Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p> As translational phenomena, ‘simplification’ and ‘enhanced accessibility’ are phenomena that are especially associated with diaphasic, or interregisterial, intralingual translation of the expert-to-lay variety, i.e., adaptation of specialized LSP source texts for a lay target audience (henceforth <jats:italic>Diaph-intra</jats:italic> ). Previous research into simplification and enhancement of accessibility in Diaph-intra has mostly focused on shifts at the levels of lexicogrammar ( <jats:xref>Hill-Madsen 2015a</jats:xref> , <jats:xref>2015b</jats:xref> , <jats:xref>2019</jats:xref> , <jats:xref>2022</jats:xref> , <jats:xref>Muñoz-Miquel 2012</jats:xref> , <jats:xref>Ezpeleta Piorno 2012</jats:xref> ) and context ( <jats:xref>Hill-Madsen 2024</jats:xref> ), whereas the level of semantics has largely been bypassed. To remedy this shortcoming, this chapter offers a <jats:italic>semantic</jats:italic> interpretation of ‘simplification’ and ‘enhanced accessibility’ as intralingual translation strategies. Three semantic parameters are relevant to lay-oriented Diaph-intra, viz. <jats:italic>epistemic-semantic density</jats:italic> (concerned with the complexity of epistemic/denotational content in wordings), <jats:italic>semantic gravity</jats:italic> (concerned with degrees of concreteness/abstractness) and <jats:italic>interpersonal engagement</jats:italic> (presence/absence of interpersonal meanings). Using source-target pairs from the field of medicine, the article illustrates shifts within all three semantic dimensions. </jats:p>