Language-law

Paul Danon, London, England, for the 2012 virtual plain language day

“The term [sic] ‘plain writing’ means writing [sic] that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.”

Chicago Manual of Style (1993)• “The editor will know by instinct and (sic) learn from experience how

much [substantive] editing to do on a particular manuscript.”

• Experienced editors do not “tamper” with unusual figures of speech or idioms. Editors know when to:– change text– suggest a change– delete repetitions– point them out to authors

• and they will know “many other matters” (sic).• “Since every manuscript is unique in the amount and kind of

substantive editing desirable, no rules can be devised for the editor to follow.”

Cameron, Deborah (1995) Verbal hygiene. London: Routledge

• Editors said inconsistency irritated readers; Simon Jenkins of The Times could not substantiate this

• Language-historians seldom acknowledge editors’ existence• Uniformity and transparency are “products of the craft tradition [of copy-

editing] itself.”• “… too many competing authorities touting different ‘standards’ might raise

the suspicion that the whole enterprise was arbitrary …”• “… the conditions of the marketplace may encourage a proliferation of

standards …”• Hattersley, Roy (1993) Guardian “Anyone who searches through a whole shelf

of dictionaries will find virtually every possible variation on what is supposed to be standard English. … You buy your textbook and take your pick.”

• “if there is a set of ‘facts of usage’, they should be the same facts regardless of who records them.”

Is Plain Language Better? Comparative Readability Study of Plain Language Court Forms, Maria

Mindlin, Transcend, Davis, California, undated

http://bit.ly/zU1rEy

Is Plain Language Better? Comparative Readability Study of Plain Language Court Forms

• ”a marked and statistically significant improvement in reader comprehension when court forms [were] treated for plain language.”

• 99% confidence in results• When asked what a document was for, fewer

than a quarter of respondents could discern the original version’s role while more than two thirds understood the revised one’s purpose.

Problems of quality and authority• Guides cover same concepts but not always• Conflict (what does the reader do?)• Microsoft Word: “liase”• Aitchison, James (2001) Cassell’s guide to written

English. London: Cassell and Co

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

• The first rule of plain language is: write for your audience.

• Make sure you know who your audience is – don’t guess or assume.

• a. Identify and write for your audience. You have to grab your audience’s attention if you want to get your ideas across.

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

• Start out by thinking about what your audience knows about the situation now.

• Organization is key. Start by stating the document’s purpose and its bottom line.

• Put the most important information at the beginning.

• Think through the questions your audience is likely to ask and then organize your material in the order they’d [sic] ask them.

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

“Singular nouns and verbs prevent confusion about whether a requirement applies toindividual users or to groups. In the following example, the user might think that eachapplicant must file applications at several offices.”

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

“Passive voice obscures who is responsible for what”

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

Use passive voice when the law is the actor

In a very few instances, passive voice may be appropriate. For example, when one action follows another as a matter of law, and there is no actor (besides the law itself) for the second action, a passive sentence may be the best method of expression. You might also use passive when it doesn’t matter who is doing an action.

For example:

If you do not pay the royalty on your mineral production, your lease will be terminated…

Federal Plain Language Guidelines March 2011 - Rev. 1, May 2011 http://1.usa.gov/xV12m2

http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED221866.pdfNov 1981

And the Winner Is: How Principles of Cognitive Science Resolve the Plain Language Debate, Julie A. Baker, associate professor of legal writing, Suffolk University Law School, Massachusetts, 2011

http://bit.ly/wB1y4Q

And the Winner Is: How Principles of Cognitive Science Resolve the Plain Language Debate

• “While [plain language in legal writing] has gone by many names and inspired much debate, its evolution has been entirely theoretical and anecdotal; scholarly research has not offered any direct, scientific support for its use.”• “[P]roponents of plain language have based

their reasoning almost exclusively on anecdotal and behavioral research.”

And the Winner Is: How Principles of Cognitive Science Resolve the Plain Language Debate

• “Writers employing plain language plan, design, and organize their documents in an overall effort [sic] to achieve clear communication with the reader,”

• “Font, color, spacing, vocabulary, grammar, and myriad other characteristics [sic] of writing greatly shape how readers comprehend material.”

• fluency aids comprehension• “more fluent words”• Plain language has “straightforward sentences and

simple words”

Dr Anthea Fraser Gupta, emeritus of Leeds, Linguist-list, 10 Jan 2012

It is right for governments (and others) to make every effort to communicate clearly with the public, but to make this a legal requirement seems to me to be a problem. Notions of 'plain language' vary … There would be scope for mischievous prosecutions.

http://bit.ly/xHz7qm

Summary

• The fact that there are disputes over what plain writing is need not mean that it doesn’t exist.

• The way of establishing the truth in virtually all other disciplines is through empirical research.

• Such research exists but it seems not to have been widely used in making rules.

• Until we do the definitive research on plain language, we’re wrong to define it and it’s imprudent to make it the law.