The Intelligibility of Specialized Texts, as Illustrated by the French Court Expert’s Report

Abstract

L’intelligibilité des textes de spécialité à l’exemple du rapport d’expertise français

Court expert’s report is the final product of a subject matter analysis of cases under court proceedings. It is a specialized text intended to be used under specific context and by a range recipients involved in the relevant court proceedings. In order to interpret such reports its recipients need to have extensive knowledge, not only in the domain of culture, field-specific circumstances or practical expertise. Such composition of the competences necessary to adequately process a court expert’s report raises the question of its intelligibility that is considered to be conditioned by factors exceeding linguistic form alone. Specifically, the concept in question is to be discussed with reference to notions of comprehension and relevance.

The theoretical part of this paper seeks to set relevant theoretical background that legitimizes the thesis under verification. The second part focuses on practical examples taken from authentic court expert’s reports. The discussion unveils the importance of the quality of linguistic expression when drawing up the court expert’s reports, bearing in mind the diversity of the agents involved in court proceedings, their diverse educational background and varied involvement in the procedural issues.