AUTHOR=Vecchiato Sara 

TITLE=Clear, easy, plain, and simple as keywords for text simplification

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2022.1042258

DOI=10.3389/frai.2022.1042258

ISSN=2624-8212

ABSTRACT=<p>In this paper, we distinguish between four interconnected notions that recur in the literature on text simplification: <italic>clarity, easiness, plainness</italic>, and <italic>simplicity</italic>. While <italic>plain language</italic> and <italic>easy language</italic> have both been the subject of standardization efforts, there are few attempts to define <italic>text clarity</italic> and <italic>text simplicity</italic>. Indeed, in the definition of <italic>plain language, clarity</italic> has been favored at the expense of <italic>simplicity</italic> but is employed as a self-evident notion. Meanwhile, <italic>text simplicity</italic> suffers from a negative connotation and is more likely to be defined by its antonym, <italic>text complexity</italic>. In our analysis, we examine the current definitions of <italic>plain language</italic> and <italic>easy language</italic> and discuss common definitions of <italic>text clarity</italic> and <italic>text complexity</italic>. We propose a model of <italic>text simplification</italic> that can clarify the transition from specialized texts to plain language texts, and easy language texts. It is our contention that text simplification should be placed in a more general framework of <italic>discursive ergonomics</italic>.</p>