A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf

5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf

MASARYK UNIVERSITY IN BRNO

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

The Language of Law

-A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus onLexical (Binomial) Expressions

THESIS

Brno 2007

Supervisor: Written by:

Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrtilov, Ph.D. Petra Dmov


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Declaration

I declare that I worked on the thesis on my own and that I consulted and used only the

sources listed in the bibliography.

I agree with depositing of this thesis at the library of the Faculty of Education of

Masaryk University in Brno for the purposes of study.

August 7, 2007


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Acknowledgements

I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor, Mgr. Olga Dontcheva-Navrtilov,

Ph.D., for her kind help, valuable advice and willing comments on my thesis.


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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................6

1. LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND............................................................................................................8

2. STYLISTIC BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................11

2.1THENEED FOR STYLISTICS................................................... ........................................................... . 11

2.2WHAT IS STYLE? ........................................................ ........................................................... ........... 13

2.3STYLISTIC ANALYSIS............................................................ ........................................................... . 14

2.3.1 Text and Context, Text and Discourse...................................................... ............................... 14

2.3.2 Situation the Extra-linguistic Context.................................................... ............................... 15

2.3.3 Levels of Stylistic Analysis ..................................................... .................................................. 17

2.4LEGAL DISCOURSE ..................................................... ........................................................... ........... 18

2.4.1 The Domain of Legal Discourse ..................................................... ......................................... 18

2.4.2 Linguistic Description of the Legal Register...................................................... ..................... 18

2.5SUMMARY ........................................................ ........................................................... ..................... 24

3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LEGAL ENGLISH................................................................25

3.1THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD .......................................................... .................................................. 25

3.2THENORMAN PERIOD .......................................................... ........................................................... . 26

3.3TOWARDS MODERN LEGAL ENGLISH ...................................................... ......................................... 29

3.4THE LANGUAGE OF SIMPLIFIED LEGAL DOCUMENTS .................................................. ..................... 30

3.5SUMMARY ........................................................ ........................................................... ..................... 31

4. ON THE ISSUE OF BINOMIALS .....................................................................................................32

4.1TERMINOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS ........................................................... ......................................... 32

4.2THE ORIGIN AND USE OF BINOMIALS ...................................................... ......................................... 33

4.3LINGUISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF BINOMIALS.................................................. ............................... 34

4.3.1. Syntactic Aspects ........................................................ ........................................................... . 34

4.3.2. Semantic Aspects ........................................................ ........................................................... . 36

4.3.3 Phonetic and Rhythmic Aspects ...................................................... ......................................... 37

4.4SUMMARY ........................................................ ........................................................... ..................... 38

PRACTICAL PART ................................................................................................................................39

1. STYLISTIC ANALYSIS .....................................................................................................................40

1.1.THE AIM .......................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 40

1.2GENERAL CHARACTERIZATION ...................................................... .................................................. 41

1.3ANALYSIS......................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 421.3.1 Graphological and Phonological Level.................................................... ............................... 42


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1.3.2 Lexical Level...................................................... ........................................................... ........... 44

1.3.3 Grammatical Level...................................................... ........................................................... . 48

1.3.4 Discourse and Textual Level........................................................... ......................................... 54

1.4C

ONCLUSION.................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 58

2. ANALYSES OF BINOMIALS............................................................................................................59

2.1.THEMATIC STRUCTURE ....................................................... ........................................................... . 59

2.1.1 Rheme ...................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 61

2.1.2 Transition........................................................... ........................................................... ........... 63

2.1.3 Theme ...................................................... ........................................................... ..................... 65

2.1.4 Conclusion ......................................................... ........................................................... ........... 67

2.2SEMANTIC STRUCTURE OF BINOMIALS.................................................... ......................................... 68

2.2.1 Semantic Opposition.................................................... ........................................................... . 712.2.2 Semantic Homoeosemy .......................................................... .................................................. 75

2.2.3 Semantic Complementation ................................................... .................................................. 77

2.2.4 Semantic Hyponymy..................................................... ........................................................... . 81

2.2.5 Miscellaneous Relations ........................................................ .................................................. 82

2.2.6 Conclusion ......................................................... ........................................................... ........... 85

CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................86

BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................90


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INTRODUCTION

Communication is a means of transmitting information and there are several ways ofhow people can do so. One of them is language in its spoken and written forms.

Communication means giving and getting different amounts of information and various

characters and qualities of communicated messages at one time, which is conditioned by

many factors such as the time, place and subject matter of what is being transmitted

from the addressor to the addressee in a particular situation. The addressor

communicates because he intends not only to exchange information, but he also aims at

affecting the behaviour of the addressee. In perhaps more educated terms, it could be

pointed out that language is the core of communication. Language as an instrument of

communication presents a certain continuum of variations depending on numerous

contextual aspects, such as the function of the text (e.g. whether directive, expository or

narrative); the readership (experts, students, layman), and the role of the writer (expert,

educated layman), and so on. In this sense, numerous language styles and varieties have

come into existence. These are the grounds for the constant study of various domains of

languages, that of law being one of them.

The study of legal language has been affected by new theories introduced into

linguistics, in particular the sociolinguistic approaches and the movement for

simplification of legal discourse. Due to the active research of legal discourse since the

mid-seventies, many linguistic properties of legal English are fairly well understood

today. Even in this domain, there are two alternatives of discourse to be examined: oral

and written. In the first case, for example, the lawyer-client interaction and courtroom

interaction together with their linguistic strategies are investigated. The latter, though, is

more frequently the object of study because it represents a referential norm and a point

of comparison for most treatises. The active research in the field of law has shown how

different the two media, the spoken and written, are. Spoken legal English is not just a

spoken variant of the written text. It is a different genre at the same time because there

is a very tight connection between what is said, how it is said and why, and the situation

in which the speech is uttered. On the other hand, written legal English seems to be the

other extreme it is constant, stable and almost context-free.


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The language of law is the study object of this thesis. The theoretical part of this thesis

is divided into four main chapters, each of which deals with different issues relating to

the domain of law language. The aim of the chapters is to provide some basics in terms

of some essential linguistic elements (Chapter One), stylistic background and the

description of the legal register (Chapter Two), history of legal English (Chapter Three),

and linguistic/stylistic description of binomials (Chapter Four). The character of the

practical part stems from the theoretical base. There are two major objectives. The first

one is aimed at a stylistic analysis of the sample documents under examination in this

thesis. The other major objective includes two analyses, both of which are focused on

binomials. More detailed descriptions of each objective and analysis are available in the

respective chapters.


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1. LINGUISTIC BACKGROUND

Linguistics, part of which is stylistics, is a very complex field dealing with the study of

language and its related issues. A vigorous comeback of rationalism into the scientificstudy of language in the sixties of the twentieth century resulted in the fact that linguists

have (Hiltunen 1990:11)

increasingly turned away from idealized, intuition-based approaches to examining the

actual use of language to find evidence for generalization, e.g. by studying speech and

conversation as concrete data of verbal communication. In the case of written language, the

study of texts has come into the foreground, especially from the point of view of the

interaction between function and structure. It is largely due to this reassessment oflinguistic methodology that the importances of such branches of language study as

sociolinguistics, pragmatics and discourse analysis are almost taken for granted today.

Hiltunen further comments that languages are very intricate entities and linguists have

been looking at them at different levels and from different angles. They have studied

authentic speech, authentic speech situations and other related contexts and have come

to the conclusion that there is an enormous range of variation in them. Thus it is not

realistic to expect any one theory or approach to explain all their complexities (ibid.).

