Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study
Abstract This study compared the linguistic difficulty of legal translated texts with the syntactic complexity of native English legal writings in order to demonstrate the statistically significant differences between the two big datasets. The study applies features of the syntactic complexity of se...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Springer Nature
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01485-x |
| _version_ | 1797946008314839040 |
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| author | Xiaowen Lin Muhammad Afzaal Hessah Saleh Aldayel |
| author_facet | Xiaowen Lin Muhammad Afzaal Hessah Saleh Aldayel |
| author_sort | Xiaowen Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This study compared the linguistic difficulty of legal translated texts with the syntactic complexity of native English legal writings in order to demonstrate the statistically significant differences between the two big datasets. The study applies features of the syntactic complexity of sentences within legal text translations that translated texts are less complicated than their original counterparts. It provides an example of how easy plain English translation in legal communication might result in understandable target writings. The findings of the legal translation of the people of three regions reveal striking patterns in terms of syntactic complexity and legal communication in plain English, which are consistent with previous research. Complex nominal and hypotactic structures result in a high number of propositions per sentence, placing a high demand on the cognitive processing abilities of those who read and understand the text. The statistics show considerable differences among the three locations and various forms of company law corpora. The study is the first large-scale quantitative analysis of the accessibility of legal jargon compared to other forms of English, emphasizing the efficacy of plain-language initiatives in legal translations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:04:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-42c8da33cea740d29e65a1fc681d82a3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2662-9992 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T21:04:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Springer Nature |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-42c8da33cea740d29e65a1fc681d82a32023-01-22T12:07:30ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922023-01-011011910.1057/s41599-022-01485-xSyntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based studyXiaowen Lin0Muhammad Afzaal1Hessah Saleh Aldayel2Southwest University of Political Science and LawInstitute of Corpus Studies and Applications, Shanghai International Studies UniversityKing Saud UniversityAbstract This study compared the linguistic difficulty of legal translated texts with the syntactic complexity of native English legal writings in order to demonstrate the statistically significant differences between the two big datasets. The study applies features of the syntactic complexity of sentences within legal text translations that translated texts are less complicated than their original counterparts. It provides an example of how easy plain English translation in legal communication might result in understandable target writings. The findings of the legal translation of the people of three regions reveal striking patterns in terms of syntactic complexity and legal communication in plain English, which are consistent with previous research. Complex nominal and hypotactic structures result in a high number of propositions per sentence, placing a high demand on the cognitive processing abilities of those who read and understand the text. The statistics show considerable differences among the three locations and various forms of company law corpora. The study is the first large-scale quantitative analysis of the accessibility of legal jargon compared to other forms of English, emphasizing the efficacy of plain-language initiatives in legal translations.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01485-x |
| spellingShingle | Xiaowen Lin Muhammad Afzaal Hessah Saleh Aldayel Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study Humanities & Social Sciences Communications |
| title | Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study |
| title_full | Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study |
| title_fullStr | Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study |
| title_short | Syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain English: a corpus-based study |
| title_sort | syntactic complexity in legal translated texts and the use of plain english a corpus based study |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01485-x |
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