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COMPARATIVE LEGAL LINGUISTICS

COMPARATIVE LEGAL LINGUISTICS. INTRODUCTION. Lecturer. Prof.dr.sc. Lelija Sočanac Office hours: Monday 16.30 – 17.30 h, Gundulićeva 10, Room 5 E-mail: lelijasocanac@yahoo.com lelija.socanac@pravo.hr. LITERATURE.

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COMPARATIVE LEGAL LINGUISTICS

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  1. COMPARATIVE LEGAL LINGUISTICS INTRODUCTION

  2. Lecturer • Prof.dr.sc. Lelija Sočanac • Office hours: Monday 16.30 – 17.30 h, Gundulićeva 10, Room 5 • E-mail: lelijasocanac@yahoo.com • lelija.socanac@pravo.hr

  3. LITERATURE • Mattila, Heikki E.S., Comparative Legal Linguistics .- Burlington: Ashgate, 2006

  4. ADDITIONAL READING • Bhatia, Vijay K. et al. (eds.), MultilingualandMulticulturalContextsofLegislation : anInternationalPerspective.- Peter Lang, 2003. • Bhatia et al. (eds), Legal DiscourseinMultilingualandMulticulturalContexts .- Peter Lang, 2003 • Bhatia, F (ed.), Vaguenessin Normative Texts .- Peter Lang, 2005 • Eades, Diana, Sociolinguisticsandthe legal process. Multilingualmatters, 2010. • Extra, Guus; Gorter, Durk, Multilingual Europe: Factsandpolicies. Mouton de Gruyter, 2008. • Gotti, Maurizio, Giannoni D. (eds.) New TrendsinSpecializedDiscourseAnalysis.- Peter Lang, 2006 • Kniffka, Hannes. Workinginlanguageandlaw : A German perspective. PalgraveMacmillan, 2007. • Olsson, John, ForensicLinguistics.- London: Continuum, 2008. • Olsson, John, Word Crime: Solvingcrimethroughforensiclinguistics. London : Continuum, 2009. • Shuy, Roger W. LinguisticsintheCourtroom: a practicalguide. OxfordUniversityPress, 2006. • Shuy, Roger W., Fightingoverwords: Languageand civil lawcases.OxfordUniversityPress, 2008. • Shuy, Roger W. Thelanguageofdefamationcases. OxfordUniversityPress, 2010. • Shuy, Roger W. Thelanguageofperjurycases.- OxfordUniversityPress, 2011. • Šarčević, Susan, New Approache to Legal Translation. KluwerLawInternational 2000. • Wagner, Anne; Cacciaguidi-Fahy (eds.) Legal LanguageandtheSearch for Clarity.- Peter Lang, 2006

  5. TIMETABLE WEDNESDAY 14.30-15.00 • 21 March: Introduction: Legal Language and Legal Linguistics • 28 March: Functions of Legal Language • 4 April: Characteristics of Legal Language • 11 April: Legal Terminology • 18 April: The Heritage of Legal Latin • 25 April:Legal German • 2 May: Legal French • 9 May: Legal English • 16 May: Changes in Legal-linguistic Dominance in the International Arena • 24 May: Conclusions

  6. Assesment • One semester: 60 points • Attendance: 30 points (+10 for active participation) • Seminar paper: 10 points (+5 for excellence) • Presentation: 10 points (+5 for excellence) • Written exam: 15 points • Oral exam: 15 points

  7. Suggested topics • Legal languages • Legal terminology • Legal translation • Characteristicsof legal discourse • Legal linguisticsandthesearch for clarity • Languageinthecourtroom • Forensiclinguistics • Languagelegislation • Linguistic human rights • Languagepolicyandplanning: officiallanguages, minoritylanguages

  8. PREPARING YOUR PAPER • 1. Collect as much material as you can • 2. Organize your materials • 3. Structure your paper: • 1. Introduction • 2. Elaboration • 3. Conclusion • References

