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using words and notation in domain specific language syntax

I face the following dilemma:
  • it is easier to remember keywords in a language, but there can be a confusion when people take their meaning from plain English. Also, such a language might be wordy like Cobol
  • Symbolic identifiers make expressions shorter but they might become cryptic and this refutes the whole purpose of a domain specific language, namely, that a domain expert with less experience with a general programming language can read it without effort
I would like to hear your opinion on this, with literature pointers when possible.