Funktionen von Fachkommunikation
Functions of Specialized Communication

Summary/Abstract: In addition to the referential and appellative function, languages for special purposes fulfill a whole series of other functions: These nine or eleven functions are determined in this paper on the basis of a revision of Roelcke’s model of specialized communication and illustrated by the example of an advanced training course in the IT field. The symptomatic function is related to the producer, the appellative function to the recipient of the specialized text, while the specialized context and the specialized knowledge are related to the referential and epistemic function, respectively. The specialized text itself fulfills the aesthetic function. The semiotic function is associated with the specialized sign system, and the phatic function with the communication medium. The linguistic cotext in which the communication in question takes place fulfills a discursive function here, the general, non-linguistic context on the other hand (depending on the breadth) a situational, social or cultural function. Besides the definition and explanation of these professional communicative functions, the article provides an action-theory-based definition of the specialized nature of specialized communication, from which a referential, a sociological and a linguistic definitions are derived.

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