Download or read book Legal Language as a Special Language Structural Features of English Legal Language written by Gaby Schneidereit and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1-, University of Dusseldorf "Heinrich Heine" (Anglistisches Institut), course: Domain Specific English Language - Language and Law, 5 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The English language has taken over the key role in international trade, legislation and policy-making. It has achieved "the enhanced status ...] as the dominant world language which] has led to an increased demand for the training of competent specialists able to mediate" (Alcaraz Varo/Hughes, 2002: 1). This goes along with a "phenomenal increase in the teaching of ...] 'English for special (or specific) purposes' " (ibid.: 2). What is the reason for this development? This piece of work might give an answer; it dedicates itself to domain specific English language: language and law. It concentrates on the characteristics of the structure of legal English in particular. An overview of the central structural features is given, without claiming completeness. Legal professionals aim at a precise explanation of facts which should leave no doubts. This aim forces them to use a certain kind of language pattern, such as including a high amount of definitions in legal texts, along with numerous complex and ancient phrases deriving from Law French and plentiful enumerations which can all together form a single sentence covering several lines. Dependent on which party they represent, lawyers make frequent use of features that reduce the agent in his identity while emphasizing the action - a matter of strategy which has the impeding of comprehension as a consequence. Therefore, the field of law becomes completely unapproachable for laymen, who are scarcely able to follow legal discourse. Even well-educated native speakers often find it hard to understand the language used in court. However, the access to one's rights is important. To begin with, the reader will be provided with an

Download or read book Structural Features of Legal Language written by Marit Blömer and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2015-07-16 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 2,3, Ruhr-University of Bochum (Englisches Seminar), language: English, abstract: This paper deals with a specific English language – the legal language. I will focus on a particular aspect of this field - the characteristics of the structure of legal English. Therefore I will give an overview of the central structural features which are typical for legal language. Legal professionals strive for a precise explanation of facts. This aim forces them to use a certain kind of language patterns; including a high amount of definitions in legal texts, as well as numerous complex and ancient phrases deriving from Law French and plentiful enumerations which can all together form a single sentence covering several lines. Considering these special language patterns, the field of law, especially the legal language, becomes completely unapproachable for laymen, as it is almost impossible for them to follow legal discourse or understand legal contracts as well as laws and provisions. Even well-educated native speakers often find it hard to understand the language used in court. But the access to one’s rights and duties is important in a community, so I decided to emphasize the differences between legal language and colloquial language and to show which structural features are characteristic for legal language. At first I will provide the reader with an overall definition of English as a special language, before I will have a closer look at legal English as a special language – the main topic of this essay. To show the structural features of legal language I will concentrate on three main characteristics in the structure of legal language – in my opinion the three most important ones, even though there are other important attributes as well. In a last step I will point out how these legal structures are used in real life. Therefore I will analyze a contract as well as a legislative text and think about ways to simplify the legal language used there to make it easier to follow such texts.

Download or read book Legal Language written by Peter M. Tiersma and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1999-02 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This history of legal language slices through the polysyllabic thicket of legalese. The text shows to what extent legalese is simply a product of its past and demonstrates that arcane vocabulary is not an inevitable feature of our legal system.

Download or read book The Language of the Law written by David Mellinkoff and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-05-13 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells what the language of the law is, how it got that way and how it works out in the practice. The emphasis is more historical than philosophical, more practical than pedantic.

Download or read book Tradition and Change in Legal English written by Christopher Williams and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2007 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume the author examines verbal constructions in prescriptive legal texts written in English. Modal auxiliaries such as shall, may and must are analysed, as well as indicative tenses such as the present simple, and also non-finite constructions such as the -ing form and -ed participles. Results are based on specially compiled corpora of prescriptive texts coming from a wide range of English-speaking countries and also international organizations such as the European Union and the UN. The author also analyses the nature, extent and impact of the calls for change in legal language coming from the Plain Language Movement. Although legal language tends to be depicted as being highly conservative and unchanging, the author shows that in certain parts of the English-speaking world a minor revolution would appear to be taking place, while in other parts there is greater resistance to change.

Download or read book Language in the Law written by John Gibbons and published by Orient Blackswan. This book was released on 2004 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a record of modes and practices in the use of language within the context of law. The papers in this volume not only examine the different situations that arise in legal processes, but they also unveil the inherent problems and impact of ambiguity and distortion in the uses of legal language, the consequences of cultural constraints on translation of legal texts, the power of interpreters in legal testimony and sources of complexity in legal register. The book examines the nexus between language and the law in various countries and cultures.

Download or read book Lawyers Language written by Alfred Phillips and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-08-29 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interesting examination of law as language use or discourse, this study looks at the transformation of ordinary language into a special discourse for the purposes of the legal system. It is widely accepted that legal discourse is obscure, and often the public resent the fact that access to the law of the land is obstructed by the opaqueness of legal language. This book argues that the development and maintenance of law's special language can be justified. The myth that law can be written in either plain' or ordinary' language is exploded, and the linguistic obscurity of law is traced to its necessary complexity. The notion of representation is applied to the relation that exists between legal language and ordinary language.

