A Study on Vagueness of Legal English Based on Pragmatics_英语论文

摘要

法律英语是在立法，司法以及执法过程中不断形成的一门归约性极强的语言分支，有其自身所特有的特征——要求遣词造句尽可能越精确越好。然而，事实却往往相反，在各种立法条例以及司法案例中一直存在着数量巨大的模糊表达现象。

法律英语对语言要求自然是越严谨越佳，然而立法者实际上却更倾向于在法律英语中更多的使用模糊表达，这一行为背后的意图值得深究。实际上，法律英语中的模糊性表达早已吸引了许多国内外学者的研究兴趣，也产生了大量的研究成果，本文在基于前人研究成果的基础上，将结合三大语用学理论——礼貌原则，合作原则，关联理论，来探究立法与司法案例中的法律英语模糊表达现象。

本文共由5个部分组成。第一部分主要介绍了论文研究背景，接着回顾该领域相关研究进程；之后，本文将主要介绍三种语用原则——礼貌原则、合作原则和关联理论；第四部分将主要通过研究部分立法和司法案例来说明模糊性在法律英语中的语用功能，最后总结全文。通过对法律英语模糊性的语用分析，旨在丰富相关领域的研究内容，拓宽研究领域，希望能够帮助人们更好的掌握运用法律英语。实践意义较强。

关键词: 法律英语 模糊性 语用学

Abstract

As is known to most people, Legal English is gradually formed in the process of legislation, judicature and law enforcement; as a prescriptive language branch, legal English has its own unique features-it is characterized by the using of precise words. To our surprise, in the legislative language and judicial practice, the phenomenon of applying substantial vague expressions can be found nearly everywhere.

Legal English is to be as precise as possible, however, the legislator are apt to use vague expression, whose intention and purpose worth deeply exploring. In fact, it has attracted the attention of many scholars at home and abroad. On the basis of previous studies, this paper mainly discusses  the use of vague expressions in legislative language and judicial language based on three principles of pragmatics, they are CP, PP and RT.

This thesis all together consists of five sections. In the first part, the author briefly introduces the background of this thesis; then she simplely reviews the pertient research in this field; after that, this thesis will go on with the introduction of some basic information of three pragmatic principles-the CP, PP and the RT; in section 4, the author is going to expound the pragmatic functions of vagueness in legislative and judicial language by applying some legal cases. Based on the pragmatic analysis of vagueness in legal English, this paper can enrich the existing research and widen the scope of the research in this field , what’s more, it can help people to understand, grasp and apply legal English better. 

Key Words: Legal English; Vagueness; Pragmatics

Contents

1  Introduction 1

2  Literature Review 3

2.1 The Definition of Vagueness 3

2.2 The Main Study Approaches of Vagueness 4

2.2.1 The Objective Approach of Vagueness 5

2.2.2 The Subjective Approach of Vagueness 5

2.2.3 The Linguistic Approach of Vagueness 5

2.3 The Characteristics of Vagueness 5

2.3.1 Subjectivity 6

2.3.2 Indeterminacy 6

2.3.3 Agglutination 7

2.3.4 Variability 7

2.4 Summary 8

3  Theoretical Basis 9

3.1 The Cooperative Principle 9

3.2 Politeness Principle 11

3.3 Relevance Theory 13

3.3.1 Two Principles of Relevance Theory 13

4  Data Analysis and Discussion 15

4.1 The Application of Cooperation Principle in Vague Expressions of Legal English 15

4.1.1 The Case of Violating Maxim of Quantity as an Adaptation 15

4.1.2 The Cases of Violating Maxim of Manner as an Adaptation 16

4.2 The Application of Politeness Principle in Vague Expressions of Legal English 17

4.3 The Application of Relevance Theory in Vague Expressions of Legal English 18

5  Conclusion 20

Bibliography 21

Acknowledgments 23