Comparative Legilinguistics
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Gender-based violence against women in the European Court of Human Rights: a case study on separate judicial opinions
No full textFar from being neutral and objective, the law often perpetuates existing prejudices – particularly gender stereotypes – which hinder equality and human rights. Despite recent efforts by bodies like the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to condemn discriminatory legal language, such stereotypes persist, especially in contexts where domestic violence against women is still widespread and rooted in cultural norms: these narratives trivialise victims’ experiences and weaken legal protections, sustaining cycles of silence and fear. Against this backdrop, we examine cases of gender-based violence presented to the ECtHR from 2012 to 2024, and we specifically focus on separate opinions, which contest majority understandings of discriminatory or abusive acts and reveal competing judicial narratives. Following Ädel and Garretson’s (2006) taxonomy, we begin by analysing intertextuality to trace how judges cite, attribute or mention external and internal sources: this focus will reveal how dissenting voices engage with, resist or reinterpret dominant legal discourses, therefore exposing the systemic nature of injustice, or, conversely, reproducing harmful narratives. On this basis, we then move to the examination of a number of harmful discursive practices, i.e., argumentative or rhetorical choices that ideologically frame cases and contribute to the reproduction of gender-based violence. This qualitative analysis situates our findings within the framework of Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (Lazar, 2005), which explores how discourse sustains or challenges hierarchies of gendered power
A Comparative Perspective on Legal and Clinical Reasonings
Full text linkThe increasing encounters of clinical science and the rule of law in and outside the courtrooms is one distinctive characteristic of our modern era. At first glance, legal analysis and clinical reasoning could be either completely different or substantially similar. Should we consider the issue through the lens of our scientific revolution legacy, a common rational framework would be a defining converging point drawing together a step-by-step analysis from proven or known facts to the applicable standards, whether it be of law or medicine. However, key differences cannot be overlooked between two disciplines which purport to answer different sets of “what is” vs “should be” questions. This text provides an in-depth comparative analysis of the premises and processes underlying both the legal and clinical reasonings. It highlights cultural differences between the two disciplines which extend beyond the need to translate between two distinct languages, that of law and of medicine. Rather, it can be fairly stated that a court trial involving medical expertise should be ordering a fair and structured translating process between legal and medical cultures.Les rencontres croissantes entre le raisonnement clinique et la primauté du droit à l\u27intérieur et à l\u27extérieur des salles d\u27audience ont une caractéristique distinctive de notre ère moderne. À première vue, l\u27analyse juridique et le raisonnement clinique pourraient être complètement différents ou sensiblement similaires. Devrions-nous considérer la question à travers le prisme de notre héritage de la révolution scientifique ? un cadre rationnel commun serait un point de convergence déterminant rassemblant une analyse étape par étape des faits avérés ou connus aux normes applicables, qu\u27elles soient de droit ou de médecine. Cependant, les principales différences ne peuvent être négligées entre deux disciplines qui prétendent répondre à différents ensembles de questions « ce qui est » et « devrait être ». Ce texte propose une analyse comparative approfondie des prémisses et des processus qui sous-tendent à la fois les raisonnements juridiques et cliniques. Il met en évidence des différences culturelles entre les deux disciplines qui vont au-delà de la nécessité de traduire entre deux langues distinctes, celle du droit et celle de la médecine. Au contraire, on peut affirmer à juste titre qu\u27un procès impliquant une expertise médicale devrait ordonner un processus de traduction équitable et structuré entre les cultures juridiques et médicales
How judges dissent: A comparative rhetorical and metadiscursive analysis of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and U.S. Supreme Court separate opinions
No full textDissenting opinions reveal how personal values and professional courtesy shape judicial discourse, reflecting a delicate rhetorical balance between individual judgment and institutional collegiality (Garzone, 2016; Etxabe, 2022). This balance takes on particular significance as English increasingly functions as a judicial lingua franca, notably in human rights adjudication. Yet, comparative studies investigating how judges from diverse legal traditions rhetorically calibrate their “positioning” (individual stance) and “proximity” (heteroglossic engagement with majority and dissenting voices) remain scarce (Hyland, 2015). To address this gap, the present study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining rhetorical move analysis (Swales, 1990; Bhatia, 1993) with Hyland’s interpersonal metadiscourse framework (2005, 2010). Specifically, it analyzes 112 dissenting