The research project Hybrid Texts Types in a European Context, funded
by the University of Trieste, was aimed at describing the possible
differences between the EU and national varieties of three languages
(English, Italian and Spanish) as observed in selected genres and
text types. The essays collected in this volume report on studies
applying the theoretical tenets of the research. The studies contrast
corpora of texts drafted within EU institutions (a multilingual
environment) with comparable corpora of texts produced in the
relevant member states. The purpose is to characterize the hybrid
features emerging in multilingual contexts and the influence they
may be exerting on similar texts produced at national level. Many
EU texts – particularly those of a regulatory nature – are known
to have a direct practical impact on the lives of European citizens;
from a linguistic point of view, these texts may be changing their
expectations in terms of textual structure and language usage.