  9. STRUCTURE • Name • TITLE • Abstract • (A short summary of what you are going to write about) • 1. Introduction. 1.1. Definition 1.2. Historical Background/ or Theoretical Background 1.3. Methodology • 2. The main argument • 3. Conclusion • References: • Oakland, John (2000), British Civilization : an Introduction .- 4th ed .- London; New York : Routledge. • SUMMARY

  10. Quoting • “If the question is asked: ‘what is law in society?’ a • common response would be ‘to maintain order’. • Much public debate and political rhetoric links • ‘law’ and ‘order’. There are two problems with • this response. First it is extremely ambiguous. • There is no single concept of order, but rather a • variety of orders in relation to which the law may play • a role” (Partington 2006: 13) • References • Partington, Martin (2006), An Introduction to the English Legal System .- 3rd ed .- Oxford University Press.

  11. PARAGRAPHING • A paragraph: several sentences contained in the topic (or key) sentence • The topic sentence: usually the first one, contains the main idea or topic • The other sentences support it by adding further information or examples • A paragraph should link logically with previous and following paragraphs

  12. PRESENTATION • 1. Think of your audience • 2. Structure your presentation: • a) Start by saying what you are going to talk about • b) focus on the most important points with good illustrative examples • c) sum up

  13. Presentation • 3. Check and practise the pronunciation of difficult words • 4. Pay attention to your intonation • 5. If possible, do not read (using notes is preferable to reading a full text) • 6. Use visual aids, or write on the blackboard to stress your point • 7. Don’t forget about your TIMING!!! (10 minutes)

  14. Preview • Languages for specific purposes v. ordinary language • Legal language v. other LSPs: history, target audience • Genres of legal language • Characteristics of legal languages • Beginnings of interest in legal language • Rise of legal linguistics • Relevance of legal linguistics for linguistics and law • Related branches of law/linguistics • Practical application

  15. The Concept of Legal Language • A functional variant of natural language, with its own domain of use and particular linguistic norms (phraseology, vocabulary, hierarchy of terms and meanings)

  16. Legal language as language for specificpurposes (LSP) • Legal language – based on ordinary language • Legal terms whose properties vary according to the branches of law • Characteristics that distinguish legal language from ordinary written language (e.g. sentence structure) • Specific legal style

  17. Legal language as a “technolect” • - a languageusedbyaspecialistprofesion (lawyers) • Inthecourtsandinthegovernment – professionals who are notlawyers (jurymembers, layjudges, administrators) • Ordinarycitizens (will) • Target ofmessagestransmittedin legal language: wholepopulation, certainlayersofthepopulation, or a numberofparticularcitizens • Lawrequirescomplianceof all people; court judgmentrelates to thepartiesinvolvedinthecase • Legal language – notan instrument aimedsolely at internalcommunicationwithinthe legal profession

  18. Legal language • Governs all areas of social life • Through intertextuality, can be combined with language from any domain • Very old, which is not the case with other LSPs • It has shaped the ordinary language of various countries in a significant way

  19. Legal language • The population may use another language than that forming the basis of the legal language • Middle Ages: Latin • Today: legal language of African countries – English or French; local languages spoken in everyday communication • In Finland: legal language until 19th c. - Swedish

  20. Genres of legal language • Language of lawyers: legal authors, legislators, judges, administrators, advocates • Continental Europe: notarial language: private-law documents drawn up for hundreds of years by notaries

  21. Language of legal authors • Greater freedom than other su-genres • Scholarly vocabulary (e.g. Latin terms and sayings)

  22. Courtroom language: • especially formal, often archaic • Categoric character : judges use unreserved declarations and peremptory orders • France: courtroom language is laconic when it comes to reasoning of judges; detailed argumentation, abundance of rhetoric, typifies the language of counsel • Judgments: highly complex sentence construction formerly used; in some countries, that remains the case today

  23. Genres of Legal Language • Sub-genres on the basis of branches of law • Specialist terminology of each branch • A large part of legal terminology: universal, but: • Criminal law – terms that are almost never used in the texts on the law of property or constitutional law • In some branches of law legal terminology mixed with non-legal technical terminology, e.g. psychiatric terminology in criminal law, accountancy in tax law, etc.

