Szaknyelvészet

Szaknyelvészet is a branch of linguistics that studies specialized language used in professional domains. It analyzes terminology, jargon, and the rhetoric of technical communication, as well as the social and organizational factors shaping its use. The field is interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, lexicography, translation studies, and information science, and it often collaborates with domain experts to ensure accuracy.

Core topics include terminology management, term extraction, definition writing, and the development of glossaries and controlled vocabularies. Researchers study how terms are formed, standardized, and translated, and how definitional clarity is achieved in manuals, contracts, scientific articles, and regulatory texts. Methods commonly involve corpus analysis, lexicography, genre and discourse analysis, and usability testing for readers of professional texts. Sociolinguistic aspects such as variation between professions and across languages are also examined.

Applications of szaknyelvészet include improving clarity and safety in technical documentation, supporting education and professional training, and informing translation and localization. It underpins knowledge management and information retrieval through controlled vocabularies, metadata, and terminology databases. In Hungary, as in other countries, it is taught within linguistics, translation studies, and information science programs and often involves collaboration with engineers, doctors, lawyers, and other domain specialists.