Synonym Coordination in English Legislative Texts and Its Translation

Shuqiong WU, Chunguo GONG

Abstract


Synonym coordination is a common and intriguing linguistic phenomenon in legal texts, especially in  legislative texts. Synonyms have been explored from different perspectives in the prior studies, but few studies have been done on synonym coordination. This paper discusses the pervasiveness, characteristics and classification of synonym coordination in English legislative texts. It has been found that the pervasiveness of synonym coordination is attributed to the historical, rhetoric and legal factors. Synonym coordination can be divided into three types: absolute synonym coordination, relative synonym coordination and relevant synonym coordination. Based on Nida’s theory of functional equivalence, the paper puts forward the corresponding translation methods for each type. This study will shed light on the further studies on synonym co-occurrence.


Keywords


Synonym coordination; Legislative Texts; Translation

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/9432

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