GRAMMAR PECULIARITIES OF LEGAL DOCUMENTS TRANSLATION

Any legal texts that operate within the legal and institutional discourse used to

share legal information between people who speak different languages, are within the

scope of legal translation. Because the law is a branch, closely related to the

historical, social, political and cultural characteristics of the source and target

languages, legal discourse texts present for translator a challenging task of adequate

transfer of legal information.

Texts of legal discourse are messages of powerful and state nature, a written

instrument signed by a subject of a certain social, legal institution focused on the

group of recipients. This document has a particular semantic unity, determined by

lexical, grammatical, logical and legal relations and semantic completeness and

pragmatic guidance. Grammatical pecularities in translation of legal discourse texts

have repeatedly been the focus of Ukrainian and foreign linguists.

However, this problem remains poorly understood aspect of grammar

translation of documents belonging to legal discourse, which defines topicality of the

study.

The aim and objectives of the term paper is the definition of standard

grammatical difficulties in translation of texts of professional legal discourse from

English into Ukrainian language and, secondly, illustration of language differences in

the form of translation transformations on morphological and syntactic levels of

translation of legal documents, and search for optimal translation solutions for

conveying of the content according to the norms of the Ukrainian language.

The investigation subject is the transformation of the morphological and

syntactic levels during the translation of legal texts, and especially their

implementation in specific textual genres of legal discourse.

Object of the research is grammar items and structures of source and target

texts of professional legal discourse.

Investigation of grammatical pecularities was done on basis of a document of

legal discourse: marriage contract and its translation.

1

Theoretical and practical value of the research is determined by the necessity

to identify and analyze instruments used to obtain translation equivalence. It is only

in a few areas of translation that the cultural and grammatical differences are so acute

and the consequences of failure are so palpable. In our globalized world, both

business and political decisions increasingly depend on translations of official

documents.

As this paper's goal is to research translational transformations in the

translation of an official document. The main tasks used to achieve this goal in the

current paper include the following: to identify translational transformations in the

text; to determine the reasons for using the transformations; to analyze the

grammatical transformations.

To solve the aforementioned tasks, we have compared and analyzed the target

text and the original text, and performed transformational analysis. Two texts, one in

Ukrainian and one in English, were compared and analyzed from the viewpoint of

transformations. By analyzing and comparing the original text with the translation,

grammatical transformations have been identified. The search of the transformations

was very precise and meticulous. Obtained transformations have been sorted out into

four categories: replacement, transposition, addition, and omission. Excerpts of the

text in which certain types of transformation were very numerous were analyzed, and

the choice of transformations was explained. Some of the examples might contain

other transformations that were counted in the research as a whole, but were not

discussed in the given example. The most common situations that cause problems for

translation of official texts have been described. The knowledge of these situations

and familiarity regarding when to use the right transformation are crucial for

achieving equivalent translation.

Reviewing search of theoretical material on general linguistic and translation

theory concerning legal discourse, its grammatical pecularities and their conveying

into Ukrainian was done, general information was organized and enunciated in

Chapter 1. Thereafter an example of legal discourse text was chosen, in particular

marriage conctract, and discourse and stylistic analysis of text was done. Translation

2

analysis was carried out considering theoretical material on a given topic, in

particular grammatical pecularities of legal document and grammatical

transformations. In conclusion the results of scientific investigation were shown.

3

CHAPTER 1

1.1 Legal discourse as a linguistic phenomena

The study of legal language has been affected by new theories introduced into

linguistics, in particular the sociolinguistic approaches and the movement for

simplification of legal discourse. Due to the active research of legal discourse since

the mid-seventies, many linguistic properties of legal English are fairly well

understood today. The term " discourse " becomes widespread in the humanities in

the 60- 70s of XX century, but its widespread use in linguistics should be referred to

the current time. Unclear definition of discourse has meant that this concept was used

in a number of terms such as "language" (" Discourse " − " language, immersed in

life"), "text ", " functional style "[1, p. 211].