  24. Legal Jargon • Style of legal language: a spectrum that extends from the solemn cast of the Constitution to everyday legal texts • All professions develop their own jargon, which strenghtens internal relationships and coherence of the group • Part of legal jargon – common to all sub-groups of lawyers • Some expressions . Only used by a single sub-group of lawyers, or even within a particular court or department (ministry, supreme court)

  25. Legal Jargon • Abbreviations, notably in internal court documents • Replacing explanations as to legal institutes by the numbers of articles – a particular type of abbreviation

  26. Counter-language of the Criminal Fraternity • The language of offenders – a counter-language of legal language, notably criminal law • The heart of this: prison slang • Functions: strenghtens relationships of groups of prisoners in relation to prison officers and the jsutice system; a secret code, rapidly changing and largely uniknown to prison officers; frequency of synonyms (in Finnish prison slang:70 expressions to describe a police officer, 30 to describe imprisonment)

  27. Beginnings of interest in legal language • Law – bound to language • In some contexts, linguistic aspect of law dominates: legal translation, legal lexicography, legal rhetoric

  28. Legal translation • 1st legal translated text that has survived: the peace treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites dating from 1271 BC, followed by innumerable translations • Corpus iuris civilis – first translated into Greek, than into many other languages • In medieval times, legal translation focused on Latin: texts were translated from different vernaculars into Latin and from Latin into various vernaculars

  29. Legal research • Ancient Greece and Rome creating a conceptual system of law which requires clarifying connections between legal concepts • Defining terms expressing concepts • This has led to compiling legal lexicons • 1st legal lexicon: Gaius Aelius Gallus, De verborum quae ad jus pertinent significatione (‘on the meaning of words referring to the law’), 1st c. BC • Tradition of legal lexicography: carried on in Byzantium and in Western Europe

  30. Legal lexicography • In Western Europe – medieval legal dictionaries first published in Latin, later in new national languages • 1st bilingual lexicons of legal language – compiled in Byzantium (Latin-Greek lexicons) • The lexicons became necessary when Greek was beginning to replace Latin in legal affairs, and Byzantine jurists’ grasp on Latin was on the wane • Lexicons- partly encyclopaedic dictionaries, partly dictionaries of definitions

  31. Legal lexicography • Later, an analogoug need arose in Western Europe as to links between Latin and new national languages • As West European layers’ grasp of Latin weakened, dictionaries of legal Latin assumed growing importance • When Latin was replaced by modern languages, the need arose to compile legal dictionaries between various European national languages

  32. Rhetoric • In Ancient Greece, r. was closely connected with activities of advocates before the courts • 1st treatise on rhetoric – written by Corax of Syrecuse in 5th c. B.C.; its focus: legal rhetoric • In the Middle Ages, rhetoric was one of the three subjects of the teaching trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric); an important place in the training of European lawyers

  33. Legal linguistics today • Modern linguistics developed at the beginning of 20th c. • Enormous progress of science and technology in 20th c. gave birth to study LSP (Fachsprachen, lengues de spécialité both comparatively and in relation to ordinary language

  34. Legal linguistics • Linguistique juridique, jurilinguistique • Rechtslinguistik (Recht und Sprache) • Juryslingwistika (Polish) • Pravovaia lingvistika (Russian)

  35. Legal linguistics • Research: frequently synchronic (contemporary language) • Canada: contrastive analysis of two legal languages (English and French); closely bound up with the science of translation; this type of legal linguistics has spread to other countries, such as Poland

