RESTRICTED LANGUAGE

Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language | 1998 | 700+ words | Copyright

RESTRICTED LANGUAGE. A reduced form of a LANGUAGE: ‘Some REGISTERS are extremely restricted in purpose. They thus employ only a limited number of formal items and patterns [and] are known as restricted languages’ ( M. A. K. Halliday et al., The Linguistic Sciences and Language Teaching, 1964). Such a system is often artificial and highly specialized, created and used with a particular end in mind: for example, BASIC ENGLISH, limited in its syntax and lexis, but meant to be used as an international medium; SEASPEAK, a form of English limited to specific procedures and terms, serving to facilitate the safe movement of shipping; headlinese, a register reduced in syntax and lexis, used to draw attention to news and other reports, and to indicate their content. See AIRSPEAK, ARTIFICIAL LANGUAGE, CONTACT LANGUAGE, ELABORATED AND RESTRICTED CODE, HEADLINE, JARGON, PIDGIN.

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TOM McARTHUR. "RESTRICTED LANGUAGE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

TOM McARTHUR. "RESTRICTED LANGUAGE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-RESTRICTEDLANGUAGE.html

TOM McARTHUR. "RESTRICTED LANGUAGE." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-RESTRICTEDLANGUAGE.html

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