(Luận văn thạc sĩ) nominalization in legal discourse a systemic functional analysis m a thesis linguistics 60 22 15

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 2.2: Types of to-clause complements across registers page 22 Table 3.1: Frequency of occurrence of nominalization page 30 Table 3.3: Ideational realizati

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

*****

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYÊN

NOMINALIZATION IN LEGAL DISCOURSE:

A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

DANH HÓA TRONG VĂN BẢN LUẬT PHÁP:

PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG

M.A THESIS

English Linguistics

60 22 15

HANOI – 2011

HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

*****

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYÊN

NOMINALIZATION IN LEGAL DISCOURSE:

A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

DANH HÓA TRONG VĂN BẢN LUẬT PHÁP:

PHÂN TÍCH THEO QUAN ĐIỂM CHỨC NĂNG HỆ THỐNG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEGMENT ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES …viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Significance of the study 1

3 Aims of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Method of study 2

6 Design of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4

CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 4

1.1 Introduction 4

1.2 An overview of grammatical metaphor theory 4

1.2.1 Definitions of grammatical metaphor 4

1.2.2 Classification of grammatical metaphor 5

1.2.2.1 Ideational metaphor 6

1.2.2.2 Interpersonal metaphor 7

1.2.2.2.1 Metaphors of modality 7

1.2.2.2.2 Metaphors of mood 8

1.3 Concluding remarks 10

CHAPTER 2: NOMINALIZATION 11

2.1 Introduction 11

2.2 What is nominalization? 11

2.3 Functions of nominalization 12

2.4 Categories of nominalization 14

2.4.1 Lexical nominalization 14

2.4.1.1 Derivational nominalization 14

2.4.1.1.1 Deverbal nominalization 14

2.4.1.1.2 Deadjectival nominalization 15

2.4.1.2 Zero derivational nominalization (conversion) 16

2.4.2 Clausal nominalization 16

2.4.2.1 That-clauses 17

2.4.2.2 Wh-clauses 19

2.4.2.3 To-clauses 20

2.4.2.4 Ing-clauses 23

2.5 Concluding remarks 24

CHAPTER 3: REALIZATION OF NOMINALIZATION IN ENGLISH legal discourse: “Convention On The Rights Of The Child” 25

3.1 Introduction 25

3.2 English Legal discourse 25

3.2.1 Classification of English legal discourse 25

3.2.2 Characteristics of English legal language 25

3.2.2.1 Lexical characteristics 26

3.2.2.2 Grammatical characteristics 27

3.2.2.3 Textual characteristics 29

3.3 Realization of nominalization in prescriptive legal text “Convention on the Rights of the Child” 30

3.3.1 Introduction 30

3.3.2 Frequency of nominalization 30

3.3.3 Typical types and characteristics of nominalization 31

3.3.3.1 Typical types of nominalization 31

3.3.3.2 Some typical characteristics of nominalization 34

3.3.4 Semantic role of nominalization realized in terms of ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions 35

3.3.4.1 In terms of ideational metafunction 35

3.3.4.2 In terms of interpersonal metafunction 38

3.3.4.3 In terms of textual metafunction 38

3.4 Concluding remarks 41

PART C: CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 42

1 Recapitulation 42

2 Implications for teaching and translating English legal discourses 43

2.1 To teachers and students: 43

2.2 To translators 43

3 Limitation and suggestions for further studies 43

REFERENCES 45 APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESP: English for special purposes

SFG: Systemic functional grammar

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 2.2: Types of to-clause complements across registers page 22 Table 3.1: Frequency of occurrence of nominalization page 30

Table 3.3: Ideational realization of nominalization page 36 Table 3.4: Interpersonal realization of nominalization page 38 Table 3.5: Textual realization of nominalization page page 39

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nominalization is one of the most prominent features of formal written discourses According to Fowler (1991:79), “English is a sort of nominalized language” so nominalization characterizes almost all English written texts and its frequency of occurrence varies in different functional varieties, especially those formal functional varieties As one type of very formal written discourse, English legal discourse is noted for its high frequency of nominalization Apart from the roles of nominalization in constructing the specific characteristics for this genre, nominalization is also one of the grammar structures causing a higher degree of ambiguity in legal discourses When nominalizing, semantic information is usually left out, which increases the degree of ambiguity and the difficulty in correctly decoding the sentence Therefore, understanding the nature and characteristics as well as the roles of nominalization in English legal discourse will make great contribution to the perception of this discourse genre, which is very necessary in today‟s world when globalization and integration has become an inevitable trend Thus, it is of great necessity to conduct a study on the phenomenon of nominalization in legal discourses if we want to learn more about this important variety of English and benefit the reading and writing of English legal discourses as well as help translators much easier in translating Vietnamese legal discourses into English and vice versa

Using the theory of systemic functional grammar which is considered a satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon of nominalization as developed by Halliday (1994) and some other systemic linguists, this thesis attempts to explore how nominalization is realized in English legal discourse with the hope that it will help readers to recognize the importance of nominalization for the comprehension and manipulation this specific genre

2 Significance of the study

The result of this study may help improve the ability of understanding English legal discourses and limit avoidable misunderstandings in interpreting legal discourses It also makes contribution to the teaching and learning of ESP for English teachers and students

majoring in law Besides, this thesis hopes to assist the translation of Vietnamese legal discourses into English and vice versa

3 Aims of the study

The aim of the study is to make an inquiry into how nominalization is realized in English legal discourse To achieve this aim, the study will examine the nature of nominalization, its functions as well as its types Besides, the main characteristics of English legal discourse will be pointed out to set the base for finding out the typical realization of nominalization in this legal discourse

Thus, to achieve the aim of the study, the main research question needs to be raised for exploration is:

How is nominalization realized in English legal discourse?

