Lexical Repetition In English And Chinese Statutes

The present study undertakes an examination of lexical repetition in English and Chinese statutes with the help of linguistic models and legal theories. The analysis aims to demonstrate types of lexical repetition in statutes, and to investigate their functions in statutes and their contributions to legal rules. The thesis argues for an approach to the study of legal text, which takes into account the significant role of lexis in text. It also scrutinizes the relationships among lexis, texts and contexts, which accounts for why it deals with lexical repetition in particular rather than other forms. It is suggested that repetition can be analyzed from different perspectives: types, functions, style, and cohesion. Among studies done in these areas, one model is chosen for this study: Hoey's classification of types and functions of lexical repetition. This linguistic model and the theories from legal studies proposed by Maley and Bhatia (certainty, precision and all-inclusiveness) constitute the theoretical framework. The proposed framework is applied to the analysis of three English statutes and two Chinese statutes to uncover the types and functions of lexical repetition in statutes on the one hand, and contributions of lexical repetition to legal rules on the other. The present study identifies six types of lexical repetition in the English data and four in the Chinese data. All types vary in weight in both the English and Chinese statutes, and different types have different functions and contributions. Some tend to make more contributions to lexical functions. Some have impact on both lexical and syntactic functions. Some types achieve certainty and all-inclusiveness of legal rules, while others simultaneously influence all three features.Limitations being found, the study, to some degree, bears out that lexical repetition achieves the three features of legal rules. It is hoped that, at least to some extent, the study may promote our consciousness of functions and contributions of different types of lexical repetition so that we may make full use of various types to fulfill different functions in legal practice.