opinions from two influential courts: the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which addresses an international readership, and the U.S. Supreme Court, whose audience is primarily domestic yet influential at a global level. Findings reveal a shared rhetorical blueprint composed of nine core moves, newly identified in this study, which extend Goźdź-Roszkowski’s (2020) taxonomy. These moves, however, are instantiated differently in the two institutional contexts analysed. U.S. dissents emphasize logical signposting and authoritative citation of precedents, whereas Strasbourg dissents foreground sustained doctrinal elaboration and explicit judicial self-reference. These variations illustrate how judges strategically craft their moves to reconcile institutional norms with individual stance-taking and audience expectations, deepening our understanding of judicial dissent as a distinctive genre and pointing to promising avenues for further research
Insults and death threats against Nadiya Lazzouni from a forensic linguistics perspectives
No full textThis paper presents a comprehensive forensic linguistic analysis of insults and death threats directed at Nadiya Lazzouni, emphasizing the roles of semantics, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics within legal contexts. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study combines qualitative and quantitative analyses to examine linguistic elements within legal frameworks, drawing on data from Lazzouni’s personal social media account, where she disclosed the threatening letter. Through a comparative legilinguistics perspective, the research elucidates how various legal systems interpret and enforce laws related to hate speech and threats. The findings reveal that the letter contains severe insults and death threats rooted in religious and racial identity, underscoring the legal challenges posed by multilingual and sociocultural variations in legal interpretation. This study highlights the necessity for standardized legal terminology and the development of forensic linguistic tools to enhance clarity and fairness in legal proceedings involving speech-related offenses. By integrating linguistic analysis with forensic and comparative legal methodologies, this research contributes to the broader discourse on multilingualism in legal practice and the effectiveness of legal communication in addressing hate speech and threats
DE PROBLEME BEIM ÜBERSETZEN VON KURZWŐRTERN UND ABKÜRZUNGEN IN DEUTSCHEN STELLENANGEBOTEN
No full textDer Beitrag hat zum Ziel, mögliche Probleme beim Nachschlagen der Entsprechungen von Kurzwörtern und Abkürzungen deutscher Stellenangebote mithilfe von digitalen Hilfsmitteln aufzuzeigen, die beim weiteren Verstehen der Stellenangebote von potenziellen Bewerbenden von Bedeutung sind. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, wie die falsche Auflösung der Abkürzungen und Kurzwörter mithilfe von digitalen Hilfsmitteln und folglich ihr fehlerhaftes Verstehen den Verstehensprozess der Stellenangebote von den Bewerbenden behindern können und demzufolge einen negativen Einfluss auf den weiteren Teil des Rekrutierungsprozesses haben können.The aim of this article is to demonstrate possible problems in finding the equivalents of acronyms and abbreviations of German job vacancies with the help of digital translation aids, which are relevant for the understanding of job vacancies by those who may apply for a position. In addition, the issue of the impact of the wrong development of acronyms and abbreviations by means of digital translation aids on the understanding of job offers by job applicants and the subsequent recruitment process is addressed.Celem artykułu jest wykazanie problemów tłumaczeniowych mogących wystąpić podczas tłumaczenia skrótów i skrótowców (zawartych w niemieckich ofertach pracy) na język polski. Ponadto Autorka próbuje wykazać, jak błędne rozwinięcia skrótów i skrótowców i ich błędne przetłumaczenie na język docelowy może wpłynąć na zrozumienie danej oferty przez osoby ubiegające się o pracę oraz, tym samym, mieć negatywny wpływ na dalszą część procesu rekrutacyjnego
The language of corruption and informality in Albanian: lexical semantics meets the social and political sciences
No full textCorruption is an omnipresent concept in public discourse and a significantly researched topic, yet there is little research on how people speak about corruption or how corruption is framed, a factor that we believe to be central to the understanding of corrupt practices. The present paper employs a lexical-semantic approach to the language of corruption in Albania. Firstly, a short overview of linguistic work dealing with aspects of discourses on corruption is given. Then, the paper focuses on certain sociological and economic approaches to corruption and informality. This last concept and Agency Theory (Principal-Agent Theory) are combined to examine corruption, through frame semantics approach. Further, a prolific inventarisation of the Albanian lexicon of corruption, as reflected in lexicographic sources and reference corpus, is delivered in the paper. Lastly, several petty corruption cases from the Albanian press are analyzed to understand better how corruption is framed linguistically. From a conceptual metaphor perspective, corruption is negatively conceptualized, as is the case in other European languages too, whereas, from a frame semantic perspective, there seems to be a lack of moral evaluation in reporting petty corruption cases.  