However, to find the answer for this main question, two following questions must be investigated first:

1 What is nominalization?

2 What are the main characteristics of English legal discourse?

4 Scope of the study

The scope of this study is just to investigate the typical realization of nominalization in English legal discourse Since this genre consists of various subtypes, within the limited space for a minor thesis, I only explore the use of nominalization in one of genre in English

legal discourse - prescriptive legal text In this thesis, the legal text “Convention on the Rights of the Child” (1989) was chosen as data for my study

5 Method of study

This is a case study which sets its main objective of investigating how nominalization is realized in English legal discourse using systemic functional grammar as the theoretical framework

To achieve the goal of the study, both quantitative and qualitative method will be employed These two methods are complimentary with the quantitative approach being

used to collect and categorize data and the qualitative one to interpret the statistics taken from the data

6 Design of the study

The study consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1 provides the theoretical background of the study This chapter focuses on introducing important concepts in systemic – functional linguistics relevant to the topic of the thesis such as definitions of grammatical metaphor and its classifications

Chapter 2 investigates the general notion of nominalization in the light of the systemic functional theory and some other linguistic approaches In this chapter, nominalization‟s definitions, functions and classification will be presented

Chapter 3 provides the background knowledge of English legal discourse by giving its definition, classification and main characteristics Then, an attempt is made to find out how nominalization is realized in English legal discourse In this part, the frequency of occurrence of nominalization, its typical types, characteristics and semantic roles seen from ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions will be investigated

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1 THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

Grammatical metaphor is one of the most interesting theoretical notions developed by Halliday (1985/1994) and some other systemic linguists such as Thompson (1996), Martin (1985), etc In this chapter, the first focus is to examine the concept of grammatical metaphor in systemic functional linguistics We will start by providing the definitions of grammatical metaphor Then, different views on the classification of grammatical metaphor are also presented

1.2 An overview of grammatical metaphor theory

1.2.1 Definitions of grammatical metaphor

The concept of grammatical metaphor arose from the ancient time by the Ancient Greek philosopher - Aristotle For him, metaphor was defined as “one word for a concept used to refer to another one” Therefore, metaphor involves a transference His theory of metaphor puts the primitive foundation for the concept of grammatical metaphor which has been developed by modern linguistists two thousand years later

The concept of grammatical metaphor was then introduced in Halliday‟s An introduction to Functional Grammar (1985/1994) In this book, Halliday revised and improved his

Functional Grammar constantly, and put forward the concept of grammatical metaphor Halliday took a new approach which is different from the traditional one, looking metaphor

“from above” as “variation in the expression of a given meaning” not “from below” as

“variation in the meaning of a given expression” of the traditional approach For him,

metaphor is also a transference, which uses a kind of grammar means to replace another, but expresses the same grammatical meaning From this point, grammatical metaphor has its unique performance characteristics as a kind of grammar phenomenon The congruence and metaphor are two means to express the meaning, both of which have difference in the event of the order, frequency, and cognitive habit

According to Halliday and Martin (1993: 79) cited in Wang (2002), a grammatical metaphor (GM) is a substitution of one grammatical class, or one grammatical structure, by

another; for example, “his departure instead of he departed” Put it simply, the process of depart has been turned into a noun

Another systemic linguist who is also concerned about the concept of grammatical

metaphor is Thompson In his book – Introducing functional grammar (1996: 165), he

defined grammatical metaphor as the expression of a meaning through a grammatical form which originally evolved to express a different kind of meaning The expression of the meaning is metaphorical in relation to a different way of expressing the

lexical-„same‟ meaning which would be more congruent Consider the following examples:

[1:1] (i) Water evaporates from a puddle

(ii) Evaporation occurs more quickly in hot weather

(ii) is grammatical metaphor because in this sentence a process evaporates is rendered in a nominal type Evaporation

1.2.2 Classification of grammatical metaphor

Systemic linguists often pay attention to the function of grammatical metaphor when classifying different types of grammatical metaphor According to Halliday, language has three metafunctions involved in one clause: ideational function, interpersonal function, and textual function Language is used to organize, understand and express our perception of the world by the ideational function, which can be divided into experiential function and logical function The experiential function is mainly associated with the ideas, while the logical is concerned with the relationship between ideas People use language to communicate with other people, to express their feelings and attitude by interpersonal function On the basis of these metafunctions, Halliday (1994: 343) classifies grammatical metaphor into two main types: metaphors of mood (including modality) and metaphors of transitivity In terms of model of semantic functions, these are, respectively, interpersonal metaphors and ideational metaphor

When classifying grammatical metaphor, Martin (1992) seems more detailed He divided it into ideational (logical and experiential), interpersonal and textual metaphor

Meanwhile, H.V.Van (1999) shows that an instance of grammatical metaphor may be involved in more than one metafunction This means that a congruent realization in the interpersonal metafunction may have its metaphorical realization in the experiential metafunction For example,

[1:2] (i) She should go to the meeting

(ii) Her obligation is to go to the meeting

In the two above examples, “should” is a congruent realization in the interpersonal metafunction and “obligation” is a metaphorical realization in the experiential

metafunction

In the following sections, we will adopt Halliday‟s view in classifying grammatical metaphors into ideational metaphor and interpersonal metaphor

1.2.2.1 Ideational metaphor (metaphor of transitivity)

Ideational metaphors are usually expressed through the transitivity system (material, ralational, behavioral, mental, verbal, and existential) According to Halliday (1994: 343),

there are three steps involving in the process of choices in the transitivity system of

language First is the selection of process type (material, mental, relational) Second is the configuration of transitivity functions (Actor, goal, senser, manner…) Third is the sequence of group – phrase classes (verbal group, nominal group, adverbial group, prepositional phrase, and their various sub-classes) Variation in any of the selection can

lead to ideational grammatical metaphor Let look at the following examples:

[1:3] (i) They arrived at the summit on the fifth day

(ii) The fifth day saw them at the summit

(i) and (ii) can be represented diagrammatically in two following figures:

Figure 1a: Analysis of congruent form

They arrived at the summit on the fifth day

(Source: Halliday (1994: 346)

Figure 1b: Analysis of metaphorical form

Senser Mental perception Phenomenon Place

1.2.2.2 Interpersonal metaphor

As we have seen above, the interpersonal component of grammar especially concerns the areas of MODALITY and MOOD In these two areas, Halliday (1994) also distinguishes between basic, non-metaphorical expressions, and metaphorical ones, i.e interpersonal metaphors Let us look at each area in turn

