Framing terminology in legal translation
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Pamela Faber
und
Arianne Reimerink
Abstract
Legal language and its translation are considerably more complex than scientific and technical translation because the legal object is a text that performs an action. For this reason it is not only necessary to consider the legal terminology but also the structure of the text itself as well as the verbs used and their performative act. In this paper, we explore how the analysis of terminological meaning in legal texts can be addressed from the perspective of Frame-Based Terminology (FBT), a cognitive approach to domain-specific language, which directly links specialized knowledge representation to cognitive linguistics and cognitive semantics. In a case study on international agreements in the context of environmental law, we analyze the argument structure of verbs as well as the conceptual categories of their semantic arguments providing insights into the semantic profile of this text type. The representation of the verb class and its semantic arguments can be considered a type of interlingua that could be used as a basis for translation.
Appendix: International environmental agreements in our corpus
Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, Aarhus, 1998.
Advancing the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, Ad Hoc Working Group, Durban, 2014.
Agreement for cooperation in dealing with pollution of the North Sea by oil and other harmful substances, Bonn, 1983.
Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, Bonn, 2015.
Alpine Convention, Alpine Conference of Environment Ministers, Berchtesgaden, 1989.
Bali Action Plan, United Nations, Bali, 2007.
Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Basel, 1989.
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, 2000.
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, Barcelona, 2004.
Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Nort-East Atlantic, 1992 OSPAR Convention, 2007.
Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations, Rio de Janeiro, 1992.
Convention on Cooperation for the Protection and Sustainable use of the Danube River, Sofia, 1994.
Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, Geneva, 1979.
Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Canberra, 1980.
Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, Bern, 1979.
Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and other Matter, London, Mexico City, Moscow and Washington, 1972.
Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, Helsinki, 1992.
Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution, Bucharest, 1992.
Copenhagen Accord, United Nations, Copenhagen, 2009.
Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea, Helsinki, 1992.
Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, Helsinki, 1992.
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, Paris, 1994.
Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa, United Nations, Paris, 1994.
Cooperation Agreement for the Protection of the Coasts and Waters of the North-East Atlantic against Pollution, Lisbon, 1990.
Handbook for the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 1985, Tenth edition, Nairobi, 2016.
International Tropical Timber Agreement, United Nations, Geneva, 2006.
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto, 1997.
Minimata Convention on Mercury, United Nations, Kumamoto, 2013.
Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, Montreal, 1987.
Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Montreal Convention on Biological Diversity, United Nations, Nagoya, 2010.
Paris Agreement, United Nations United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Paris, 2015.
Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Stockholm, 2009.
The Cancun Agreements: Outcome of the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention, United Nations, Framework Convention on Climate Change, Cancun, 2011.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations, New York, 1992.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- research-article
- #MeToo: A tentacular movement of positionality and legal powers
- Framing terminology in legal translation
- Meaning construction and judicial identification: Difficulties and countermeasures of criminal regulation of illegal fundraising behavior on online P2P lending platforms
- Features of the language of law: A comparative study of Polish, English and Indonesian legal texts
- When is she a woman?: Gendered subject forming language in TRAP laws
- The Web as a legal language resource
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- research-article
- #MeToo: A tentacular movement of positionality and legal powers
- Framing terminology in legal translation
- Meaning construction and judicial identification: Difficulties and countermeasures of criminal regulation of illegal fundraising behavior on online P2P lending platforms
- Features of the language of law: A comparative study of Polish, English and Indonesian legal texts
- When is she a woman?: Gendered subject forming language in TRAP laws
- The Web as a legal language resource
