A Corpus-Based Study On Nominalization Of Verbs And Adjectives In Legal English

This research studies nominalization of verbs and adjectives in legal English from the perspective ofcorpus linguistics. In order to fully unveil the distribution and function of corresponding nominalization inthis genre, the author also researches the distribution and function of the corresponding nominalization inEnglish for science and technology and general English. Hence three corpora are investigated in thisresearch, they are, Legal English Corpus (LEC), Jiao Da English for Science and Technology (JDEST), andBritish National Corpus (BNC). Through pilot study, five nominal suffixes are chosen to be researched indetail, they are-tion,-sion,-ment,-ity and-ness.Through the contrast of the distribution of nominalization and nominal suffixes in LEC, JDEST andthin-BNC, the author finds that nominalization takes the highest proportion in legal English and then inEnglish for science and technology, which proves that nominalization is closely connected with genre. Themore formal a genre is, and the more distinct the nominalization. At the same time, nominalizations endingwith-tion,-ment and-ity take a higher proportion in legal English than that in English for science andtechnology and general English, while the use of-ness in legal English is quite rare. Moreover, the suffix-ity shows a strong productivity in English for science and technology. After analyzing each function ofnominal suffix, the author gives an explanation of these phenomena.Through concordance analysis, the author also investigates the function of nominalizations endingwith-tion/-sion,-ment,-ity and-ness in LEC: the-tion-sion and-ment suffixes can be used to form a nounfrom a verb, denoting a process of an action, or a state of the related behavior. Meanwhile, suffix-tion canalso convert an adjective into a noun, referring to a state of the related adjective, such as corporation.However, this feature is not typical in LEC. Suffix-ity can form a noun from an adjective, referring to aspecific property or to an abstract concept of its corresponding adjective. Many corresponding adjectives ofnominalizations ending with-ity can denote the specific quality of an object, and when these adjectives areconverted into nouns by adding suffix-ity at the end of the word, their endings turn into-(a/i)bility. Suffix-ness can convert an adjective into a noun, too, referring both to a state and to a property of itscorresponding adjectives. However, different from-ity, when the converted nominalizations ending with -ity describe a property, they can denote an abstract property of an object, a concrete property of a thing,and personal quality.In conclusion, by describing the distribution of nominalizations in LEC, JDEST and BNC, and theirfunctions in LEC, this thesis fully unveils the characteristics of nominalization in legal English, and thefindings of this thesis provide the legal English pedagogic practice and the legal English translation withmuch enlightenment.