Legal discourse, along with political, economic, and other discourses is a kind

of institutional discourse, which has a clear purpose, participants and a certain pattern

of communicative situation development. Integral feature of legal discourse is the

situation of communication in the legal field, which together with extralinguistic

factors determines the differential linguistic pecularities [4, p. 216]. Legal discourse as

a complex system of lexical, grammatical and syntactic means of expression that is

subject to the objectives and purposes of communication in the field of law, is

characterized by a specific terminology and specific legal categories. Complex of

means typical for legal text provides valuable information for a recipient − any adult

citizen of the country. In modern science discourse is understood as a complex

phenomenon consisting of participants of communication, communicative situation

and the text. Discourse − is an abstract invariant description of the structural semantic

features which are realized in specific texts. Whithin the meaning of the theory of

speech activity there are two aspects − the creation or generation of discourse and

understanding of discourse. Discourses represent a special use of language to express

a special mentality and ideology [3, p. 109].

The implementation of different types of discourse occurs in communicative

situations in certain areas of human activity. The organization of discourse is different

4

from the language organization in freedom and greater variability. The language

system is very stable, especially at the phonological and morphological levels.

Syntactic level can detect more variability, but even at this level freedom of speaker is

limited to a certain finite set of syntactic structures [6, p. 424]. Genre is defined as a

class of discourses and can also be considered in terms of the discourse community,

for example, the genre of legal documents is a special kind of scientific text.

Legal discourse is understood as the text in the process of interpretation and

explanation. Text of legal documents is the main component of legal discourse. The

text performs not only informational and influential function, but also reveals the

social and pragmatic position of the author. Participants of legal discourse are, on the

one hand, the author and, on the other hand, the recipient. The first creates an

informational message, expressing the essence of the law, the other one perceives and

interprets the message. A subject of legal discourse are professional lawyers,

producing texts considering pecularities of society. But according to the content and

its typological characteristics, they are rather homogeneous [15, p. 250]. Legal

discourse is based on a special legal nomenclature system. Cognitive, derivative and

social nature of legal vocabulary is expressed in its ability to form concepts and

semantic units and components which can be classified according to the certain

models [19, p. 221].

Mainly cognitive information iclude legal terms. Special features and principles

important for areas of law are common for a special distribution of structural and

conceptual, derivational, lexical units and functional characteristics, in which they

operate. A dominant of legal discourse is a text of legal documents. Analysis of the

content of the discourse can provide its functions: informational, analytical, evaluative

and predictive, which are expressed by explicit and implicit means [9, p. 29].

Language of the legal discourse is one of the most distinctive communicative

codes which traditionally are used in the institutional environment. Legal functioning

of language is a special environment that has its own internal laws prevailing in

lawmaking and law enforcement processes embodied in the special legislation or

accepted in legal practice. It is determined by a number of linguistic factors (internal

5

trends in the development of synchronous and diachronic terms, saving of speech

means) and extra-linguistic (causes of social, political, ideological character etc.) [22,

p. 155].

In general legal discourse has the following attributes: formality, completeness,

rational conciseness, consistency, objectivity, motivation, uniqueness, authenticity,

informative character, clarity, precision and certainty, neutrality, standardization,

consistency; normativity of language, etc. Being a complex polyfunctional subsystem

of literary language, it takes a number of functions, N.V. Artykutsa defines the

following basic (common language) and specific features: 1) nominative (naming the

legal realities and concepts); 2) epistemological (tools and the way of learning of legal

knowledge, mastery of social and legal experience); 3) axiologycal (legal , moral and

ethical evaluation); 4) communicative (legal communication); 5) adjusting voluntative

(legal regulation of human behavior and social relations through the will of a subject

and the impact on justice); 6) cultural (conservation and conveying of legal

knowledge and legal culture); 7) aesthetic (stylistic perfection of a text as a reference

for all legal documents) [28, p.182].

