scholarly journals Investigating and Translating Formality in English Legal Texts into Arabic

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (136) ◽  
pp. 69-80
Author(s):  
Sameer Salih Mahdi Al-Dahwi
Keyword(s):  
Formal Language ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Unusual Type

Legal language is an unusual type of language which raises the interest of many people. It is considered to be one of the discourses that prefer traditional styles and values. Moreover, using this language is confined to specific places and circumstances, namely, in a court or legal texts. Additionally, legal language is radically different from ordinary language in vocabulary, morphology, syntax, and semantics, in addition to other distinctive features. In fact, one of the predominant distinctive features of legal language is that it is a formal language. It is hypothesized that formality in English legal language is realized with different ways and at different levels. It is also hypothesized that what is formal in English is not necessarily formal in Arabic. In other words, formal expressions in English and Arabic are realized differently. The data in this study has been quoted from different authentic legal texts supplemented by the researcher's renderings. 

scholarly journals Metaphors and Legal Language: a Few Comments on Ordinary, Specialised and Legal Meaning

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-295
Author(s):  
Sylwia Wojtczak ◽  
Iwona Witczak-Plisiecka
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Ordinary Meaning ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The Law ◽  
Metaphorical Mapping ◽  
Language And Law ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Present Text ◽  
Legal Meaning

The present text offers a few comments on the metaphorical dimension of legal language and the nature of legal language as such. The authors discuss selected metaphors in the context of the Polish legislation with the aim to show how the metaphorical dimension of language can be used and abused. It is also demonstrated that the metaphorical dimension of language can cross-cut the interface between language and law on different levels. There are metaphors in legal texts that can be deliberately used to emphasise or cover selected aspects of meaning, and others that can just happen to act irrespective of any premeditated action on the part of the legislator. Finally, in a wider perspective, it is shown that the relation between ordinary language and the language of the law, i.e. ordinary meaning and legal meaning, may itself be seen as a relation between two domains within which metaphorical mapping takes place. It is claimed that the divide between the realm of law and the “real world” goes beyond a trivial division relative to expertise in the law and expertise in legal discourse, but can be better understood as the division between the legal community and the non-legal community including the academia where linguists reside.

A study of legal translation from the perspective of error analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chan Hu ◽  
Le Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Error Analysis ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Source Language ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Reference Tools

AbstractIn this research, we established a small scale corpus with abstracts in English and Chinese from the law reviews of Taiwan. We identified problems found in these abstracts and classified them into several categories. After analyzing the problems, we found that translators are faced with numerous problems when translating legal texts: the influence of ordinary language, lack of reliable reference tools, insufficiency of legal knowledge, deficiency in the target language or source language, and the peculiar characteristics of legal language. These problems simply render the task of translating even more intricate. Strategies will be proposed to enhance the ability of legal translators and to help them to overcome these obstacles.

Da eine oder mehrere betroffen …

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-100
Author(s):  
Melitta Gillmann
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Formal Language ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
Matrix Clause ◽  
Very High Frequency ◽  
Corpus Study ◽  
Causal Relations ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Very High

AbstractBased on a corpus study conducted using the GerManC corpus (1650–1800), the paper sketches the functional and sociosymbolic development of subordinate clause constructions introduced by the subjunctor da ‘since’ in different text genres. In the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century, the da clauses were characterized by semantic vagueness: Besides temporal, spatial and causal relations, the subjunctor established conditional, concessive, and adversative links between clauses. The corpus study reveals that different genres are crucial to the readings of da clauses. Spatial and temporal usages, for example, occur more often in sermons than in other genres. The conditional reading, in contrast, strongly tends to occur in legal texts, where it displays very high frequency. This could be the reason why da clauses carry indexical meaning in contemporary German and are associated with formal language. Over the course of the 18th century, the causal usages increase in all genres. Surprisingly, these causal da clauses tend to be placed in front of the matrix clause despite the overall tendency of causal clauses to follow the matrix clause.

scholarly journals Three Types of Architectural Educational Strategies (AES) in Sustainable Buildings for Learning Environments in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8166
Author(s):  
Jean-Pierre Chupin ◽  
Morteza Hazbei ◽  
Karl-Antoine Pelchat
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Formal Language ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
Practical Approach ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Sustainable Buildings ◽  
Sustainable Architecture ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Advanced Knowledge