Not surprisingly, approaches to the domain of linguistics have varied throughout

decades, perhaps even centuries. Scholars, and linguists later on, have been bringing out

their views on the subject matter, altering ways of their studies of this area, and coining

new terms. Proof can be found earlier than the twentieth century - in particular in the

histories of synchronic and diachronic linguistics. An outline of these is to be found in

e.g. Hladk (1995). Out of the number of issues and linguists that he discusses, it may

seem important to mention the term inner speech form introduced by Wilhelm von

Humboldt (1767-1835). He describes it as in part common to all men as part of their

intellectual equipment, and in part specific to every language community something

like de Saussuresparole (ibid:16). Humboldt considered this the organizing principle

of language, pointing to a variety in a language structure.

Another marking point may be viewed in the work of structuralists. Whereas the

diachronic and the synchronic studies of language addressed the same subject from two


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angles, structuralists aimed at making a synthesis of the positive features of both

approaches. It is apparent in the activities of the Prague Linguistic Society that was

founded in the late twenties of the 20th century. The teachings of the Prague linguists

can be - as Hladk indicates (ibid: 21) - characterised by two attributes structural (the

system and the end product of a sound change could be a different phonological

system) and functional (the communicative function of language and the

communicative needs are responsible for the systematic organization of the formal

means and for changes in this systematic organization). Above that, they introduced

the distinction between the peripheryand the centre of vocabulary distinction based

on frequency. That means the most frequent lexical items are central, though very often

irregular (e.g. the verbs to be, to have, names of the main parts of the body, pronouns),

and peripheral are those items that are rarely used, such as nescience, a formal word for

ignorance. A typical example of a peripheral grammatical unit in English is the

subjunctive. Another distinct contribution to the linguistic field is those of Satzthema

and Satzaussage by Vilm Mathesius, later on elaborated by Firbas and Dane. The

terms in present-day use are theme(topic) and rheme(comment) (Firbas 1992).

Attempts to describe, explain and categorize the use of languages have found their way

to project also into the field of stylistics, and as Hiltunen (1990:12) states, the more

concrete approaches had always been better represented there than in some other areas,

for natural reasons. New terms such as register, special language, sublanguage and

languages of the professions were introduced into discussions of style. He continues

explaining that languages do not function in a vacuum, so the term of context and

other intra- and extralinguistic ties need to be taken into account as they create a

continuum. This continuum represents a scale in which the relationship betweenlanguage and context is relatively tight (e.g. British Acts of Parliament) at one end, but

on the other end it is relatively loose (legal textbooks, journals, documents). As a result,

there are several text type continua (ibid: 12).

It was in 1882 that the wordstylisticwas first recorded in English. However, it is a little

older. It appeared in 1860 and was modelled on the German terms stilistisch, Stilistik. It

proves that it was the second half of the 19thcentury that stylistics as a theoretical study


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of style was established. Rhetoric (ME), dialogic (1601) and poetic (1727) are regarded

the predecessors of stylistics.


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2. STYLISTIC BACKGROUND

2.1 The Need for Stylistics

No language should be regarded as a readily identifiable object in reality which we can

isolate and examine (Crystal, Davy 1997:3). It is not a single homogeneous entity, but

rather a huge complex of many different varieties that millions of people in dozens of

countries in the world speak. In a very general viewpoint, all these people represent

hundreds of varieties (or styles or registers as some other linguists may prefer to call

them). A variety as such means a difference. In this sense it can be educed that all the

varieties are distinct from one another and they vary to great extents, but on the other

hand, they all have much more in common than one can think of they are all varieties

of one language in this case of English. One of the greatest differences can be seen in

the written and spoken forms of the language, and other in the range of Englishes that

are distinguished as regional dialects.

It may be a difficult task to define what a style or variety is, what types exist, how

many there are or whether they are all clearly distinguishable these are things a

stylistic theory should tell us (ibid: 4). Fortunately, speakers (at least the native ones)

are aware of the differences and the rules to some extent they use one variety at home,

another at work, and a third, for example, at the doctors. They are able to tell one from

the other because they know the rules.

People communicate to transmit information, ideas, opinions and they want their

communication to be successful. Definitely, by communication people get integrated

into society. However, if one chooses to disregard the rules of language, or fail,

through ignorance, to obey them, then language can become instead a barrier to

successful communication and integration (ibid.). That is why people should acquire a

sharpened consciousness of the form and function of language, its place in society, and

its power (ibid: 5). Native speakers of a particular language always have an advantage

they are born and brought up in the particular linguistic and cultural environment, so

they acquire the language and the rules of its appropriate use unconsciously. Making

mistakes (spelling, grammatical, inappropriate choice of vocabulary) is a rather rarephenomenon. Crystal and Davy (ibid.) confirm.


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The native speaker of English of course has a great deal of intuitive knowledge about

linguistic appropriateness and correctness when to use one variety of language rather than

another which he has amassed over the years. He will probably have little difficulty inusing and responding to the most ordinary uses of language, such as the everyday

conversation which occupies most of our speaking and writing lifetime. Normally, in such a

context, mistakes, if they occur, pass by unnoticed or are discounted as unimportant. It is

with the relatively infrequently occurring, more specialised uses of language that the

average English user may find difficulty.

It is the foreign learner of English who is definitely one of those most at a loss in this

matter (ibid: 6). The learner does not absorb the language naturally, unconsciously or

intuitively. Necessarily, he/she too needs to be made aware of the differences between

common and rare types of language behaviour, and of the alternatives available in

particular situations; he/she too needs to react appropriately to language, if he/she wants

to be accepted (ibid.). The reason why it is not so is apparent the learner learns only

what he/she is presented with in English courses he/she attends most commonly it is

vocabulary and grammar, occasionally some information on the proper manners of

expressing in certain situations (e.g. opening and closing lines in a letter). The learners

lack of the intuitive sense of linguistic appropriateness makes the problem even more

complicated. It is not only grammatical correctness and fluency as such that are the

measures of the learners ability and success to use the language. Crystal and Davy

(ibid: 7) give their view:

If a foreigner hopes to come to an English-speaking culture, then, he should not be in the

position of having to make use of one variety of English in all situations, as so often

happens. He needs to be fluent, and fluency should be here measured by his ability to

conform in the approved manner to many disparate sociolinguistic situations. He needs to

develop a sense of style, as it is often called - a semi-instinctive knowledge of linguistic

appropriateness and (more important) taboo, which corresponds as closely as possible to

the fluent native speakers. But his ability does not come easily, and in many language-

teaching institutions there is insufficient training for it ever to be gained at all.

Therefore, approaches to learning and teaching languages seem clear the varieties of

language need to be studied and taught in as much detail as it is possible, so that

learners can understand the rules of their use. However, to reach this target, it is


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necessary that the process of study is accompanied with gaining the knowledge of

relationships that exist between a particular language and its culture.

2.2 What is Style?Generally speaking, style is the study object (but not the only one) of stylistics. What

styleis has always been open to dispute. The wordstylemay be known to many human

beings and they may be able to describe fairly easily what it means. Nevertheless, the

multiplicity and complexity goes far beyond the word itself. The following are

examples of some renowned linguists and their definitions and concepts.

Crystal and Davy (ibid: 9, 10) distinguish at least four commonly occurring senses of

the term:

1. Style may refer to some or all of the language habits of one person- as when we talk of

Shakespeares style (or styles), or the style of James Joyce, or when we discuss questions of

disputed authorshipmore often, it refers in this way to a selection of language habits, the

occasional linguistic idiosyncrasies which characterise an individuals uniqueness.

2. In a similar way, style may refer to some or all of the habits shared by a group of people

at one time, or over a period of time, as when we talk about the style of Augustan poets, the

style of Old English heroic poetry, the style in which civil service forms are written, orstyles of public-speaking.