1.2.2.2.1 Metaphors of modality

According to Halliday (1994), the first type of interpersonal metaphor is the metaphor of modality Modality is used to express the speaker‟s opinion of thing There are four variable in modality, which are TYPE, ORIENTATION, VALUE and POLARITY Modality refers to the area of meaning that lies between yes and no – the intermediate ground between positive and negative polarity What this implies more specifically will depend on the underlying speech function of the clause If the clause is an “information”

clause, it is modalization If the clause is a “goods - & - service” clause, it is called modulation Each type contains two degrees: Modalization has degree of probability and modulation has degree of obligation or of inclination However, the orientation is the factor that determines how each type of modality will be realized Thus, they should be distinguished between subjective and objective modality; between explicit and implicit variants The third variable in modality is the value that is attached to the modal judgment: high, median or low The median value is clearly set apart from the two “outer” values by the system of polarity: the median is that in which the negative is freely transferable

between the proposition and the modality (Eg: Direct negative: It‟s likely Mary doesn‟t know  Transferred negative: It isn‟t likely Mary knows) With the outer values, if the

negative is transferred the value switches (Eg: Direct negative: It‟s certain Mary doesn‟t know (high)  It isn‟t possible Mary knows (low))

A network of modality systems is set up as in table 1.1 below:

median

low POLARITY

1.2.2.2.2 Metaphors of mood

The second interpersonal area in grammar, according to systemic functional linguistics, is that of mood In order to understand the notion of interpersonal metaphors of mood, it is necessary to consider, again, what the default types of encoding are According to Halliday (1994: 363), mood expresses the speech functions of statement, question, offer and command Statements are expressions which give information, questions are expressions which ask information, offers are the expressions which put forward something to be considered and accepted or refused and commands are expressions which ask for something to take place Each of these functions has its standard, default type of encoding: statements are encoded by the declarative, questions by the interrogative, and commands

by the imperative clauses The expression of statements and questions is fairly straightforward, but with regard to commands, the situation is different There is a large variety of expressions that can be used to express the same command:

[1:6] Send your proposal by email, please

[1:7] (i) Could you send your proposal by email, please?

(ii) I would advise you to send it by email

(iii) You are kindly requested to send your proposal by email

(iv) It is recommended that you send your proposal by email

(v) It is advisable to send your proposal by email

The examples in [1:7] are different metaphorical variants of expressing a command that can also be expressed, in its most straightforward, standard way, as an imperative [1:6] The metaphorical examples in [1:7] include the interrogative mood type (which is the standard expression of requests for information), and the declarative mood type (which normally, i.e non-metaphorically, expresses the speech function of giving information) Halliday brings together these various expressions under the heading of the notion of interpersonal metaphor of mood The reason why these examples are regarded as metaphorical, lies in the fact that they deviate from the standard, most straightforward realization of a command by means of the imperative mood Their metaphorical nature can

be made clear by pointing to the literal meanings that these expressions have For instance,

(i), at face-value, is basically a request for information: „could you send your proposal by

email, or couldn‟t you‟? Similarly, at face-value, (ii) only refers to a statement: I state that

I advise something to you

The metaphorical nature of such metaphors of mood is exploited in verbal play A case in

point is the well-known dinner-table example, where someone asks: Can you pass me the salt, please? and the addressee answers, „Yes, I could certainly do that‟, without

undertaking any further action with regard to the salt

1.3 Concluding remarks

This chapter has been concerned with the examination of grammatical metaphor in the framework of the systemic-functional model Its major points may be summarized as follows:

- Grammatical metaphor is a substitution of one grammatical class, or one grammatical structure, by another (Halliday and Martin, 1993: 79) or as the expression of a meaning through a lexical-grammatical form which originally evolved to express a different kind of meaning (Thompson, 1996: 165)

- Different systemic linguists have different views on grammatical metaphor It can be classified into logical, experiential, interpersonal and textual metaphor by Martin or ideational and interpersonal metaphor by Halliday (1994)

In the following chapter, the nature of nominalization along with its functions and types will be presented to set the background knowledge for understanding its realization in legal discourse

CHAPTER 2 NOMINALIZATION

2.1 Introduction

Nominalization is a prevalent linguistic phenomenon in English, especially in written English so that this phenomenon has been investigated by many linguists In this chapter, different points of views toward the definitions of nominalization will be presented Then,

a substantial part will be devoted to the exploration of the functions and classification of nominalization into different categories

2.2 What is nominalization?

The phenomenon of nominalization has been studied by many researchers Scholars from different linguistic schools present different points of view toward nominalization Therefore, there are different definitions of nominalization in English

According to Quirk (Quirk et al 1985), nominalization is a process of turning a verb or an adjective into a noun In a somewhat similar manner, nominalization is defined as the grammatical process of forming nouns from other parts of speech, usually verbs or adjectives (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 2002) or

as any process by which either a noun or a syntactic unit functioning as a noun phrase is derived from any other kind of unit such as a verb or an adjective (Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics)

The common idea among these definitions is that all the definitions above are concerned about the changes of the lexical elements but the function and structures of nominalization

in a clause Quirk et al (1985) refer to a narrow sense of nominalization and it only involves the change of form and grammatical categories

Having a broader view, Chomsky (1968) believes that “nominalization is a process by which a stem, verb phrase or sentence is transformed into a nominal” According to him, nominalization is not only the changes in terms of lexical elements but, more broadly, the changes in terms of sentence also

Compared with other approaches, systemic functional linguists make a more thorough and profound analysis of nominalization Thompson (1996: 167) argues that “nominalization is

the use of a nominal form to express a process meaning” He adds that “nominalization can also be used to express an attributive meaning – a relational process together with the Attribute” To Mathews (1997), nominalization is “any process by which either a noun or a syntactic unit functioning as a noun phrase is derived from any other kind of unit” As one

of the most famous systemic linguists, Halliday (1985) points out that nominalization refers to any element or group that can function as nouns or noun groups in a clause, including clauses, nominalized adjectives or verbs, etc He emphasizes that nominalization

is the single most powerful resource for creating grammatical metaphor By this device, processes (congruently worded as verbs) and properties (congruently worded as adjectives)

are reworded metaphorically as nouns; instead of functioning in the clause, as Process or Attribute, they function as Thing in the nominal group In Halliday‟s definition, he focuses

on the “function” of the elements in clause and provides a unique standpoint on nominalization as a meaning-making resource According to Dik (1997: 159), we understand that nominalization is an embedded construction which has one or more properties in common with a primary, nominal term This means that any elements that have one or more characteristics in common with nominal term can be considered as nominalization

