Pronominal Adverbs Based on Here-, There-, and Where- as Textual Connectors in Legal Discourse

Abstract

This paper examines the connectors based on here-, there-, and where-, as used in legal discourse. Although they are regularly mentioned in specialised literature (Crystal, 1988; Tiersma, 1999; Williams, 2007) or in guides designed for legal professionals (Krois-Lindner, 2006; Brown, 2012), no detailed explanations on how they operate have been found. Although plain language exponents consider these connectors as a part of antiquated legalese, they frequently occur in legal contexts. For this reason, in order to provide assistance to specialists working in law in English, this paper offers a linguistic analysis of the logic behind the mechanism of their formation. The study is based on a corpus of business-to-business legal documents available on the US database Onecle, complemented by the occurrences of connectors from other sources.

Keywords

• discourse markers
• pronominal adverbs
• connectors
• legal discourse