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Article published In:
The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 5:2 (2018) ► pp.142–163

‘Webbish writing’ for global communication in the Web 3.0

| National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology

Advances in information technology and the needs of globalization made English the lingua franca (EFL) of the Web 1.0. Later, multi-modes of computer-mediated communication in the Web 2.0 fostered hybrid English as a new EFL by combing English with other languages. Moving into the Web 3.0 for information mining and knowledge acquisition without a language barrier, the author proposes ‘Webbish’, a controlled form of English, to write web texts for the purpose of gisting through the production of multilingual machine translation (MT) outputs. To demonstrate the effectiveness of ‘Webbish’, an empirical survey was conducted to measure the comprehensibility of the MT of ‘Webbish’ texts based on a 1–100 grading scale. An average score of 89.9 was earned from twenty-four international participants, showing a high degree of MT comprehensibility. Meanwhile, set within the framework of postmodernism, ‘Webbish’ writing takes on postmodernist significance of non-fixed norms, dynamic meanings and an equal right of comprehensible Web information access for global non-English audiences. Its linguistic features are suited to MT application and its fluid meanings are produced due to the MT system’s rendition and different target audiences’ different interpretations. ‘Webbish’ writing suggests acceptance, inclusiveness and equality. It is also an easy way to influence and improve global communication.

Keywords: Webbish writing, controlled English, machine translation, an MT comprehensibility survey, postmodernist implications
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical review
    • 2.1The proposal of CE as ‘Webbish’
      • 2.1.1CE/Webbish as “a transitional lingua franca”
      • 2.1.2The KICSF principle for Webbish writing
    • 2.2Postmodernism
  • 3.Empirical study: Methodology
    • 3.1A survey of MT comprehensibility
      • 3.1.1Samples of Webbish writing
      • 3.1.2Respondents
      • 3.1.3Evaluation of responses
  • 4.Findings and discussion
    • 4.1Reception of the MT output of ‘Webbish’ writing
    • 4.2Postmodernist implications for ‘Webbish’ writing and its MT application
      • 4.2.1An alternative linguistic form to meet new needs
      • 4.2.2Dynamic meanings through MT application and different target audiences’ interpretations
      • 4.2.3The equal right of web-based language service to global non-English audiences
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 21 January 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.18002.shi
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