3. Style is given a more restricted meaning when it is used in an evaluative sense, referring

to the effectiveness of a mode of expression. This is implied by such popular definitions of

style as saying the right thing in the most effective way or as good manners.

4. Partly overlapping with the three senses just outlined is the wide spread use of the word

style to refer solely to literary language. Style has long been associated primarily or

exclusively with literature, as a characteristic of good, effective, or beautiful

writing.

After giving such an account of what the term style may mean, Crystal and Davy

(ibid:10) sum up that of the above four senses, the first and second come nearest to

what we ourselves mean by style.

Leech and Short (1981:10, 11) present their own concepts as well:

it refers to the way in which language is used in a given context, by a person, for a given

purpose and so on. To clarify this, we may adopt the Swiss linguist Saussures distinction


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between langueandparole, languethe code or system of rules common to the speakers

or writers of a language (such as English), and parole being the particular uses of the

system, or selection from this system, that speakers or writers make on this or that occasion.

One may say, for example, that certain English expressions belong to the official style of

weather forecasting (bright intervals, scattered showers, etc.), while other expressions

(lovely day, a bit chilly, etc.) belong to the style of everyday conversational remarks

about the weather. Style, then, pertains to parole: it is selection from a total linguistic

repertoire that constitutes a style.

Another interesting theory appears in Leech, Deuchar and Hoogenraad (1982:9). It may

seem the closest to what the term ofstyledenotes.

language also varies according to the use to which it is put. While the term dialect is

convenient to refer to language variation according to the user, REGISTER can be used to

refer to variation according to use (sometimes also known as style). Register can be

subdivided into three categories of language use, each of which affects the language

variety. These are TENOR, MODE and DOMAIN.

As it is apparent from the above stated explanations, many linguists and other scholars

have given their views, concepts and theories, but there is hardly any simple or unique

definition of the termstyle. Taking into account all the aspects of language variations, it

cannot be else.

2.3 Stylistic Analysis

2.3.1 Text and Context, Text and Discourse

The object of stylistic analysis is undoubtedly a particular piece of language, and that is

a text. Halliday (1989:47) expresses his view on the term.

It is a cohesive and coherent stretch of language in use which has a certain function in the

context of situation. Thus, a text is a semantic unit taking part in a social exchange of

meanings and may be regarded as a product in the sense that it is an entity that has a certain

organization and can be recorded, and as a process, i.e. it is a continuous process of

semantic choice dependent on previous choices and conditioning the subsequent ones.


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Further on, Halliday explains that contextcan be defined as the total environment both

linguistic (also referred to as co-text) and extra-linguistic (social and physical) in

which a particular texts unfolds and creates discourse. The extra-linguistic context is

also referred to as the context of situationand it is described in terms of three concepts

DOMAIN (FIELD), TENORand MODEof discourse (in Crystal and Davy these are called

PROVINCE, STATUS and MODALITY). In other words, text is very often understood as text

without/out of context - it is a product and it is stative, whereas discourse is viewed as

language in use/in interaction or as text in context thus it is a process and it is

dynamic.

2.3.2 Situation the Extra-linguistic ContextAs it has already been said in the previous chapter (1.4), languages do not exist in a

vacuum. They function in connection with a situation in which, for example a

conversation, takes place. The same applies for a text (a particular piece of language). A

situation has a conditioning influence on the text and its linguistic/stylistic features that

makes the text different from other texts. According to Crystal and Davy (1997:64)

the notion of situation can be broken down into dimensions of situational constraints

(orsituational variables) and they have their own specific features. The following is theclassification of the situational constraints outlined by Crystal and Davy (ibid: 66).

1. Dimensions of situational constraint according to the USER

Individuality relatively permanent features of the speech or writing habits which

identify someone as a specific person, distinguish him from other users of the same

language, or the same variety of the language (ibid.); usually they do not change over

quite long periods of time; the specific features constitute e.g. the quality of a persons

voice, handwriting, pet words, phrases with a very high frequency of occurrence, etc.

Dialect it indicates a persons place of geographical origin (regionaldialect); these

features are relatively constant. As Crystal and Davy suggest they change only in

humorous situations, or in cases of intense social pressure which cause someone to

conform to dialect patterns other than his own (ibid: 67). These features are

represented e.g. in the choice of vocabulary or in the use of vowels.

Time it means the temporal provenance of a piece of language (ibid.), in other

words - the period in which the text is produced or the age of the producer. It is


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important not only from the point of historical study of (the English) language, but also

in the sense of the development of a persons speaking habits. The features are fairly

stable.

Sociolect it constitutes a persons location on a non-linguistically based social

scale (ibid.), in other words his/her social background or social class that he/she was

born, brought up or educated in. In this sense, we talk about a social or class dialect.

Again relatively, it does not alter.

Singularity represents personal, occasional features that cannot (in contrast with the

previous dimensions) be related to any systematic framework amongst the community

to which the user belongs. These idiosyncratic linguistic features are such as e.g.

introducing a linguistic originality into a poem, which has a specific effect. They are

regarded as deviations from a persons normal linguistic behaviour of any kind in any

situation (Crystal and Davy 1997:76).

2. Dimensions of situational constraint according to the USE

Province features that identify an utterance with those variables in an extra-

linguistic context which are defined with reference to the kind of occupational or

professional activity being engaged in (ibid: 71). These features do not provide us with

any information about the people involved in the particular situation, because they relate

only to the field of the use. Some examples of province are the language of law,

advertising, science, sport, etc.

Status it implies the systematic variations which correspond with variations in the

relative social standing of the participants in any act of communication, regardless of

their exact locality (ibid: 73). Crystal and Davy further explain that status is far more

complex because it involves a whole range of factors related to contacts betweenpeople from different positions on a social scale factors intuitively associated with

such notions as formality, informality, respect, politeness, deference, intimacy, kinship

relations, business relations, and hierarchical relations in general (ibid:74).

Modality it comprises such specific features which are chosen deliberately to

produce an overall, conventionalisedspokenor writtenformat of the language (ibid.).

Again, there are also more complex ties and more variations within this dimension as

the participants of the discourse may, e.g. in the province of conversation, choose to

exchange the same information via the telephone or they may write an email or a


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business letter. Many linguists may use the term of genre, i.e. the genre of public

speech, the genre of a poem, letter, anecdote, telephone call, etc.

Discourse under this notion Crystal and Davy (ibid: 68) subsume two types of

variability of language the first one being that of medium (the difference between

speech and writing), and the other one resulting from the participationin the language

event, i.e. the difference between monologue and dialogue. Consequently, speech needs

to be handled initially at the phonological/phonetic level, whereas writing is treated

initially from the graphitic/graphological angle. Furthermore, other differences have to

be taken into account speech passes by, writing is relatively permanent; speech

usually needs personal contact, whereas writing (usually) does not; no spoken varieties

can be transcribed in traditional orthography to reflect all contrasts present in speech, on

the other hand, there are many written pieces of text that cannot be spoken or read

without having the original graphitic coherence destroyed. For example, a piece of a

legal text is punctuationless, but when it is meant to be read aloud, it needs to be broken

into units (though the units do not exist in the written form).

2.3.3 Levels of Stylistic Analysis

The following is the levels that stylists/linguists investigate when they aim at analysing

a piece of text, either written or spoken.

