Textual representation as a conceptual tool: Big data analysis of legal language
Abstract
This paper argues for a sociolinguistic approach to legal linguistics, which contributes insights into the law that have hitherto been under-explored, in particular, in legal scholarship. Law as a tool of social governance is conditioned by the society’s perceptions of its identity, including the hegemony of its structures, its moral, social, geo-political and cultural constructs and its economic needs. This aspect of social governance is linguistically fixed through legal language, which is performative, on the one hand, but also conveys social meaning, sociolinguistic content and aspects of the society’s identity, on the other. That aspect of legal language has had less attention in legal research.
Abstract
This paper argues for a sociolinguistic approach to legal linguistics, which contributes insights into the law that have hitherto been under-explored, in particular, in legal scholarship. Law as a tool of social governance is conditioned by the society’s perceptions of its identity, including the hegemony of its structures, its moral, social, geo-political and cultural constructs and its economic needs. This aspect of social governance is linguistically fixed through legal language, which is performative, on the one hand, but also conveys social meaning, sociolinguistic content and aspects of the society’s identity, on the other. That aspect of legal language has had less attention in legal research.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1: Investigating legal interpretation and argumentation
- The Dulac affair and the triple game of contemporary art 9
- Argumentation, rhetoric and legal justification. The case of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling on abortion 29
- The pragmatics of evidence discourse: Ostensive acts 47
-
Section 2: Looking at language to investigate legal challenges
- Illusions of a common Language: Impressions of an arbitration practitioner 67
- Pragmatic features of Italian court proceedings 79
- Politeness Matters: What honorifics can tell us about accuracy in Japanese-English court interpreting 91
- Textual representation as a conceptual tool: Big data analysis of legal language 117
-
Section 3: Theories of sense and meaning for legal investigations
- What is practical about law? Contemporary legal philosophy on legal practice 145
- Natural semantic (legal?) metalanguage. What can legal theory learn from Anna Wierzbicka? 173
- Index 205
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Introduction 1
-
Section 1: Investigating legal interpretation and argumentation
- The Dulac affair and the triple game of contemporary art 9
- Argumentation, rhetoric and legal justification. The case of Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling on abortion 29
- The pragmatics of evidence discourse: Ostensive acts 47
-
Section 2: Looking at language to investigate legal challenges
- Illusions of a common Language: Impressions of an arbitration practitioner 67
- Pragmatic features of Italian court proceedings 79
- Politeness Matters: What honorifics can tell us about accuracy in Japanese-English court interpreting 91
- Textual representation as a conceptual tool: Big data analysis of legal language 117
-
Section 3: Theories of sense and meaning for legal investigations
- What is practical about law? Contemporary legal philosophy on legal practice 145
- Natural semantic (legal?) metalanguage. What can legal theory learn from Anna Wierzbicka? 173
- Index 205
