From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Legal lexicography is a term used to describe the
complex of activities that are concerned with the design,
compilation, use and evaluation of dictionaries within the field
of law.
As a branch of the general discipline
lexicography, legal lexicography may be divided into
theoretical legal lexicography and practical legal lexicography.
The result of practical legal lexicography is called a
law dictionary.
Legal lexicography is not just about terms, but also about
language and usage. Especially when making bilingual law
dictionaries, the lexicographers need to take a broad view of
what legal lexicography involves. Most users of bilingual law
dictionaries need information about language and law, and the
lexicographer's task is to present the information as clearly
and structured as possible. This involves various lexicographic
analyses: user research, dictionary typology, and a clear
structure for presenting and linking the information in the
dictionary. The information must be presented in such a way that
the user is not burdened with heavy
lexicographic information costs.
The aim of legal lexicography is to suggest principles and
strategies that lead to good law dictionaries. A good
monolingual
law dictionary will contain relevant terms with appropriate
definitions, and if the purpose of the dictionary is to
facilitate legal translation, e.g. a bilingual law dictionary,
it will contain definitions, translation equivalents and other
relevant information such as collocation and phrases in the
source language and in the target language.
See also
Relevant literature
- Sandro Nielsen: The Bilingual LSP Dictionary.
Principles and Practice for Legal Language. Gunter Narr
Verlag 1994.
External links
-
Short annotated list of publications
Categories:
Law |
Legal occupations |
Lexicography