Download or read book Language and Law written by Alan Durant and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Language plays an essential role both in creating law and in governing its implementation. Providing an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this subject, Language and Law: describes the different registers and genres that make up spoken and written legal language and how they develop over time; analyses real-life examples drawn from court cases from different parts of the world, illustrating the varieties of English used in the courtroom by speakers occupying different roles; addresses the challenges presented to our notions of law and regulation by online communication; discusses the complex role of translation in bilingual and multilingual jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and Canada; and provides readings from key scholars in the discipline, including Lawrence Solan, Peter Goodrich, Marianne Constable, David Mellinkoff, and Chris Heffer. With a wide range of activities throughout, this accessible textbook is essential reading for anyone studying language and law or forensic linguistics. Sections A, B, and C of this book are freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315436258

Download or read book Rhetorical Strategies in Legal Language written by Anna Trosborg and published by Gunter Narr Verlag. This book was released on 1997 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Textbook on Legal Language and Legal Writing written by Prof. Dr. K. L. Bhatia and published by Universal Law Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Discourse of Silence written by Dennis Kurzon and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work discusses the discourse of silence and looks at how people relate to silence in specific conte×ts. It e×amines the application of semiotic tools to e×plore several facets of silence in everyday conversation, and reviews various studies of silence that have been published. The book interprets silence in terms of modality in order to distinguish between intentional and unintentional silence. It also presents an analysis of the silence of characters in films, biblical and cinematic te×t in which the terms of reference generally e×pand - from the silent answer, through the silencing of characters by authors, to silence as a feature of the generation gap.

Download or read book Comparative Legal Linguistics written by Heikki E.S. Mattila and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines legal language as a language for special purposes, evaluating the functions and characteristics of legal language and the terminology of law. Using examples drawn from major and lesser legal languages, it examines the major legal languages themselves, beginning with Latin through German, French, Spanish and English. This second edition has been fully revised, updated and enlarged. A new chapter on legal Spanish takes into account the increasing importance of the language, and a new section explores the use (in legal circles) of the two variants of the Norwegian language. All chapters have been thoroughly updated and include more detailed footnote referencing. The work will be a valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners in the areas of legal history and theory, comparative law, semiotics, and linguistics. It will also be of interest to legal translators and terminologists.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Language and Law written by Peter M. Tiersma and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a state-of-the-art account of past and current research in the interface between linguistics and law. It outlines the range of legal areas in which linguistics plays an increasing role and describes the tools and approaches used by linguists and lawyers in this vibrant new field. Through a combination of overview chapters, case studies, and theoretical descriptions, the volume addresses areas such as the history and structure of legal language, its meaning and interpretation, multilingualism and language rights, courtroom discourse, forensic identification, intellectual property and linguistics, and legal translation and interpretation. Encyclopaedic in scope, the handbook includes chapters written by experts from every contentint who are familiar with linguistic issues that arise in diverse legal systems, including both civil and common law jurisdictions, mixed systems like that of China, and the emerging law of the European Union.

Download or read book Researching Language and the Law written by Davide S. Giannoni and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2010 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume reflects the latest work of scholars specialising in the linguistic and legal aspects of normative texts across languages (English, Danish, French, Italian, Spanish) and law systems. Like other domains of specialised language use, legal discourse is subject to the converging pressures of internationalisation and of emerging practices that destabilise well-established norms and routines. In an integrated, interdependent context, supranational laws, rules and procedures are gradually developed and harmonised to regulate issues that can no longer be dealt with by national laws alone, as in the case of the European Union. The contributors discuss the impact of such developments on the construction, evolution and hybridisation of legal texts, analysed both linguistically and from the practitioner's standpoint.

Download or read book Just Words Second Edition written by John M. Conley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2005-06-20 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previous edition, 1st, published in 1998.

Download or read book Legal English written by William McKay and published by Pearson Higher Ed. This book was released on 2011-09-21 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legal English: How to Understand and Master the Language of Law offers a contemporary guide for students and practitioners alike who want to improve their language skills and build confidence in communicating effectively from the classroom to the courtroom. The second edition has been completely revised and updated to cover all aspects of language as used in a legal context where effective communication is crucial to both academic and professional success.

Download or read book English as a Legal Language written by Rossini and published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. This book was released on 2023-12-18 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: English as a Legal Language is a lawyer's plain language guide to English legal terminology. Anyone who finds it difficult to express legal terms in English simply looks under the general heading to find the relevant terms and their usage. This book can also be used to find explanations of words from a translating dictionary. Further, it is structured as a thesaurus, organized according to topic with an alphabetical index. More and more, lawyers need the English language. But attempts to convert the language to meet one's own purpose often result in misconceptions. English legal language has its roots in the Anglo-American legal tradition and the non-native speaking lawyer may have difficulty understanding a word choice in English without also seeing how it fits into legal thinking and relates to other words in the subject area as a whole. English as a Legal Language offers a comparative lexicon of US and UK legal systems, with references to European legal systems. Special features of this work include: - The vocabulary of an entire area of law in each section; - A verb section which provides guidance on substantives, adjectives, adverbs, phrases, usage, as well as sample sentences and clues about typical mistakes; and - An index which gives an alphabetical rendition of the topically ordered definitions - essential for words that have multiple definitions. All lawyers working in English, and especially continental European lawyers, will find this book indispensable in their practices. The book is also of prime interest to business people, accountants, translators, legal secretaries and students. It will enable all practitioners and academics to express complex ideas in English, to understand the intricacies of English as a legal language, and to avoid the potential mishaps, when language barriers prevent a true meeting of minds.