| In the world today, nearly everyone specializing in English needs to be able (to certain extent) to handle legal English lexicon noted for its great complexity and specialization. Indeed, it may not be possible to attain perfect comprehension of every aspect of legal lexicon by every detail, but it is necessary or even a must to grasp the main features of legal English lexicon---That is the aim of this paper. The term legal lexicon, in this paper, is defined as a specific type of vocabulary dealing with legislation, legal instruments, or other legal documents. In theory, legal lexicon may generally be regarded as semantically clear, concise, or even comprehensive because it communicates the rights and obligations conferred by a constitution, the opinions expressed by a court, the regulations embodied in a statute, or the promises exchanged in a contract. However, the lexicon of the legal profession has now been frequently criticized as archaic, complex and convoluted, pompous and even ponderous. It has become an object of perplexity, scorn, and suspicion to some extent. Why so? It is simply because legal lexicon can be so handy for facilitating in-group communication, allowing a complex concept to be conveyed in a single word or phrase; however, facilitating communication within the profession by means of elaborate legal lexicon does undermine the aim of making legal lexicon more accessible to the public.The above-mentioned features can also partially be attributed to the etymology of legal English lexicon, which is known to be of profound nature. Legal English lexicon has long been characterized by its archaisms abound in the legal documents of all kinds. The main justifications for continued use of archaism is that they can lend a dignity or stateliness to the occasion that the modern equivalents otherwise lack. Therefore, it is correct to admit that preserving a number of antiquated forms of words or phrases are useful in legal affairs. Legal lexicon is an odd mixture of very archaic features, on the one hand, and quite innovative usage, on the other. As the Law of Economy influences most deeply the daily life of the public, the coinage of new terms in the Economic Law is the most influential and thus worth exploring deeply in the first place. Another example of legal lexicon coinage is the increasing addition of the suffix –ee to a verb, primarily to indicate the human object of an action. It not only functions as direct object to refer to the person who is acted upon, but also refers to the indirect object of an action, i.e., the person to whom something is V-ed. Loan translation also plays an important role in the etymology of legal English lexicon, resulting in a large number of legal terms mainly of Latin or French origin in English by transferring foreign terms into the language.Words do not exist in a vacuum; they are related to each other in a variety of ways. Legal English lexicon modifies the relationships among words in similar ways ordinary English lexicon does. One of the reasons that homonymy and polysemy are of interest to the law is that there are many words that have a single legal meaning very different from their ordinary sense. In other words, many legal terms look like ordinary words, but have quite a distinct single legal meaning. Legal English lexicon has several levels of diction, and formal words are those occupying an elevated level of diction, which have rather distinct semantic and pragmatic features or functions from ordinary ones. Semantic obscurity is another distinct feature of legal English lexicon. By semantic obscurity, it is meant that simple subjects are often made needlessly difficult, and difficult subjects are often made much more difficult than they need be. Semantic obscurity has myriad representations rooted in imprecise thought or lack of consideration for the reader or in intended phrasing by the lawyer.Furthermore, legal English contains a large number of words that are not used at all in general English, or are used in a completely different s... |
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