As the main emphasis of each study is different, researchers have different opinions about nominalization But each definition has its own value and something in common – that is the drift toward “thingness From definitions above, some functions of nominalization can

be pointed out as follows:

2.3 Functions of nominalization

- Nominalization is a powerful resource for making meaning in scientific and technical register, where it plays a dual role First, a noun typically refers to a “thing”, i.e something which exists By “nouning” a process, the writer can reflect a fact that he has negotiated and established the meaning of the clause centred around the process – in other words, that meaning can now be treated as existing, as a kind of abstract “thing” Second, it makes it possible to develop an argument step by step, using complex passages “packaged” in nominal form as Theme This important function of nominalization is encapsulation (Thompson, 1996: 170)

- Nominalization helps create the sense of objectivity for the text The reason why nominalization is in harmony with the ideology of academic, formal writing in general, is that it allows processes to be objectified, to be expressed without the human doer Nominalization is used for ideological control as a “masking device” for they allow the withholding of the identity of the actors It not only obscures the participants, it also obscures the time, space and modality Thompson (1996: 171) points out that nominalized processes are non-finite: they are not tied to any specific time in relation to the time of speaking (Incidently, this is yet another reflection of the functional unity of Mood: both Subject and Finite typically disappear when a process is nominalized) Thus a nominalized process is detached from the here and now in a way that is not normally possible for a process expressed by a verb Thus by using nominalization, writer can obscure not only the participants but also the time, the space, and the modality to make the expression more objective and non-negotiable

- Nominalization can add another semantic dimension to what already exists in the congruent form According to Halliday (1994: 353), the piece of wording that is metaphorical has as it were an additional dimension of meaning: it means both metaphorically and congruently

- The use of nominalization has changed people's perception of the world, or the world of experiences Nominalization is a tool used to name things in certain forms in different ways, as though the identities have been transformed into different things Actually, this occurs when human beings begin to vision the situation from a new perspective, a metaphorical one The use of nominalization is a great progress made in the cognitive capability of human beings

- Nominalization makes the text more ambiguous In a text packed with nominalizations, when clausal patterns or congruent forms are replaced by nominalized ones, some of the information is lost The writer presumably knows exactly what they mean; but the reader may not so this kind of highly metaphorical discourse tends to mark off the expert from those who are uninitiated (Halliday, 1994: 353) Therefore, it makes the text more formal with a touch of ambiguity

2.4 Classification of nominalization in English

Basing on the systemic functional approach, we can divide nominalization into two main

types: lexical nominalization and clausal nominalization Details of these will be presented

as follows:

2.4.1 Lexical nominalization

Lexical nominalization is a derivational process that creates nouns from lexical verbs and

adjectives, and the resulting nouns become the head nouns in a noun phrase (Comrie &

Thompson, 1995) For example,

Conclude - Conclusion (deverbal nominalization)

Concise - Concision (de-adjectival nominalization) Cheat - Cheat (zero derivational nominalization)

At the lexical level, basing on words‟ morphological changes, we can classify

nominalization into two types: derivational nominalization and zero derivational

nominalization (conversion)

2.4.1.1 Derivational nominalization

According to Biber, Conrad and Leech (1992), derivational nominalizations are ones

derived from verbs and adjectives Most derived nouns are abstract in meaning This type

of nominalization is formed by adding suffixes to the roots

2.4.1.1.1 Deverbal nominalization

According to (Biber et al 1992: 89), frequently seen nominalizing suffixes in English

include: ability, age, al, ance, ant, cy, dom, ee, ence, ent, er, ery, an, ibility,

-ion，-ism，-ist，-ity, -ive，-ment，-ness，-or, -side, -ure, etc

Adding suffixes to verbs is a way to create nominalizations, which can function as:

* The action, state or intance of verb

-age: breakage, storage, wastage, wreckage, etc:

-al: betrayal, dismissal, renewal, withdrawal, etc

-ance: acceptance, attendance, performance, assistance, etc

-ence: coherence, occurrence, adherence, transference, etc

-ation (-tion, -ion):: production, protection, reaction, reduction, etc

- ure : closure, departure, presssure, etc

- ing : feeling, meeting, reading, training, etc

-ment: accomplishment, achievement, etc

* The agent of the verb

-ant: assistant, accountant, applicant, attendant, consultant, etc

-er: worker, driver, employer, manager, painter, etc

-or: actor, spectator, supervisor, visitor, etc

-ar: beggar, burglar, etc

* The patient of the verb

-ee: employee, addressee, retiree, etc

* The instrument of the verb

-age: carriage, package, etc

-ant: pollutant, sealant, etc

-er: computer, cooker, mixer, printer, recorder, etc

2.4.1.1.2 Deadjectival nominalization

Adding suffixes to adjectives is another way to create nominalizations, which refer, among other things, to:

* Abstract concepts having the quality described by the adjectives

-bility: ability, applicability, etc

-ness: sadness, ugliness, weakness, etc

- hood: falsehood, likelihood, etc

- dom: boredom, freedom, wisdom, etc

- ance, ence: dependence, difference, ignorance, etc

- cy: accuracy, adequacy, infancy, etc

-ity: creativity, curiosity, simplicity, etc

* Persons having the quality described by the adjectives

-ist: extremist, modernist, nationalist, etc

* Ideology, movement, tendency

- ism: modernism, capitalism, Marxism, nationalism, etc

Apart from –er, the most frequent noun suffixes are all abstract: tion, ity, ness, ism, ment In general, these suffixes are far more frequent and productive in academic writing than in the other registers (Biber et al 1992: 90)

-2.4.1.2 Zero derivational nominalization (conversion)

Another way to derive nouns from other word classes is known as conversion (or zero- derivation) In this case, no affix is added to the base but the base itself is converted into a different word class, usually from a verb or adjective into a noun (Biber et al 1992: 91) The details will be presented in table 2.1 below:

(A) hopeful Someone who is A Presidential hopefuls

white Someone who is A Someone that is A

They speak like the whites do in the

South

You could see the whites of his eyes

Verbs (V) catch

Act of V-ing Something that is V-ed Something used for V-ing

He took a brilliant catch (sport)

