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1、SyntaxFeaturesofEnglishLegalTextsThesyntaxofEnglishLegalTexts(ELT)iskindofcomplicatedforthesakeofavoidingambiguity.Itisobviousthatlegaltextshavelongandcomplicatedsentences.ThegeneralsyntacticfeaturesofELTconsistinfrequentuseofdeclarativesentences,completesentences,longse
2、ntences,nominalstructures,passivesentences,basicsentencepatterns,etc.3.1DeclarativesentencesIntermsoffunction,Englishsentencescanbeclassifiedintofourtypes:declarativesentence(tomakeastatement,tostateafactualevent),imperativesentence(toputaquestionwhichseeksaresponse),int
3、errogativesentence(togiveadirectcommandorinstruction),andexclamatorysentence(tomakeaforcefuloremphaticstatementorargument).Legallanguageisbasicallyconnectedwiththeauthorizationofrights,impositionofobligationsorpunishment,andenforcementoflaw.Forthesakeofobjectivityandimpa
4、rtiality,theuseofdeclarativesentencesispredominantinELT.However,theotherthreetypesofsentencesseldomcanbefoundinlegaltextsfortheytendtoshowemotions.Legaltextsareusedtoidentifythelegalrelationship,carryoutthelegalterms,statethefactofthelawcaseandstipulatepeople’srightsando
5、bligations.Itistruethat“Declarativesentencesrestthroughastatuewithoutanyshifttoothertypesofsentences”(HuangYongping,2004:179).“Astatuemustbeauthoritative,andthisnaturallycallsforanaffirmativetonerepresentedinstatements.Theuseofdeclarativesentencesgivesthereadertheimpress
6、ionthatastheyaredevoidofornatelanguagetheyaresimple-styledbutforceful”(ibid).InthewordsofZhangDeluandXiaoYunshu,theuseofdeclarativesentenceispredominantinELT.“LegalEnglishisdominatedbystatementswithlittleornouseofcommands,questionsandexclamations”(ZhangDelu,1998:350).“Ge
7、nerallyspeaking,theusesofquestions,commandsandexclamationsareexcludedinlegaldocuments”(XiaoYunshu,1999).(10)TheArbitrationCommissionhasonehonoraryChairmanandseveraladvisers.(11)TheChairmanperformsthefunctionsanddutiesvestedbyhimbytheseRulesandtheVice-Chairmanmayperformth
8、eChairman’sfunctionsanddutieswithChairman’sauthorization.(12)Thearbitrationtribunalshallholdoralhearing