-
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
2
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
3
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
4
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
5
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
6
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
7
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
8
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
9
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
10
of style was established. Rhetoric (ME), dialogic (1601) and poetic (1727) are regarded
the predecessors of stylistics.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
11
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
12
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
13
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
14
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
15
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
16
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
17
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)
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
18
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
19
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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):
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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).
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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,
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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,
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
36
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
37
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
38
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
39
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.
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
40
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
-
5/21/2018 A Stylistic Analysis with a Focus on lexical expressions.pdf
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