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Controlling Language in Industry pp 1–21Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Introduction and Historical Development of Technical Documents

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Abstract

The chapter introduces the book, its aim and structure. It then sets the book’s context by outlining the historical development of English language technical documents from the pre-industrial fourteenth century to the industrial early twentieth century and the introduction of Basic English, a precursor to modern controlled languages for technical documents. In doing this, the chapter identifies a number of linguistic and organisational features of historical technical documents that are used in modern technical documents to help make the information in them understandable.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Stephen Crabbe

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  1. Stephen Crabbe
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Crabbe, S. (2017). Introduction and Historical Development of Technical Documents. In: Controlling Language in Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52745-1_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52745-1_1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52744-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52745-1

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