Accessible Communication: a systematic review and comparative analysis of official English Easy-to-Understand (E2U) language guidelines

Andreea Maria Deleanu, Constantin Orasan, Sabine Braun


Abstract
Easy-to-Understand (E2U) language varieties have been recognized by the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) as a means to guarantee the fundamental right to Accessible Communication. Increased awareness has driven changes in European (European Commission, 2015, 2021; European Parliament, 2016) and International legislation (ODI, 2010), prompting public-sector and other institutions to offer domain-specific content into E2U language to prevent communicative exclusion of those facing cognitive barriers (COGA, 2017; Maaß, 2020; Perego, 2020). However, guidance on what it is that makes language actually ‘easier to understand’ is still fragmented and vague. For this reason, we carried out a systematic review of official guidelines for English Plain Language and Easy Language to identify the most effective lexical, syntactic and adaptation strategies that can reduce complexity in verbal discourse according to official bodies. This article will present the methods and preliminary results of the guidelines analysis.
Anthology ID:
2024.readi-1.7
Volume:
Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Tools and Resources for People with REAding DIfficulties (READI) @ LREC-COLING 2024
Month:
May
Year:
2024
Address:
Torino, Italia
Editors:
Rodrigo Wilkens, Rémi Cardon, Amalia Todirascu, Núria Gala
Venues:
READI | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA and ICCL
Note:
Pages:
70–92
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.readi-1.7
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Andreea Maria Deleanu, Constantin Orasan, and Sabine Braun. 2024. Accessible Communication: a systematic review and comparative analysis of official English Easy-to-Understand (E2U) language guidelines. In Proceedings of the 3rd Workshop on Tools and Resources for People with REAding DIfficulties (READI) @ LREC-COLING 2024, pages 70–92, Torino, Italia. ELRA and ICCL.
Cite (Informal):
Accessible Communication: a systematic review and comparative analysis of official English Easy-to-Understand (E2U) language guidelines (Deleanu et al., READI-WS 2024)
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PDF:
https://aclanthology.org/2024.readi-1.7.pdf