Legal and linguistic theory as a component of general and theoretical legal science: propedeutic aspect

Abstract

The article is devoted to the topic of application of provisions and conclusions of legal linguistics in the field of law. The purpose of the study is to focus the attention of legal scholars on the necessity to consider legal and linguistic theory as a component of general and theoretical legal science.
 It is drawn attention that in the research of domestic scholars the connection between law and language is mainly highlighted by focusing on one of the aspects: either the legal basis of language functioning, or the linguistic features of law terminology system. It is emphasized that legal and linguistic theory (as well as legal linguistics) provides not two subjects of knowledge with an emphasis on one of them, but it is a dual subject - language and law; symbolic nature of law.
 The factors that influenced the genesis and development of legal and linguistic theory as a component of modern jurisprudence are presented and analyzed. First, it is globalization and integration processes, providing for the necessity to harmonize regulations, the correct translation of legitimate rules of conduct into the appropriate language, etc. Secondly, it is the borrowing of forreign concepts into the national legal system, which also stipulates an adequate understanding of their content, and phenomena denoted by the term. Partly in this context, the interdisciplinarity of modern knowledge is noted (processes of integration and differentiation of knowledge, is a factor in the interdisciplinary borrowing of concepts and categories). Secondly, it is a “linguistic turn” that marked the rejection of the prevalence of the metaphysics of consciousness and the intention of thinkers on the linguistic quintessence of cogito. Language began to be perceived as the basis of cognitive activity, thinking; the attention of scientists has shifted to the epistemology of senses and meanings.
 It is concluded that in response to the challenges of society, since the second half of the twentieth century, a new field of interdisciplinary research - legal linguistics - has been conceptualized. This interdisciplinary field is crucial in the field of law, based on the social and cultural essence of this regulator of social relations. Language, as well as law, being an element of the culture of the society, influence the perception of social values, their formation. In the context of globalization, a significant part of legal phenomena and processes can be known precisely by means of the use of epistemological tools of legal linguistics.