Abstract
Much of the work on legal discourse has focused on its construction, interpretation, and use with particular emphasis on either language or legal content; however, very little attention is paid to context, both socio-political as well as cross-cultural, although all forms of legal discourse, spoken as well as written, are applied and interpreted in the context of what Scollon refers to as 'sites of engagement'. Drawing on a number of legal contexts, this paper will attempt to illustrate that interpretations of legal discourse invariably depend on the context of socio-pragmatic realities to which a particular instance of legal discourse applies, and hence socio-political as well as cross-cultural factors have a crucial role to play in its interpretation.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 481-495 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | World Englishes |
Volume | 30 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Anthropology
- Sociology and Political Science
- Linguistics and Language