Legal discourse is known for its obscurity, ambiguity and complexity. The

language employed in law and that employed by the lawyers in the court is known to

have been full of complexity. Most of the times, to interpret or to comprehend it

proves to be hard nut to crack for the common man. The common man too undergoes

the same kind of struggle when he encounters a legal document. Communication

certainly fails to take place when such complex, ambiguous, arbitrary or lengthy

sentences are employed in legal discourse [2, p. 43].

In the modern sense, legal linguistics is a discipline that has only recently

become established. However, legal language has aroused interest for thousands of

years, from various angles. Law is necessarily bound to language (notably in matters

of legal interpretation), and in that sense legal language has existed as long as the

law. In certain contexts, the language aspect of law dominates: legal translation, legal

lexicography, and legal rhetoric. In ancient times, the goals of interest in legal

language were mainly practical [4, p. 564].

6

Research into legal linguistics accentuates different aspects country by country.

It is natural that francophone authors in this discipline are linked to the tradition

based on the observations made by Ferdinand de Saussure. Thus, Gerard Cornu

writes in his treatise that “[la] linguistique juridique telle qu’elle est ici envisagee se

refere a l’oeuvre de Ferdinand de Saussure” [‘(l)egal linguistics as here envisaged

refers to the work of Ferdinand de Saussure’]. At the same time, American works on

textual linguistics have much inspired researchers into legal language, both in the

United States and Europe. Russia stands as an exception: Russian legal linguistics is

essentially based – at least up until now – on linguistic science expressed in Russian

[5,p.608].

Frequently, research into legal language is synchronic, that is, it focuses on

contemporary language. Notably in Canada, this research takes the form of

contrastive analysis of the two legal languages (French and English), which is why

Canadian legal linguistics is closely bound up with the science of translation. This

type of legal linguistics has spread from Canada to other countries, such as Poland,

for example [10, p. 169].

Interaction between the various schools undertaking research into legal

language is not always particularly close. It should also be born in mind that the

major linguistic areas are somewhat self-contained. Notably, for understandable

reasons Soviet and Russian legal linguistics was until recent years isolated from the

West European schools. The sources for the work of N. A. Vlasenko, Iazyk prava

(Язык права, ‘Language of the Law’, 1997), are symptomatic in this regard. This

work is based almost solely on linguistic and legal studies published in Russia during

the Soviet period and in Russia in the 1990s. In the introduction to the work,

Vlasenko mentions that he was strongly infl uencd by M. M. Bakhtin, I. R. Gal’perin,

M. N. Kozhi na and D. E Rozental.18 The one chapter (1.2) where this author cites

foreign researchers is the one concerning – in a somewhat detached manner – the

Historical School of Law having played an important part in 19th century Germany.

The main source for this chapter is Georg Friedrich Puchta, the classic author on

German legal science. In a note, can also be found the name of Jean Carbonnier, the

7

French civilian and sociologist, whose main work on legal sociology is available in a

Russian version. It should be stressed that, in spite of this isolation, Vlasenko’s work

is of very high quality. The above description does not cover all research on legal

language. Notably, some important studies exist on the history of various legal

languages. One example, already a classic, is David Mellinkoff’s work, The

Language of the Law (1963), relating to legal English [7, p. 202].

In Soviet times, to the study of the problems of legal linguistics has not been

given sufficient attention. However, it must be said that at this time the legal

linguistics was formed as a separate branch of scientific research through the works

of such prominent Soviet scientists and legal scholars as A. Pigolkina, E. Podholin,

W. Sawicki, A. Ushakov etc.

At the beginning of XXI century in Ukraine appear first dissertations of legal

linguistics, written by scientists, lawyers and linguists, which can be united under the

heading "Language problems of law" and "Legal problems of language"[8, p. 512].

