Documentary texts are sometimes difficult to understand and to translate because it is often different from ordinary languages. This difficulty is because the writing conversations are different and a large number of difficult words and phrases are use. It is also bound by the culture of each language. Documentary texts in English legal language are various because legal English considers a separate language. There are two common linguistic features in English legal language, one is lexical and the other is syntactical. Arabic legal language does not has specific legal features, and its features are somehow like the general features of Arabic language. This research clears some of the different rules and features of documentary texts in
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Legal English specializes with its own distinctive lexical features. These lexical features are multiple such as the use of archaic terms which trace back to Old and Middle English. Legal English characterizes with its old terms and expressions which cause difficulties to translators and ordinary native speakers to understand such texts. These terms are like hereof, thereby, and hereby. As El-Frahaty (2015) notes, "old expressions do not refer to a precise meaning, i.e. a sentence including 'hereby ' (I hereby certify. . .) is not more precise than a sentence without it (I certify. . .). It is not stated whether it refers to the whole document or part of it." (p. 21). So translators who are interested in translating such texts should know the use of these archaic words. Another lexical feature of legal English is the use of Latin and French terms. The English law affects by the Roman Church in the Middle Ages whose dominate is Latin language which was the language of communication and written texts in Europe. Varo and Hughes (2004) states "Despite the native origins of many of its most characteristic terms, legal English has not entirely escaped the influence of Roman law and the Latin in which in which it was administered." (p. 5). Also many legal English terms are borrows from French such as verdict, court, and judge. The use of certain words and formal terms is also a feature of …show more content…
The syntactical features of legal English documents are various. The first syntactic feature to discuss is the use of long and complex sentences. A lot of legal documents consist of very long sentences which may reach to hundreds of words in one sentence. The longer sentences are the more complex ones because of the higher number of subordinating clauses and phrases includes. The second feature to discuss is the abuse of nominalizations and passive constructions. Nominalizations are nouns that are derived from verbs and they often have the effect of obscuring the actor. English legal language uses a lot of nominalizations even when there is no need to obscuring the actor. Passive transformation is the shift of the positions of the left hand and right hand noun phrases. . El-Farahaty, H. (2015) maintains that as a result of passive transformations, the object replaces the subject position. It chooses to de-emphasis the agent, to focus on a prominent part in the eyes of the writer, and to front a fact by leaving it
Legal English specializes with its own distinctive lexical features. These lexical features are multiple such as the use of archaic terms which trace back to Old and Middle English. Legal English characterizes with its old terms and expressions which cause difficulties to translators and ordinary native speakers to understand such texts. These terms are like hereof, thereby, and hereby. As El-Frahaty (2015) notes, "old expressions do not refer to a precise meaning, i.e. a sentence including 'hereby ' (I hereby certify. . .) is not more precise than a sentence without it (I certify. . .). It is not stated whether it refers to the whole document or part of it." (p. 21). So translators who are interested in translating such texts should know the use of these archaic words. Another lexical feature of legal English is the use of Latin and French terms. The English law affects by the Roman Church in the Middle Ages whose dominate is Latin language which was the language of communication and written texts in Europe. Varo and Hughes (2004) states "Despite the native origins of many of its most characteristic terms, legal English has not entirely escaped the influence of Roman law and the Latin in which in which it was administered." (p. 5). Also many legal English terms are borrows from French such as verdict, court, and judge. The use of certain words and formal terms is also a feature of …show more content…
The syntactical features of legal English documents are various. The first syntactic feature to discuss is the use of long and complex sentences. A lot of legal documents consist of very long sentences which may reach to hundreds of words in one sentence. The longer sentences are the more complex ones because of the higher number of subordinating clauses and phrases includes. The second feature to discuss is the abuse of nominalizations and passive constructions. Nominalizations are nouns that are derived from verbs and they often have the effect of obscuring the actor. English legal language uses a lot of nominalizations even when there is no need to obscuring the actor. Passive transformation is the shift of the positions of the left hand and right hand noun phrases. . El-Farahaty, H. (2015) maintains that as a result of passive transformations, the object replaces the subject position. It chooses to de-emphasis the agent, to focus on a prominent part in the eyes of the writer, and to front a fact by leaving it