Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

Contrastive Analysis of English and Polish Military Texts 91
written for chief logisticians in a brigade or division, and the NATO logistic
publication, Sample 5, is designed as an introductory book for anybody who is
interested in logistic concepts. Only when it comes to logistics intelligence, the
English text is more inclusive. As a rule, the NATO samples (2, 4, 5) can be
labeled as comprehensive and their Polish counterparts as detail-oriented.
4. Topicalizing
The language of regulations, standardizing acts and commands should be simple,
which does not mean poor or primitive. In fact, it should be a quick but effective
and economical means of conveying meaning. The communicative character of
the military vernacular is increased by the established and uniform formulas of
expression, e.g. orders, regulations, or reports. Generally, utterances originating
from the military milieu should be communicative, i.e. they should show the
ability to reach the reader or listener’s consciousness. As far as the military
communication is concerned, a piece of discourse can be labelled as communicative
if it is concise. Conciseness is characteristic of those texts which succeed in
being communicative and short at the same time. In other words, conciseness
consists in constructing expressions so that they are short but informative at the
same time. Military authors’ desire to be concise is visible in their use of
abbreviated forms, commands, and cryptonyms.
The logistic documents under investigation adhere to the principle of
conciseness in many ways. First of all, they build sentences that feature a lucid
syntax and unrefined vocabulary. The texts do not overuse rare expressions or
words, especially of a foreign origin. Second, logistic texts feature a clear manner
of thought transmission. They select words to convey ideas clearly. The
investigated NATO documents also give precedence to sharply defined terms.
Third, the description of organizations, procedures, and tasks is exact. Military
writers also pay much attention to the legibility of their written documents. The
tone of the military documents is categorical, i.e. they do not allow for any
discussion or refusal. Additionally, texts of the military
− are objective and precise, with visual-verbal relation as their supportive
element;
− avoid metaphor;
− support their claims with empirical evidence from nature.
What is more, military writers do not need to resort to persuasive means of
communication. In most cases, their writing is supported by the authority of a
military committee the work of which is presented in a document. For example, in
the case of STANAGs the procedures that they introduce result from a broad
discussion among the representatives of all Allied nations. More importantly,
however, each NATO document is signed by an authorized person. The signature
signifies enforcing the standard which the document presents. Obviously, military