Value Analysis Of Speech Act Theory In Legal Practice

"Do not have much career related to language so much as the law","Our law isa law of language", Tiersma, a contemporary American Professor of Law said. Thelaw must follow the rules, and the core position of most, or even almost all of thelegal systems are legal norms. The language also has its rules. As one of the rules offorensic linguistics, speech act theory is also one of the basic theories in the researchof forensic linguistics; in addition, the status of speech act theory is extremelyimportant. This dissertation will present a profound and comprehensive analysis onthe reasonable classification of legal norms by using speech act theory, in order toexplore actual effects of speech act theory in China’s legal practice; furthermore, tofind out the effects in legal practice under the condition of breaching speech acttheory; and to eliminate these adverse effects in contemporary society.As a whole, this dissertation can be divided into six chapters, including theintroduction and the epilogue.Beginning of this dissertation is the introduction which starts from highlightingthe theme. Firstly, it introduces why the author would choose such a theme onforensic linguistics, especially the academic research of speech act theory in this fieldis not enough for a postgraduate’s dissertation writing. Secondly, according to thecomprehensively review of existing academic achievements in the field of forensiclinguistics, the author will explore the theoretical value and practical significance inlegal practice. Thirdly, on the basis of literature review, the author will identify thedefects of existing achievements and put forward some suggestions on the research ofspeech act theory in legal field. And finally, it shows the study methods as well as thewhole framework of the dissertation.Theory overview is the foundation of the whole dissertation. It points out themain representatives, Austin and Searle, in the field of speech act theory research andtheir respective theories by using the developing process of speech act theory as the main clue. The connotation and its theoretical source of speech act theory come fromthe first. Then it is the trichotomy of Austin’s speech act which contains locutionaryact, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act. The third is the dichotomy of Searle’sspeech act which contains illocutionary act and perlocutionary act by using"meaning" which based on the principles of "intentionality of the mind can be relatedto objects in the world in general". The fourth is the differences between "literalforce" and "illocutionary force" of "meaning" in Searle’s indirect speech act theory.Finally, it shows how Searle combines the language, meaning and communicationtogether and puts these achievements into the practice of legal norms research. Andconsequently it makes the theoretical foreshadowing for the following analysis oflegal provisions.The analysis of speech act theory is the core of this dissertation. Based onAustin’s speech act theory, combined with the legal norms, this chapter makes adeeply parse of how the legal practice of speech act theory was reflected in the legalnorms. Firstly, it introduces the developing process of the legal norms. Then,according to the different realization modes of legislative purpose, it makes are-division of the legal norms, and makes comprehensive analysis of the legal normsby using some other relative theories of speech act theory. And finally, it makes asummary of the defects of speech act theory in legal norms.On the basis of the former argumentations about Austin’s theory, this chapterprovides the whole process of the legal practice for further comprehensive analysis,by using "literal force","illocutionary force" and "meaning". Combined with thepurpose that legislative language provides service for legislative activities, it producesa comprehensive summary of the representation and effects of the violation of speechact theory from the perspectives of standardization of legislative, judicial andlaw-enforcement language.It is very necessary to solve all of the problems that confronted, so next step is tosummarize the defects of breaching speech act theory. During the process oflegislative, judicial and law-enforcement, it proposes how to reduce or lift theexistence of the violation of speech act theory in legal practice. From specifying thestandardization of legislative language, to maintaining the authority of judicial procedure, and then to guaranteeing the law-enforcement results, it makes a deeplyand comprehensive summarization. In the entire process of legal practice, we onlyfully respect and carry out speech act theory in order to achieve the purpose of legalnorms more effectively, and promote the modernization of China’s rule of law.The last chapter is the epilogue of this dissertation. It clearly points out the mainargument of this dissertation: speech act theory is applied to the legal norms research.We should deeply understand the true meaning of the legal provisions embodied inthe legal norms from the perspective of legal actions, and put it into China’s legalpractice in order to promoting the rule of law in China.