At 06:40 23/02/2008, you wrote:
>Because now I know the long words *and* the short ones - sometimes you just
>need the right word either for precision or because they are more
>interesting. I don't think the use of long words is what makes language
>complicated - it's usually the sentence construction or the ideas not being
>clear in the first place.
>Lesley
I thought there was evidence in relation to readability, linguistic
complexity and redundancy, and I thought this included word length.
Pushing at the boundaries of thought and ability and wanting to
communicate ideas that are not fully formed is always risky.
Words are never more than shadows of reality.
Precision within useful limits is naturally valuable - akin to using
the right number of decimal places in maths.
The more subtle communication that underlies the choice of some words
(membership of group, establishment of power, rhetorical or literary
process) might deserve more conscious study, especially for doctors -
but I'm not aware of this being widely undertaken or publicized in
terms of medical communication?
Julian
(References / pointers found since writing this)
http://www.benjamins.com/cgi-bin/t_bookview.cgi?bookid=SLCS%2071
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3785/is_199806/ai_n8794370
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch-Kincaid_Readability_Test
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Readability_test
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_English_Campaign
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