Syntactic complexity is a crucial aspect of linguistic proficiency and thus understanding and supporting such development in learners is a keen concern for language teachers. Research conducted has shown growing sophistication of noun phrase structures by writers of different abilities in academic writing (Biber & Gray, 2010; Liu & Li,…

Understanding the linguistic and rhetorical patterns of an academic discipline strengthens students' abilities to write in professional settings. Data-driven learning and corpus-linguistic methods can increase this understanding and should be considered valuable contributors to any writing curriculum. In this paper, I present a case history on…

Cross-cultural blunders caused by inappropriate use of language are a common problem in international professional communication. They cause misunderstanding, lead to business failures, and tend to be offensive at times. Such blunders may occur in business ads, slogans, products names, and instructions. Understanding their causes and finding…

Describes linguistic and semantic features of technocratic discourse using a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework. Asserts that the function of technocratic discourse in public policy is to advocate and promulgate a highly contentious political and economic agenda under the guise of scientific objectivity and political impartiality. Provides…

Six brief essays discuss English/French translation with regard to alcohol breath tests, magnetic tapes, nautical terminology, electrical terminology, and titles of hotel staff. (AM)

Discusses the problem, in translating scientific Russian into English, of encountering borrowed or internationally used terms whose precise meaning can only be interpreted through either the broad scientific context in which they are used, or through the immediate context or combination of words. (AM)

Discusses translation problems resulting from semantic differences in legal and sociopolitical vocabulary, and the translator's responsibility in exposing erroneous or false presuppositions found in the source document. (AM)

Typeface personality impacts the rhetorical effect of students' documents, yet it receives little attention in textbooks. Technical writing students should stand the definition of "appropriate" in relation to typeface selection, the difference between type's functional and semantic properties, the difference between type family and personality,…

Discusses the noun-plus-adjective construction in contemporary German and problems in translating this pattern into English. (AM)

Investigates the relationship of specific semantic and syntactic text characteristics to what information readers recall. Confirms that readers are more likely to recall more versus less important information and information in clauses, independent clauses, and first paragraphs. Suggests how writers can use these findings to help readers retain…

Discusses the notions of "word,""term," and "expression," and various semantic relationships with which the technical translator must deal. (AM)

Argues against both overly broad and excessively narrow definitions for the term "technical writing." Suggests that a definition would be useful for clarifying the bounds of technical writing. Argues, however, that it is better to keep the field intact with experience-based ideas of what technical writing encompasses. (SG)

The distinction between teaching the grammatical system in a simplified form and teaching the ways to use it is applied to teaching scientific writing in English. The specific language features referred to are differences in meaning resulting from grammatical choices and appropriateness of grammatical alternatives in a specific context.…