Université de Montréal - Thèse sous forme numérique

10Legal language is considered normative as it is related to norm creation. Lawcreates norms in different ways such as by means of legislation, judgments and legalacts. The instruments of norm creation can vary from one legal system to another aswell as from one country to another. Laws are written not only to convey knowledge butalso to guide human behaviour in society. This does not mean that legal language is theonly specialized language that is normative and prescriptive (Harvey 2002), but mostexperts tend to agree that legal discourse typically exhibits this characteristic.Legal language is considered performative insofar as legal effects are obtainedby the use of speech acts (Cao 2007: 15). Legal experts call this performative function―constitutive‖ (Garzone 2000: 4). Language can create legal relations where noneexisted before, e.g. wedding ceremonies. Verbs play an important role in this respect.Finally, legal language is considered ―polysemous‖ (Šarčević 1991) because it iscomposed of a large set of seemingly non-specialized terms, i.e. units that have come tobe used in everyday language, but that have a specialized meaning in legal texts due tothe legal effects that they create or simply because they occupy a certain place in theconceptual system. The polysemy of legal language may be related to the vaguenessthat characterizes it. Lorente et al. (2008: 1) explain that:El discurso jurídico es objeto de interés para la lingüística textual y latraducción, debido a que se suele caracterizar como un discurso estilísticamenteopaco, codificado por y para expertos juristas, mientras que al mismo tiempoestá dirigido a hablantes no expertos. […] Uno de los aspectos más interesantesdel discurso jurídico, desde el punto de vista lingüístico, es la proximidad de susrecursos léxicos respecto del léxico general de la lengua. Palabras comunescomo demanda, denuncia, pena, reglamento, adquieren en el discurso jurídicoun significado y un valor pragmático estrictos por los efectos o consecuenciaslegales que pueden tener. Puede parecer paradójico, pero es precisamente através de este léxico tan cercano al léxico común, inserido en estructurascomplejas y fijadas en el uso, que el discurso jurídico consigue esa opacidadestilística a las nos referíamos.