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While<jats:italic>plain language<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>easy language<\/jats:italic>have both been the subject of standardization efforts, there are few attempts to define<jats:italic>text clarity<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>text simplicity<\/jats:italic>. Indeed, in the definition of<jats:italic>plain language, clarity<\/jats:italic>has been favored at the expense of<jats:italic>simplicity<\/jats:italic>but is employed as a self-evident notion. Meanwhile,<jats:italic>text simplicity<\/jats:italic>suffers from a negative connotation and is more likely to be defined by its antonym,<jats:italic>text complexity<\/jats:italic>. In our analysis, we examine the current definitions of<jats:italic>plain language<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>easy language<\/jats:italic>and discuss common definitions of<jats:italic>text clarity<\/jats:italic>and<jats:italic>text complexity<\/jats:italic>. We propose a model of<jats:italic>text simplification<\/jats:italic>that can clarify the transition from specialized texts to plain language texts, and easy language texts. It is our contention that text simplification should be placed in a more general framework of<jats:italic>discursive ergonomics<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frai.2022.1042258","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,30]],"date-time":"2022-11-30T07:08:14Z","timestamp":1669792094000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Clear, easy, plain, and simple as keywords for text simplification"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"5","author":[{"given":"Sara","family":"Vecchiato","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"An ISO standard for plain language: The back story and the next steps610 BalmfordC. 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