ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways that practitioners of plain language around the world define ethics, and reviews the extent to which they view the practice of plain-language communication as having an ethical dimension. The plain-language communicators tend to agree that ethics affect many aspects of plain-language use and that plain language can support ethical action. The professionals reviewed the description of the BUROC (bureaucratic, unfamiliar, rights oriented, and critical) model for identifying opportunities for plain language. Many thought the model could help plain-language communicators in their work. The chapter presents a questionnaire to collect information on the professionals' views of ethics. The questionnaire focused on professionals' definitions of ethics, on the sources of influence on their ethical views, and on whether plain language supports Martin Buber' ideal of I-You communication. Buber's depiction of the 'narrow ridge' frequently appears in discussions of dialogic ethics.
