Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/9091
Title: Using English in the legal process
Contributor(s): Eades, Diana  (author)
Publication Date: 2010
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/9091
Abstract: 'I wonder if I might uplift from Your Honour the documentation?' might seem a rather strange way for a lawyer to ask a judge if he can take back a piece of paper. Legal English is an occupational register, which includes specialised vocabulary and many formal sentence constructions. It is well known that legal documents, such as wills and contracts, are characterised by this specialised register ,known in ordinary English as 'legalese'. To a lesser extent, specialised vocabulary and formal sentence constructions are also found in spoken legal contexts, such as the opening example above from a courtroom hearing. So, you might speak English, but can you understand what goes on in court? Actually, it it is likely that many people will understand most, if not all, of the talk that is addressed directly to them (and note that, in the opening example, a lawyer is talking to a judge, not to a witness). In spoken legal contexts the legal vocabulary and sentence structures typically occur in talk between lawyers and judges: it is a kind of 'insiders' language', similar to the way in which computer technicians might discuss your computer problems, in their specialised register, in front of you. But there is more to specialised legal language than vocabulary and grammar. This chanter will focus on features of pragmatics - how language is used in social contexts - which are specific to legal contexts, in particular to the criminal justice process in common law systems (used in countries such as the UK, Australia and the USA).
Publication Type: Book Chapter
Source of Publication: The Routledge Companion to English Language Studies, p. 196-207
Publisher: Routledge
Place of Publication: London, United Kingdom
ISBN: 9780415401739
0203878957
9780203878958
0415403383
9780415403382
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 200405 Language in Culture and Society (Sociolinguistics)
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 950201 Communication Across Languages and Culture
950202 Languages and Literacy
HERDC Category Description: B1 Chapter in a Scholarly Book
Publisher/associated links: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415401739/
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/27037148
Series Name: Routledge Companions
Editor: Editor(s): Joan Swann and Janet Maybin
Appears in Collections:Book Chapter
School of Psychology

Files in This Item:
3 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record

Page view(s)

1,376
checked on Aug 3, 2024
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.