Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Linguistic simplicity in novels: how do different world markets/languages view it?

+1
−0

This site has a lot of question on how to write properly and, naturally, many of the answers are on how to do it well in English. Although, obviously, if you can write well in English, you can write well in other languages since it's a simple matter of applying the general idea to other languages.

Every now and then, though, some questions-answers are very specific to anglophones. One of these is the idea of linguistic simplicity.

Let me clarify from the start: I'm Portuguese and, obviously, I know there are different levels of language complexity. However, throughout my academic life (I studied languages and literature and was often required to write fiction and non-fiction) complexity was seen as a three step process:

  1. You have natural sounding language, which will vary between an everyday tone and an expert tone depending on what you're writing and your target audience (meaning, there are different levels of complexity within natural sounding language depending on whether you're writing a novel about Daniel's office adventures or about the existencial musings of an organ tuner).
  2. Then you have simple language, which often requires structures and vocabulary unnaturally simplified (frowned upon by teachers).
  3. Finally, you have complex language, which often requires structures and vocabulary unnaturally complex (frowned upon by teachers).

So, unless you're writing for a niche elitist audience, you'll steer away from unnaturally complex language, and unless you're writing for children and teens, you will also steer away from the over simplistic language.

And then there's the big catch: a lot of books in the Portuguese national reading plan have structures that are not simplistic and some have vocabuary that definitely isn't a part of everyday life.

So, when I first came across the American (I'm not sure how much this applies to other English-speaking countries) idea that one must write to an average audience at an 8th grade level I was taken aback. I remember my 7th to 9th grade language teachers pointing out simplistic structures and vocabulary and requiring me to improve them (and the same for obscure vocabulary and convoluted structures, obviously), so how come some countries/languages required the language to be simplified when writing? Wasn't that unnatural?

Well, enough with the ranting contextualisation: I have since come to accept that English and Portuguese writing have different requirements and moved on. Yet, the question Do popular books use simpler language? made me wonder whether more countries/language have a similar 'rule' for novels written for the average reader.

I believe this is an important point for writers overall as I can see, say, a Portuguese beginner writer following such a rule and unnaturally simplifying their language without accounting for scope and target audience. While many of the members on this site aim at writing in English and should, therefore, keep the 'rule' in mind, many (I believe) also aim at writing in their own languages, which is not English. So, again, how seriously do other markets hold this 'simplified language' notion? Is it like the Portuguese rule of thumb (make it sound natural) or is there a prescribed level (for the average reader)?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29669. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

It would be hard for me to answer about popular books, but I can answer about literature I enjoy. In Hebrew and Russian (my mother tongues), as well as in English, I gravitate towards either the classics, or fantasy/sci-fi - towards literature that challenges me, and demands thought. I expect the language to match.

Does that mean Shakespearean turn of phrase? Most of the time - no. It doesn't make sense for Israeli soldiers, for instance, to use "wherefore"s. But it does mean rich vocabulary, and proper grammar. There is a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical constructions that fit different situations. Over-simplified grammar and vocabulary, on the other hand, make me feel the book doesn't respect me. In turn, I find it hard to respect such a book. For that matter, I felt the same in eighth grade.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »