Mapping terminological variation and ideology in data protection laws
This study aims to deal with the relationship between terminological variation and ideology by examining the system of
terminology and the defined individual terms in data protection legislation. With two self-compiled corpora incorporating data protection
laws in the United States and the European Union respectively, we adopt a corpus-assisted approach as an effective toolkit to generate a
general profile of the system of legal terminology on the one hand and identify the defined legal terms in the two corpora on the other.
This study, based on Van Dijk’s (1998) multidisciplinary approach to ideology, seeks to unravel
the underlying ideological configurations behind the variation of legal terminology. The findings show that one plausible – though certainly
not definitive – interpretation of the variation in legal terminology in the data protection domain lies in the distinct ideological stances
imposed by such discourse communities as lawmakers, judges as well as the president and the party in power. The ideological investigation of
terminology is a significant aspect of the study of variation phenomena. It is argued that the ideologically variable slants and historical
experiences, as the contextual constraints on the ideological beliefs, may contribute to accounting for the spatial and temporal variation
of legal terminology.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature review
- 3.Data and methodology
- 4.Results and discussion
- 4.1Spatial variation
- Case 1 information v. data
- Case 2 personal data vs. personally identifiable information
- Case 3 personal information
- 4.2Temporal variation
- Case 4 personal data & special categories of data
- Case 5 customer proprietary information
- 5.Concluding remarks
- Notes
-
References
References (57)
Alo, Edward R.
2013 “
EU Privacy Protection: A Step Towards Global Privacy.”
Michigan State International Law Review 22(3): 1095–1148.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anttila, Arto
2002 “
Variation and Phonological Theory.” In
The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, ed. by
J. K. Chambers,
Peter Trudgill, and
Natalie Schilling-Estes, 206–243. Oxford: Blackwell.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bainham, Andrew, Shelley Day Sclater, and Martin Richards
(eds) 1999 What Is a Parent? A Socio-Legal Analysis. Oxford: Hart.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Paul
2010 Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Benesh, Sara C., and Jason J. Czarnezki
2009 “
The Ideology of Legal Interpretation.”
Washington University Journal of Law & Policy 291: 113–132.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bennett, Colin J.
1992 Regulating Privacy: Data Protection and Public Policy in Europe and the United States. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Beynon-Davies, Paul
2013 Business Information Systems, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Biersteker, Thomas J., and Cynthia Weber
1996 “
The Social Construction of State Sovereignty.” In
State Sovereignty as Social Construct, ed. by
Thomas J. Biersteker, and
Cynthia Weber, 1–21. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bygrave, Lee A.
2015 “
Information Concepts in Law: Generic Dreams and Definitional Daylight.”
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 35(1): 91–120.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Le, and Winnie Cheng
2012 “
Legal Interpretation: Meaning as Social Construction.”
Semiotica 1911: 427–448.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Le, Winnie Cheng, and King-Kui Sin
2014 “
Revisiting Legal Terms: A Semiotic Perspective.”
Semiotica 2021: 167–182.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Le, and Jiamin Pei
2018 “
Interpreting Cybersecurity Law: A Semiotic Perspective.”
Journal of Zhejiang University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 48(6): 121–139.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Le, Jiamin Pei, and Marcel Danesi
2019 “
A Sociosemiotic Interpretation of Cybersecurity in U.S. Legislative Discourse.”
Social Semiotics 29(3): 286–302.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cheng, Le, and King-Kui Sin
2009 “
Legal Terms Across Communities: Divergence Behind Convergence in Law.” In
Diversity and Tolerance in Socio-Legal Contexts: Explorations in the Semiotics of Law, ed. by
Anne Wagner, and
Vijay K. Bhatia, 181–190. Farnham: Ashgate.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Conley, John M., and William M. O’Barr
1998 Just Words: Law, Language and Power. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Daille, Béatrice, Benoît Habert, Christian Jacquemin, and Jean Royauté
Fernández-Silva, Sabela, Judit Freixa, and M. Teresa Cabré
Floridi, Luciano
2005 “
Is Semantic Information Meaningful Data?”
