Syntactic complexity in German Easy Language
Liv Borghardt · Easy - plain - accessible · 2023
Complex events are usually expressed through language to an equally complex degree. If an event has an origin, causal sentences are usually used to express this connection. These, in turn, consist of at least two parts expressing the two factors of causality – cause and effect. However, this direct transfer of complexity does not follow the syntactic rules of Easy Language. The guidelines of German Easy Language propose a prohibition of multipart sentences and indicate how to convert them into autonomous individual sentences. The assumption is that so-called complex sentences cannot be understood by the primary target group and that it means too much effort for the working memory. According to the rules and guidelines, restructuring into individual sentences should reduce this workload (cf. Bredel/Maaß 2016a, b). But this assumption is mainly based on theoretical approaches.