1. PHONETICS -an examination of sounds; the study of the characteristics and potential

utility of human vocal noise

GRAPHETICS the study of written or printed shapes (visual analogue of phonetics)

2. PHONOLOGY (PHONEMICS) - the study of the sound system of a given language; the

formalised rules of pronunciation

GRAPHOLOGY (GRAPHEMICS) the analogous study of a languages writing system;

the formalised rules of spelling

3. GRAMMAR both the syntactic and morphological levels need to be discussed; the

aim is to analyse the internal structure of sentences in a language and the way they

function in sequences; in other words, clauses, phrases, words, nouns, verbs, etc. need

to be distinguished and put through an analysis to find out what is the norm

(foregrounding) and what is somehow deviant (against the norm)


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4. VOCABULARY on the lexical level it is the study of the way in which individual

words and idioms tend to pattern in different linguistic context; on the semantic level

in terms of stylistics, it is the study of the meaning of stretches longer than the single

lexical item (in linguistics, it is the study of the meaning of a single lexical item)

5. DISCOURSAL/TEXTUAL LEVEL in this area, for instance, the interest lies in

information processing (theme rheme), and to what extent a text is coherent and what

cohesive devices were used to achieve the particular level of coherence of the text

2.4 Legal Discourse

2.4.1 The Domain of Legal Discourse

The term legal simply refers to anything related to law, lawyers and court. The first

question coming to the mind is What is, in terms of both stylistics and linguistics, the

study object of the legal register? The answers may be miscellaneous, but they have

one idea in common the nature, functions and consequences of language use in the

negotiation of social order (Danet 1985:273). Law has two primary functions. They are

ordering human relations and restoring social order in cases it breaks down.

Furthermore, by law people are told which activities are permitted and which are not,

and it helps create relations where none existed before. The second question posed by

many professionals is which of the terms of dialect, registerorsublanguageis the most

relevant. Danet (ibid: 275) puts forward her view and believes that legal language is so

distinct and differentiated that it is possible to call it a separate dialect or sublanguage.

However, she prefers to label it a registerdue to her conviction that register is mainly a

matter of formality (ibid).

2.4.2 Linguistic Description of the Legal Register

On a basis of systematic studies on the legal register, an outline [based on Danet

(1985:279-286) and Hiltunen (1990:81-87)] of the linguistic/stylistic features typical of

legal language may be given as follows.


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2.4.2.1 LEXICAL FEATURES

Technical Terms every profession and occupation is typical of its special technical

vocabulary, or terms of art as warranty deed, criminal proceedings, Procurator

Fiscal, grantee, devisee.

Common Terms with Uncommon Meanings the legal register uses familiar words

but with uncommon meanings, e.g. one of the most frequent instances is the term

assignment it does not mean a task or duty, or something assigned, but it means

the transference of a right, interest or title; also the use of shallrefers very frequently

not to the future but to an obligation or duty.

Archaic Expressions typically, legal documents are abundant in items such as

hereinafter, hereto, hereby, hereof, aforesaid, whosoever, thereof, therein, etc. These

originate in Old English and, may have originally been introduced as ambiguity

resolving elements or means of abbreviation (Hiltunen 1990:84). Furthermore, they

add to the degree of formality of legal documents.

Doublets they are also referred to as word pairs. Many of them root in the Norman

Period. They are fixed in the mind as frozen expressions, typically irreversible (Danet

1985:281). Common ones are last will and testament, give and bequest, will and

bequest, aid and abet, cease and desist, rules and regulations, etc.Formality many expressions of legal English have a high degree of formality, e.g. the

preference ofshallto will; positions of people and institutions involved have capitalised

initial letters, for instance Grantor, Devisee, Contractor, Attorney, even the names of

the documents are capitalised Warranty Deed, Last Will and Testament, etc.

Unusual Prepositional Phrases according to Charrow and Charrow (1979) the

preposition as tofrequently appears in legal English; another example is in the event of

Frequency ofAny this word is considered redundant, but in legal documents is more

than common: any child or children, any encumbrances, any other assets, etc.

Hiltunen (1990:84) concludes his comment on the issue of vocabulary by stating that

adjectives in legal English are fairly scarce (because they are often imprecise and

vague), nouns tend to be abstract rather than concrete (because they frequently do not

refer to physical objects), and verbs are selected from a fairly small number of lexical

sets.


20

2.4.2.2 SYNTACTIC FEATURES

As Danet (1985:281) claims, syntactic features are probably more distinctive of legal

English than are lexical ones, and certainly account for more of the difficulties of lay

persons in comprehending it. She identifies eleven of such features.

Nominalization this feature is considered by many linguists, Urbanov (1986:19)

among others, as prominent. Some examples: make such provision for the paymentof

instead ofprovide for the payment, orgive time for the payment of any debtsinstead of

give time for persons owing debts to pay, etc.

Passives they are characteristic of formal documents; sometimes an active verb may

be more suitable in a sentence but the use of the passive makes it more formal; on the

other hand, sometimes it is not possible to use the active voice because there is no

specific agent in a sentence, thus the passive is the only choice.

Whiz Deletion it means the omission of the wh-forms plus some forms of the verb to

be, e.g. .herein [which is] contained or implied.

Conditionals exemplary are complex conditionals, they may be used, for example, to

specify who is included in a certain term (e. g. the Grantee) if there are more people

concerned.

Prepositional Phrases legal discourse is high in incidence of this feature. Aprepositional phrase can string out one after another, and as Danet (1985:282) claims,

prepositional phrases are often misplaced.

Sentence Length and Complexity the complexity of legal register sentences can be

spotted very easily. Gustafsson (1975) says that an average sentence contains 55 words

(twice as many as in scientific English, for example), and there are 2.86 clauses per

sentence in the legal style. Legal English consists of only complete sentences containing

both coordinate and subordinate clauses, and instances of clausal embedding (inserted

clauses) are not unique. Sentences can stretch over several lines, constitute one whole

paragraph, and it is not an exception that a whole document can consist of one sentence

only.

Unique Determiners the distinct representatives are those of suchandsaid. They are

used in a way specific only for the legal discourse. They mean this, the, the particular,

the one that is being concernedand no other. An example: the said property.

Impersonality though legal documents are made to serve as a communication

between two (or more) parties, they are typically written in the third person as it adds to


21

the degree of formality. The parties concerned are referred to as the Contractor, the

Grantee, the Borrower, the Lender, etc.

Negatives especially multiple negatives are characteristic items of the legal language.

They are not expressed only by not, never, but most frequently by adding the terms like

unless, exceptor by prefixes un-, in-, etc.

Binomial Expressions, Parallel Structures Danet (1985:283) points out that the

legal register is striking for its use of elaborate parallel structures and that binomial

expressions are a special case of parallelism. Gustafsson (1975) describes these items

as sequence of two words belonging to the same form class, which are syntactically

coordinate and semantically related. Moreover, she (ibid: 75) claims that binomial

expressions are typically a pair of nouns that functions as an adverbial and occurs in the

rhematic part of the sentence. Some instances of binomials: goods and materials; liable

and responsible; engage or participate, generally and specifically, etc. Apart from

binomials, there exist trinomial and even multinomial expressions in (legal) English.

Some examples: control, direct or supervise; employee, partner, agent, or principal;

files, records, documents, drawings, specifications, equipment, and similar items, etc.

Some linguists have focused their analyses on the specification of the relationships in

binomials, i.e. synonymy, near-synonymy, antonymy and enumeration. (Binomials are

discussed in detail in Chap. 4)

2.4.2.3 PROSODIC FEATURES

Little attention is paid to the distinctive prosodic features in legal documents. Most

frequently, they appear in binomial expressions.

Assonance, Alliteration and Phonemic Contrast expressions like rules and

regulations, containor constitutehave alliteration of /r/ and then /k/.

