Multilingualism has been a founding value of the European Union since the first Council Regulation in 1958, as mirrored by the principle of the multiple authenticity of the documents, later reinforced and amended for new languages in the successive EU enlargements (Wagner, Bech and Martínez 2002; Kraus 2008; Cosmai 2014). Hence, translating and interpreting are among the core functions in EU institutions. However, while multilingualism is stimulating and inclusive in both cultural and political terms, it may affect the unequivocal understanding of concepts and possibly challenge some of the notions commonly associated with the lexical features of specialized discourse (Cabré 1999; Gotti 2003). Consequently, the EU Member States’ different versions of the same European document may be more interesting for their discrepancies than for their similarities (Perini 2014). With an interest in the lexical dimension of specialised discourse, this paper explores the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/EC), which aims to protect more effectively the marine environment across Europe and to achieve ‘good environmental status’ of the EU's marine waters by 2020. Interestingly, the MSFD introduces for the first time a number of new concepts such as, for example, ‘good environmental status’, ‘marine region’, ‘marine subregion’, ‘marine strategies’ (Long 2011). The analysis focuses on the English and Italian versions as well as on the Italian implementation (Decreto Legislativo 190/2010) of said directive. Particular attention is devoted to the terminological phrase ‘good environmental status’, the fundamental obligation placed on Member States under the MSFD, and a central concept in the scheme of protection introduced by the document (Long 2011).

New concepts and new terms in the European Union Environmental policy

Luisa Caiazzo
2017-01-01

Abstract

Multilingualism has been a founding value of the European Union since the first Council Regulation in 1958, as mirrored by the principle of the multiple authenticity of the documents, later reinforced and amended for new languages in the successive EU enlargements (Wagner, Bech and Martínez 2002; Kraus 2008; Cosmai 2014). Hence, translating and interpreting are among the core functions in EU institutions. However, while multilingualism is stimulating and inclusive in both cultural and political terms, it may affect the unequivocal understanding of concepts and possibly challenge some of the notions commonly associated with the lexical features of specialized discourse (Cabré 1999; Gotti 2003). Consequently, the EU Member States’ different versions of the same European document may be more interesting for their discrepancies than for their similarities (Perini 2014). With an interest in the lexical dimension of specialised discourse, this paper explores the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD 2008/56/EC), which aims to protect more effectively the marine environment across Europe and to achieve ‘good environmental status’ of the EU's marine waters by 2020. Interestingly, the MSFD introduces for the first time a number of new concepts such as, for example, ‘good environmental status’, ‘marine region’, ‘marine subregion’, ‘marine strategies’ (Long 2011). The analysis focuses on the English and Italian versions as well as on the Italian implementation (Decreto Legislativo 190/2010) of said directive. Particular attention is devoted to the terminological phrase ‘good environmental status’, the fundamental obligation placed on Member States under the MSFD, and a central concept in the scheme of protection introduced by the document (Long 2011).
2017
978-1-4438-4490-1
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11563/138057
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