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Corpus-based Research on Variation in English Legal Discourse
Edited by Teresa Fanego and Paula Rodríguez-Puente
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 91] 2019
► pp. 171–200

Chapter 8
Interpersonality in legal written discourse

A diachronic analysis of personal pronouns in law reports, 1535 to present

| University of Oviedo

This chapter offers a diachronic analysis of the use of personal pronouns in English law reports. Results show that law reports are narrative texts with high frequencies of third person pronouns. However, markers of subjectivity, involvement and interpersonality, such as first and second person pronouns, are also amply represented–a feature which distinguishes law reports from other formal, specialized text types, as well as from other legal documents. In addition, law reports seem to have developed over time, becoming more involved, subjective and interpersonal, a tendency that coincides with a major change in the history of law reporting in English.

Keywords: law reports, interpersonality, pronouns
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sources and methodology
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Pronouns in law reports and other legal written documents
    • 3.2Diachronic variation in the use of pronouns in law reports
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.91.08rod
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