Distinctive Lexical Patterns in Russian Patient Information Leaflets: A Corpus-Driven Study

This methodologically-oriented corpus-driven study focuses on distinctive patterns of language use in a specialized text type, namely Russian patient information leaflets. The study’s main goal is to identify keywords and recurrent sequences of words that account for the leaflets’ formulaicity, and - as a secondary goal - to describe their discoursal functions. The keywords were identified using three methods (G2, Hedges’ g and Neozeta) and the overlap between the three metrics was explored. The overlapping keywords were qualitatively analyzed in terms of discoursal functions. As for the distinctive multi-word patterns, we focused on recurrent n-grams with the largest coverage in the corpus: these were identified using the Formulex method (Forsyth, 2015b), which provides complementary data with respect to more conservative n- gram and lexical bundles approaches. The results revealed that the most distinctive keywords were identified using Hedges’ g metric, that the largest overlap occurred between G2 and Neozeta metrics, and that the frequent use and discoursal functions of the identified lexical patterns correspond with situational contexts and communicative purposes of patient information leaflets. It is hoped that this study will provide an opportunity for a methodological reflection and inspire further corpus-driven research on distinctive recurrent lexical patterns (e.g., keywords, n-grams, lexical bundles) or - more generally - on formulaic language in texts originally written in Russian.

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Lexical Strategies in Intralingual Translation between Registers

HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business ◽

10.7146/hjlcb.v27i54.22949 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (54) ◽

pp. 85 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Aage Hill-Madsen

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Translation Studies ◽

Pharmaceutical Product ◽

Medical Terminology ◽

Text Type ◽

Package Inserts ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

Product Specifications

<p>Being concerned with (what has hitherto been) a marginal and under-researched area of Translation Studies, viz. intralingual translation, this paper focuses on the particular type of monolingual rewriting which consists in the transformation of specialized LSP texts into a new text type aimed at lay readership. As a specific example of this type of transformation, the paper investigates the rewriting of pharmaceutical product specifications into medicinal package inserts (so-called patient information leaflets). In Translation Studies terms, in other words, the pharmaceutical texts are treated as source texts and the patient information leaflets as target texts. The paper examines certain core intralingual translation <em>strategies </em>employed to make the specialized information accessible to the non-expert audience. The focus is primarily on strategies employed to convert medical terminology into more lay-friendly wordings. The exact linguistic nature of these strategies is examined, and the ways in which they contribute to target-text lay-friendliness are charted.</p>

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An Exploratory Study of Transediting in Students’ Translation Processes

HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business ◽

10.7146/hjlcb.v25i49.97740 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (49) ◽

pp. 99 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Iris Schrijver ◽

Leona Van Vaerenbergh ◽

Luuk Van Waes

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Exploratory Study ◽

Procedural Knowledge ◽

European Medicines Agency ◽

Text Type ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

Think Aloud Protocols ◽

American Patient ◽

Clear Link

Editing and translating are interconnecting concepts with fuzzy borderlines. In 1989, Stetting coined the term transediting to refer to the overlap of both activities in the translation task. This article reviews the existing literature on this topic. It also reports on an exploratory study of transediting in the translation processes of translation students with different degrees of declarative and procedural knowledge. Four MA translation students were asked to translate an American patient information leaflet (PIL) for a Dutch-speaking audience in accordance with the valid European Medicines Agency (EMA) directive. Of the four participants, two participants possessed only declarative knowledge of both the EMA standards and the text type. The other two participants also had some procedural knowledge, i.e. experience with translating patient information leaflets. Data on the translation processes were collected through think-aloud protocols and computer keystroke logging. By triangulating the data, we found not only a difference in the degree of transediting carried out by the participants, but also divergence in phase allocation of transediting in the translation processes. No clear link could be established between the use of transediting and the participants’ declarative and procedural knowledge.

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Register Variation Across English Pharmaceutical Texts: A Corpus-driven Study of Keywords, Lexical Bundles and Phrase Frames in Patient Information Leaflets and Summaries of Product Characteristics

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.661 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

pp. 391-401 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Łukasz Grabowski

Keyword(s):

Patient Information ◽

Product Characteristics ◽

Lexical Bundles ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets

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A comparative analysis of the lay-friendliness of Danish EU patient information leaflets from 2000 to 2012

Communication & Medicine ◽

10.1558/cam.v11i3.20700 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Inger Askehave ◽

Karen Korning Zethsen

Keyword(s):

Comparative Analysis ◽

Patient Information ◽

Patient Information Leaflet ◽

General Interest ◽

Information Leaflet ◽

Empirical Results ◽

Patient Information Leaflets ◽

Information Leaflets ◽

The Subject ◽

The Eu

Since becoming mandatory in the EU in 1992, the patient information leaflet (PIL) has been the subject of an on-going discussion regarding its ability to provide easily understandable information. This study examines whether the lay-friendliness of Danish PILs has improved from 2000 to 2012 according to the Danish consumers. A reproduction of a questionnaire study from 2000 was carried out. The responses of the 2012 survey were compared to those of the 2000 survey and the analysis showed that Danes are less inclined to read the PIL in 2012 compared to 2000 and that the general interest in PILs has decreased. The number of respondents who deem the PIL easy to read has gone down. According to Danish consumers, the lay-friendliness of PILs has not improved from 2000 to 2012 and a very likely explanation could be that the PIL as a genre has become far too regulated and complex to live up to its original intentions. On the basis of the empirical results the article furthermore offers suggestions for practice changes.

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