Content Details | NUML Online Research Repository

Content Details

Back to Department Listing

Title DISENTANGLING LEGALESE: A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF SELECTED LEGISLATIONS AND JUDGMENTS

Author(s) RABBIA AZAM NATIONAL

Abstract The language used in legal documents is far from the natural language of communication. It is loaded with formal structures, archaic terms, foreign words and lengthy complex syntactic choices. Non-professionals usually face problems understanding these texts. The present study is an attempt to study the legal documents at lexical and syntactic levels. Previously, a lot of researches have been conducted to study the two, however probing linguistic features from the point of view of disentangling the language has never been done before in Pakistan. Using an integrated model by Stanojevic (2011) and Čėsnienė & Daračienė (2014), ten sample legislations and judgements were analysed from textualist perspective (Scalia, 1997). A number of linguistic features were identified and discussed. These features assisted in understanding the construct of Pakistani legalese. Not only that, possible substitutions for these linguistic choices that caused the complexity of the documents under study were also suggested. Using these substitutions the legal texts could be made more comprehensible and lucid to a common citizen. Hence, both the state and its citizens can come at the same level by improving the access of information and justice to a common citizen.

Type Thesis/Dissertation MS

Faculty Languages

Department English

Language English

Publication Date 2021-08-06

Subject

Publisher

Contributor(s)

Format

Identifier

Source

Relation

Coverage

Rights