Causality in a Popular Medical Text: Which Linguistic Forms?

This study is part of a project on “customized and supportive communication” (“rédaction bienveillante”; Clerc 2019), which is aimed at disseminating science to readers with a low level of literacy. Its goal is to identify effective linguistic strategies for popularizing texts through reformulation. Since scientific texts are mainly based on “causal” logical relations, this article discusses how to reformulate a popular medical text, whose main causal relation is expressed as final causality. Since scientific texts are mainly based on “causal” logical relations, this article discusses how to reformulate a popular medical text, whose main causal relation is expressed as final causality. On one hand, a reformulation strategy based on the most explicit causal conjunction, namely the prototypical connector parce que ('because'), has proven to be inadequate. On the other hand, this connector appeared to be possible with its argumentative function; however, this “argumentative” use implies crucial modifications in the arrangement of the propositions and produces a more complex text. Instead, a reformulation strategy based on the conditional “if P, then Q” appeared to be more appropriate and less complex. This research shows that a causal connector is characterized as more or less appropriate not because of its meaning per se, but because of the thematic progression and the communicative macro-act that it enhances. In conclusion, it is argued that popularizing reformulation should not have a strictly lexical-syntactic approach, but should take the pragmatic dimension of language into consideration.