Development of deontic modality in Chinese civil laws

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362
Author(s):  
Mingyu Gong ◽  
Winnie Cheng ◽  
Le Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Legal Text ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Deontic Modality ◽  
Civil Laws ◽  
Development And Evolution

Abstract In legislative texts, deontic modality helps define rights, privileges, obligations, and responsibilities. Based on a corpus of Chinese civil laws from 1949 to 2015, the study investigates the development of deontic modality in Chinese civil legislative discourse and examines the variations of deontic modality diachronically from a quantitative, functional perspective, thereby shedding lights on variations of legal text. This study shows that patterns of deontic modality manifest different features in different stages. The changes of linguistic forms of deontic modality show evidence of the adaptive feature in legal language. From a quantitative perspective, the study suggests that a corpus-driven approach helps examine the development and evolution of deontic modality diachronically. It also contributes to an understanding of deontic modality mechanisms by providing both empirical evidence and theoretical insights.

Antonym adjective pairs and prosodic iconicity: evidence from letter replications in an English blogger corpus

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Fuchs ◽  
Egor Savin ◽  
Stephanie Solt ◽  
Cornelia Ebert ◽  
Manfred Krifka
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
General Assumption ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Prosodic Features ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Temporal Extent

AbstractWhile the general assumption has long been that natural languages exhibit an arbitrary pairing of form and meaning, there is increasing empirical evidence that iconicity in language is not uncommon. One example from spoken language involves iconic prosodic modulation, i.e. the changing of prosodic features such as duration and fundamental frequency to express meanings such as size and speed. In this paper, we use data from an English social media corpus, with 140 million words written by 19,320 bloggers, to investigate a counterpart to iconic prosodic modulation in written language, namely letter replications (e.g. loooong). We examine pairs of gradable adjectives such as short/long, tiny/huge and fast/slow, finding a higher frequency of letter replications for adjectives associated with greater size or spatial/temporal extent. We did not find an iconic effect on the number of replicated letters. Our results show evidence for iconic prosody in written language, and further demonstrate that social media databases offer an excellent opportunity to investigate naturalistic written language.

Sophisticated Textualism and Sanctions

2020 ◽  
Vol 82 ◽  
pp. 343-357
Author(s):  
Tomasz Zyglewicz
Keyword(s):  
Legal Language ◽  
Possible World ◽  
Legal Text

In this paper I present a difficulty for Matczak’s sophisticated textualism. I argue that, due to his claims about the descriptive character of legal language and the unity of the possible world postulated by the legal text, his theory cannot successfully account for norms that express factors that an authority should take into account when determining the measure of sanction. I reject two replies to this objection that do not require a modification of Matczak’s account. The upshot of my argument is that in order to accommodate norms pertaining to sanctions, Matczak should drop the assumption of unity of the possible world described by the legal text.

scholarly journals Grupa nominalna w ustawach . System wewnątrztekstowych-odniesień

2016 ◽  
pp. 95-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romana Łapa
Keyword(s):  
Legal Language ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
Legal Text ◽  
Initial Location ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Two Component ◽  
Event Driven ◽  
Nominal Groups ◽  
Polish Language

This paper deals with a group of contemporary legal texts which have the form of statutes. The author describes the anaphoric relation between nominal groups (NG) constituted by an event-driven element and sentences which are linearly prior to these groups, the so-called antecedents. The analysis, founded on principles of syntax with a semantic basis, provides observations about restrictions in the formalisation of elements of the semantic base whose elements can be connected with the use of NG. The disclosure of elements of the content plan, excluding exceptions, entails a condensation which causes that categorical meanings that are the most intensely governed and communicatively relevant are fulfilled on the surface. The inability to reproduce the meaning of the “grammatical agent” causes that NG with a constitutive event-driven element are an indication of the depersonalisation attributed to legal texts. The repeatability of NG, mainly one- and two-component phrases, as well as their initial location in an utterance are factors depicting another feature of statutes: syntactic schematism. The author also demonstrates that the system of intratextual references is not the same in various variants of the Polish language. In the statute, as a genre of the legal language, its specific nature is already noticeable within one of the systematising units of the legal text, i.e. the article. The specific nature of the examined relation is conditioned by (1) the proper arrangement of structures connected with a network of references, and (2) the manner of their denotation. These features are the results of adherence to the editorial principles of legal texts.

scholarly journals A Corpus-Based Analysis of Deontic Modality of Obligation and Prohibition in Arabic/English Constitutions

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 107-136
Author(s):  
Hanem El-Farahaty ◽  
Abdelhamid Elewa
Keyword(s):  
Legal Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Deontic Modals ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
Detailed Classification ◽  
Deontic Modality

It is argued that legal language should be formal, precise and clear to avoid ambiguity and/or misunderstanding. As rights and duties are communicated through modals, clarity and precision in drafting and translating them is crucial. Otherwise, there is a possibility of conveying loose messages in the source text or different and/or inconsistent messages in the target text. However, the drafting of Arabic modal expressions does not follow clear guidelines, and their translation differs from one translator to another.  This paper investigates how deontic modality of obligation and prohibition is used in The Leeds Annotated Parallel Corpus of Arabic-English Constitutions in comparison to The Leeds Monolingual Corpus of English Constitutions. More specifically, the paper presents a classification of these modal expressions and investigates the different lexical variants expressed in a Corpus of Arabic Constitutions. The paper uses corpus-based tools to analyse the different lexical forms used for deontic modality of obligation and prohibition in Arabic and how they are rendered into English. Results of such analysis are compared to a non-translated Corpus of English Constitutions to find out whether the deontic meaning of the modals is comparable to the set of deontic modals used in the constitutions originally drafted in English. The corpus-based analysis gave a detailed classification of a variety of modal expressions used in the Arabic Corpus. It also showed that the translation of deontic modals of obligation and prohibition from Arabic into English is influenced by the source text lexical variations; however, the corpus techniques employed in the study managed to capture some comparable modals in both corpora.