1.2 Grammatical features of legal discourse

The complexity of certain legal concepts demands a corresponding complexity

in sentence structure. A great many qualifying phrases and dependent clauses may be

required in order to express a concept with the necessary precision [11, p. 17].

Vachek describes the sentences in English legal texts to be long and complex,

yet clearly built up, using various typographical devices of distributing phrases,

division of the text into parallel paragraphs and capitalizing certain crucial points of

the document. When describing the typical features of legal English, Tiersma gives

the following list of typical features which overlap with Vachek’s description at some

points: lengthy and complex sentences, unusual sentence structure, wordiness and

redundancy, conjoined phrases, frequent use of negation and impersonal

constructions. There are two general characteristics of the legal language: impersonal

constructions and extensive use of declarative sentences pronouncing rights and

obligations. Mellinkoff argues that the language of law should not be different from

the ordinary language without reason. For such differences, the following rationales

8

are usually given: legal language is more precise, shorter, more intelligible and more

durable. Of these arguments, precision seems to be the leading feature of the

language of law that should give reason to all the other features which are sometimes

said to be its vices [12, p. 166].

Legal language is highly formal and impersonal. This is achieved by passive

constructions, complex and long sentences, multiple negations and prepositional

phrases (e.g. in what follows, by virtue of which). Legal English is full of archaisms

and this tendency may be seen in the syntax as well. The old-fashioned syntax still

makes the legal text dense, though mainly thanks to the Plain English Movement

there can no longer be found grammatical archaisms like the old ‘-th’ endings in legal

texts. Slightly archaic tone is achieved by the use of certain prepositional phrases

such as pursuant to (very often used in contracts) or subject to. A certain degree of

sexism can also be found: e.g. judges calling judges of the same rank [17, p. 139].

Although it is typical of legal language to consist of unusually long sentences,

there is a specific area of it that is rather plain and surprisingly comprehensible. The

first group is the syntax of statutes, contracts or pleadings; the second group is that of

judicial summaries of particular facts of cases. Complexity of legal English

documents may be seen in their layout, multiple subordination and postponement of

the main verb until very late in the sentence . In legal texts such as statutes, contracts

or handbooks containing procedural rules, many possible situations, factual scenarios

and exceptions must be provided for therefore the sentences are often conditional and

contain hypothetical formulations [13, p.18]. The illegibility of legal texts derives

from the fact that originally legal texts were written from the far left side to the other

side of the page to avoid the possibility of adding anything to the text. From this fact

the custom of avoiding punctuation is also derived: full stops, commas and

semicolons may alter the meaning of the sentence. As Mellinkoff writes, lawyers are

still reluctant to end a sentence, even though the old reasons for skimping punctuation

are gone [16, p. 71].

Conjoined phrases consist of words like by and or, as in I give, devise and

bequeath the rest, residue and remainder. They have been used since Anglo-Saxon

9

times. Conjoining words is still extremely common in legal language. One reason for

such lists of words is to be as comprehensive as possible. They also can add

emphasis. But they can lead to ambiguity because of the rule of interpretation that

every word should be given meaning and nothing treated as surplusage. Thus, careful

communication requires that lawyers use such conjoined phrases with care.

Lawyers make use of unusual sentence structures, as in a proposal to effect with

the Society an assurance, which is taken from an insurance policy. Often these

unusual structures result in separating the subject from the verb, or splitting the verb

complex, which can reduce comprehension.

Legal language seems to use an inordinate amount of negation. To some extent

this may result from the tendency to regulate by prohibition; judges prefer negative

injunctions, for example. Research reveals that especially multiple negation impairs

communication and should be avoided.

A related characteristic of legal style is impersonal constructions. The best

example is avoidance of first and second person expression (I and you). Using the

third person in statutes does make some communicative sense (as in Sex offenders

shall register with the police...) because the statute "speaks" not only to sex offenders,

but to the police and the courts; you might therefore be inappropriate or ambiguous.

