The slow dynamics of legal language: Festina lente?

Lemmens, Koen

doi:10.1075/term.17.1.05lem

Article published In:

The dynamics of terms in specialized communication: An interdisciplinary perspective
Edited by Rita Temmerman and Marc Van Campenhoudt
[Terminology 17:1] 2011
► pp. 74–93

The slow dynamics of legal language

Festina lente?

Koen Lemmens

In this article, the dynamics of legal language is analyzed from the perspective of a lawyer The focus will therefore be, not on the linguistic mechanisms of change, but on the reasons that can explain why, on the one hand, legal language, and more particularly, legal terminology has a tendency to remain unaltered, and why, on the other hand, legal language does change, albeit in a very slow way

Keywords: legal terminology, legal language, civil law, European legal order, slow change, common law, language and prestige, neologisms in law, archaic language

Published online: 20 June 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/term.17.1.05lem

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