ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (STE) is a controlled language designed to simplify and clarify technical documentation. It was originally developed during the 1980's by the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA), at the request of the European Airline industry, who wanted a standardized form of English for technical documentation that could be easily understood by non-English speakers. It has since been adopted in many other fields outside the aerospace, defense, and maintenance domains for its clear, consistent, and comprehensive nature. The current edition of the STE Specification, published in April 2021, consists of 53 writing rules and a dictionary of approximately 900 approved words.
The first attempts towards controlled English were made as early as the 1930s and 1970s with Basic English [1] and Caterpillar Fundamental English. [2] [3] In 1979, aerospace documentation was written in American English (Boeing, Douglas, Lockheed, etc.), in British English (Hawker Siddeley, British Aircraft Corporation, etc.) and by companies whose native language was not English (Fokker, Aeritalia, Aerospatiale, and some of the companies that formed Airbus at the time).
Because European airlines needed to translate parts of their maintenance documentation into other languages for local mechanics, the European Airline industry approached AECMA (the European Association of Aerospace Industries) to investigate the possibility of using a controlled or standardized form of English. In 1983, after an investigation into the different types of controlled languages that existed in other industries, AECMA decided to produce its own controlled English. The AIA (Aerospace Industries Association of America) was also invited to participate in this project. The result of this collaborative work was the release of the AECMA Document, PSC-85-16598 (known as the AECMA Simplified English Guide) in 1986. Subsequently, several changes, issues and revisions were released up to the present issue (the current Issue 8 of STE is dated April 2021).
After the merger of AECMA with two other associations to form the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) in 2004, the specification was renamed ASD Simplified Technical English, Specification ASD-STE100. ASD-STE100 is maintained by the Simplified Technical English Maintenance Group (STEMG), a working group of ASD, formed in 1983; the copyright of ASD-STE100 is fully owned by ASD. [4] [5]
Due to the ever-evolving nature of technology and technical language, the STEMG also relies on user feedback for suggested changes and updates. [6] Starting from Issue 6 in 2013, the Specification became free of charge. Over the years, more than 11,800 official copies of Issues 6 and 7 were distributed. Since Issue 8 was released in April 2021, over 3,200 official copies have been distributed (distribution log updated August 2022). Usually, a new issue is released every three years.
A free official copy of the ASD-STE100 Specification can be requested through the ASD-STE100 website and through ASD-STAN.
Simplified Technical English can:
These claims come mostly from those who have invested in developing, implementing, or supporting STE. To date, there are no published scientific studies to provide evidence about the benefits of STE, suggesting the need for more research.
The ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English specification consists of two parts:
The writing rules differentiate between two types of topics: procedural and descriptive writing. The rules also cover aspects of grammar and style. A non-exhaustive list of the writing rules includes the concepts that follow:
The table that follows is an extract from a page of the ASD-STE100 dictionary:
| Word (Part of speech) | Approved meaning/ ALTERNATIVES | APPROVED EXAMPLE | Not approved example |
|---|---|---|---|
| acceptance (n) | ACCEPT (v) | BEFORE YOU ACCEPT THE UNIT, DO THE SPECIFIED TEST PROCEDURE. | Before acceptance of unit, do the specified test procedure. |
| ACCESS (n) | The ability to go into or near. | GET ACCESS TO THE ACCUMULATOR FOR THE NO. 1 HYDRAULIC SYSTEM. | |
| accessible (adj) | ACCESS (n) | TURN THE COVER UNTIL YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THE JACKS THAT HAVE “+” AND “-” MARKS. | Rotate the cover until the jacks marked + and - are accessible. |
| ACCIDENT (n) | An occurrence that causes injury or damage. | MAKE SURE THAT THE PINS ARE INSTALLED TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS. |
Explanation of the four columns:
Word (part of speech) – This column has information on the word and its part of speech. Every approved word in STE is only permitted as a specific part of speech. For example, the word "test" is only approved as a noun (the test) but not as a verb (to test). There are few exceptions to the "One word, one part of speech, one meaning" principle.
Approved meaning/ALTERNATIVES – This column gives the approved meaning (or definition) of an approved word in STE. In the example table, "ACCESS" and "ACCIDENT" are approved (they are written in uppercase). The text in these definitions is not written in STE. If a meaning is not given in the dictionary, you cannot use the word in that meaning. Use an alternative word. For words that are not approved (they are written in lowercase, such as "acceptance" and "accessible" in the example table), this column gives approved alternatives that you can use to replace the unapproved words. These alternatives are in uppercase, and they are only suggestions. It is possible that the suggested alternative for an unapproved word has a different part of speech. Usually, the first suggested alternative has the same part of speech as the unapproved word.
