The Speech Acts in English Legal Texts
The Speech Acts in English Legal Texts
A Master Thesis Submitted to Graduate School, Southwest University of Political Science and Law
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master Degree of Forensic Linguistics in Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
April, 2008
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my gratitude to the following people, without whose support and encouragement, I could not complete the thesis. My deepest appreciation first goes to my thesis instructor, professor Xiao Yunshu, from whom, I have gained the most precious treasure, i.e., the independent thinking ability, the problem-solving ability and the inspiration for my thesis. I have benefited not only from his teaching and expert guidance, but also from his thinking methods. And what’s more? His great patience and encouragement has given me so much confidence for completing the thesis. I should say thanks to Professor Zhao Liang, professor Song Lei, Professor Xiong Demi, Professor Zheng Daxuan and Professor Cheng Rukang, who used to teach me major courses from which I learned a lot of things, which are quite helpful for my thesis writing. Thanks should also go to my friends in Sichuan International Studies University, who provided me with a lot of significant materials. And last but not least, I should say thanks to my parents and my boy friend who have given me the strongest support during the several months of my painstaking thesis composition.
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Abstract
The research on legal language has been very popular in recent years, which mainly focuses on lexicology, syntax, translation of legal language, i.e., but rarely on the speech acts in English legal texts. Therefore, based on the speech act theory, the thesis intends to study the speech acts in English legal texts, including legislative texts, judicial texts and other legal texts, which are called legal speech acts, since they are of legal effects. Generally, the speech acts in legal texts, performs
A Master Thesis Submitted to Graduate School, Southwest University of Political Science and Law
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Master Degree of Forensic Linguistics in Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
April, 2008
Acknowledgements
I would like to extend my gratitude to the following people, without whose support and encouragement, I could not complete the thesis. My deepest appreciation first goes to my thesis instructor, professor Xiao Yunshu, from whom, I have gained the most precious treasure, i.e., the independent thinking ability, the problem-solving ability and the inspiration for my thesis. I have benefited not only from his teaching and expert guidance, but also from his thinking methods. And what’s more? His great patience and encouragement has given me so much confidence for completing the thesis. I should say thanks to Professor Zhao Liang, professor Song Lei, Professor Xiong Demi, Professor Zheng Daxuan and Professor Cheng Rukang, who used to teach me major courses from which I learned a lot of things, which are quite helpful for my thesis writing. Thanks should also go to my friends in Sichuan International Studies University, who provided me with a lot of significant materials. And last but not least, I should say thanks to my parents and my boy friend who have given me the strongest support during the several months of my painstaking thesis composition.
i
Abstract
The research on legal language has been very popular in recent years, which mainly focuses on lexicology, syntax, translation of legal language, i.e., but rarely on the speech acts in English legal texts. Therefore, based on the speech act theory, the thesis intends to study the speech acts in English legal texts, including legislative texts, judicial texts and other legal texts, which are called legal speech acts, since they are of legal effects. Generally, the speech acts in legal texts, performs
Bibliography: Searle, John R. Indirect speech acts. In Cole and Morgan (eds.), reprinted in Searle 1979, 1975. 蔡 平. “翻译方法应以归化为主”[J].中国翻译, 2002，(23):5.