The Concept of “Easy Language” and its Perspectives in Linguistics

Abstract

The article is of theoretical content and aimed at description of the current foundations for the concept of “easy language” as well as its further research perspectives in linguistics. The author examines the terminological status of the expression “easy language” taking into account available scientific views on the problem and comparative semantic analysis of the words used for naming the key concept by different researchers. The article provides discussion of research papers published in Russia and abroad. Among the further perspectives of the development of the “easy language” concept, the author considers to be cognitive studies, sociolinguistics, text theory, and translation theory. The conclusion is that further development of the concept of “easy language” is necessary and relevant because it is focused on creation a special language subsystem to help people with communication difficulties, especially those with cognitive impairments and learning difficulties, to avoid communication breakdowns caused by standard language processing.