  36. Legal linguistics • In all schools undertaking research into legal language, lawyers and linguists are to be found • Researchers: often dual training, or a study is carried out in close cooperation between lawyers and linguists • Today researchers with linguistic training often use quantitative methods with the aid of computers; a typical research subject: occurrences of terms, or other linguistic elements (e.g. prefixes, suffixes) in legal texts

  37. Legal linguistics • Research topic: understandability and readability of legal texts from the stand-point of non-lawyers

  38. Legal linguistics • Studies by lawyers – often diachronic, connected with history of law • Characteristics of the language of legislative drafting

  39. Legal linguistics • Examines the development, characteristics and usage of legal language • Studies may concern vocabulary (terminology), syntax (sentence structure), or semantics (meanings) • A synthesis between legal science and linguistics, notably applied linguistics • Also based on sociolinguistics

  40. Legal linguistics • Closely connected to semantics • Lexicology – a central position; it is through terminology that legal language differs from ordinary language • Legal lexicography – compiling legal lexicons and dictionaries • Syntax: sentence length, frequency of subordinate clauses • (morphology, phonology, phonetics – further away from legal linguistics)

  41. Legal linguistics • Morphology: the construction of compound words from the standpoint of their clarity 8important in German, Swedish, Finnish) • Forensic linguistics . Examines production and perception of utterances from the legal standpoint, notably in courts: phonetic analysis of human voice (threatening phone calls), verifying the authenticity of documents • Research into legal style (application in rhetoric): how advocates convince judges of the worth of their messages

  42. Legal linguistics • Historical studies: how vocabulary has changed over time; the countries and epochs of origin of borrowed legal words; how is legal language used in various legal sub-cultures (researchers, judges, advocates); to what extent is legal terminology known by the general public; how and when lawyers began to use modern languages instead of Latin and what is the current importance of Latin in today’s legal languages

  43. Legal semiotics and legal symbolism • Spoken language is only one means of communication; animals transmit messages without language • Human beings also communicate in different ways • Semiotics examines all kinds of communication together

  44. Legal semiotics • Research into the symbols of power and judicial rituals • Messages that are not legal, but that express the authority and prestige of judicial bodies: solemnity of court-houses, judges’ dress, positioning of judges and parties in the courtroom, rituals of legal procedure – wordless messages

  45. Legal semiotics • Closely related to legal linguistics: the tone of the judge, the prosecutor, and the advocate, rhetorical pauses in their speech, the requirement that the public maintain absolute silence • Written presentations: the material, colour, decoration of documents

  46. Legal semiotics • Legal circles employ non-verbal signals that transmit legal messages • How effective is legal communication by non-verbal means? • E.g. drawings or charts annexed to a contract or a law • Body language (e.g. traffic police hand signals), visual signs (road signs, landmarks), sound signals (river traffic communications) • Symbols expressing authority: heraldry, flags, medals

  47. Legal informatics • Examines and teaches various forms of relationship between the law and information and between law and informatics, as well as related problems of legal regulation and interpretation • Legal style, structure of laws, intertextual references • Systematisation of legal texts • Structure of legal texts, use of notes and appendices, methods of emphasizing passages in the text and of showing links between different parts of the text (chapter and paragraph numbering, bold or italic script for headings and key words

  48. Link with legal science • Systematizes the legal order through legal concepts • Primary interest – concepts • Legal linguistics – terms are the primary object of research • Legal science – meaning of legal terms

  49. Links with other legal studies • Legal theory, legal informatics, legal sociology, history of law – fundamwental importance from the standpoint of legal linguistics • In the development of legal language, history of language and history of law are fused; impossible to understand the circumstances in which legal language is used without knowing sociological dana • Comparative law - helps legal linguist to understand the interactive links between various languages used for legal purposes

  50. Legal interpretation • Semantic and syntactic arguments – important part • Linguistic methods, notably those of textual linguistics, useful to legal scholars and practical lawyers in the task of interpreting

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