Rhyme, Rhythm and Meter again, most frequently some instances of rhyme and

rhythm may be found in binomial expressions, e.g. whatsoever and wheresoever,

employ and rely, in whole or in part, benefits from or interests under, etc.

End Weight Gustafsson (1975) and Danet (1984b) have studied the issue of the

extent to which the materials they analysed conform with the principle of end-weight

(Leech 2002:210). They concluded that there are more beats, or phonetic material, in

the second half of a two-part expression (Danet 1985:284). Some examples can be

found in binomials: belongs to/or can be appointed by; for me and in my name. On the


22

contrary, it is possible to find a shorter item appearing second, e.g. determine or secure;

direction and control.

2.4.2.4. DISCOURSE-LEVEL FEATURES

Cohesion - many scholars speculate that the legal register is low in cohesive devices

because of the lack of clear sentence boundaries, which is a phenomenon rather

problematic in legal English. However, cohesive devices, if they appear in a legal

document, are distinctive.

1. Anaphora the scarce use of reference (mainly of pronouns) and repetition, though

making a legal text heavy and monotonous (Hiltunen 1990:84), are significant of

legal documents they avoid ambiguity. On the other hand, the use of saidandsuchis

characteristic.

2. Conjunctions it is possible to find some terms that contribute to cohesion, e.g.

hereinafter, aforesaid, etc.

3. Substitution it is generally considered rare in legal English, though some instances

can be found.

4. Ellipsis the concern for precision and explicitness results in the lack of

intersentential ellipsis, however an example of intrasentential ellipsis can be seen in theuse of whiz-deletion.

5. Lexical Cohesion there is apparently much reiteration (Danet 1985:285), i.e.

much repetition due to the avoidance of pronouns; furthermore, synonyms, near-

synonyms and superordinate or general terms to replace expressions appearing in

previous sentences are scarcely used, which is sharply contrasted to the employment of

synonyms and near-synonyms in binomial and, especially, multinomial expressions.

Thematic Organization

1. Thematic progression it is the term that implies several patterns of theme

rheme/focus arrangement in discourse. Dane (1974) distinguishes three such patterns

of thematic progression - linear thematic progression (in two successive clauses, the

rheme/focus of the first clause becomes the theme of the second); thematic progression

with a continuous theme (several clauses have the same theme); and a hierarchical

pattern with a hypertheme which can be composed of several semantically related

elements. The last one is said to be common in legal texts.


23

2. Foregrounding and backgrounding Danet (1985: 286) points out that there are two

distinctive types of legal discourse. The first contain both foregrounding and

backgrounding, so it resembles everyday discourse. The second contains little

foregrounding. She (ibid.) gives some more explanations, transitivity is considered

to signal foregrounding. Both supposedly go with a concern for specific episodes

between individuals, while low transitivity and backgrounding are signs of a more

abstract approach a concern with the social structure in which categories of

participants are related.

3. Extreme propositional density; lack of redundancy the extreme propositional

density of legal discourse springs from the unusual length and complexity of the

sentences. Evidence can be found in the maze of embedded clauses and prepositional

phrases (ibid.). Propositional density results in the lack of redundancy in information

that is being communicated the reason is obvious every word counts.

It is necessary to mention that legal register is a complex subject and its features need to

be viewed as separate variables in the continuum of legal discourse ranging from high

to low. This is to say that many features covary, or entail one another, in differing

patterns in different genres (ibid: 288). Though work of many scholars focusing on

linguistic description is rather fragmentary, the origins of such a convoluted and opaque

language are known. Indisputably, many lawyers justify the complexity of legal genre

by claiming that it came to existence and has developed as an efficient means to specify

precise, technical meanings. In contrast, there are non-professional individuals who hold

the view that lawyers use opaque language in order to mystify the public and preserve

their own power. In Danets view (ibid.),

syntactic complexity and the play with prosodic features are evidence of a preoccupation

with language qua language. In the structuralists sense of the terms, we have a

foregrounding of language, and a backgrounding of referential meanings. This type of

foregrounding apparently characterizes many genres in the keys of play and ritual, but

especially the latter. It is as if lawyers or perhaps persons in earlier times, before the

modern legal profession emerged added cornstarch to language, to thicken it, to give it

body, so as to crate the illusion of certainty in an uncertain world. Convoluted legal

language may in part derive form preliterate times, when elaborate verbal formulas were

considered a kind of word magic.


24

2.5 Summary

The foregoing chapters have discussed some theoretical elements of the stylistic field.

At the beginning, the need for stylistics and the definition of the term stylewere pointed

out along with several concepts of style as they are viewed by some linguists. Then,

some notes on stylistic analysis were provided. In particular, the terms text, contextand

situation were touched upon, together with the dimensions of situational constraints. I

addition, the levels of stylistic analysis were outlined. Finally, the legal register and its

domain were described in terms of lexical, syntactic, prosodic and discourse-level

features.


25

3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LEGAL ENGLISH

It may appear that the early laws are native predecessors of modern laws, though in a

very general sense. Hundreds of years, together with historical and social factors, havecontributed to the great differences. On the other hand, there is one fundamental

similarity, i.e. the functions of legal documents have remained the same even after so

many centuries. The innumerous historical events caused irreversible shifts in the

society on the British Isles, resulting in cultural changes and even afflicting the style of

the English language in each period. The spoken and written language of the Britons

gradually altered its form, both structurally and lexically. As a consequence, a great

amount of English word stock is of Latin and French origin.

3.1 The Anglo-Saxon Period

It is the Anglo-Saxon period to which the oldest English legal texts are dated, though

much of the material has been preserved in post-Conquest manuscripts. These are

eleventh or twelfth-century copies of lost originals. The Anglo-Saxon laws were

demanded even after the Norman victory in 1066, which may seem odd. There was a

practical reason new laws were modelled on the copies of old laws.

The earliest of Anglo-Saxon laws were written in the vernacular, and not in Latin. Latin

would have been an obvious choice because the first English legal code coincided with

the date of conversion to Christianity. The Germanic tradition (involving oral tradition)

is the most important reason for the use of the vernacular. So the codification written in

English reflects a natural prolongation of the tradition. Moreover, laws drafted in Latin

would have seemed artificial.

In addition, Hiltunen (1990:24) points out that the legal terminology is Anglo-Saxon

with all the characteristic features of native vocabulary (e.g. compounding, transparent

word formation and synonymy). There are surprisingly few loan-words, even if Latin

and loan-translations are included. The Scandinavian words are also few. However,

some of them are important because they are technical terms, such as gri truce,

sehtianto settle .

From the modern perspective, there may be three categories distinguishing the Anglo-

Saxon vocabulary (ibid: 27):


26

1. Words that have disappeared from law language most of the items belong to this group.

The reason for the changes is either social (change or loss of referent) or sociolinguistic

(native words were replaced through borrowings).

2. Words that are still occasionally used with legal meaning(either unchanged ormodified)

bot compensation for wrongdoing (cf.bootless)

deman to pronounce judgement (cf. deem)

wed security for performance (cf. wedding, wedlock)

witan to know (cf. witness)

3. Words that are as much part of general language as legal language

a oath

stelan to steal

Hiltunen exemplifies the proportion of native vocabulary in present-day English legal

texts on a sample of a legal document. As he indicates (ibid: 28), his little experiment

reveals both permanence, on the one hand, and change, on the other, in the vocabulary,

which is generalizable to the whole language: the core is native but some of the layers

accumulated over time are made up of borrowed elements. He concludes that the latter

aspect becomes more prominent during the post-Conquest history of English legislation.

