| Plain Language Movement |
Article Index for Plain |
Website Links For Plain |
Information AboutPlain Language Movement |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT PLAIN LANGUAGE MOVEMENT | |
| forms of english | |
|
The Plain Language Movement is an effort to eliminate overly complex language from academics, law and business. The movement opposes '''writer-based prose''', which is the tendency use long sentences, unusual words, and a formal style as a way to acquire authority, power, and credibility. William Lutz , who teaches at Rutgers University and writes on Doublespeak , and is referred to as the " George Orwell of plain language", asserts that "language is power, period. The lesson of '' Nineteen Eighty-Four '' is that those who rule the language, rule... The language of the lawyers, of the politicians, of the intelligentsia, is supposed to make {Link without Title} feel inferior." He cites also the inability of Three Mile Island and '' Challenger '' decision makers to comprehend warnings in vague engineering jargon using odd acronyms. The movement advocates using personal pronouns and the active voice in all writing. The Canadian Government is undergoing a pilot project to rewrite some legislation, on the theory that only good examples, copied, are likely to lead to good plain language writing. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS What is really wrong with legal language? , A speech given to the Canadian Bar Association in 1990 |
|
|