A Corpus-based Genre Analysis Of Chinese Arbitration Awards

Arbitration, which is parallel to litigation, is an important way to resolve civil andcommercial disputes in our society. Lots of researches on arbitration have been done bysociologists and jurists, but linguistic research on arbitration just starts. As the mostimportant document in arbitration procedures, arbitration award is among the researchobjects of forensic linguistics, but it does not gain its due attention. Therefore, researchon arbitration awards in terms of linguistics enjoys sound prospect and has greatsignificance. On the one hand, findings of this thesis can fill in the gap of linguisticresearches on Chinese arbitration awards at home，which is a necessary supplement toforensic linguistics. On the other hand, this thesis can provide references for writers andlaymen readers of arbitration awards, and thus is of positive significance to thepopularization and development of arbitration.Genre analysis is an important instrument in ESP researches. It is a product of theinterdisciplinary activities between linguistics, sociology, psychology etc., which turnsthe surface description of discourse analysis to deep explanation to macro structure andcommunicative functions. This thesis aims to find out the generic features of Chinesearbitration awards through genre analysis and corpus. First of all, a small-sized corpusof25Chinese arbitration awards is build; then, according to the primary function ofarbitration awards, this thesis proposes that communicative purpose of arbitrationawards is to define parties’ rights and duties with the aim of resolving disputes;afterwards, based on Swales’ move-step theory and the communicative purpose ofarbitration awards, this thesis established a move-step model and has the corpusmanually annotated; finally, this thesis validates the above model through corpusanalysis and analyzes discourse strategies and skills in each move of arbitration awards.By corpus analysis, this thesis finds out the following genre features of Chinesearbitration awards: first, Chinese arbitration awards are highly standardized. Second,arbitration awards are strongly readable and accessible in general. Third, Information ofarbitration awards is presented in a way that always has focuses on disputes, whichreflects efficiency of arbitration. Fourth, Language in arbitration awards is rigorous inorder to avoid misunderstanding. Fifth, Arbitration awards do have the feature ofcolonization, but they are still distinct from litigation lexically. These characteristics arerealized by various discourse strategies and skills under the influence of the communicative purpose of arbitration awards, and they help to realize thecommunication purpose in return.