Synonymy and Polysemy in Legal Terminology and Their Applications to Bilingual and Bijural Translation

• Authors: Marta Chromá
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The paper focuses on synonymy and polysemy in the language of law in English-speaking countries. The introductory part briefly outlines the process of legal translation and tackle the specificity of bijural translation. Then, traditional understanding of what a term is and its application to legal terminology is considered; three different levels of vocabulary used in legal texts are outlined and their relevance to bijural translation explained. Next, synonyms in the language of law are considered with respect to their intension and distribution, and examples are given to show that most expressions or phrases which are interchangeable synonyms in the general language should be treated carefully in legal translation. Finally, polysemes in legal terminology are discussed and examples given to illustrate problems potentially encountered by translators.

Keywords

EN

law; bijural translation; legal terminology; synonymy; polysemy

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Research in Language
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 31-50

Dates

published

2011-06-30

Contributors

author

Marta Chromá

• Charles University Law School, Praha, Czech Republic

References

• Al-Kasimi, Ali M. 1983. "The Interlingual/Translation Dictionary." In: Lexicography: Principles and Practice, edited by R. R. K. Hartmann, 153-162. London: Academic Press.
• Čermák, František, Blatná, Renata (eds.). 1995. Manuál lexikografie. Praha: H+H.
• Chromá, Marta. 2008. "Translating terminology in arbitration discourse." In: Legal Discourse Across Cultures and Systems, edited by Bhatia, V., Candlin, Ch., Engberg, J., 309-327. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
• Cruse, D. Alan. 1991. Lexical Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• De Groot Gerard-René, Van Laer Conrad J.P. 2006. "The Dubious Quality of Legal Dictionaries." International Journal of Legal Information, Vol. 34:1, 65-86.
• De Groot Gerard-René, Van Laer Conrad J.P. 2008. The Quality of Legal Dictionaries: an assessment. Maastricht Working Papers, Faculty of Law 2008/6.
• De Groot, Gerard-René. 1987. "Problems of legal translation from the point of view of a comparative lawyer (seven theses for the XIth World Conference of Federation Internationale des Traducteurs)." Van taal tot taal, Vol. 31, No. 4 (1987), Hilversum: Nederlands Genootschap van Vertalers, 189.
• Filipec, Josef, Čermák, František. 1985. Česká lexikologie. Praha: Academia (Studie a práce lingvistické).
• Galinski, Christian. 1982. "Standardization in Terminology - an Overview." In: Terminologies for the Eighties, Infoterm Series 7, edited by W. Nedobity, 186-226. Munich: K. G. Saur.
• Garner, Bryan. 1995. A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.
• Halliday, M.A.K., Teubert, Wolfgang, Yallop, Colin, Čermáková, Anna. 2004. Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics. London, New York: Continuum.
• Hoey, Michael. 2006. Lexical Priming. London, New York: Routledge.
• Hughes, Brian - Alcaraz, Enrique. 2002. Legal Translation Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome Publishing.
• Jackson, Bernard. S. 1985. Semiotics and Legal Theory. Deborah Charles Publications, (reprinted 1997).
• Jackson, Howard, Amvela, Etienne Zé. 2007. Words, Meaning and Vocabulary. An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. London, New York: Continuum.
• Jakobson, Roman. On Linguistic Aspects of Translation. 1959. In: On Translation, edited by R. A. Brower, 232-39. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, [Reprinted in Venuti 2003].
• Jakobson, Roman. 1960. "Closing Statement: Linguistics and Poetics." In: Style in Language, edited by Sebeok, T., 350-377. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1960.
• Knapp, Viktor. 1995. Teorie práva. Praha: C. H. Beck.
• Lando, O. - Beale, H. (eds.). 1995. Principles of European Contract Law. Dordrecht: Nijhoff.
• Lando, O. - Zimmermann, R. - Bar, V. C. 2002. Principles of European Private Law. 2nd ed., Dordrecht: Nijhoff.
• Löbner, Sebastian. 2002. Understanding Semantics. London: Arnold, Hodder Headline Group.
• Malmkjær, Kirsten. 2005. Linguistics and the Language of Translation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Mellinkoff, David. 1963. The Language of the Law. Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, (reprint 2004).
• Murphy, M. Lynne. 2008. Semantic Relations and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Nord, Christiane. 1991. Text analysis in translation. Amsterdam / Atlanta: Rodopi, 1991.
• Pearson, Jennifer. 1998. Terms in Context. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Phillips, Alfred. 2003. Lawyer's Language. How and why legal language is different. London: Routledge.
• Poštolková, Běla, Roudný, Miroslav, Tejnor, Antonín. 1983. O české terminologii, Praha: Academia.
• Pustejovsky, James, Boguraev, Branimir. 1996. Lexical Semantics. The Problem of Polysemy. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Riggs, Fred. W. 1982. "Descriptive Terminology. Its Relevance for the Social Sciences." In: Terminologies for the Eighties, Infoterm Series 7, edited by W. Nedobity, 144-160, Munich: K. G. Saur.
• Riggs, Fred. W. "Social Science Terminology: Basic Problems and Proposed Solutions." In: Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, edited by H. S. Sonneveld, K. L. Loening, 195-220. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1993.
• Riley, Alison. "The Meaning of Words in English Legal Texts: Mastering the Vocabulary of the Law - A Legal Task." Law Teacher 29-30, 68-83. London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1995.
• Saeed, John I. Semantics. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003.
• Šarčević, Susan. New Approach to Legal Translation. The Hague, London, Boston: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
• Sinclair, John. "Language and computing, past and present." In: Evidence-based LSP. Translation, Text and Terminology edited by Ahmad, K., Rogers, M., 21-52. Bern: Peter Lang, 2007.
• Thomas, Patricia. "Choosing Headwords from Language-for-Special-Purposes LSP. Collocations for Entry into a Terminology Data Bank. Term Bank." In: Terminology: Applications in Interdisciplinary Communication, edited by H. S. Sonneveld, K. L. Loening, 43-68. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1993.
• Tiersma, Peter M. Legal Language. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1999.
• Tomášek, Michal. 1991. "Právo - interpretace a preklad." Translatologica Pragensia V, Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica 4-5/1991. Praha: Karolinum, 147-154.
• Trosborg, Anna (ed.). Rhetorical Strategies in Legal Language. Discourse Analysis of Statutes and Contracts. Tubingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1997.
• Venuti, Lawrence. The Translation Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 2003.
• Widdowson, Henry G. Explorations in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.
• White, James Boyd. Justice as Translation. An Essay in Cultural and Legal Criticism. Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• Zgusta, Ladislav. Manual of Lexicography. Praha: Academia, The Hague: Mouton, 1971.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/v10015-011-0004-2