Analyzing the Features of English Legal Text from Functional Grammar

翟濤

Abstract：The multi-perspective study of texts is one of the oldest academic activities，which has resulted in such independent disciplines as rhetoric，literary criticism，poetics and stylistics.As a branch o f modern linguistics，discourse analysis also targets research efforts at texts and systemic and functional grammar proves a powerful tool of analysis in this respect.The analysis of a single text has been a tradition in the application o f systemic and functional grammar.This paper conforms to this tradition by analyzing the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005 and comes to the conclusion that it deserves the features that the legal text should have.

Key words：functional grammar，legal，features

Michael Hallidays functional grammar which has been developed for more than 40 years has become an effective method to analyze certain text.The system，especially the functional grammar stress the analysis of text（including speech and written）in practice，believing that the analysis has two aims：the first is to comprehend the text completely in a more scientific way；the second is to evaluate the text on the basis of comprehension appropriately.

Ⅰ.Analyzing the Text from Functional Grammar

Halliday believed that the text is the product of complex conception in the communicating environment.Grammatical analyzing should be the foundation of Text analyzing.Text analyzing has been a tradition for Functional Grammar for a long time.The general procedures of analyzing certain text with Functional Grammar is：first analyzing the mood；modality；theme and transitivity，secondly explaining and evaluating the particularity and the regularity of the text；last evaluating the whole text in the communicating environment.The process is contrast to the production of the text.Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural is a kind of typical legal document which takes effect all over the world.so it will have the features of legal document.The paper analyzes it through applying the FG theory so that we could find out the language character of the legal document more scientifically.

Ⅱ.The Features on the Aspect of Word Level

In the FG theory，according to the rank scale，the unit expressing the meaning is divided into morphemes，words，groups and clauses.So the paper will analyze the legal document by beginning with words and morphemes.In this section the paper will use statistical data produced by AntConc procedures in counting the word to analyze the features of Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural.

Rank Word Frequency The form in the text Percentage

1 the 666 the 620 The 46 8.25

2 of 568 of 568 7.03

3 and 539 and 536 AND 3 6.68

4 to 283 to 283 3.51

5 in 185 in178 In 7 2.29

6 cultural 138 cultural114Cultural24 1.71

7 be 124 is 32be 49 being7 are 30been 6 1.54

8 shall 105 shall 101 should 4 1.30

9 a 90 a 90 1.11

Fig 1.1 word frequency in legal document

We could find some features of legal document through analyzing the data in Fig 1.1 from the word and morpheme levels.First the frequency of the word “and” is 539 taking up 6.68 percent of the total number of the text，which indicates that there are lots of complex clauses in it.About this point，we could find out the result by means of the procedure of Lexical Density.Second the frequencies of the word “be” and “to” are 124 and 283 respectively.Both of them are usually used as infinite signs.About “to”，it occurs 283 times in the text totally，only 27 times it served as prepositions，and 256 times it served as the signs of infinitive form.About “be”，it appears 124 times but served as “is” 32 times and “are” 30 times which is finite，in the rest places it appears in the form of infinite such as “be” “being” “been”.According to the above analysis，the data indicates that in the text there are lots nonfinite expressions.According to Hallidays Functional Grammar，the finite makes it possible to argue about the validity of the proposition.We can see the subject as fixed as long as the current proposition remains in play.through the finite，the speaker signals three basic kinds of claims about the validity of the proposition，each of which in principle is open to acceptance or rejection by the listener：whether the proposition is valid for the present time and actual situation or for other times past，future or for unreal situations（tense）；whether the proposition is about positive or negative validity（polarity）；to what extent the proposition is valid（modality）.There is not tense modality and aspect in nonfinite form so the proposition which is expressed by using of nonfinite is determinate.The listener has no right to reject or argue the proposition expressed by nonfinite form.For example；

Parties shall endeavor to create in their territory an environment which encourages individuals and social groups：

（a）to create，produce，disseminate，distribute and have access to their own cultural expressions，paying due attention to the special circumstances and needs of women as well as various social groups，including persons belonging to minorities and indigenous peoples；

（b）to have access to diverse cultural expressions from within their territory as well as from other countries of the world.

The aim of formulating the document is to let the party observe the Convention instead of negotiating or discussing over it.This kind of features of the text is exactly suited to the aim of the convention.For the content of the convention whether the party support or not，the only thing it could do is to observe.To discuss or to negotiate over the content of the content of the convention is beyond the parties hand.

Secondly，another obvious features of the convention indicated in the figure 1.1 is the frequency of word “shall”.it occurs 105 times in the convention 101 times in the form of “shall” and 4 times in the form of “should” here I think “should” is the variety of “shall”.“Shall” means（in laws，directives，etc.）must；is or are obliged to.“Should” means must，ought to（be used to indicate duty，propriety，or expediency）.This feature satisfies the needs of commanding the party.

Lastly the number of words ended with “-tion”.There are 567 words ended with “-tion”.“-tion” is the sign of nominalization.Although there are some words ended with “-tion” is not nominalization.Most of the word ended with “-tion” is nominalization.The words ended with “-tion” have the features of noun.A noun typically refers to a “thing”，that is，something that exists.By “nouning” a process，writers can reflect the fact that they have negotiated and established the meaning of the clause cent red on the process- in other words，that meaning can now be treated as having existence，as a kind of abstract “thing”.The things that expressed by the verbs indicates that the process is negotiable and could be rejected.The things that expressed by the nominalization indicates that the things are fixed and could not be change.The expressing result just meets the convention needs.

Fig 1.1 distribution of words ended with “-tion”

The features on the aspect of sentence level

Firstly，there are lots of complex clauses in the convention，besides every sentence has lots of words.For example the first sentence has 703 words.There are 8072 words and 156 sentences in the convention.It is necessary to introduce another conception “Lexical density” In computational linguistics，lexical density constitutes the estimated measure of content per functional（grammatical）and lexical units（lexemes）in total.It is used in discourse analysis as a descriptive parameter which varies with register and genre.Spoken texts tend to have a lower lexical density than written ones.The convention packing of a great deal of information into a single intricately constructed sequence in a way which signals that it has been produced with careful，conscious planning.

Conclusion

Legal document as a kind of formal text needs to meet some special requirements such as accurate，clear and concise.The paper analyzes the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions 2005 by applying function grammar theory and the procedure of AntConc.The features are corresponding to special requirements of legal document.

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