They had a fine catch of fish

He loosened the catch and opened the

window

cheat Someone who V-s …accused him of being a cheat

walk

Act if V-ing Way of V-ing Place for V-ing

We can go for a walk later The walk of a gentleman The walk stretched for 154miles

Table 2.1: Converted nouns (Source: Biber et al 1992: 91)

2.4.2.1 That-clauses

That-clauses are finite Therefore, they are marked for tense and modality, and they have a subject For example,

(1) I think Stuart‟s gone a bit mad

(2) The truth is that the country is now specializing more in processing and marketing (3) It is virtually important that both groups are used to support one another

2.4.2.1.1 Discourse functions of that-clauses

 Grammatical patterns

There are three major grammatical patterns for verbs that take a that-clause in predicative position

post- Pattern 1: Verb + that-clause (eg: agree, ask)

I didn‟t agree that he should be compelled to do singing

 Pattern 2: Verb + NP + that-clause (eg: tell, persuade)

I persuaded (myself) that something awful might happen

 Pattern 3: Verb + to NP + that-clause (eg: suggest)

I suggested (to Mrs Kerrison) that she sit down on the chair and wait

 Verbs controlling post-predicate that-clauses

- Mental verbs: mental verbs are very common with that- clauses, reporting various mental

states and attitudes such as know, think, guess, see, find, believe, mean, suppose, feel, realize, hear, hope, assume… Mental verbs are less common with that-clauses in academic

prose, because academic writers usually do not mark the reports of personal thought explicitly

- Speech act and other communication verbs: some common verbs such as: say, show, suggest, ensure, and indicate While the verb say is extremely common in news and conversation, some verbs such as show, suggest, ensure and indicate are used quite

frequently in academic prose because these verbs are often used with a non- personal subject

 Adjectives controlling post-predicate that-clauses

Some adjectives controlling post-predicate that-clauses are:

- Certainty: certain, confident, sure, positive, etc

- Emotive adjectives: afraid, angry, annoyed, hopeful, glad, etc

b Subject predicate that-clauses

When a that-clause serves as subject predicative to a copular verb it usually has one of

three functions

- Describe a problem of some kind: (The problem is that ….)

- Present reasons, results, or conclusions: (Our first conclusion at this point was that….)

- Present accepted truths or facts: (The truth is that….)

c Extraposed that-clauses

Extraposed that-clauses often involve a main clause that reports an attitude or stance without attributing it to anybody Usually they show the attitude of the speaker or writer of the text, but the author does not assume direct responsibility Extraposed that-clauses are used primarily in news and academic prose That-clause usually has a non-human subject, and reports a state or relationship in an impersonal manner

Eg: It is certain that the challenges ahead are at least as daunting as anything the cold war produced

 Verbs controlling extraposed that-clauses

The copula be is the most common verb controlling this type of clause Some other such as seem, appear, follow, etc (It now appears that I will be expected to part with a further

portion of my income.)

 Adjectives controlling extraposed that-clauses

Some common adjectives controlling extraposed that-clauses are: clear, (un)likely,true… Others include: - Certainty: certain, doubtful, evident, obvious, etc

- Emotion or evaluation: amazing, curious, disappointing, good, great, etc

- Importance: critical, essential, important, necessary, vital, etc

(1) Jill was asking what happened (Interrogative clauses)

(2) What baffles me is how few of them can spell (Nominal relative clauses)

(3) He still remembered how wonderful it had been (Exclamatives)

2.4.2.2.1 Structure and functions of Wh-clauses

a Wh-clauses controlled by verbs

 Post-predicate wh-clauses

With verbs, wh-complement clauses often occur in object position For example,

 Grammatical patterns:

- Pattern 1: verb + wh-clause (eg, know, remember, see, etc.)

I don‟t know what they are

- Pattern 2: verb + NP + wh-clause (eg, ask, show, tell, etc.)

I didn‟t tell (you) what Emma thought

 Verbs controlling wh-clauses

There are four types of verbs that are most common with wh-clauses

- Mental verbs: know, think, remember, understand, guess, realize, find (out)

- Speech act verbs: tell, ask, say, explain

- Other communication verb: show

- Perception: see, look(at)

Wh-clauses are generally less common in academic prose However, there are some mental and communication verbs that are particularly useful with wh-clauses in academic prose

such as: discover, describe, and indicate

 Subject

Wh-clauses can also occur as subject For example,

How to read the record is the subject of much of this book

 Subject predicatives

Wh-clauses also occur as subject predicatives These structures are particularly common in

conversation with the demonstrative pronoun that as subject, and the copula contracted to

„s for example: That‟s what I am saying

b Wh-clauses as complements of adjectives and prepositions

 Wh-clauses can also follow adjectival predicates For example,

I am not sure when it‟s open for anybody

 Unlike that-clauses, wh-clauses can be the complement of a preposition or the object of a prepositional verb For example,

She was amazed at how exhausted she was

2.4.2.3 To-clauses

In general, infinitive clauses are more common in the written registers than in conversation Infinitive complement clauses serve a wide range of functions They report speech, mental states, intentions, desires, efforts, perceptions, and other general actions They usually occur in post predicate position although they can also occur in subject position and in extraposed constructions

2.4.2.3.1 Post predicate to-clauses controlled by verbs

a Grammatical patterns

There are five major grammatical patterns for post – predicate infinitive clauses following

a verb:

 Pattern 1: verb + to- clause (eg, try, hope)

I am trying to get away early

 Pattern 2: verb + NP + to – clause (eg, tell, believe, enable, expect)

It enables (the farmer) to maintain uniform and near constant condition in the house

 Pattern 3: verb + for NP + to- clause (eg, ask, love, arrange, wait)

Hire a Daily Mirror van and wait for Mrs John to arrive

 Pattern 4: verb + bare infinitive clause (eg, dare, help, let)

It could have helped clarify a number of issues

 Pattern 5: verb + NP + bare infinitive clause (eg, have, feel, make, help, see)

I will have Judy do it

b Verbs controlling post predicate to-clauses

 For speech act and other communication verbs: ask, prove, promise, tell, warn, etc

 For cognition verbs: learn, expect, find, understand, etc

 For perception verbs: see, feel, hear, watch, etc

 For verbs of desire: hope, like, need, want, etc

 For verbs of intention or decision: agree, decide, intend, mean, prepare, etc

 For verbs of modality or caution: get, allow, enable, require, etc

 For verbs of effort: attempt, fail, manage, try, etc

 For verbs of probability or simple fact: appear, seem, tend, etc

c Adjectives controlling post predicate to-clauses

The adjectives that control to-clauses fall into five semantic categories

 Degree of certainty: certain, sure, etc

 Ability or willingness: anxious, careful, eager, ready, etc

 Emotion or stance: afraid, amazed, angry, happy, etc

 Ease or difficulty: awkwark, (un)pleasant, (im)possible, etc

 Evaluation: bad, brave, careless, crazy, etc

2.4.2.3.2 Subject predicative to-clauses

To- clauses acting as subject predicatives are relatively common in the written registers They occur after a copula verb and identify the subject of the main clause They subject is typically abstract There are four major uses of subject predicative to-clauses:

 Framing points in a discussion

 Introducing an aim, objective, plan, goal, purpose, strategy, task, or idea

 Introducing a methodology

 Making a balanced sentence structure when a to-clause is also subject of the main

clause

2.4.2.3.3 Extraposed to-clauses

There are few verbs that control extraposed to-clauses The most common is copula be

combined with a subject predicative noun phrase or prepositional phrase For example,

It is still an adventure to travel down the canyon of the Colorado river in a small boat

Although extraposed to-clauses controlled by verbs are rare, there are many adjectives that

can control extraposed to- clauses For example: It‟s not safe to run down there

2.4.2.3.4 Subject to-clauses

Subject to- clause are rare in all registers When they do occur, they are used primarily in academic prose In almost all cases, subject to- clauses are used for given information, creating cohesion with the previous discourse

To take away the profits of crime is one thing; to seize the assets that have no connection with crime is another

2.4.2.3.5 To-clauses across registers

The distribution of to-clause type reflects their different discourse functions The details will be presented in the table 2.2 below:

CONV FICT NEWS ACAD Post – predicate to- clause

complementing a verb Common Very common Very common Common Post – predicate to- clause

complementing an adjective Rare Moderately common Common Moderately common Extraposed to- clause

complementing an adjective Rare Rare Relatively rare Rare

Extraposed to – clause

complementing an adjective Rare Moderately common Moderately common Common Subject to- clause Rare Rare Rare Rare

Subject predicate to- clause Rare Moderately common Moderately

common Moderately common

Table 2.2: Types of to-clause complements across registers

(Source: Biber et al 1992: 343)

2.4.2.4 Ing-clauses

Like that-complement clauses and to-complement clauses, ing-complement clauses serve a

wide range of functions They are used most often with verbs like begin, start, and stop,

etc to convey aspect, but they are also used to report speech acts, cognitive states, perceptions, emotions, and other actions Overall, ing-clauses are more common in the written registers than in conversation Ing-clauses can occur in post- predicative position, subject position and subject predicative position

2.4.2.4.1 Post predicate ing-clauses

a Grammatical patterns for ing-clauses controlled by verbs

 Pattern 1: verb + ing-clause (eg, begin, remember,etc.)

I remember reading this book

 Pattern 2: verb + NP + ing-clause (eg, see, find)

Don‟t be surprised to find (me) sitting on the tee in the lotus position

 Pattern 2a: verb + possessive determiner +ing-clause

And may be you won‟t mind (my) saying that you‟re getting a little old for studying

 Pattern 3: prepositional verb + ing-clause

We were thinking of bringing our video camera

b Verbs controlling ing-clauses

The most common verbs controlling ing-clauses are verbs of aspect or manner such as

keep, start, go on, stop, etc

Some other kind of verbs occur with moderate frequencies controlling ing- clauses such as

 Communication and speech act verbs give indirect report of statements

 Cognition verbs tell of a mental state or process

 Stance verbs tell the speaker/ writers‟ feelings or attitudes towards the idea

c Adjectives controlling ing-clauses

Most adjectives that control ing-clauses express a personal feeling or attitude, or some

evaluation of the idea in the ing-clause (I am sorry about being in a mood Saturday.)

2.4.2.4.2 Subject position

Ing-clauses can also occur in subject position:

Reflecting on this and related matters took him past his stop and almost into Dinedor itself

2.4.2.4.3 Subject predicative position

They can also occur as subject predicatives: Sometimes being loud is being obnoxious

In conlusion, this part has discussed four types of complement clauses: that-clauses, clauses, to-clauses and ing-clauses In many ways, the types are interchangeable: each type

wh-can complement verbs and adjectives, and each type occurs in several positions Overall,

that-clauses and to-clauses are more than twice as common as wh-clauses and ing-clauses

Finite complement clauses (that-clauses and wh-clauses) are most common in conversation, followed by fiction They are relatively rare in academic prose However,

academic prose shows a moderately frequent use of communication verb such as show, ensure, and indicate These verbs are often used with a non personal subject Non-finite complement clauses (to-clauses and ing-clauses) are most common in fiction, followed by

news and academic prose They are relatively rare in conversation

2.5 Concluding remarks

This chapter has been concerned with the examination of the nature of nominalization Its major points may be summarized as follows:

- The nature of nominalization is the drift toward “thingness” It is the grammatical process

by which a verb, a verb phrase, a sentence or a portion of a sentence including the verb function as a noun phrase” (Thompson, 1982: 575)

- As the single most powerful resource for creating grammatical metaphor, one important function of nominalization is encapsulation Besides, nominalization helps create the sense

of objectivity and adds another semantic dimension to what already exists in the congruent form The use of nominalization has changed people's perception of the world, or the world

of experiences and makes the text more ambiguous

- Nominalization can be divided into two types: lexical and clausal nominalization There are two subtypes named derivational nominalization and conversion existing in the first type In the second type-clausal nominalization, there are four subtypes of complement

clauses: that-clauses, wh-clauses; to-clauses and ing-clauses

CHAPTER 3 REALIZATION OF NOMINALIZATION IN ENGLISH LEGAL DISCOURSE:

“CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD”