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research LXX(2): 351–370.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Focarelli, Carlo
2012 International Law as Social Construct. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goźdź-Roszkowski, Stanisław
2011 Patterns of Linguistic Variation in American Legal English: A Corpus-Based Study. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gravells, Jane
2017 Semiotics and Verbal Texts: How the News Media Construct a Crisis. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harris, Roy, and Christopher Hutton
2007 Definition in Theory and Practice: Language, Lexicography and the Law. London: Continuum.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Harris, Sandra
1994 “
Ideological Exchanges in British Magistrates Courts.” In
Language and the Law, ed. by
John Gibbons, 156–170. London: Longman.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hart, Henry M., and Albert M. Sacks
1994 The Legal Process: Basic Problems in the Making and Application of Law. Minnesota: Foundation Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jennings, M. Kent
1992 “
Ideological Thinking among Mass Publics and Political Elites.”
Public Opinion Quarterly 56(4): 419–441.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jones, Martha, and Philip Durrant
2010 “
What Can a Corpus Tell Us about Vocabulary Teaching Materials?” In
The Routledge Handbook of Corpus Linguistics, ed. by
Anne O’Keeffe, and
Michael McCarthy, 387–400. New York: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kageura, Kyo
2015 “
Terminology and Lexicography.” In
Handbook of Terminology: Volume 1, ed. by
Hendrik J. Kockaert, and
Frieda Steurs, 45–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kittichaisaree, Kriangsak
2017 Public International Law of Cyberspace. Cham: Springer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kshetri, Nir
2016 The Quest to Cyber Superiority: Cybersecurity Regulations, Frameworks, and Strategies of Major Economies. Cham: Springer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lefevere, André
1992 Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Malkiel, Yakov
1967 “
Each Word Has a History of Its Own.”
Glossa 11:137–149.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Millard, Christopher, and W. Kuan Hon
2012 “
Defining ‘Personal Data’ in e-Social Science.”
Information, Communication & Society 15(1): 66–84.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mommers, Laurens, and Wim Voermans
2005 “
Using Legal Definitions to Increase the Accessibility of Legal Documents.” In
Legal Knowledge and Information Systems JURIX 2005: The Eighteenth Annual Conference, ed. by
Marie-Francine Moens, and
Peter Spyns, 147–156. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ni, Shifeng, Le Cheng, and King Kui Sin
Partington, Alan
2004 “
Corpora and Discourse: A Most Congruous Beast.” In
Corpora and Discourse, ed. by
Alan Partington,
John Morley, and
Louann Haarman, 11–20. Bern: Peter Lang.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Purtova, Nadezhda
2018 “
The Law of Everything: Broad Concept of Personal Data and Future of EU Data Protection Law.”
Law, Innovation and Technology 10(1): 40–81.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Raul, Alan Charles
(ed) 2018 The Privacy, Data, Protection and Cybersecurity Law Review, 5th edition. London: Law Business Research.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sager, Juan, and Augustin Ndi-Kimbi
Schwartz, Paul M.
2009 “
Preemption and Privacy.”
Yale Law Journal 118(5): 902–947.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schwartz, Paul M., Daniel J. Solove
2011 “
The PII Problem: Privacy and a New Concept of Personally Identifiable Information.”
New York University Law Review 861: 1814–1894.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Scott, Mike
2018 WordSmith Tools, Version 7. Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Segal, Jeffrey A.
1997 “
Separation-of-Powers Games in the Positive Theory of Law and Courts.”
American Political Science Review 911: 28–44.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sullivan, Ruth
2007 Statutory Interpretation, 2nd edition. Toronto: Irwin Law.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sullivan, Ruth
2008 Sullivan on the Construction of Statutes, 5th edition. Markham: LexisNexis Canada.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tagliamonte, Sali A.
2013 “
Analysing and Interpreting Variation in the Sociolinguistic Tradition.” In
Research Methods in Language Variation and Change, ed. by
Manfred Krug, and
Julia Schlüter, 382–401. Padstow: Cambridge University Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Dijk, Teun A.
1998 Ideology: A Multidisciplinary Approach. London: Sage.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Dijk, Teun A.
2000 Ideology and Discourse: A Multidisciplinary Introduction. Barcelona: Pompeu Fabra University.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Dijk, Teun A.
2011 “
Discourse and Ideology.” In
Discourse Studies: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, ed. by
Teun A. Van Dijk, 379–407. London: Sage.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Weber, Rolf H., and Dominic Staiger
2017 Transatlantic Data Protection in Practice. Basel: Springer.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Xu, Jiajin
2009 Log-Likelihood Ratio Calculator. Beijing: National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (3)
Cited by 3 other publications
Hu, Ming, Xitao Hu & Le Cheng
2021.
Exploring digital economy: a sociosemiotic perspective.
International Journal of Legal Discourse 6:2
► pp. 181 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.