Elsewhere (as in the tendency of judges to refer to themselves as the court rather than

I) it creates an impression of objectivity and authority, thus helping to legitimate the

legal system. Multi-judge panels seem less reluctant to use we, and will even use this

pronoun to refer to a decision made by their predecessors long ago. Here, the first

person stresses the continuity and perceived timelessness of the law [12, p. 166].

Passive sentences allow the speaker or writer to omit reference to the actor

(as in the girl was injured at 5:30). One reason lawyers use passives is for strategic

reasons: to deliberately de-emphasize or obscure who the actor is. Passives are

therefore impersonal, giving them an aura of objectivity and authoritativeness; this

may explain why they are common in court orders. They are less common in

contracts, where the parties typically wish to spell out exactly who is to do what, and

thus have an interest in precise reference to the actors.

10

Frequency of Any – this word is considered redundant, but in legal documents

is more than common: any child or children, any encumbrances, any other assets, etc.

English has a tendency to nominalization, particularly that of verbs. As a result,

the structure of the sentence is often attributive and it may be understood as “a fairly

loose connection between the parts of the sentence, which are often coordinate and of

equal syntactic status” . The shortness and compactness of English sentences is then

the advantage against the lengthy subordinate clauses. Paratactic tendencies have

another outcome as well. The length and complexity of sentences are the most

obvious syntactic features. Plain English movement disputed the structural

complexity in legal writing and explored the opportunities for the shortening of

sentences. Specific sentence structure is caused by the fact that in the past every part

of a legal document used to consist of a single sentence. Sentences included a great

deal of information, repetitiveness, long noun phrases with plenty of modification,

peculiar word order, prepositional phrases, as well as coordinate and subordinate

clauses. As a result, lawyers are advised to measure the sentence length, or cut out

superfluous words and sentences, or even delete redundant words and phrases [20,

p.160].

Only words that support the arguments given in the text add value to the

sentence. However, when extra words are needed to maintain clarity, and when long

sentences arise as a result, a possible solution is to utilize tabulated sentences.

Nouns derived from verbs are often used instead of verbs, such as to give consideration instead of to consider, to be in opposition rather than to oppose, to be in contravention instead of to contravene, to be in agreement instead of to agree. Nominalization is a morphological process that

is to be avoided because it makes the

text long and non-dynamic. However, it is hard to eradicate nominalization, as

lawyers do not say to arbitrate, but to go on arbitration, because the

arbitration.

11

Dependent on which party they represent, lawyers make frequent use of

features that reduce the agent in his identity while emphasizing the action – a matter

of strategy which has the impeding of comprehension as a consequence.

The use of passive voice and peculiar use of pronouns are characteristics of a

highly impersonal style of writing. Passive voice is inherent in legal language, but it

is also overused in all types of legal documents. Legal drafters instinctively stick to it,

so both laws and court decisions generally contain a verb in the passive, especially

when obligation or condition is imposed. They tend to create the impression that such

rules are infallible as they occur without the influence of the human agent. The legal

drafters are encouraged to modify the texts by transforming passive voice into active,

because the passive is justified only when the doer of the action is unknown or

intentionally left out. The same goes for law [21, p. 146].

The omission of personal pronouns is another feature. Omission of the first

person singular is motivated by the efforts of judges to achieve maximum objectivity.

The omission of the second person singular is the characteristic of the written will. In

this case, the first person singular is used instead [18, p. 160].

The second person singular is also omitted when there aren't direct orders and

warnings or it is considered that legal rules should be impersonal. Thus, the use of the

third person singular and plural is predominant. Everybody, everyone, every person is used when a provision applies to all, and no one, nobody is used in

prohibitions. The intent is to create the impression that law is impartial, but such

generalizations are vague, and their efficiency is often disputable [16, p. 71].

