摘要
实务中有不少涉外经济合同纠纷是因各方对合同文字的理解不一而引起的,究其原因,主要是起草者对合同语言的特殊性缺乏应有的了解,结果导致合同语言的模糊性和不确定性。本文从词法、句法及应用等三个层面对英文经贸合同语言的特殊性及其变化规律进行探讨,以期能有助于对此类合同的阅读和起草。
关键词：涉外合同；语言特征；阅读和起草
ABSTRACT
In practice, the occurrence of inconsistency in interpretation of the contract English has resulted in a good few cases of disputes. In essence, it is largely due to the draftsman's failure to have a deep-in understanding of the underlying features of the contract language, which might lead to the ambiguities and uncertainties of the contract wording. This paper tries to analyze the linguistic features of English business contracts at the morphological, syntactical and discourse levels respectively with a view to rendering a help in the reading and drafting the contracts.
Keywords：contract English ; language features; reading anddrafting
Contents
1. Introduction (1)
2. Literature review (2)
2.1 Study of contract (2)
2.2 Study of legal English (3)
2.3 Study of contract English (3)
2.4 The study of the stylistic features of contract English in China (4)
3. The language features of contract English (6)
3.1 The lexical features (6)
3.1.1 Formal words (6)
3.1.2 Archaic Words (7)
3.1.3 Synonyms (8)
3.1.4 Abbreviations (8)
3.2 The syntax features (9)
3.2.1 Active voice (9)
3.2.2 Present tense (10)
3.2.3 Shall+verb (10)
3.3 The sentential features (11)
3.3.1 Declarative sentences (11)
3.3.2 Long sentences (12)
3.3.3 Conditional clauses (13)
4. Implications (15)
4.1 Implication for reading contract English (15)
4.2 Implication for drafting contract (16)
5. Conclusion (17)
Acknowledgements (18)
References (19)
1. Introduction
Language is much more than merely a means of communication. It is also a way of signaling, consciously or unconsciously, that we come from a particular area, or belong to a certain social group.[1]51 Every field of expertise develops its own language features.[2]36 The language of English used in contracts, or contract English, is an important branch of legal English. Legal English means the language of the law of England, America, and some other countries whose official language is English. These common law system countries have a history about several hundred years to express law in English. Legal English is a type of legal language with overlap of linguistics and the science of law. [3]6
With China's carrying out the policy to promote reform and opening to the outside world, the establishment of market economy, the rapid development of our communication with foreign countries and China's entry to the WTO, there are more and more opportunities for us to communicate with those countries whose official language is English. When communicating with individuals, legal persons or other organizations from the English speaking countries, we often need to sign English contracts with them. Contract plays an important role in international economic and trade activities, as all achievements thereof will be finally embodied in it.
How to correctly draft and understand contract language is of great importance to individuals and business organizations. There are a few books and papers dedicated to general principles of stylistic features of English for law, but none addresses questions of contract English in sufficient detail to be of significant practical use to the English contract learners in China. My dissertation attempts to present a comparatively detailed analysis of stylistic features of contract English with the expectation to better help contract learners or businessmen understand and draft English contract.