PRELIMS: LANGUAGE OF LAW

plain language

• A communication in which the wording, structure, and design are so clear that intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find and use that information (Plain Language Association International, 2016)

forensic linguistics

application of linguistics knowledge and techniques to legal issues (Olsson, 2013)

The locutionary level

(the act of making the utterance)

The illocutionary level

the force of the utterance

the perlocutionary level

the addressee’s understanding of prompted by the utterance)

resolving language crimes

Many legal problems take the form of people’s verbal actions including talking, writing, making phone calls and sending messages. 

linguistic evidence in textual disputes

• Disagreement about the meaning of a word or phrase in a spoken or more usually written contract and with breaches of such contracts

analyzing linguistic consequences of communication failure

Given the centrality of language in legal procedures, how effective communication is can be a persistent issue.

handwriting analysis

To decide whether two samples of handwriting, such as a signature, are written by the same author, it is necessary to study various components of the next; visual similarities, size of words, strength, and acceleration of pen movements, etc.

forensic phonetic analysis

most commonly used in speaker identification. This process typically involves comparison of speakers of two or more speech samples, usually in the form of an audio recording of the speech event type in question (hoax call or ransom demand) compared against reference samples obtained from suspects.

syntactic analysis

may be useful in case in which communication evidence is presented, in that syntactic complexity, among other linguistic features including vocabulary choices and discourse organization offers a proxy indicator of whether a text is comprehensible to the readers.

true

Linguistic meaning is inherently uncertain and is subject to divergent interpretations. Evidence as to meaning is usually interpretative rather than identifactory.

corpus analysis

provide a useful resource in authorship attribution if a sufficient sample is available for comparison between the texts or texts in question and other relevant texts of known authorship.

forensic discourse analysis

typically examines conversational features (backchannel behavior, topic initiation, topic recycling, response and interruption strategies, intonation markers, pause lengths and local strategies of ambiguity resolution) in order to ascertain what is going on not only at the surface level of discourse, but also at the level of intention and motivation.

roman law

The civil law that developed in Western Europe is generally considered to be founded on ______.

justinian i

• (Flavius Justinianus, original name Petrus Sabbatius) 

• born 483, Tauresium, Dardania probably near modern Skopje, North Macedonia

• died November 14, 565. Constantinople [now Istanbul, Turkey]) 

• Byzantine emperor (527-565) 

the digest

containing writing by the jurists

the code

contained various imperial enactments.

the novels

or Justinian’s own enactments.

the institutes

• a type of textbook for students to learn the law

northern italy

• The situation began to change in __________ during the 11th century, a time when economic activity and trade flourished, ultimately promoting the Renaissance. The population, especially in cities, grew rapidly. There was a need for a more sophisticated legal system. 

corpus juris

• Civil law countries share some core legal concepts as well as the language needed to refer to those concepts. The language is for the most part, heavily influenced by the Latin terminology of the ________. Due to this heritage, European lawyers speak the same conceptual language. 

latin

was long the predominantly language of statutes and treaties. Although trials were generally conducted in local languages, the judgments were usually drawn up in _______.

frisians and icelanders

were writing down their previously oral laws in the vernacular.

prussians and french

codified their laws using their national languages. 

the legacy of the british empire

the common law and English legal language currently hold away in dozens or countries throughout the world.

the anglo-saxons

were not literate at the time and their laws were entirely customary, Legal decisions were often made by a type of popular Assembly (called moots). 

french

was the primary language in which the law was expressed.

early modern english

is a name given to the language from the 16th century onwards.

subject-matter knowledge

1. having something to say. The more you know, the more detailed information that you have, the better integrated that knowledge is that you would be able to say something compelling to your readers.

rhetorical knowledge

1. knowledge about your reader, sensitivity to their needs, and their willingness to empathize with their particular situation, goals, agenda, and sometimes their lack of knowledge. 

writing and design knowledge

understanding how to say it, when to say it, how to organize it, and how to visualize it. When we think about writing as a professional, there are many genres that are relevant.

information design

The practice of integrating word, image, and typography in ways that make content

It is not about making pretty pictures, it is about functional, usable information.

plain language

A communication in which the wording, structure, and design are so clear that people can easily:

• Find what they need,

• Understand what they find, and

• Use that information.

plain writing act of 2010

U.S. government documents must be:

• Clear

• Concise

• Understandable

• H.R. 94 October 13, 2010

short word

• are usually high-frequency, easy to pronounce words

serif type

more legible than sans serif.

left alignment

is usually more legible–especially if using Microsoft Word, which may distort the display of justified alignment.

richards (2019)

“Plain language is not about dumbing down. It’s about opening up.”

find what they need

Communication in which the wording, structure,and design are so clear that intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.

understand what they find

• Keep the content short and to the point

• Use a conversational tone

• Pick the right words

use that information

• User-testing

• Test the design at multiple points

• Use evidence-based testing strategies

• Check that the final product is useful and usable

deception

is an evolutionary strategy for Natural Selection.

cooperative principle

• we automatically assume that participants in a conversation are being cooperative.

conversational maxims

• we assume that cooperative communicators are: informative, truthful, relevant, clear

the othello error

• The misinterpretation of signs of strong emotion, cognitive complexity and attempted control as indicative of deception.

witness statemtent

A narrative relating to an event witnessed or experienced by an individual writing the statement. 

narrative progression

report of a sequence of events that has entered into the biography of the narrator. 

Narrators linguistically reconstruct reality to create meaning. 

marked sentence structure

Those sentences which have an initial adjunct, subordinate clause or phrase, or prepositional phrase with an adverbial function. - McEwan & Prideaux, 1997)

focus

is driven by intentions and guided by the route the communicator formulates to move through the field of thought. (Anolli, Barconi, Ciceri, 2002)

verb strings

• two + verbs functioning as a single verb e.g. went to call, started yelling, tried to open etc. 

negation

• indicating the act or process of negating or something w/o existence e.g. no, not, nothing, unsuccessful

cognitive verbs

• identifying a cognitive (mental) function e.g. think, seem, appear etc.

indefinite pronouns

• referring to something unspecified e.g. something, one thing(s) etc.