Cracking the code of change in EU legal discourse: signifying practices shaping inclusion for the vulnerable in the digital age
Cracking the code of change in EU legal discourse: signifying practices shaping inclusion for the vulnerable in the digital age

Summary/Abstract: The initiative of the Clear Writing Movement (Kimble 1992),targeting the democratization of communication by simplifying legaldocuments, has influenced the presentation of law globally. By unitingdiverse philosophies of Plain Language and Easy-to-Read under the broadumbrella of text clarity and accessibility (Maaß 2020), this movement hasparticularly influenced the European Union’s linguistic policy (Foley 2002;Nerelius 2014; Seracini 2019). Notwithstanding this progress and theaccelerated shift towards digital transformation during the COVID-19pandemic, the European Union’s efforts to enhance its communication forvulnerable groups (European Union 2013) remain under-examined. Thisresearch, leveraging corpus linguistics and multimodal analysis, aims tosystematically uncover foundational values and thematic clusters embeddedin EU legal and policy documents related to the social inclusion and rights ofvulnerable populations. It explores how these features are dynamically communicated through Easy-to-Understand multimedia resources producedby Inclusion Europe and the European Commission (Bernabé and Orero2020). Findings underscore the pivotal role of digital technology inrevolutionizing the creation and interpretation of legal documents, reflectingthe European Union’s proactive efforts to forge new avenues for multimodallegal communication marked by innovative signifying practices. The researchconcludes by highlighting the socio-semiotic and context-specific dimensionsof legal discourse. Far from being merely universal and abstract, it can beadapted and reshaped to reflect societal and political stances on regulatedissues. This approach can foster a sense of belonging, empowerment, andinclusivity within vulnerable communities, while also nurturing broadersocietal cooperation and understanding.

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