This article explores a trend provisionally called “eco-didacticism” observable for nearly 15 years in art, design and architecture. The corpus concentrates on learning centres as buildings meant to diffuse advanced knowledge in the field of sustainable architecture. We found evidence of additional educational intentions to the pedagogical or scientific programs that these buildings have already been mandated to host and support. A variety of practices or devices have sometimes been added to the architecture, sometimes integrated, while others determine the overall structuring of these educational buildings. Seven cases of “learning centres” built in Canada between 2004 and 2018 have been screened through three epistemological filters distinguishing forms of “architectural didactics”: 1—a labeling often quantitative approach, 2—an experiential or practical approach, 3—a visually narrative or iconic approach. While outlining definitions of these Architectural Educational Strategies (AES), we offer initial explanations for their distinctive features. It appears that architects, designers and critics altogether operate on the belief that forms of architectural communication can operate as elements of a language that would be accessible to non-experts. Our conclusion indicates how future research could question the very possibility of giving lessons through formal language and aesthetic features.

scholarly journals A simplification of the Consumer Rights Act. Plain legal language and legal language

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 45-71
Author(s):  
Natalia Zych
Keyword(s):  
Effective Communication ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Consumer Rights ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Average Reader ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Cost

The article examines the idea of plain legal language as a standard in creating comprehensible and effective communication in legislative acts. It features plain legal language techniques and tools used to tackle the visual and linguistic layer of legal texts. Selected techniques were implemented to experimentally modify the Polish Consumer Rights Act of 30 May 2014. The document, transformed in the spirit of plain legal language, was then submitted for assessment to lawyers as well as individuals with no legal background. The article features the results of the experiment as well as conclusions which make it possible to say whether the “simplified” act is more comprehensible to an average reader, and to assess the cost of the changes introduced in the original provisions of the law.

scholarly journals Expression Unleashed

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Heintz ◽  
Thom Scott-Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Social Ecology ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Ordinary Language ◽  
Partner Choice ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Species Comparisons ◽  
Aid Coordination ◽  
Novel Behaviour

Human expression is diverse and multi-faceted, ranging from ordinary language use to painting, from exaggerated displays of affection to micro-movements that aid coordination. Here we present and defend the claim that this expressive diversity is united by an interrelated suite of cognitive capacities, the evolved function of which is the expression and recognition of informative intentions. We describe how evolutionary dynamics normally leash communication to narrow domains of statistical mutual benefit, and how they are unleashed in humans. The relevant cognitive capacities are cognitive adaptations to living in a partner choice social ecology; and they are, correspondingly, part of the ordinarily developing human cognitive phenotype, emerging early and reliably in ontogeny. In other words, we identify distinctive features of our species’ social ecology that can explain how and why humans evolved the cognitive capacities that, in turn, lead to massive diversity in means and modes of expression. We make relevant cross-species comparisons, describe how the relevant cognitive capacities can evolve in a gradual manner, and survey how unleashed expression facilitates not only the evolution of languages, but novel behaviour in other domains too, focusing on the examples of joint action, punishment, and the arts. We aim to help reorient cognitive pragmatics, as a phenomenon that is not a supplement to linguistic communication and on the periphery of language science, but rather the foundation of many of the most of the most distinctive features of human behaviour and societies.

Tendenzen zu einer geschlechtsneutralen Rechtssprache in Deutschland, Österreich und der Slowakei

2021 ◽  
pp. 159-173
Author(s):  
Alena Ďuricová
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Legal Language ◽  
Translation Practice ◽  
Legal Texts

TENDENCIES TOWARDS GENDER – THE EQUITABLE LEGAL LANGUAGE IN GERMANY, AUSTRIA AND SLOVAKIA The article focuses on a special feature of legal language – its prevailing “masculine“ character. An initial theoretical outline of this peculiarity is followed by a comparative linguistic analysis of using masculine and feminine forms in German and Slovak legal terms. Our linguistic analysis is based on the comparison of legal texts collected from the author´s translation practice. The research has been conducted from the perspective of translatology and it presents examples documenting translation solutions with regard to issues of the gender equality in legal language.

Some reflections on the Contextualist approach to ethico-legal texts of the Quran

2008 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-237
Author(s):  
Abdullah Saeed
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Contextualist Approach ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Different Levels

AbstractA “contextualist” reading of the Quran is becoming increasingly popular, particularly among those Muslims referred to as “progressive-ijtihadis”. One of the primary concerns of this reading is that in order to understand and interpret the ethico-legal content of the Quran and relate that content to the changing needs and circumstances of Muslims today, it is important to approach the text at different levels, giving a high degree of emphasis to the socio-historical context of the text. In the classical tafsīr this emphasis on socio-historical context was not considered important, particularly in the interpretation of the ethico-legal texts, despite the frequent use of asbāb al-nuzūl literature. In this paper, I will explore how progressive-ijtihadis are adopting a contextualist reading of ethico-legal texts of the Quran. To illustrate this, I will use one or two such texts (verses) and their interpretations by the progressive-ijtihadis and will seek to demonstrate the contours of this approach, and highlight some of the challenges this approach is facing.

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.

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