1.3 Grammar transformations in translation

Differences in the types of the two languages (analytical and synthetic) result

in grammar transformations. A grammar transformation means a change of the

original syntactic structure in translation. In very rare cases the translator manages to

reserve the original syntactic structure by using analogous grammar forms in the TL

or a word-for-word translation. The latter concerns short simple sentences with

equivalent grammar forms in the TL.

12

Omission of articles, linking verbs and other secondary elements of the English

sentence in translation does not involve the change of the sentence structure. But

basically the translator has to resort to a grammar transformation of a certain type or

even their combination [9, p. 29].

There are the following factors that can cause grammar transformation:

1. Absence of the corresponding grammar unit in the target language.

2. Non-coincidence of stylistic function of analogous grammar unit in the SL

and TL.

3. Non-coincidence of semantic structure of lexical units in the SL and TL. A

transformation can be either complete or partial. A complete transformation takes

place when there is a substitution of principal parts of a sentence. Partial if secondary

parts are replaced in the TL [18, p.160].

Grammar transformations can be conventionally subdivided into 5 types:

1. Word for word reproduction of syntactic structure, which is regarded as a

“zero transformation”.

2. Transposition is a change in the order of words in phrases and sentences,

which is often caused by the structural differences in expressing the theme and the

rheme in different languages.

3. Substitution is a very common type of transformation. Substitutions can

affect nearly all types of linguistic units. Substitution of word forms, parts of speech,

sentence members, sentence types and types of syntactic relations.

a. Substitution of word forms. This type of transformation incomposes

substitution of singular by plural and tense forms – past by present, passive by active.

b. Substitution of parts of speech. Replacement of English nouns by Ukrainian

verbs is especially typical. The English language makes a great use of so called

nominalization (verbal nouns are used to denote actions).

c. substitution of sentence members.

d. substitution of sentence types: 1. A simple sentence in the SL can be

substituted by a compound or complex sentence in ht TL or vice versa. 2. Sentence

partitioning 3. Sentence joining. 4. Substitution of syntactic relations. Both languages

13

make use of syndatic and asindatic structures, but their frequency is different: English

prefers syndatic structures, whereas Ukrainian – asindatic.

4. Addition. Some implisive elements of the original text must be rendered in

translation by additional lexical or grammatical units. Addition renders the meaning

of priority expressed by the English past perfect form, the latter being a grammar

lacking category in Ukrainian.

5. Omission – this device is just the opposite to that of addition: it is aimed at

eliminating redundancy of the units which are irrelevant in the context [21, p.146].

14

CHAPTER 2

2.1 Discourse parameters of the text

The marriage contract is a formal deed in which a future husband and wife set

out any terms of their marriage as they see fit, albeit within the confines of the legal

rules. A written contract between two people who are about to marry, setting out the

terms of possession of assets, treatment of future earnings, control of the property of

each, and potential division if the marriage is later dissolved. These agreements are

fairly common if either or both parties have substantial assets, children from a prior

marriage, potential inheritances, high incomes, or have been "taken" by a prior

spouse.

The text, given below belongs to legal discourse, particulary a marriage

contract. The aim of communication within this text is to bind the addressee to a

certain kind of behaviour. Therefore, this text is artifact with high degree of authority

and binding force. It is intended to change the behaviour of people and, therefore, to

change the real world. The label of performatives may also be applied to these text.

Communication by means of this text occurs between two citizens (legal

entities).

The text performs not only informational and influential function, but also

reveals the social- pragmatic position of the author . Participants of this contract are ,

on the one hand, the author and, on the other hand, the recipients Mr and Mrs . The

first creates an informational message, expressing the essence of the document, the

others perceive and interpret the message. A subject of a given document is

professional lawyer, producing text considering pecularities of citizens.

Mainly cognitive information iclude legal terms. Special features and principles

important for legal discourse are common for a special distribution of structural and

conceptual, derivational, lexical units and functional characteristics, in which they

operate. Analysis of the content of the contract can provide its functions:

15

informational, analytical, evaluative and predictive, which are expressed by explicit

and implicit means.

