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Abstract This article looks at so-called “deviant” functioning in terminology. The notion of deviancy seems to be situated in relation to a “neutral” functioning of the language, which does not take any particular communication situation into account. The article aims to show that this supposed deviancy has to be related to the communication situation itself, which, in the present case, implies specialised knowledge. Rather than just being deviancies, it is argued that these linguistic formulations are a tangible manifestation of the specificity of the communication situation. Three types of explanation are put forward for their use: linguistic (linguistic prolixity and linguistic economy), sociolinguistic, and cognitive. Each type is exemplified by various studies.
Anne Condamines (Mon,) studied this question.