3.1 Introduction

In this chapter, an attempt is made to investigate how nominalization is realized in the legal

text: “Convention on the Rights of the Child” Firstly, some general notion, classification

and the main characteristics of English legal discourse will be examined to set the base for finding out the realization of nominalization in this legal discourse in the next part

3.2 English legal discourse

Legal discourse is a highly specialized use of language which is the language used between lawyer and client or between two lawyers; the language of the courts; the language of law reports and academic texts on legal matters or the language of legal documents According

to William (2007: 23), the expression of “legal language” is used as an umbrella term to refer to “legal discourse” in general Thus, the use of terms legal discourse and legal

language is sometimes interchangeable

3.2.1 Classification of English legal discourse

Sarcevie (2000: 9) cited in William (2007: 28) divides written legal discourse into three

main types: prescriptive, descriptive and hybrid legal texts

- Prescriptive legal texts include laws and regulations, codes, contracts, treaties and

conventions Such texts are regulatory instruments containing rules of conduct or norms

- Descriptive legal texts are “written by legal scholars such as legal opinion, law textbooks,

articles, etc Such texts constitute what is known as legal scholarship or doctrine

- Hybrid texts contain both prescriptive and descriptive features, e.g judicial decisions and

instruments used to carry on judicial and administrative proceedings such as actions, pleadings, beliefs, appeals, requests, petitions, etc

It can be seen that the legal text “Convention on the Rights of the Child” is an international

convention which belongs to Prescriptive legal text

3.2.2 Characteristics of English legal language

Up to now, there have been a growing number of studies into the field of English legal discourse This special genre has attracted more and more scholars including linguists In the following part, the main linguistic features of English legal discourse will be summarized in terms of lexical, syntactic and textual features

 Use of modal verbs to establish rights and obligations

The major aim of statutory provisions is to establish rights and obligations within their scope of regulation For establishing obliged and forbidden actions, the modal verbs

“must” and “shall” are used, with “shall” being preferred and not being used simply as a marker of future tense as it often is For establishing permitted actions, the modal verbs

“may” and “can” are used, with “may” being preferred

 Archaic or rarely used words and expressions

According to Williams (2007: 32), one of the characteristics of legal language is the inclusion of words and expressions-generally archaic-which are only used in the legal

sphere These may take the form of adverbial expressions such as hereinafter or heretofore, thereafter, etc or verbs such as to darraign For example,

…there shall be established a Committee on the Rights of the Child, which shall carry out the

functions hereinafter provided - (Convention on the right of the child – Article 43 -1989)

Here-, there- and where- words and their derivatives (-at, -in, -after, -before, -by, etc),

which are uncommon in ordinary English, are used primarily to avoid the repetition of

names of things in the document or of the document itself The parties to this contract shall then be reduced to the parties hereto

 Foreign words and expressions, especially Latinisms

According to William (2007: 32), English legal language is heavily imbued with lexical items and expressions deriving in particular from French and from Latin Some examples

are proposal, effect, society, assurance, insured, schedule, duly, signed, agreeing, policy, subject, (French origins); basis, table, declaration, registered, stated, part (Latin origins)

3.2.2.2 Grammatical characteristics

 Nominalization

Nominalization – this feature is considered by many scholars of legal language as one of the most prominent features According to Tiersma (1999: 77-79) cited in William (2007: 37), there is a tendency to resort to nominalization where noun phrases are used in preference to verb phrases Nominalization occurs where verbs or adjectives are

transformed into nouns For example, to develop, to protect are nominalized into to development, protection Nominalization is seen as one of the devices that help create the

conciseness, objectivity for legal discourse See the following example,

To this end, States Parties shall encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the

protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being…

(Convention on the right of the child – Article 40 -1989)

 Binominal and multinominal features

These terms (binominal) and (multinominal) are terms by Bhatia Very often in legal English, two or three words of the same grammatical category which are syntactically coordinate and semantically related are strung together with „and‟ or „or‟ to convey a

single legal concept; for example null and void; fit and proper; perform and discharge; dispute, controversy or claim; signed and delivered, etc

 Complex prepositional phrases

Complex prepositional phrases (with the construction of P-N-P) are used in place of simple

prepositions; for example, for the purpose of, in respect of, in accordance with, etc

According to Bhatia (1983), complex prepositional phrases are used instead of simple

prepositions; for example, “by virtue of” instead of “by”, “for the purpose of” instead of

“for” is because complex prepositional phrases help enhance precision and clarity for the legal discourse

In accordance with their obligations…, States Parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure

protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict

(Convention on the rights of the child –Article 38 - 1989)

 Lengthy and complex sentences

Sentences in legal language are often longer and more complex than in other styles because they have more embeddings According to Crystal and Davy (1969: 200-201) cited in William (2007: 33-34), even today written legal English tends to be sparing in its use of punctuation Although reforms in punctuation have been slowly introduced throughout the centuries, a striking characteristic of contemporary written legal discourse continues to be that of sentence length Even today it is not uncommon to find sentences running to hundreds of words, especially in preambles, with complex patterns of coordination and subordination

the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color…

(Convention on the rights of the child –Preamble – 1989)

In the above example, modifications have split the following verb complexes: has proclaimed and agreed

 Frequent use of passive constructions

Another commonly stressed aspect characterizing legal language is the frequent use of passive constructions Approximately one quarter of all verbal constructions in prescriptive legal English take the passive form (William, 2004, p.231)

No child shall be deprived of his or her liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily

(Convention on the rights of the child –Article 37 – 1989)

 Impersonal constructions

As has been mentioned, using passive forms and nominalization adds to the impersonal style for the legal discourse Moreover, the generalized use of the third person in legal

discourse helps to reinforce the idea of impartiality and authoritativeness For example,

everybody, no person, no one etc For example,

Every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law has at least the following

guarantees:

(Convention on the rights of the child –Article 40 -1989)

3.2.2.3 Textual characteristics

 Repetition of particular words, expressions and syntactic structures

Another characteristic of legal language is the repetition of words, expressions and syntactic structures instead of using pronouns references or other types of anaphora

(William, 2007: 33) In the example below, the word carriage is repeated 7 times out of

when the goods are loaded on to the time they are discharged from the ship

(The Hague – Visby Rules – Article I – 1968)

The main reason for such repetition is to ensure without any shadow of doubt that there can

be no ambiguity as to what is being referred to Outside legal discourse, such repetition would be deemed as extremely odd, even comic

 Use of anaphoric and cataphoric reference

Anaphoric and cataphoric references are often used to refer the reader to another provision either before or after the present one They may also refer to a provision in another statute For example:

Encourage the development of appropriate guidelines for the protection of the child from information and material injurious to his or her well-being, bearing in mind the provisions of

articles 13 and 18.

