Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Exploring the Nature of Legal Discourse Information Processing 2
1.3 A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study 6
1.4 Organization of the Book 8
Chapter 2 Information Bridges in Contrastive Legal Discourse Analysis 10
2.1 Introduction 10
2.2 Legal Discourse 11
2.3 Contrastive Discourse Analysis 16
2.4 Communication,Information and Discourse Analysis 19
2.4.1 Models of Communication 21
2.4.2 The Hallidayan Model of Discourse Analysis and Information Structure 26
2.4.3 Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA) 33
2.4.4 Appraisal Theory as an Approach to Tackle Interpersonal Meaning 35
2.4.5 Legal Discourse Information Structure 40
2.5 The Information Bridges in Contrastive Legal Discourse Analysis 47
2.5.1 Theoretical Foundings of Information Bridges Model 48
2.5.2 Description of the Analytical Framework 50
2.6 A Pilot Study 58
2.6.1 Introduction 58
2.6.2 Analysis Based on the Proposed Analytical Framework 60
2.6.3 A Tentative Conclusion 69
2.7 Summary 69
Chapter 3 The Socio-cultural System 71
3.1 Introduction 71
3.2 Overview:the Socio-cultural System 72
3.3 Social Measures 74
3.4 Ideologies 82
3.5 Power Relations 104
3.6 Summary 117
Chapter 4 The Linguistic Conventions 119
4.1 Introduction 119
4.2 General Contrasts Between Chinese and English 120
4.3 Lexical Choices 124
4.3.1 Verb-orientation vs.Nominalizations 125
4.3.2 Personal vs.Impersonal 131
4.3.3 Stative vs.Dynamic 135
4.4 Syntactic Structure 137
4.4.1 Topic-prominent vs.Subject-prominent 138
4.4.2 Active vs.Passive 141
4.4.3 Diffusive vs.Compact 143
4.4.4 Reiterative vs.Substitutive 146
4.5 Rhetorical Structure 151
4.5.1 Paratactic vs.Hypotactic 152
4.5.2 Direct vs.Indirect 156
4.5.3 Simplex vs.Complex 159
4.6 Summary 161
Chapter 5 The Legal System 163
5.1 Introduction 163
5.2 Overview:the Chinese Law vs.the Common Law 163
5.3 Legal Assumptions 168
5.3.1 Guilty Presumption vs.Innocent Presumption 169
5.3.2 Stare Decisis vs.Statutory Decisis 175
5.4 Institutional Features 182
5.4.1 Adversarial vs.Inquisitorial 183
5.4.2 Collegiate Panels vs.Jury System 188
5.5 Procedural Formalities 193
5.5.1 Interrogation vs.Interview 194
5.5.2 Mediation vs.Plea Bargaining 200
5.5.3 Judge Dominance vs.Lawyer Dominance 207
5.6 Summary 214
Chapter 6 The Discourse Users'Stance 216
6.1 Introduction 216
6.2 Affect 217
6.2.1 Basic vs.Complex 218
6.2.2 Authorial vs.Non-authorial 224
6.2.3 Behavioral Surge vs.Mental State 228
6.3 Judgment 232
6.3.1 Implicit vs.Explicit 233
6.3.2 Social Esteem vs.Social Sanction 237
6.4 Appreciation 243
6.4.1 Reaction:Impact vs.Quality 244
6.4.2 Composition:Balance vs.Complexity 249
6.4.3 Valuation 252
6.5 A Comprehensive Analysis of Attitude 256
6.6 Summary 259
Chapter 7 Implications and Prospects for Chinese-English Contrastive Studies and Legal Translations 261
7.1 Introduction 261
7.2 Summary of Major Findings 262
7.2.1 Determining Factors 262
7.2.2 For Optimal Legal Information Transmission 265
7.2.3 Similarities and Differences 266
7.3 Conclusion 270
7.4 Implications for Chinese-English Legal Translations 272
7.5 Limitations of the Research 274
7.6 Prospects for Further Research 275
References 277
Appendices 293
Appendix Ⅰ A Tagged Sample of an English Judgment 293
Appendix Ⅱ Tagged Sample of a Chinese Court Judgment 299
Appendix Ⅲ Tagging Symbols for the CLIPS 307
Appendix Ⅳ Tagging Symbols for Information Elements 310