On Legal Translation From The Perspective Of Speech Act Theory

This thesis, from the perspective of pragmatics on the basis of Austin·s andSearl·s Speech Act Theory (SAT) especially Searl·s taxonomy of illocutionary act,studies and analyzes Legal Speech Act (LSA) in legal texts and then engages in theanalysis of the translation of LSA to examine the translation quality with LegalEquivalence (LE) as its criterion. Compared with general Speech Act (SA), thedifference of LSA lies on legal effect the LSA produces. SA refers to doingsomething by speaking while the main function of law is to regulate people·s behaviorand adjust the relationship between the social and its citizens by regulation expressedby language, which lays the foundation for the study of legal translation from SATand presents the significance by applying linguistic theories into the analysis andexplanation of legal translation.In the guideline of Searl·s taxonomy of illocutionary act, this study reconstructsthe taxonomy of Legal Speech Act according to the characteristics of forensiclinguistics. Legal speech acts are classified according to the new taxonomy and thedetailed analysis of them is presented with each category represented by the typicaland representative examples. Then in the process of analyzing LSA translation, thecombination of theoretical framework by adding Trosborg·s assessment mode isprovided in order to elaborate clearly and convincingly the translation of LSA, whichis proceeded by comparing LSA in legal texts between ST and TT with the parametersbeing taken into consideration such as legal intent and registers in the mode. Thisprocess requires that the translator should pay more attention to the performativeverbs by realizing the legal intent of ST the lawmakers try to convey or theillocutionary force of LSA in ST and then translate them appropriately and clearly.Finally, the achievement of legal equivalence is determined and assessed by the resultof the comparison between ST and TT with the parameters in the mode to reach theTT readers· expectation. Studies of linguistic phenomena and legal translation from the perspective ofpragmatics are beneficial to understand and grasp the particularities and functions offorensic linguistics, and helpful to expand the research realm and catch on the studytendency. Meanwhile, it is also of certain referential significance to the internationalbusiness trade, legal drafting and so on and so forth.