Deux théories de la faute en responsabilité médicale
No full textThis article seeks to elucidate the dual conceptions or theories of fault that exist in the domain of medical liability law. The first of these is often characterized as "descriptive" or "customary," as appears from a survey of relevant jurisprudential and doctrinal sources, However, this predominant understanding of medical malpractice is increasingly facing scrutiny as a second conception emerges. This alternative perspective is manifested through the development, across various jurisdictions, of a normative lexicon—specifically the term "reasonableness"—which delineates the legal standard anticipated of a physician\u27s conduct, In addition to the oversight exercised by the exclusion of customary practices that may exhibit evident deficiencies or hazards, contemporary courts have also been entrusted with the critical function of acting as "guatekeepers " of the quality of scientific evidence required to evaluate the propriety of medical practices. This article further delves into specific concerns and ambiguities related to the evidentiary aspects of establishing a customary standard. Such uncertainties, we conlude, will in turn perpetuate a standard that is still essentially grounded in established custom and clinical practices.Résumé
Cet article vise à mettre en lumière l’existence, en droit de la responsabilité médicale, de deux conceptions de la faute, la première conception étant qualifiée de « descriptive » ou de « coutumière », après en avoir présenté certaines sources jurisprudentielles et doctrinales, ainsi que les moyens typiques de preuve utilisés pour l’établir. Cette conception, habituelle, de la faute médicale est graduellement battue en brèche par l’apparition d’une seconde conception, visible par la formulation, dans différentes juridictions, d’un vocabulaire de nature plutôt normatif (la « raisonnabilité ») pour décrire le standard légal attendu de la conduite du médecin. En plus du contrôle effectué par l’exclusion des pratiques coutumières qui présenteraient des carences ou des dangers évidents, les tribunaux sont désormais également investis du rôle de « gardiens » de la qualité de la preuve scientifique qui sera soumise en vue d’évaluer le caractère approprié d’une pratique. Dans la quatrième section, certains enjeux et incertitudes de nature probatoire sont étudiés lorsqu’il est question d’établir un standard coutumier en contexte judiciaire. Cette incertitude, en retour, favorise le maintien d’un standard fondé sur la coutume et les pratiques.
 
Österreichische und deutsche Patientenverfügung aus übersetzungswissenschaftlicher Sicht
Full text linkDie Patientenverfügung enthält die Wünsche des Patienten[1] bezüglich seiner medizinischen Behandlung für den Fall, dass er selbst dazu nicht mehr in der Lage wird, z.B. aufgrund von Bewusstlosigkeit, sie selbst zu äußern. Diese Art der Willenserklärung ist in den deutschsprachigen Ländern gesetzlich geregelt, während es in Polen noch keine klare Rechtsgrundlage in diesem Bereich gibt. Zweifellos sind Patientenverfügungen Gegenstand zahlreicher Diskussionen unter Ärzten, Juristen und Bioethikern sowie wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen. Wegen rechtlicher und kultureller Unterschiede zwischen Polen und deutschsprachigen Ländern können sie jedoch auch ein sehr interessanter Gegenstand sprachwissenschaftlicher Forschung sein. In diesem Artikel werden die österreichischen und deutschen Patientenverfügungen der übersetzungsorientierten Textanalyse nach Christiane Nord unterzogen, um auf ihre Eigenschaften aufmerksam zu machen, welche die Entscheidungen der Übersetzer bei ihrem Übersetzen ins Polnische beeinflussen können.