3.2 The Norman Period

The legal profession began to develop greatly after the Conquest. The Anglo-Saxons didnot have any trained lawyers they appeared as late as the second half of the

thirteenth century. French was the language of oral pleading and the language of law

books also changed from Latin to French. The legal English of today has its roots in that

time. The terms that have remained are now pronounced pursuant to the rules of English

phonology, their medieval meanings having been retained.

It is obvious that changes in the vocabulary were happening as a relevant aftermath of

the profound and far-reaching social turnovers. English as the language of law was first


27

replaced by Latin, later on by Norman French. Documents of the early times after the

Conquest were written in so-called Law Latin. Citing Hiltunen (ibid: 51), Law Latin is

defined as the kind of Low Latin, containing Latinized English and Old French words,

used in English law. The Latin element, as well as the French, plays an essential part of

the English word stock. As a result, legal English is affluent in loan words, some of

which appear even in their Latin forms, e.g. mandamus or certiorari (ibid: 52).

Naturally, the major part of English legal borrowings come from Latin, either directly

or, more frequently, through French. In addition, Hiltunen (ibid) comes with an idea that

modern legal English is essentially a kind of creole, where the formative elements go

back to an amalgamation of native resources and extensive borrowing. The borrowing was

initially a wholesale process, since English as the language of the law ceased to exist for a

period of some four centuries. Naturally, the idea of creolization would not be a realistic

one, had English ceased to exist altogether during that time.

Finally, he sums up that at that time the population in majority used the vernacular, and

that the administration branch employed many people who knew all three languages

English, Latin and French.

Whenever an educated person reads an English text, it becomes apparent to them that

French had its influence not only in terms of borrowed words, but also in terms of

loaned prefixes and suffixes, many of which remained productive and contributed to the

formation of legal English. The following are some examples:

1. prefixes: en-/em-; mal-; sur-;

2. suffixes: -able, -ability, -age, -al, -ance;

-ant,-ee, -fy, -fication, -ment, -ous, -(e)ry

It is noteworthy to point out that technical terms and their formation developed only

gradually due to the constant use of the French words within the closed ranks of the

profession. Moreover, it is clear that the core of English legal vocabulary is of French

origin, and usually, the more legal a word is the more likely it is to be French

(Hiltunen 1990:53).


28

In the course of the Norman rule over the British Isles the great majority of the

population spoke English, so it did not cease to be used. Eventually, the position that

English had lost was regained after the Conquest. It was in 1362 that the famous Statute

of Pleading was issued. Written in French, though, it deplored the use of French.

However, it lasted another hundred years until the aim of the Statute became reality.

Hiltunen (ibid: 56) expresses the reason.

The legal profession was accustomed to the use of French to such an extent that little could

be achieved through the statute in a short time. French was preferred in the pleading on the

grounds of its established terminology and the degree of precision that could be achieved

by using it. There would always be a risk involved in adopting English and in giving up

established conventions. In view of such linguistic and social problems a hundred years

seems a relatively short time for such a profound change to be completed.

The fact that there was bilingualism, or even multilingualism, contributed to the

expansion of English, and legal English, too. The linguistic complexity of these times

is more than obvious because legal documents were compiled in all three languages in

varying degrees and the languages were spoken by a large number of lawyers and the

clerks of the Chancery. It was the Chancery that had an immense influence on raising

the profile of English in the fifteenth century. Situated in Westminster, it was the centre

of bureaucracy of the Middle Ages. It issued and operated with all the official

documents, e.g. writs. They were first written in Latin, but later on in English, with

occasional French translations. In this sense, the Chancery English became a standard

(though it was different from the London regional dialect) and thus English was allowed

to survive as an official language and restore its position.

Another highlight point in the history was the introduction of the printing press inEngland in 1476 when Caxton set up his press in Westminster. He adopted the norms

and through the distribution of his printed material all over the country he immensely

contributed to the prestige of English and spread of the standard language.

The first Act of Parliament in English is dated to the year of 1483. Nevertheless, as

Hiltunen (1990:57) alleges, it took another two hundred years until the whole

jurisdiction and the juridical institutions became completely English speaking. The

fluctuation between the three languages was ended by the year 1650 when An Act for


29

Turning the Books of the Law and all Process and Proceedings in Courts of Justice into

English was passed.

3.3 Towards Modern Legal EnglishReading legal records of earlier centuries and comparing them with present documents,

one will certainly find some features and trends of form and content notably different.

In spite of that, legal language has always been complex and very complicated, thus

perplexing every reader in every time. The basis and principles of drafting various

statutes, codes and acts in the fifteenth century were dissimilar from those employed in

the nineteenth century and today. The subject matters were expressed in a manner

where the narrative element, besides the directive one, was still more marked than three

or four centuries later (ibid: 58). Lawyers and clerks were employing a very elaborate

verbal style, the motive being the fact that they were sometimes paid according to the

number of pages they had written. In this way legal documents were issued until the

beginning of the nineteenth century. A new idea of the layout brought about some

changes in the form of the statutes several decades later. The changes for a modern

format were very helpful for the reader. In a very general sense, the one-page long

sentences became less frequent and texts were visually separated into sections andsubsections. However, Hiltunen (ibid: 59) highlights one aspect although legal texts

were made clearer for the reader, a new obstacle came to existence.

Because the text is formally structured in a given way through layout, its component parts

(e.g. conditions, insertions etc.) can be made more complex, on the assumption that the

relationship with the other parts of the sentence remains clear. Because of this they can

easily grow even more complex in terms of both quantity and quality.

In the course of the nineteenth century special guidelines began to emerge on how to

draft laws. These are, in many cases, followed nowadays.

3.4 The Language of Simplified Legal Documents

Legal documents are constantly labelled as very complicated, perplexing the layman,

thus difficult to understand. Hiltunen (1990:103) explains that the idea of making legallanguage is not new, but it has gained its momentum in the last few years, especially in


30

the United States. It was the consumer movement that triggered the voicing of

demands to draft legal and other official documents in plain and understandable

English. By introducing a promissory note in Plain English in 1975, Citibank in New

York made the first move. Many financial institutions copied the step. Soon, it was

made compulsory that consumer agreements must be written in simplified language.

This measure was followed by another one in 1978 a bill imposing that official

agreements should be written in clear and coherent manner using words with common

and everyday meanings was passed. Since then, similar laws have come into effect in

several other American states. Not surprisingly, the legal profession has not welcomed

this reform. Hiltunen (ibid: 104) gives the reason.

Some have contended that it is not really possible to write simplified legal documents that

would be as precise, comprehensive and unambiguous as those written in the traditional

legal language, and that a considerable number of new lawsuits are likely to arise due to the

unpredictable consequences of using plain language.

The following are some standard criteria on writing simplified and easy-to-understand

legal documents.

Avoid long, archaic and learned words and use common, everyday expressions;

however, it may be difficult to distinguish between an easy or difficult word in a

particular context. Also, some technical terms cannot be avoided even if a text is written

in plain language.

Make sentences short where possible and get void of all superfluous terms, though

Hiltunen (ibid.) warns that the role of sentences should not be overemphasisedlong

sentences cannot be shortened mechanically.

The active voice is preferred to be used instead of the passive. However, much

depends on the context.

Documents should be made more personal, i.e. the use of personal pronouns is desired

on the account of nouns when they refer to the parties of an agreement.

Verbs are recommended to be in the present tense, in the indicative mood and, if

possible, they should be finite rather than participles. Also, if it is possible to express

the meaning in both positive and negative ways, the former should be used.


31

The above listed criteria aim at making legal records comprehensible to ordinary

people. However, the task remains uneasy because successful application of the criteria

presupposes considering the form of the language in close interaction with the context at

large.