(Convention on the rights of the child –Article 17 -1989)

3.3 Realization of nominalization in prescriptive legal text “Convention on the Rights

of the Child”

3.3.1 Introduction

In this part, an attempt is made to investigate how nominalization is realized in the

prescriptive legal text: “Convention on the rights of the child” Firstly, the frequency of

occurrence of nominalization will be examined to find out if nominalization is a prominent feature of this text Then, the distribution of semantic types of nominalization will be investigated to see the typical type and characteristics of nominalization used in this legal text The final part is devoted to the exploration of the semantic roles of nominalization realized in the text seen from the point of view of ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions in order to find the effects of nominalization on this legal text

3.3.2 Frequency of occurrence of nominalization

The ratio between the total number of nominalized processes and the total number of words in the text is defined as the frequency of occurrence of nominalization In this study, total number of words in the text is calculated instead of the number of clause for the sake

of easy counting In fact, it is not easy to define what counts as clauses and computer has difficulty counting clauses The summary of frequency of occurrence of nominalization is

shown in table 3.1 below:

Table 3.1: Frequency of occurrence of nominalization

nominalization frequency Convention on the rights of the child 748 748/7561 = 1/10,12

As can be seen from the table 3.1, in legal text “Convention on the rights of the child”, out

of 7561 words, nominalization occurs 748 times It means that nominalization occurs approximately once every 10 words This is a very high ratio in comparison with that of some other genres such as news reports (once every 19 words) However, the ratio is sometimes much higher in some sentences For example,

States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological

recovery and social reintegration of a child victim of: any form of neglect, exploitation, or

abuse; torture or any other form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; or armed conflicts Such recovery and reintegration shall take place in an environment which fosters the health, self-respect and dignity of the child (line 497-503)

In the above example, out of 64 words, nominalization exists 13 times It means that nominalization occurs nearly once every five words This is a very high ratio, which makes the legal text more condensed with lexical density The frequency of nominalization in the sample legal text explains why this genre is highly condensed, and really difficult to understand

It can be concluded that nominalization is prevail in English legal discourse and is considered a prominent characteristic for this type of discourse

3.3.3 Typical types and characteristics of nominalization

3.3.3.1 Typical types of nominalization

Basing on classification of types of nominalization presented in the previous section, we have found that in English legal discourse, there exist all types of nominalization with the

transition from process, clause or attribute… into Thing However, nominalization is created mostly by the drift from process with 75.4% into Thing and the most frequently used form of nominalization is the category of deverbal nominalization which makes up for 53.9% Ranking second is clausal nominalization with 15.9% in which To-clause has the highest percentage with 7.6% Deadjectival nominalization with the drift from attribute and quality into Thing only accounts for 8.7% ranking at the last position See Appendix B

for details of all types of nominalization existed in this legal text and the summary of the distribution of types of nominalization used in this legal text is shown in the table below:

Table 3.2: Type of nominalization

a

Lexical nominalization Clausal nominalization

Finite Non - finite

Percentage (%) 53.9% 8.7% 21.5% 5.6% 0.3% 7.6% 2.4%

b

process clause quality attribute Total

 As can be seen from the table 4.2 above, nominalization is created mostly by the

drift from Process into Thing with 75.4% and the most frequently used form of nominalization is the category of deverbal nominalization which makes up for 53.9%

By using nominalization instead of processes, it makes the overt processes disappear and more often than not, the actors of the processes are invisible The way nominalization combines both actions and logical relationships into a nominal groups makes lawmakers express rules and criteria with abstract concepts of views or reasons rather than mentions

the agents Nominalization is used for ideological control as a “masking device” for they

allow the withholding of the identity of the actors Nominalization not only obscures the participants, it also obscures the time, space and modality They are not tied to any specific

time in relation to the time of speaking Both subject and finite typically disappear when a process is nominalized Thus, a nominalized process is detached from the here and now in

a way that is not normally possible for a process expressed by a verb Thus by using nominalization, writer can obscure not only the participants but also the time, the space, and the modality to help the utterance achieve the sense of objectivity and non-negotiability For example,

Eg1: (a) No restrictions may be placed on the exercise of these rights ….(line 188,189) (b) All States Parties must not restrict the exercise of these rights …

A noun typically refers to a “thing” and it is something that already exists By transforming the process -“restrict” into Thing - “restriction”, the meaning “restriction” now can be treated as existing, as a kind of abstract thing The subject “All States Parties” and the modality “must” in the congruent expression (b) are omitted in the incongruent expression (a), and the focus is therefore transferred to the “restrictions” itself So it is clear that

without the involvement of human agents, without the subjective inference, the

nominalization seems to be more objective and reliable In (b) restrict present an overt process, while in (a), restriction plays dual roles of a covert process and a participant Thus, nominalized process “restrictions” in (a) are detached from here-and-now reference

It is the avoidance of commitment to any spatial-temporal settings that helps the utterance achieve sense of objectivity and non-negotiability

Eg2: (a1) States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in particular, shall take appropriate measures to ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care to all children with emphasis on the development of primary health

As can be seen from the two examples above, (a1) is nominalized language which is condensed Example (a2) is the rewritten in its congruent form and it is clear that if the processes were not nominalized, the clause would be realized by several clauses These congruent expressions usually cover a large space and seem to be clumsy Thus, nominalized process plays a prominent role that helps enhance the sense of conciseness for this legal text

 Ranking second among types of nominalization realized in this legal text, the

percentage of clausal nominalization is only 15.9%- nearly one-fifth in comparison with that of processed nominalization To-clause is at the highest position among clausal nominalization with 7.6% One common thing can be found is that most of To-clauses used

in this legal text often complement the noun phrase “the right” and functions as complement for “the right” For example:

noun-…the right to acquire a nationality (line 100),

…the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents… (line 101),

…the right of the child to preserve his or her identity…(line 106, 107),