[1] Aus Gründen der besseren Lesbarkeit wird im Folgenden auf die gleichzeitige Verwendung weiblicher und männlicher Sprachformen verzichtet und das generische Maskulinum verwendet. Sämtliche Personenbezeichnungen gelten gleichermaßen für beide Geschlechter.Living will be the will of patients with regards to their medical treatment in the event they are unable to communicate the will themselves, e.g. due to loss of consciousness. This type of declaration of will is regulated by law in German-speaking countries, while in Poland there is still no clear legal basis for respecting it. Living wills are the subject of numerous discussions led by physicians, lawyers and bioethicists, as well as of theses on that matter. However, due to legal and cultural differences between Poland and German-speaking countries in this area, they can also be a very interesting subject for linguistic research. In this article, the living wills are subjected to Christiane Nord\u27s translation-oriented text analysis in order to draw attention to their characteristics, which may influence the translators\u27 decisions when translating them into Polish.Oświadczenie pro futuro zawiera wolę pacjenta dotyczącą jego leczenia na wypadek wystąpienia sytuacji, w której nie będzie on już w stanie samodzielnie jej wyrazić, np. z powodu utraty przytomności. Ten rodzaj oświadczenia woli jest uregulowany prawnie w krajach niemieckojęzycznych, natomiast w Polsce nadal nie ma jednoznacznej podstawy prawnej w tym zakresie. Niewątpliwie oświadczenia pro futuro są przedmiotem licznych dyskusji wśród lekarzy, prawników i bioetyków, a także prac naukowych. Jednak ze względu na różnice prawne i kulturowe między Polską a krajami niemieckojęzycznymi takie oświadczenia woli mogą być również bardzo interesującym przedmiotem badań językoznawczych. W niniejszym artykule przeanalizowano austriackie i niemieckie oświadczenia pro futuro w oparciu o model analizy tekstu zorientowanej na proces przekładu autorstwa Christiane Nord. Celem analizy jest określenie ich charakterystycznych cech, które mogą wpływać na decyzje tłumaczy przy ich tłumaczeniu na język polski
De facto oder tatsächlich? Eine korpusbasierte Untersuchung zur Rolle der Latinismen in der EU- und der bundesdeutschen Gesetzgebungssprache
Full text linkDie zu Beginn des 11. Jahrhunderts einsetzende Rezeption des römischen Rechts im deutschen Sprachraum hatte einen tiefgreifenden Einfluss auf die deutsche Rechtssprache, die im Laufe ihrer Entwicklung zunächst zahlreiche Entlehnungen aus dem Lateinischen aufnahm, um sich dann bis zur großen Kodifikation des 19. Jahrhunderts allmählich davon zu lösen. Dieser Prozess der Ersetzung von Fremdwörtern und damit auch von Latinismen durch deutsche Entsprechungen betraf insbesondere die deutsche Gesetzgebungssprache, die als Ausdruck des nationalen Gesetzgebers darauf abzielte, nur die Landessprache zu verwenden. Gilt diese Regel heute noch? Und was geschieht bei der Umsetzung einer EU-Richtlinie, die Latinismen enthält: Werden sie beibehalten, weggelassen oder ins Deutsche übersetzt? Die qualitative Studie, die in diesem Artikel vorgestellt wird, versucht diese Fragen zu beantworten, indem sie Daten aus drei Korpora präsentiert, die jeweils EU-Richtlinien, die entsprechenden deutschen Umsetzungsmaßnahmen und deutsche Rechtsvorschriften enthalten, die nicht unter dem Einfluss einer EU-Vorlage entstanden sind.Die zu Beginn des 11. Jahrhunderts einsetzende Rezeption des römischen Rechts im deutschen Sprachraum hatte einen tiefgreifenden Einfluss auf die deutsche Rechtssprache, die im Laufe ihrer Entwicklung zunächst zahlreiche Entlehnungen aus dem Lateinischen aufnahm, um sich dann bis zur großen Kodifikation des 19. Jahrhunderts allmählich davon zu lösen. Dieser Prozess der Ersetzung von Fremdwörtern und damit auch von Latinismen durch deutsche Entsprechungen betraf insbesondere die deutsche Gesetzgebungssprache, die als Ausdruck des nationalen Gesetzgebers darauf abzielte, nur die Landessprache zu verwenden. Gilt diese Regel heute noch? Und was geschieht bei der Umsetzung einer EU-Richtlinie, die Latinismen enthält: Werden sie beibehalten, weggelassen oder ins Deutsche übersetzt? Die qualitative Studie, die in diesem Artikel vorgestellt wird, versucht diese Fragen zu beantworten, indem sie Daten aus drei Korpora präsentiert, die jeweils EU-Richtlinien, die entsprechenden deutschen Umsetzungsmaßnahmen und deutsche Rechtsvorschriften enthalten, die nicht unter dem Einfluss einer EU-Vorlage entstanden sind.La ricezione del diritto romano nel mondo di lingua tedesca, avviata all\u27inizio dell\u27XI secolo, ha profondamente influenzato il linguaggio giuridico tedesco, che nel corso della sua evoluzione ha dapprima assorbito numerosi prestiti dal latino per poi distaccarsene gradualmente fino alla grande codificazione del XIX secolo. Questo processo di sostituzione dei prestiti stranieri, e quindi anche dei latinismi, con equivalenti tedeschi ha interessato in particolare il linguaggio legislativo che, in quanto espressione del legislatore, mirava a servirsi unicamente della lingua nazionale. Questa regola è valida ancora oggi? E cosa accade quando a essere recepita è una direttiva UE che contiene dei latinismi? Essi vengono mantenuti, omessi o tradotti in tedesco? Lo studio qualitativo presentato in questo articolo tenta di rispondere a queste domande, presentando i dati tratti da tre corpora contenenti rispettivamente una raccolta di direttive dell\u27UE, le relative misure di recepimento tedesche e un campione di atti legislativi tedeschi estranei al processo di recepimento del diritto UE.The reception of Roman law in the German-speaking world, which started at the beginning of the 11th century, had a profound influence on the German legal language, which in the course of its evolution first absorbed numerous borrowings from Latin and then gradually detached itself from them until the great codification of the 19th century. This process of replacing foreign borrowings, and thus also Latinisms, with German equivalents particularly affected the language of legislation, which, as an expression of the legislature, aimed to use only the national language. Does this rule still apply today? And what happens when an EU directive containing Latinisms is transposed? Are they retained, omitted, or translated into German? The qualitative study presented in this article attempts to answer these questions by presenting data from three corpora containing, respectively, a collection of EU directives, the corresponding German transposition measures and a sample of German legislative acts outside the EU law transposition process
A comparative evaluation of machine translation vs. human translation for legal texts: a case study of translations between English to Arabic
No full textThis study examines the comparative accuracy and fluency of Neural Machine Translations (NMTs) and Language Model-based translations (LLMs), represented by ChatGPT and Google Translate (GT), in legal contexts. Texts from Farahaty’s "Arabic-English-Arabic Legal Translation," sourced from primary texts cited in the book and translated by renowned scholars such as Hatim, Shunnaq, Buckley, and Farahaty, were used as benchmarks for human translation (HT). Sixteen diverse texts encompassing various legal discourse subgenres were selected for analysis, with all Arabic in-text examples transliterated using the Library of Congress (LOC) system. Qualitative analysis was conducted to assess the extent to which NMTs and LLMs match HT in accuracy and fluency. The study also investigates the similarities and differences between ChatGPT and GT in their translation outputs. Findings highlight HT’s superiority in producing precise, stylistically appropriate translations, compared to the challenges faced by NMTs and LLMs in capturing legal terminology and subtle linguistic nuances. Despite variations, both ChatGPT and GT demonstrate efficiency and context sensitivity, suggesting their potential as valuable tools when coupled with human post-editing. The study concludes by advocating for a hybrid approach that leverages the strengths of automated translation systems and human expertise to enhance cross-linguistic legal communication