3.5 Summary

This chapter explored the factors that have largely contributed to the present-day

character of English legal documents, in particular the structural complexity. Due to the

influences mentioned above, English legal vocabulary is multi-layered in its origin, the

sentences are complex and even the layout of the documents carries the traditional traits.

This chapter shows that these typical features of English legal language are deep-rooted

in the past. The way in which legal documents were drafted centuries ago are still

applied today for the sake of habit and tradition and for the need of precision.

Sometimes, though, there may be a tendency to overcome such reverence to tradition

and make legal English more comprehensible to the layman. All these features and

tendencies are further analysed, discussed and commented on in the analysis in the

practical part of this thesis.


32

4. ON THE ISSUE OF BINOMIALS

4.1 Terminology and Definitions

All speakers of English use sequences of words such as all in all, again and again,

before or after, control and discipline, fair and true in their everyday speech.

Nonetheless, ordinary speakers are not aware that they, fairly commonly, use

expressions in linguistic sphere known as binomials, binomial expressionsor doublets.

Citing Gustafsson (1975:9), the term coined by Yakov Malkiel is defined as a

sequence of two words pertaining to the same form-class, placed on an identical level of

syntactic hierarchy, and ordinarily connected by some kind of lexical link. Gustafsson

further explains that a binomial consists of two members which are in parallel relation

to one another. She distinguishes between irreversiblebinomials, if the order is fixed,

and reversible ones, if it is not. Another distinction is made between formulaic and

unformulaic binomials, the difference defined as the former are permanent and fixed

combinations in the language, while the latter are temporary but fill the semantic and

syntactic requirements (ibid.).

There are other expressions referring to or used in connection with the term of

binomials. In linguistic studies words like hendiadys (a classical figure of speech),

repetition, and intensificationmay be found. In a general sense, some do not cover all

cases of binomials (e.g. that of hendiadys); on the other hand binomials are considered

only one of the several phenomena of intensification (ibid.). Even various

modifications of word pair also appear - paired words, repetitive word pairs or twin

formula (the German term in translation). Another term that appears is that of

alliterative phrase found in a study of the alliterative poetry in early English. Lastly,

Gustafsson (ibid: 10) relates another linguistic aspect to the term.

Studies in reduplicative words often touch upon binomials, too, in making a distinction

between the two types. The tick-tacktype should not be confused with binomials. Biese

defines reduplicatives as rhyme or ablaut compounds where one of the members is a varied

repetition (variierte Wiederholung) of the other. In a reduplicative only one of the elements

is meaningful, while in a binomial both members normally have a meaning and are capable

of occurring alone


33

The psychological basis of binomials is necessary to be noted. The phenomenon of

binomials can be ascribed to the tendency of successive thinking. By using paired

expressions the speaker may split up his thinking into smaller units and thus avoid

giving too much weight and complexity to some part of the sentence (Gustafsson

1975:11). There are also theories presented by other linguists. Leisi (1947:14-15)

emphasises that A and B must refer to the same thing. Consequently, the word pair has

only one referent, but two symbols. The speaker uses a binomial because he views the

referent from two different angles and therefore needs to convey his thoughts by

applying two symbols. Koskenniemi (1968:108-112) also argues that there are

referents which are inherently dual in character. They may be things composed of two

parts or containing two poles. The duality of the referent easily calls for the use of two

symbols. Natural and logical may seem two more purposes. The first being the

tendency to emphasis and intensity (the speaker wants to make an impression on the

hearer), and the tendency to aesthetic expression and clarity representing the second

(Leisi 1947:4-7). The existence of French-English word pairs may be explained as a

habit in early medieval English to use a French word side by side with its native

synonym because the latter served more or less openly as an interpretation of the

former for the benefit of those who were not yet familiar with the more refined

expression (Gustafsson 1975:11). The above stated theories, though, may be only a

minor aspect to explain the use of binomials.

4.2 The Origin and Use of Binomials

In samples of Anglo-Saxon codes one may find the so-called poetic adornments

(Hiltunen 1990:25), i.e. expressions that involve alliteration, assonance and parallelism,such as

on life ge on legere in life and death

manslagan and manswaran murder and perjury

sib and socn peace and agreement

These word pairs have been regarded as evidence of the role of oral transmission of law

in the earlier history. The poetic adornments would have served as mnemonic devices

to remember a legal text easily. On the other hand, other purposes may appear relevant,


34

for instance to arouse emotional appeal in solemn recitation of the law in situations

where the speaker was not only to state the law but also to extract obedience to it.

Another reason may be the fact that earlier laws were very simple, almost laconic

statements, where each referent is represented by one word. In the later laws, the picture

is more complicated, because the scope of the statement is usually wider. Therefore,

they also tend to be longer and more inclusive. (Hiltunen 1990:26)

In the Norman period, binomials re-emerge. So numbers of collocations of two,

sometimes even three, more or less synonymous words that can be found in modern

legal documents stem from this time for some of the French words became equivalents

of the original expressions and were used simultaneously in pairs. Some linguists agree

that a certain amount of the binomials developed into technical terms, so it may not be

easy or possible to convey their meanings by a single word. Moreover, they acquired a

new character through borrowings and settled in legal English as one of its typical

features.

4.3 Linguistic Characteristics of Binomials4.3.1. Syntactic Aspects

Gustafsson (1975:13) categorizes the description of binomials and their relationships in

terms of three categories, each of which is further divided into relevant subcategories.

The following outline is based on her study and the materials of other linguists,

Deutschbein (1931) and Spitzbardt (1956) among others, to whom she refers to in her

work. The syntactic character of binomials is largely discussed in two terms: 1.

coordination and paratactic constructions, and 2. intensification.

English has a tendency to nominalization, particularly that of verbs. As a result, the

structure of the sentence is often attributive and it may be understood as a fairly loose

connection between the parts of the sentence, which are often coordinate and of equal

syntactic status (Deutschbein 1931). The shortness and compactness of English

sentences is then the advantage against the lengthy subordinate clauses. Paratactic

tendencies have another outcome as well. That is the frequent use of hendiadys as a

figure of speech expressed by two coordinate elements, e.g. sanity and reason= sound


35

reason.Deutschbein (1932) provides another subdivision of hendiadys into qualitative

and quantitative. The former is described as a combination of two items of different

meaning, e.g. sanity and reason, the latter is defined as two items having the same

concepts, e.g. rule and regulation, far and wide, part and parcel. Sometimes two

opposites are put together, e.g. heads and tails, ups and downs. If the cohesion is very

tight, compound-like expressions come into existence, e.g. bread-and-butter, law-and-

order.

Spitzbardt (1956) makes another distinction. It is that of hendiadys and the copulative

repetition of one word or the pairing of synonymous words. In this case, hendiadys is

required to have a modifier-modifier relation, where two different, non-synonymous

words are combined, one of the words modifying the other (ibid.).As an instance there

are adjectival phrases like fair and well, nice and early, good and ready. They are

paratactic in construction, but hypotactic in relation. The explanation of such

constructions is as follows. Rhythmically and metrically andhas the same value as the

adverbial suffix ly, and its use may chiefly be due to the common omission of this

suffix in colloquial English and to a desire to avoid the consequent clash of two

stresses,(ibid.). The explanation is more relevant to the use of binomials in everyday

English or in poetry, rather than to legal English. Though, some may object that

binomials are of alliteration, rhyme and meter basis origin (see Chap. 4.2).

