Technical language

Translations

linguaggio/gergo tecnico | jargon | Fachsprache

Article

A technical language, or jargon, is a specific variety of a language developed in relationship with a specific field of knowledge or activity (cf. Beccaria 1994, 356-357).

Example

The Syrianized Old Babylonian variety employed in the Hittite administration for issuing the so-called Land Grants (Rüster and Wilhelm 2012) is similar to the Old Babylonian variety used for the early political texts; however, it contains formulae deriving from a North Syrian administrative traditions, as well as formulae that appear to be produced specifically by the scribal offices of Hattuša. The formula regarding the unalterability of the king's word, e.g. ša ušpahhu SAG.DU-su inakkisū, is probably a local invention, and it is maintained in the legal jargon also during the Imperial age. Furthermore, the conservativity of technical languages is certainly the reason while, in phases in which most of the Hittite Akkadian production started showing innovative Middle Babylonian features, the Land Grants were still written in Old Babylonian.

References

Beccaria, G.L. 1994. Dizionario di Linguistica. Torino. Rüster, K. and Wilhelm G. 2012. Landschenkungsurkunden hethitischer Könige. Wiesbaden.