Recensió de: Vogel, Friedemann. (2019). Legal linguistic beyond borders: language and law in a world of media, globalisation and social conflicts
| Autor | Javier Moreno-Rivero |
| Cargo | Javier Moreno-Rivero, researcher in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge. jm2227@cam.ac.uk |
| Páginas | 297-299 |
REVIEW OF
VOGEL, FRIEDEMANN (ED.). (2019). LEGAL LINGUISTICS
BEYOND BORDERS: LANGUAGE AND LAW IN A WORLD
OF MEDIA, GLOBALISATION AND SOCIAL CONFLICTS.
BERLIN: DUNCKER & HUMBLOT.
Javier Moreno-Rivero*
Keywords: law and language; legal linguistics; jurilinguistics; media; globalisation.
RECENSIÓ DE
Vogel, Friedemann (ed.). (2019). Legal linguistics beyond borders: language and law in a world of media,
. Berlín: Duncker & Humblot.
Paraules clau: llengua i dret; lingüística jurídica; jurilingüística; mitjans de comunicació; globalització.
*Javier Moreno-Rivero, researcher in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, University of Cambridge. jm2227@cam.ac.uk
Recommended citation: Moreno-Rivero, Javier. (2020). [Review of the book Legal linguistics beyond borders: language and law
, by Friedemann Vogel]. Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and
Law, 73, 297-299. https:/doi.org/10.2436/rld.i73.2020.3422
Javier Moreno-Rivero
Review of the book Legal linguistics beyond borders: language and law in a world of media, globalisation and ...
Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, núm. 73, 2020 298
The volume Legal Linguistics Beyond Borders: Language and Law in a World of Media, Globalisation and
, edited by Friedemann Vogel (University of Siegen), contains a number of contributions
that were presented at Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg (Germany) in the relaunch of the International
Language and Law Association in September 2017. This book intends to highlight historical and current
synergies between law and language from an array of perspectives, since it contains chapters rooted in
linguistics, law, sociology, anthropology or political science. The jurilinguistic intersections have been
subject to analysis since the second half of the 20th Century, and there is a large number of publications that
linguistics – or jurilinguistics (Jiménez-Salcedo & Moreno-Rivero, 2017) – is researched has varied broadly,
but it has two key points in common, as the author points out in this book: not only does language share and
the volume is divided into three main parts, followed by a section of reports on the events that took place
contains seven chapters that present an overview of legal linguistics around the world. From the United
States to Africa, passing through the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and Russia, a historical perspective
of the evolution of jurilinguistic practices reviews bibliographical databases, policies and other relevant
traction in statutory interpretation in recent years and calls for legal scholars and linguists to work in tandem
to improve the working of legal systems. On a similar note, Gianluca Pontrandolfo discusses the situations
in Italy (Chapter 3) and Spain (Chapter 4), two countries that have produced a solid research body in law
and language. With a similar structure, he reviews the academic activity of several university departments
in both countries, including conferences, research centres and publications. He places special emphasis on
training opportunities (and challenges) in postgraduate programmes in law and language, especially in legal
translation and court and police interpreting. Both the Spanish and Italian higher education systems have
a considerable amount of postgraduate degrees, making them leaders (alongside Poland and Germany, I
the evolution of legal linguistics and establishes the transition from textual-based research – mostly centred
in legal genres and phraseology – into computer-aided groups, developing computer tools in the analysis of
legal texts.
chapters that focus on multilingualism in the European Union (including law-making and diversity, EU law
in negotiation, and translation), legislative drafting (and the need to make the law more transparent); and a
highly interesting discussion of the impact that language has in engaging with conversations about justice by
Frances Olsen (UCLA). In fact, Ninon Colneric writes one of the most informative chapters of the volume,
each institutional body operates and the management of their language regime, providing an explanation
of their political relevance and their working system. Applying EU norms to translation practice, Biel and
Sosoni examine the terminological hybridisation in EU Competition Law, and call for an exploration of
various phenomena through experimental methods (and suggesting, particularly, eye-tracking) to study text
production processes and reception. The third section includes three chapters that deal with the mediatization
of the law. This section sheds light on how linguistics can contribute to constructing the social perception of
focuses on the exploration of the practice of the law across the media, Victoria Guillén emphasizes how law
case study of the Polish Rule of Law crisis in several media.
In conclusion, in this issue, the editor has successfully chosen a series of topics that are of relevance to the
development of language and law both in theory and in practice. This is the only book-length publication that
in mutual understanding of the idea that fostering existing and future connections will contribute to scholarly
Javier Moreno-Rivero
Review of the book Legal linguistics beyond borders: language and law in a world of media, globalisation and ...
Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, núm. 73, 2020 299
and practitioners who are interested in the way in which language makes the law, or how multilingual legal
orders present particular challenges (Leung, 2019), and even which are the key training opportunities that
structured and explanatory, with a thought-provoking section at the end of each chapter that explains the
extent to which the new avenues for research will help develop future initiatives and practices. This book
should be mandatory reading for those starting to research law and language from a general perspective, as
it provides the readership with (i) a broad idea of its conception, and (ii) it contains a thorough discussion
of key bibliography that maps out how law and language has evolved from a textual and jurisprudential
perspective onto a more socio-legal ground.
Reference list
Jiménez-Salcedo, Juan, & Moreno-Rivero, Javier. (2017). On Jurilinguistics: The principles and applications
of research on language and law. Revista de Llengua i Dret, Journal of Language and Law, 68, 1-4.
https://doi.org/10.2436/rld.i68.2017.3064
Leung, Janny H. (2019). Shallow equality and symbolic jurisprudence in multilingual legal orders. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
