Lexical relations: how meanings are related to each other
Lexical parts include various data about category (lexical and syntactic), form and
meaning. The semantics associated with these categories will then apply to each
lexical item in the lexicon. Lexical fragments can be consistently classified
depending on whether their meaning is derived from single lexical units or from
the environment or atmosphere which is around them.
Lexical parts take part in regular association forms with each other. Some
relationships between lexical items include hyponymy, hypernymy, synonymy, and
antonymy, as well as homonymy.
All these items are crucial for linguistics analysis of legal texts, especially, for the
analysis of the actions strategy from linguistic point of view.
In modern linguistics, legal discourse has not received an unambiguous definition
due to its correlation with the terms "legal discourse" and "judicial discourse",
since in Latin "juridicus" means judicial and only then related to jurisprudence, law.
In addition, legal discourse includes many varieties: legislative, judicial,
administrative etc. The existing definitions are based on sociolinguistic,
communicative-activity, communicativetextual and cognitive motives.
Legal discourse is aimed at regulating of social relations, it is characterized by the
primacy of facts over values (both individual and collective, historically formed),
the desire for objective information, the predominance of the rational over the
emotional [1: 24]. Speaking about the main functions of legal texts, Garcia notes
that they consist of the formulation, preservation, clarification and implementation
of rules according to which relations between members of society should
be regulated.
Laws are formulated, interpreted and applied in all societies. And most of these
various legal processes are implemented mainly with the help of language.
Language is a means, process and product in various areas of law where legal texts,
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oral or written, are created to regulate social behavior. The first key feature of the
legal language is a great number of Latinisms, which are widely used in legal
discource. These include such words and phrases as contra legem (against the law),
de jure (legally), prima facia (at first glance), actus reus (guilty act), onus probandi
(burden of proof). It is emphasized that the existing rich legacy in the legal system
is related to Roman law. It defines the fundamental grounds of the organization of
law systems of civilisations in most countries of Europe, Latin America and Asia.
The sources of Roman law can be distinguished by comparison with the American
constitution, statutes, and common law judicial decisions. Rome had no written
constitution, but for the aim of the legal system the role of the constitution was
considered by the Law of the Twelve Tables, a statement of formerly established
customs adopted around 450 BC (and inscribed on twelve bronze tablets). and
ceremonial law [3: 101].
Although the study of the discourse of legal texts has proved that precision, brevity,
and clearness are the foundations of legal scripts, a careful examination of many
legal documents has revealed disagreements over some generally accepted points.
In some types of legal documents, brevity and clarity cannot be considered a
superior characteristic of legal writing style. Very long complex sentences are
often scrutinized in the constitutional language, which complicate the sentence
meaning in the text and give the language more expressiveness and pompousnes.
The processes of understanding and translation are complicated by frequently
occurring synonymy: the term attorney originally meant a lawyer who acted in
common law courts, and solicitor – in courts that considered cases under the law
of justice, proctor – in courts of ecclesiastical law. These specialists gave
instructions to barristers (barrister is a lawyer who has the right to speak in court).
After XVIII century the term attorney has received a negative connotation, in the
modern British version of English has been replaced by the term solicitor. So, in
this case we can talk about partial synonymy. In other words, brevity and clarity
cannot be taken as a prevailing criterion for all legitimate texts and documents.
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The next striking lexical feature is the presence of words and phrases used only in
legal texts, which makes legal texts as accurate as possible: under penalty of
perjury, mentally incapacitated . Branches of law (civil, criminal, tax etc.), as well
as the heterogeneity of applied approaches to legal science cause the presence of
another layer of terminological vocabulary – highly specialized vocabulary, which
is specific to a particular branch of law and is not applied or is applied with certain
restrictions within another branch. After L.V. Ivina, some researchers identify the
following features of the term:
1) consistency;
2) the presence of a special definition;
3) the tendency to unambiguity;
4) lack of expression;
5) stylistic unambiguity.
The considered texts also contain cliched words and phrases characteristic for the
official style in general and legal texts in particular. The following examples are a
confirmation of the above: in accordance (mos ravishda), foregoing (yuqorida
aytilgan). Due to the terminological saturation of legal texts and the presence of
interstitial lexical units, it is necessary to consider the concept of "interdisciplinary
term". This term is traditional and unambiguous in indicating the
scope of functioning of a particular terminological vocabulary, hence the legal
vocabulary belongs to the branch, but the linguodidactic term itself can include
both interdisciplinary and general scientific meanings.
Among the legal terms we can distinguish some inherent to other areas of the
humanities: articles of set (lease agreement), stockholder (shareholder), mercy
killing (euthanasia) [http://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=36746010]. However, not only
terms are characteristic for a scientific text. Common words used in all styles are
widely used in this functional
variety of the language. However, the author of a scientific text does not just use a
commonly used word, but makes a careful selection of a lexical unit capable for
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realizing the target setting of a scientific text. Legal terminology, therefore, is a
system of lexical units of four levels: general scientific, interdisciplinary, proper
legal and highly specialized legal terms that enter into systemic relations with each
other, acquiring new shades of meaning and partially losing the old ones.
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