LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF ENGLISH LEGAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of linguistic features of English legal discourse. The purpose of our study is to review the most significant stylistic features of English legal discourse. Typical examples of English legal documents served as research material. The main features of legal discourse have been distinguished, namely: the system of legal terms, the preference for official business and scientific styles in the analyzed documents, the lack of emotional expression, which is caused by the main purpose – to convey the meaning of laws and documents in the unambiguous interpretation, wide usage of special terminology. The basic functions of legal discourse are considered: regulatory, which is to establish and maintain the norms and values that determine the mutual action between the institute and society, between agents and clients and between agents within the institute; performative (direct or indirect instructions to the recipient to take or refrain from committing them. Such statements are texts of genres such as court decision, law, ruling, directive, decree, etc.), informative, which consists in generating, broadcasting and relaying the senses that determine the essence of an institution, that is, creating certain information flows in the institutional communicative space; presentation (symbolic and ritual), which consists in creating the image (attractiveness for society) of the institute and its agents, as well as the authority of law; code that consists in creating a special language that is effective for fulfilling the goals and objectives of institutional activity, as well as for establishing a boundary between agents and clients of discourse.