scholarly journals EMI lecturers’ practices in correcting English

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-284
Author(s):  
Guzman Mancho-Barés ◽  
Marta Aguilar-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Education Policy ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Corrective Feedback ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Language Assessment ◽  
Assessment Practices ◽  
Written Corrective Feedback ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
English Medium Instruction ◽  
Actual Teaching

Abstract Research on English-medium instruction (EMI) has pointed to lecturers’ refusal to teach or correct English. This study seeks empirical evidence to investigate the extent to which content lecturers’ assessment practices align with their expressed beliefs regarding language teaching. Drawing on three types of data – a questionnaire, interviews and students’ exams – we aimed at finding and exploring EMI lecturers’ written corrective feedback (WCF) as part of language assessment practices. Findings suggest that while EMI content lecturers repeatedly express their refusal to teach English, their actual teaching practices show evidence of some provision of language-related feedback. These findings are discussed against university language education policy. A gate opener lecturer profile is identified whose corrective feedback creates opportunities for correctly using disciplinary English.

scholarly journals LE PRÉAMBULE DE LA CONSTITUTION COMME UN EXEMPLE D'UN TEXTE DE DROIT

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Piotr PIEPRZYCA
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Legal Text ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
And Function

Preamble to the Constitution is a special type of legal text, which differs significantly from the other legislative texts, both in terms of vocabulary, syntax and semantics. This paper aims to make the characteristics of the legal language of the preamble to the Constitution – its content, form and function it plays in the legal system. The linguistic corpus is composed of over twenty preambles to constitutions of European countries. The results show that, despite some differences between the preambles of individual European countries, there are many features in common – almost all mention the values and principles, considered as fundamental to the nation, such as independence, freedom or democracy. Some preambles also refer to the history of the country or religion and to the person of God – both indirectly and directly. Despite the fact that the preamble in terms of language is not like other legal texts, it has the characteristics of a normative act.

scholarly journals TECHNIKA KOMUNIKOWANIA PRAWA W DECYZJACH I ZARZĄDZENIACH ADMINISTRACYJNYCH

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 27-54
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa LIZISOWA
Keyword(s):  
Decision Maker ◽  
Personal Knowledge ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Legal Text ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Linguistic Understanding ◽  
The Status ◽  
Legislative Language ◽  
Mutual Relations

The article is a linguistic lecture on mutual relations between legal language and legislative language on the semantic, syntactic, pragmatic and stylistic planes. The author analysed decisions and official regulations with regard to the status of language as well as the linguistic understanding of communication. A decisive official act is a testimony of the primary reading of the text of a legislative act by an official, fulfilling the role of an interpreter and a decision maker in applying law. He fulfils a duty imposed on him by the norm of competence, verbalised in principles of legal acts. In the process of organizing a legal text, he makes use of the rules of language, according to both the studied and the statutorily recommended rules of the interpretations of law. Through evoking the content of legal articles in official documents, therefore through concretization of legal norms in the process of reception, the legal meanings and contexts undergo a certain kind of assimilation by an official-interpreter. Later, they become adapted in corresponding legal situations, and finally, as a consequence, a process of universalization of knowledge about the established law takes place, because an official-decision maker inscribes his personal knowledge of the legislative content into a specific legal reality of his own community.

scholarly journals Board diversity in the perspective of financial distress: Empirical evidence from the Netherlands

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard Santen ◽  
Han Donker
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Financial Distress ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Performance Measure ◽  
Company Performance ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Board Diversity ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
The Relationship

This paper analyses the relationship between board diversity (in gender and in nationality) and financial distress. A summary of the theory behind board diversity precedes an overview of the empirical evidence on the relationship between diversity and company performance. The paper presents empirical research on the relationship between a negative performance measure, financial distress, and diversity on the board. The results show a positive relationship between the presence of foreign non-executive directors and financial distress. It is suggested that this is caused by negative communication and misunderstandings. No relationship is found between the gender of a director and financial distress. On a micro-level, the data do not show evidence for the glass cliff hypothesis.

scholarly journals Postulat usunięcia terminu obyczajność z Kodeksu karnego

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-142
Author(s):  
Łukasz Piosik
Keyword(s):  
Penal Code ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Precise Description ◽  
Legal Text ◽  
Sexual Crimes ◽  
Professional Interpreter

In my article, I formulate and describe the demand to remove the term obyczajność (propriety) from the Penal Code. In the course of the analysis, I will attempt to prove that its presence in the Act is an example of cultivating a terminological tradition that dates back to the partitions period and was started for a reason that is currently out­dated – the general language was insufficient to describe sexual crimes. I also show that due to the discrepancy between the general and legal language, the use of the term obyczajność may mislead a non-professional interpreter of a legal text. The text con­cludes with a more precise description of the titular demand, i.e. a proposal to change the title of Chapter 25 of the Penal Code.

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