the past and present. The reason for the emergence of special languages is generally sought in the specialization of human activities brought about by ...
Read More
The subject of this Handbook is special languages. It deals with the following topics from various perspectives: their systematic constitution, their uses in oral and written (specialized) texts within the pragmatic framework of specialized (and non-specialized) communication, their lexicological arrangement in dictionaries and data banks and, finally, their investigation in the past and present. The reason for the emergence of special languages is generally sought in the specialization of human activities brought about by the division of labour, and by linguistic communication about these activities. Initially, special languages developed in connection with the acquisition of food and the satisfying of other basic needs, the manufacture and naming or description of tools and implements. In this early phase, special language is to an extent identical to specialized vocabulary and phraseology. It is possible to speak of crafts and their special languages as soon as people no longer satisfy only their own needs, but when whole social (professional) groups make their living primarily through specialized activities and through barter and trade. The need for specialized communication leads to the creation of special text types. With the rise of technology, the special languages of crafts are integrated into the modern special languages of technology. The decicive phase in this development was the Industrial Revolution (18th/19th centuries). Since then, a tremendous expansion of terminology has occurred in the special languages of technology, and the range of specialized text types has also considerably increased. The special languages of the natural sciences emerged after the abandonment of learned Latin (16th/17th centuries). In these sciences the great discoveries of the 19th century brought about an expansion of special language use. The same is true of the humanities and the social sciences from the end of the 19th century in the wake of the Enlightenment. In the case of the special languages of industry and commerce, the beginnings date back to the founding of the first branches of trading organizations (15th/16th centuries) and their usage expanded with the founding of classical national economics (18/19th centuries). Here there is a peculiar association with linguistics in Wirtschaftslinguistik (beginning of the 20the century). The beginnings of special-language research are to be found where experts and linguists examine the use of language as determined by subject matter. Important forerunners of special-language research, up to the middle of the 20th century, were functional stylistics with its investigations into scientific style, and terminology work with its attention to the standardization of specialized vocabularies. From the middle of the 20th century, profound changes took place in people's lives, especially in their working world, contributing to the expansion of special languages. This results from the enormous progress in technology, the globalization of trade and politica, the growth of science, culture, education and sport and the gigantic expansion of the mass media. It is therefore not surprising that special-language research since the mid 1960s has undergone remarkable development as evidenced by numerous scientific conferences and publications. If we consider the results of these effords, we gain the following impressions regarding the state of special-language research at the beginning of the 1990s, from which this Handbook proceeds: Many specialized vocabularies and terminologies have been well investigated regarding their origin and word formation. How do special languages satisfy the permanently increasing need of science and technology, of trade and politics, of production and consumption of names? Research in to the syntax of special languages has also come a relatively long way. That syntactic (and morphological) means further the compression of information? The description of specialized text
Read Less