Gustafsson (1975:15) puts the previously mentioned adjectival phrases into the category

of intensification. Nevertheless, he gives an account of other pairs that fall under this

heading. They are dayafter day,step by step, rained and rained, and they are defined as

repetitions with a coordinate or prepositional link on a lexical basis. Other examples,

stereotyped and thus irreversible, may be those based on semantic repetition like twist

and turn, hate and despise,pull and tug. Some of these are typical of legal English (last

will and testament).

4.3.2. Semantic Aspects

The semantic parallelism is prominent as well as the syntactic. In other words, the two

parts of a binomial must be semantically related, it cannot be a coordinate combination

of any two words (ibid.). The relation of A and B may be either A and B are the same,


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or B is the variation of A. However, the semantic relationships are more numerous than

only the two previously suggested. Gustafsson (ibid: 16-18) comments on several

classifications according to the linguists she refers to in her study. Malkiel (1959)

distinguishes five categories. The overwhelming majority of binomials fall under the

first three categories, the last two are rather limited.

1.A and B are near-synonyms

2.A and B are mutually complementary

3.B is the opposite of A

4.B is a subdivision of A and vice versa

5.B functions as the consequence, inevitable or possible, of A

Pairs in 1 (null and void, death and destruction) are said to add colour and emphasis to

a bare statement (ibid.). Mutual complementation (2) can be illustrated on elbows and

knees, food and drink, soul and spirit. These are non-synonymous pairs and denote a

notion which is dualistic. The third category covers terms, the opposition of which can

be expressed both syntactically (to be or not to be) and lexically (dead or alive, up and

down). The two remaining categories have such representatives as genus and species,

dollars and cents(4), to shoot and kill, the rise and fall(5).

Bendz (1967) categorizes the semantic relationship of word pairs into three groups:

1. antonymous, 2. enumerative, and 3. synonymous. An antonymous sequence can

usually have no more than two members (life and death, heaven and hell). An

enumerative may contain several members, according to the topic that people are

discussing (men, women and children). Synonymous binomials seem to emphasize themutual semantic ground of the paired words. If intensity is given to the discourse the

term emphatic binomial is used as opposed to interpretative binomial. The second

member of such a binomial gives more precision to the first member. Typically,

interpretative binomials combine a native word together with a foreign one.

The last categorization is offered by Koskenniemi (1968). She classifies binomials into

1. nearly-synonymous, 2. associated by contiguity of meaning, 3. complementary or


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antonymous, and 4. enumerative. However, it is not necessary to comment on this

division any further as it is similar to those discussed above.

4.3.3 Phonetic and Rhythmic AspectsThe linguistic device of binomials is quite productive and it is some phonetic factors

that probably brought about its popularity and prolonged existence. It has already been

mentioned that alliteration, rhyme and assonance increase the power of binomials and

thus serve(d) as an effective mnemonic aid. The repetition of initial consonants or

vowels is frequent, and even the extension of the repetition from the first consonant to

the following vowel is not unique (cash and carry). The second phonetic device widely

used is rhyme (blood and mud, highways and byways). Assonance is a less commondevice in binomials, though some instances can be found (hard and fast).

When a binomial becomes popular in language and reaches a formulaic stage, the

sequence of members tends to become fixed and the binomial is virtually irreversible

(Gustafsson 1975:19). The order, though, is influenced by various factors. To exemplify

one, there is the fact that some binomials are combinations of native and foreign words

so the sequence has been retained for centuries (last will and testament, rules andregulations). Another reason is that the parts are accumulated in order of their length,

i.e. according to the syllabic grounds of their parts and following the principle of end-

weight (see Chap. 2.4.2.3). As a result, in many set phrases the order is short plus long

(give and bequest, unable and unwilling,full and absolute), but it is not always the case.

Very frequently, it is the other way round (devises and bequests, beneficiary or

recipient, continued and assumed, recognized and agreed).

Finally, it may be concluded that there are different sources of binomials, though a

notable proportion of pair words are borrowings of French varieties. Further, over half

of the legal binomials are nouns, the second largest group is made by verb+verb pairs

(roughly one third) and all binomials in legal English are irreversible, i.e. the order of

the components is fixed. Phonetically, they are, as in Old English, often based on

alliteration, assonance or rhyme.


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4.4 Summary

The foregoing chapter has, firstly, focused on the definitions and origin of binomials.

Secondly, the syntactic and semantic relations of binomials, together with the phonetic

and rhythmic aspects, have been categorized and described as well. The aim of this

chapter was to provide a basis for the practical part of this thesis, the objective of which

is to explore the sample documents and find instances of the classifications of the

relations that exist in the word pairs.


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PRACTICAL PART

The practical part of this thesis consists of two major parts. The first major part is astylistic analysis of some samples of legal documents. The second major part includes

two analyses with a specific focus on binomials. The first analysis focuses on the

distribution of binomials in theme, transition and rheme according to the principles of

communicative dynamism and functional sentence perspective. The other analysis deals

with the semantic relations of binomial expressions. In all the researches I apply and

follow the theories discussed in the theoretical part of this work.


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1. STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

1.1. The Aim

The aim of a stylistic analysis is fivefold. The intention is to identify stylistic markers,

to study how the stylistic devices used help to achieve the communicative aim of the

text, and to identify the functional style the text is representative of. Two more points

should not be omitted to study how close the text is to the norm of the functional style,

and to analyse, if present, the language features of the text which are not typical of the

style and identify the reasons for using them. In the analysis I follow the structure

outlined in Chapters 2.2.3 and 2.4.2 in the theoretical section.

1.2 General Characterization

In this thesis there are five sample texts under examination, three of which constitute a

testament, an agreement and a warranty deed. They are complete texts. The two

remaining, represented only in part, are amendments to the UK acts. All the documents

have been adopted from the Internet. The relevant websites are referred to in the

bibliography.

All the sample documents are written (printed) texts. Supposing they are representatives

of the administrative style (sometimes called officialese), their main language function

is referential, followed by those of metalinguistic and conative. Several stylistic markers

are expected to be present. They are a high level of explicitness, clear logical

organization avoiding ambiguity, terminology, formal language together with formulaic,

syntactic complexity, and, among others, graphological means foregrounding the logical

sequence of the text.

It is necessary to begin with some comments on the situation in which the texts

function. Due to the character of the texts I am going to describe the texts in terms of

the situational constraints according to the USE province, status, modality and

discourse (see Chap. 2.3.2) - because very little information can be perceived from the

second constraint, that of the USER.

Province (domain) covers those features of a text that are relevant to the kind ofoccupational or professional activity that the text is concerned with. In other words, the


41

text reflects the area or field under which the text is used. On these grounds, all the texts

are awaited to belong to the domain of law. Statusrefers to the social relationship of the

participants who are involved in the text. In all the texts it is assumed to be formal, non-

personal, and polite.Modalitycomprises specific features that produce either spoken or

written texts of different sub-varieties. This constraint includes numerous variations, so

all the texts supposedly belong to the genre of codes of laws, and contracts. As far as the

last constraint regards, discoursesubsumes two types of variability of language labelled

as medium (writing X speech) and participation (monologue X dialogue). In this sense,

it is apparent that the texts are written monologues; the contracts may be considered a

sub-variety of dialogue, because there are two parties involved in them.

For the sake of simplifying the references to the sample documents, I use the following

abbreviations: Warranty Deed (WD); Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA); Last

Will and Testament (T); Uniform Players Contract (UPC); Police and Justice Act

(PJA); and Terrorism Act (TA).

1.3 Analysis1.3.1 Graphological and Phonological Level

From the graphological point, the texts have their own layouts, which show some

features characteristic of the genres. The texts are regularly divided from the start to the

end. The most apparent is paragraphing, i.e. the dissection of the texts into sections,

subsections, paragraphs, and other units and subunits according to the char