The Language of Popularization: Theoretical and Descriptive Models / Die Sprache der Popularisierung: Theoretische und deskriptive Modelle

Popularization is closely connected to the domain of specialized discourse: the increase in technical knowledge and literature unavoidably leads to a growing need for information and dissemination among non-insiders. From a linguistic perspective, the language of popularization still lacks a theoretical framework within the international research community. Despite an ever increasing interest in the genre, its definition is still far from being codified and tends to be related to the mere communicative contexts in which popularization occurs. Although its aims are widely recognised (facilitating linguistic access to technical contents, e.g. scientific, institutional and legal), many questions are still left unanswered: what is the role played by the language of popularization? How could an appropriate definition be outlined? In the light of the above, the research project aims to: 1. investigate popularization as a genre, with particular reference to the field of English and German studies; 2. refer to the most recent research contributions on the language of popularization in order to provide theoretical and descriptive models; 3. explore the existing theoretical and descriptive models as potential resources in outlining the relations/divergences emerging between the language of popularization and LSPs; 4. identify distinctive traits in German and English popularising texts (adopting, where possible, a contrastive approach vis-à-vis Italian).