APPROVED EXAMPLE – This column shows how to use the approved word or how to use the approved alternative (usually a word-for-word replacement). It also shows how to keep the same meaning with a different construction. The wording given in the approved examples is not mandatory. It shows only one method to write the same information with approved words. You can frequently use different constructions with other approved words to say the same thing.
Not approved example – This column (text in lowercase) shows examples of how the unapproved word is frequently used in standard technical writing. The examples also help you to understand how you can use the approved alternatives and/or different constructions to give the same information. For approved words, this column is empty unless there is a help symbol (lightbulb) related to other meanings or restrictions.
The dictionary includes entries of both approved and unapproved words. The approved words can only be used according to their specified meaning. For example, the word "close" (v) can only be used in one of two meanings:
The verb can express to close a door or to close a circuit, but it cannot be used with other connotations (e.g., to close a meeting or to close a business). The adjective "close" appears in the dictionary as an unapproved word with the suggested approved alternative "NEAR." Thus, STE does not allow do not go close to the landing gear, but it does allow do not go near the landing gear. In addition to the general STE vocabulary listed in the dictionary, Section 1, Words, gives specific guidelines for using technical names and technical verbs that writers need to describe technical information. For example, words, noun clusters, or verbs such as grease, discoloration, propeller, aural warning system, overhead panel, to ream, and to drill are not listed in the dictionary, but they qualify as approved terms according to Part 1, Section 1 (specifically, writing rules 1.5 and 1.12).
"Simplified Technical English" is sometimes used as a generic term for a controlled language. The aerospace and defense specification started as an industry-regulated writing standard for aerospace maintenance documentation, but it has become a requirement for an increasing number of military land vehicles, seacraft, and weapons programs. Although it was not initially intended for use as a general writing standard, it has been successfully adopted by other industries and for a wide range of document types. The US government's Plain English lacks the strict vocabulary restrictions of the aerospace standard, but represents an attempt at a more general writing standard. [8]
Since 1986, STE has been a requirement of the ATA Specification i2200 (formerly ATA100) and ATA104 (Training). STE is also a requirement of the S1000D Specification. The European Defence Standards Reference (EDSTAR) recommends STE as one of the best practice standards for writing technical documentation to be applied for defense contracting by all EDA (European Defence Agency) participating member states.
Today, the success of STE is such that other industries use it beyond its initial purpose for maintenance documentation and outside the aerospace and defense domains; as of August 2022, the STE distribution log shows that 56% of users come from outside these two industries. It is successfully applied in the automotive, renewable energies, and offshore logistics sectors, and is further expanding within medical devices and the pharmaceutical sector. STE interest is also increasing within the academic world, including the disciplines of information engineering, applied linguistics, and computational linguistics).
Several outside software products exist to support the application of STE, but the STEMG does not endorse or certify these products. [9]
Boeing developed the Boeing Simplified English Checker (BSEC). This linguistic-based checker uses a sophisticated 350-rule English parser, which is augmented with special functions that check for violations of the Simplified Technical English specification. [10]
HyperSTE is a plugin tool offered by Etteplan to check content for adherence to the rules and grammar of the specification.
Congree offers a Simplified Technical English Checker based on linguistic algorithms. It supports all rules of Simplified Technical English issue 7 that are relevant to the text composition and provides an integrated Simplified Technical English dictionary. [11]
The TechScribe term checker for ASD-STE100 helps writers to find text that does not conform to ASD-STE100. [12]
Basic English is a controlled language based on standard English, but with a greatly simplified vocabulary and grammar. It was created by the linguist and philosopher Charles Kay Ogden as an international auxiliary language, and as an aid for teaching English as a second language. It was presented in Ogden's 1930 book Basic English: A General Introduction with Rules and Grammar.
Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters adapted from the Chinese script used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequently-derived syllabic scripts of hiragana and katakana. The characters have Japanese pronunciations; most have two, with one based on the Chinese sound. A few characters were invented in Japan by constructing character components derived from other Chinese characters. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan made its own efforts to simplify the characters, now known as shinjitai, by a process similar to China's simplification efforts, with the intention to increase literacy among the common folk. Since the 1920s, the Japanese government has published character lists periodically to help direct the education of its citizenry through the myriad Chinese characters that exist. There are nearly 3,000 kanji used in Japanese names and in common communication.
