法律英语的文体特征

Abstract：ThispaperdiscussesstylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishfromtheperspectiveofgraphological,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.

Keywords：legalEnglishstylisticfeatures

LegalEnglishmeansEnglishforlegalmattersinthoseEnglish-speakingcountriessuchasBritain,UnitedStates,Canada,etc.LegalEnglishcanalsobecalledEnglishforlaworthelegalprofession.It'sspecialEnglishwithlegalprofessionalfeatures,anditbelongstothecategoryofappliedlinguistics.ItisbasedonthegeneralEnglishwithitsownstylisticfeatures.

MartinJoosputforwardfivestylesoflanguage：thefrozenstyle；theformalstyle；theconsultativestyle；thecasualstyle；theintimatestyle.WhilelegalEnglishisoneofthemostformaloneinallkindsofEnglishvarieties.Itispartofthefrozenstyle.Itsuniquestylisticfeaturecanbereflectedbyitsdistinctgraphology,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.

GraphologicalLevel：

CapitalizationCapitalsareusedtodignifyorpersonifyalexiconitem,initialcapitalorkeywordsaretypicalfeaturesoflegallanguage.SuchasinTheConstitutionoftheUnitedSates,WethePeopleoftheUnitedStates,inOrdertoformamoreperfectUnion,establishJustice,insuredomesticTranquility等

LexicalLevel：

ArchaisLegalEnglish,asahighlyregularwrittenlanguage,theuseofarchaicwordsisoneofthemostremarkablecharacteristic.itreflectstheregular,solemn,conservative,rigidandauthoritativestyleoflegalEnglish.Themostoftenarchaicwordsarethosepoundsadverbormedusuallybyanadverbialword,towhichapreposition-likewordhadbeensuffixed,forexample,whereby,thereafter,hereby,henceforth.hereto.etc.Archaisarevitalpartoflegaltext,fortheconservativeorarchaiclanguageisregardedaoreformalandprecisethaneverydayspeech,andatthesametime.itiortheauthorityoflaw.TheappropriateuseofArchaiscanincreasethesolemnityandeleganceoflegallanguage.

LoanwordromLatinandFrenchTheEnglishlanguageisamixedcharacter,oneofthesignificantfeaturesofEnglishisitassborrowingfromotherlanguage,andmorethanhalfoftheEnglishvocabularyisderivedfromLatinandFrench.FrenchandLatinwordsusedinlegalEnglishareextremelynumerousaswell.TheearlieststatuesusedLatinastheirmediumofmunication,andfromabout1275tothefifteencenturyFrenchwasthepredominantlanguageinEurope.Nowadays,LatinandFrenchstillpervadeEnglishlegaltext.Suchasveto否决,homicide杀人,custody拘留,jusretentiouis留置权,plaintiff原告,defendant被告,attorney律师.TechnicaltermsThisreferstocertainwordsorexpressionsusedinthefieldoflaw.ComparedwithordinaryEnglish,meaningsofthesetermsarefixedandstable.Usingthesetechnicaltermsisaneffectivewaytoachieveaccuracy.Eachtechnicaltermreferstoagivenlegalconcept,anditcannotbereplacedbyanyotherterminuse.Suchasspecificperformance（强制执行）,contemptofcourt（藐视法庭）,plaintiff（原告）,powerofattorney（委托书）alibi（不在犯罪现场）,burdenofproof（举证责任）.

FrequentuseofsynonymsThefrequentuseofpairsofsynonymsisanothernotablefeatureoflegaltexts.Throughtheuseofsynonymslegaltextanagetostateclearlynearlyallthelikelyandexpectedconditions.Thefollowingaresomeexamplesofsynonyms：Rightsandinterests（权益）,termsandconditions（条件）,lossesanddamages（损坏）,nullandvoid（无效）.

Syntacticlevel

DeclarativesentencesLegallanguageisbasicallyconnectedwiththeauthorizationofrights,impositionofobligationsorpunishment,andenforcementoflaw.Forthesakeofobjectivityandimpartiality,theuseofdeclarativesentencesispredominantinlegalEnglish.However,theotherthreetypesofsentencesseldomcanbefoundinlegaltextortheytendtoshowemotions.Forexample：TheArbitrationCommissionhasonehonoraryChairmanandseveraladvisers.TheaboveexamplesstipulatetheinstaurationofArbitrationCommission.

LongandplexsentenceOneofthemoststrikingcharacteristicsoflegalsyntaxisthepreponderanceoflongsentences.Inordertooiddisputesandmisunderstandings,thestatementoflegalregulationsorcontracttermustbeprecise,pleteandmeticulousauchaspossible.Comparedwithshortsentences,theycanexpresoreplicatedideasandfactsnotlikeshortsentenceswhicharemorecasualandcolloquialandaremostlikelytobeusedinunofficialoccasions.Hence,theEnglishlegaltextsoftenareobscureandhardtounderstand.

NominalstructuresOnesalientfeatureoflegalEnglishisitspreferencefornominalization,itmeanstheactionprocessesareexpressedintheformofnouns,forinstance,to"makeanappointment"insteadof"toappoint",and"onexpirationofthecontract"insteadof"whenthecontractexpires".Byusingthenominalization,itcanhelpthedraftersortranslatorsbringinagreaterdegreeofprecision,objectivityandjustness.

PassivevoiceTheuseofpassivevoiceisoneofthemostmonmethodsofemphasizingtheimpersonalinlegaltexts.Thereasonofusingitisdescribingthingsinanobjectiveandimpartialmanner.Forinstance,representativesanddirecttaxesshallbeapportionedamongtheseveralstateswhichmaybeincludedwithinthisunion.Discourseapproach：

Paralleli：inlegalEnglish,parallelconstructionareextensivelyused,paralleliconsistsofwords,phrases,orclausesofsimilarconstructionandmeaningplacedsidebysidetoachievehighlycohesive,logical,andprecise.

Repetition：Repetitionofwordsandsentences,whenadoptedasatechniqueinlegaltext,itcreatesasemioticsystem,itisusedwithparallelitoemphasizetheequalimportanceofparallelparts.Thesetwousedtogethertomakeaformidablepainofforcefulwritingandachievetherhetoricaleffects,thusenhancingclarityandcoherenceoflegaltext.

Parenthesis：Byparenthesiswemeanaword,phrase,orevenawholesentencemaybeinsertedintoanotherwisepletelyindependentsentence,eitherasafterthought,orforsomeelucidatingpurpose.Theinsertionissetoffbypunctuationdevices,mas,dashes.Itiorthepurposeofbeingaccuratenotforanypossiblemisunderstandingorambiguity.

ThispapertriestoanalysisthestylisticfeaturesoflegalEnglishfromthegraphology,lexical,syntactic,anddiscourselevels.Fromwhathadbeenmentionedabove,wecanappreciatethedistinctfeaturesoflegalEnglishandunderstandmoreaboutthisspecificfiled.

参考文献：

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作者简介：郑亚楠大连大学英语学院应用语言学专业研究生.

（作者单位：大连大学英语学院）