Blurring the lines of folk and expert theory
Its All Semantics - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog A similarly obtuse but less jargon-laden example of unintentially comedic writing is the title of IRS form 5213, which I am convinced was penned by Terry Gilliam a la Crimson Permanent Assurance: âElection to postpone determination as to whether the presumption applies that an activity is engaged in for profitâ?.This is an excerpt from a lengthy discussion of a critique of alleged 'obtuse' and 'jargon-laden' language used by a professional linguist. The comments basically divide between proponents of a 'folk theory' of language use and 'expert theory' of language use.
- Folk theory: Language should be used clearly so that it is understood by most people. Effort should be made by speakers/writers to use common expressions where they are available. There are some exceptions such as mathematics and physics.
- Expert theory: In some cases, jargon is acceptable because there are ‘technical meanings’ that are different from ‘common usage’. Otherwise, clarity of expression is valued and obfuscation is to be avoided.
This debate is interesting because we can see the intermingling of the two theories in one place. This suggests that the boundary between expert and folk theory is more like an arbitrary (socially determined) point on a continuum. This is one point where social sciences/humanities may be markedly different from some natural sciences like physics and chemistry.