Jargon or technical language is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The context is usually a particular occupation, but any ingroup can have jargon. The key characteristic that distinguishes jargon from the rest of a language is its specialized vocabulary, which includes terms and definitions of words that are unique to the context, and terms used in a narrower and more exact sense than when used in colloquial language. This can lead outgroups to misunderstand communication attempts. Jargon is sometimes understood as a form of technical slang and then distinguished from the official terminology used in a particular field of activity.
A homograph is a word that shares the same written form as another word but has a different meaning. However, some dictionaries insist that the words must also be pronounced differently, while the Oxford English Dictionary says that the words should also be of "different origin". In this vein, The Oxford Guide to Practical Lexicography lists various types of homographs, including those in which the words are discriminated by being in a different word class, such as hit, the verb to strike, and hit, the noun a strike.
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Shall and will are two of the English modal verbs. They have various uses, including the expression of propositions about the future, in what is usually referred to as the future tense of English.
Controlled natural languages (CNLs) are subsets of natural languages that are obtained by restricting the grammar and vocabulary in order to reduce or eliminate ambiguity and complexity. Traditionally, controlled languages fall into two major types: those that improve readability for human readers , and those that enable reliable automatic semantic analysis of the language.
A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds.
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make a longer word or sign. If the joining of the words or signs is orthographically represented with a hyphen, the result is a hyphenated compound. If they are joined without an intervening space, it is a closed compound. If they are joined with a space, then the result – at least in English – may be an open compound.
A grammar checker, in computing terms, is a program, or part of a program, that attempts to verify written text for grammatical correctness. Grammar checkers are most often implemented as a feature of a larger program, such as a word processor, but are also available as a stand-alone application that can be activated from within programs that work with editable text.
The classical Japanese language, also called "old writing", sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese" is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Shōwa period (1926–1989). It is based on Early Middle Japanese, the language as spoken during the Heian period (794–1185), but exhibits some later influences. Its use started to decline during the late Meiji period (1868–1912) when novelists started writing their works in the spoken form. Eventually, the spoken style came into widespread use, including in major newspapers, but many official documents were still written in the old style. After the end of World War II, most documents switched to the spoken style, although the classical style continues to be used in traditional genres, such as haiku and waka. Old laws are also left in the classical style unless fully revised.
A word is a basic element of language that carries meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguists on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial. Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition. Some specific definitions of the term "word" are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on phonological, grammatical or orthographic basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations.
Despite the various English dialects spoken from country to country and within different regions of the same country, there are only slight regional variations in English orthography, the two most notable variations being British and American spelling. Many of the differences between American and British/Commonwealth English date back to a time before spelling standards were developed. For instance, some spellings seen as "American" today were once commonly used in Britain, and some spellings seen as "British" were once commonly used in the United States.
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, break, breaks, broke, broken and breaking are forms of the same lexeme, with break as the lemma by which they are indexed. Lexeme, in this context, refers to the set of all the inflected or alternating forms in the paradigm of a single word, and lemma refers to the particular form that is chosen by convention to represent the lexeme. Lemmas have special significance in highly inflected languages such as Arabic, Turkish, and Russian. The process of determining the lemma for a given lexeme is called lemmatisation. The lemma can be viewed as the chief of the principal parts, although lemmatisation is at least partly arbitrary.
S1000D is an international specification for the procurement and production of technical publications. It is an XML specification for preparing, managing, and publishing technical information for a product. It was initially developed by the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) for use with military aircraft. Since Issue the scope has been extended to include land, sea and even non-equipment products. It is widely used in civil as well as military products. S1000D is part of the S-Series of ILS specifications.
The Pronunciation Lexicon Specification (PLS) is a W3C Recommendation, which is designed to enable interoperable specification of pronunciation information for both speech recognition and speech synthesis engines within voice browsing applications. The language is intended to be easy to use by developers while supporting the accurate specification of pronunciation information for international use.
In the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), by George Orwell, Newspeak is the fictional language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate. To meet the ideological requirements of Ingsoc in Oceania, the Party created Newspeak, which is a controlled language of simplified grammar and limited vocabulary designed to limit a person's ability for critical thinking and thus limit the person's ability to articulate abstract concepts, such as personal identity, self-expression, and free will, which are thoughtcrimes, acts of personal independence that contradict the ideological orthodoxy of Ingsoc collectivism.
Using controlled language in machine translation poses several problems.
The AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD) is a trade association for the aerospace, defense and security industries in Europe. According to the organization, it represents over 3,000 companies in 17 countries.
