A hindrance to communication: the use of difficult and incomprehensible language

This paper gives a brief theoretical background to and reports on three empirical studies carried out within the theoretical framework of folk linguistics, using questionnaire data. The paper is concerned with the layperson’s reactions to the use of difficult and incomprehensible language. In study 1, subjects from Norway, Poland, Germany, and the USA were asked to indicate which professional groups exhibit the use of difficult language. They were also asked to suggest reasons for that use. In study 2, subjects from Norway, Poland, Germany, and the UK were asked to answer questions concerning the use of incomprehensible language in the academic community. Study 3 was similar to study 2, but in this case only highly comparable subjects from the USA and Poland were recruited. The three studies show that the use of difficult and incomprehensible language is perceived by the layperson as a serious sociolinguistic problem. They point to lawyers, politicians, computer specialists, academics and medical doctors as the heaviest users of such language. They also show that such language exerts much negative impact on the educational process and that the educational domain is a huge potential field for future research in this respect.