摘 要

近年来，法律词汇背后相关文化的作用逐渐被重视。近年的研究多从宏观角度关注因文化差异而导致翻译过程中的词汇空缺及其解决策略，往往落脚于对相关法律文化的掌握，而忽视了从具体的某一类法律，如宪法、民法、或是刑法等出发，分析具体词汇背后的文化内涵。美国1787年宪法作为世界上第一部比较完整的资产阶级成文宪法，由序言及正文，修正案三部分组成，共七千多字，言简意赅，字字经典。历时200多年，制宪先贤们创造的美国宪法基本维持原框架，游刃有余，是人类历史上的一个奇迹。该宪法中法律词汇多处颇具创造性意义，对以后资本主义国家制度的建立起到示范作用。

本文对美国宪法及其修正案词汇进行较为系统的分类、释义和分析，探析其背后的文化内涵。研究结果表明，以美国宪法为例，文化对其词汇产生影响主要可分为三类：词意扩大或缩小、词意的明确与规范化、词汇的普及化。影响法律词汇的文化因素主要有经济、政治、宗教及相关制度思想。

关键词：英语词汇；法律英语；文化；宪法

Abstract

In recent years, more and more attentions have been paid to related culture behind legal vocabularies. Previous studies tended to research it from macroscopical view, paid attentions to phenomenon of lexical vacancy caused by cultural differences in the process of translation. They often settled in mastering related legal culture, while ignored analyzing specific cultural meaning behind words from perspective of specific legal department, like the constitution, civil law or criminal law. The Constitution of the United States of America, as the first comparatively complete written constitution of the bourgeois, consisting of a preamble and the body, then gradually developed amendments. It was brief and to the point. It has more than 7000 vocabularies, while every vocabulary is classical. It is a miracle in human history that after 200 years, the constitution made by the founders can still keep its frame and play its role in the society. A model has been set by many creative vocabularies in this constitution for further establishment of the political system of capital countries.

This paper makes a classification of constitutional words in selected text, explains and analyzes them, and trying to explore their cultural connotations. The findings of the study indicates that changes made by culture in The Constitution of the United States of America can be classified into three types, namely extension or narrowing of the word meaning, clarification and normalization of the vocabulary meaning, and popularization of the vocabulary. Cultural factors concerning changes in the meaning of legal words can be concluded as politics, economics, religion, as well as related thoughts and institutions.

Key Words: English word; legal English; culture; Constitution

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research questions and significance 2

1.3 Layout of the paper 2

2 Legal vocabularies and their cultural connotations 4

2.1 Terminologies of political institutions and organizations 4

2.1.1 Terminologies of political institutions 5

2.1.2 Terminologies of political organizations 6

2.2 Terminologies of identity and civil rights 7

2.3 other terms 8

3 Vocabulary changes led by culture in the U.S. Constitution 10

3.1 Extension or narrowing of the vocabulary meaning 10

3.2 Clarification and normalization of the vocabulary meaning 11

3.3 Popularization of the vocabulary 11

4 Studies of the changes in cultural context 13

4.1 Politics 13

4.2 Economics 14

4.3 Religion 15

4.4 Related thoughts and institutions. 15

5 Conclusion 17

References 18

Acknowledgments 20

An analysis of the legal vocabulary

in cultural context

－A case study of The Constitution

of the United States of America

1 Introduction

1.1 Research background

The definition of culture has broad and narrow two kinds. Its broad sense covers all phenomena of matter and mind. While its narrow definition refer specifically to spiritual wealth, such as literature, art, and science, etc (Zheng, 2003). This paper adopts its broad sense, namely, all the contemporary phenomenon of matter and mind reflected by vocabularies in The Constitution of the United States of America belongs to the discussion in this paper.

The Constitution of the United States of America was made in 1787, and was ratified in 1789. It was the first comparatively complete written constitution of the bourgeois, consisting of a preamble and seven bodies, then gradually developed 27 amendments ( 28 amendments have been passed by Congress, while 27 of them have actually completed procedures of ratification, and entered into force). It is the most vigorous one, and was brief and to the point. It has more than 7000 vocabularies, while every vocabulary is classical. Despite 200 years of continuing ups and downs, the American people can always find strong national cohesion from the Constitution. A model has been set by many creative acts in this constitution for further establishment of the political system of capital countries (Ren, 2002).

Baugh and Cable ( 1993: 213 ) pointed out that words can reflect changes in language, and it is the most active element in language. With the development of the times, corresponding adjustments will be made in legal language, and, above all, in the vocabulary. To be specific, research on the relationship between language and culture can be done either from the perspective of linguistics or culture, and different concerns will come to different conclusions (Su, 2006: 1). On the whole, current research on the correlation between legal vocabulary and culture from macro perspective has been abundant, while there is little research on those specific legal words from micro perspective. Only small number of works have made summarization on ancient Chinese legal vocabularies (Cheng amp; Qian, 2003), and research on foreign legal words is obviously deficient.

Scholars has not yet reached a consensus on the definition and the scope of legal words. Based on the previous research, this paper mainly adopts the definition and methods of classification of Yang Kai (Yang, 2016) as he proposed in his article. Yang Kai defined legal words from perspective of the scope of their application and their meaning, that is to say, legal words refer to those applicable to the study of law and practice areas, and are of legal significance. According to the theory of prototype categories and classification standards of previous studies. legal vocabularies can be divided into legal terminology, legal term, and legal wording.

1.2 Research questions and significance

To understand The Constitution of the United States of America and its constitutional culture, we need to read the text of it. For Chinese readers, we need to have a good Chinese edition firstly. Based on comprehensive consideration, I took the edition included in The Constitution of the United States of America, which was published by The Commercial Press in 2004 (Zhu, 2004). This paper selects English-Chinese dictionary of Anglo-American law (Xue, 2003) and Oxford Intermediate Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary (Hornby, 2009) as a reference. .

This paper intends to analyze legal vocabularies in the selected text from the micro perspective. I divide them into three types, namely, terminologies of political institutions and organizations, terminologies of identity and civil rights, other terms, and try to explore their cultural connotation, which is not only a path-breaking research, but also a meaningful research to the study on the history of legal vocabularies and American culture. Related conclusions made from macro perspective will also provide important guidance to this paper.

1.3 Layout of the paper

The paper is divided into five parts. The first part, make an introduction of the background of the research, explain research questions and significance. The second part, dividing into three types to demonstrate the meanings of words, its evolution process, and cultural connotation. The third part, Vocabulary changes led by culture in the U.S. Constitution. The fourth part, make a study of the changes, as well as an overview of the cultural factors affecting the legal vocabulary. The fifth part, summary.

2 Legal vocabularies and their cultural connotations

As set forth, legal vocabularies can be divided into legal terminology, legal term, and legal wording. Legal terminology has specific legal meaning, and refers to definite legal event or legal matter. It is the basic vocabulary of the legal word, as well as the direct vocabulary to construct legal disciplines. Words like "election" "impeachment" and "tax" established by the Constitution to illustrate a range of legal events, "President"and "members" to show identity, "Parliament" and "Senate" to show the State Organization, and these words are core members of legal vocabularies. While words like "Should", "must", "ban" seem to have no difference with common words, but they embodies the state will to make the law enforcement more practical, we call these kinds of words legal terms. There are legal wordings, as "but" to show transition, "and" to show parallel semantics, "above" and "below" to express the scope. They can’t represent legal connotations, but can assist the interpretation of legal terminology and legal terms, and the absence of them will make the expression of law incomplete. As the legal terminology has closer relationship with specific legal culture, materials that I choose to analyze is mainly legal terminology.