Legal functioning of the contract is determined by a number of linguistic factors

(internal trends in the development of synchronous and diachronic terms, saving of

speech means) and extra-linguistic (causes of social, political, ideological character

etc.) .

Accuracy and precision are fundamental characteristics of the text. In general

legal discourse has the following attributes: formality, completeness, rational

conciseness, consistency, objectivity, motivation, uniqueness, authenticity,

informative character, clarity, precision and certainty, neutrality, standardization,

consistency; normativity of language, etc.

This official document, being binding text, has a high degree of authority and

responsibility encoded in it. This is achieved by direct reference to its adressees, to

time and place of compiling the document, by the use of “binding” words

(performative verbs and nouns) such as conclude, undertake, guarantee, bind, shall,

promise, agree, will; agreement, decision, consent, etc. The binding nature of the text

is also ensured by the extensive use of modal verbs, such as, be to, have to, should,

would, etc. Preamble to this document plays a very important role as it contains the

“performative” formula have concluded the present marriage contract as follows,

which makes the rest of the text binding for the parties with respect to what they have

agreed upon.

2.2 Stylistic characteristics of the text

The aim of stylistic analysis is many-fold. The purpose is to identify stylistic

markers, to study how the stylistic devices used help to accomplish the

communicative purpose of the text, and to identify the functional style the text is

representative of Legal English has its own features and the analysis of these features

is done on the basis of stylistic levels. Analysis is done on, lexical and syntactic

levels. All the features are explained with examples from the sample selected. Legal

16

documents have some of the features unique to the legal texts which make distinction

from other genre of language.

Tha author of the text (marriage contract) is a professional lawer.

The title of the text: Marriage Agreement.

Beginning: “We, the undersigned the Mr. ___________________________

and the Mrs. ____________________________, "Spouses" called further ,voluntary,

by a mutual consent marrying, with a view of settlement of the mutual rights and

duties, both in marriage, and in case of its cancellation, have concluded the present

marriage contract as follows:(…) ”.

The end of the text:

“ 6. FINAL REGULATIONS:

6.1. The present contract comes into force from the moment of its signing by

spouses.

6.2. Spouses in the right in consent at any moment to enter into the additional

agreement to the present contract. Unilateral refusal of execution of the present

contract is not supposed. Disputes and disagreements dare by negotiations. In a case

if the parties will not come to the consent, disputes are resolved in a judicial order.

6.3. Expenses connected with the certificate of the present contract are paid by

the Mr.___________________________.

7. Signatures of the Parties:

Mr._____________________________

Mrs._____________________________ “.

The contract consists of central clauses, which are numbered and of subclauses:

“ 2. MUTUAL RELATIONS OF SPOUSES:

2.2. Spouses are obliged to satisfy material, moral and physical requirements

of each other. “

Sentence lengthThe length and complexity of sentences are the most obvious syntactic features

of this text. Specific sentence structure is caused by the fact that in the past every part

17

of a legal document used to consist of a single sentence. Sentences included a great

deal of information, repetitiveness, long noun phrases with plenty of modification,

peculiar word order, prepositional phrases, as well as coordinate and subordinate

clauses.

Only words that support the arguments given in the text add value to the

sentence. However, when extra words are needed to maintain clarity, and when long

sentences arise as a result, a possible solution is to utilize tabulated sentences

Nominalization:

Nouns derived from verbs are often used instead of verbs, such as to give consideration instead of to consider, to be in opposition rather than to oppose, to be in agreement instead of to agree.

Impersonal style:

Dependent on which party they represent, lawyers make frequent use of

features that reduce the agent in his identity while emphasizing the action – a matter

of strategy which has the impeding of comprehension as a consequence. The use of

passive voice and peculiar use of pronouns are characteristics of a highly impersonal

style of writing.

Passive voice is inherent in the text when obligation or condition is imposed.

They tend to create the impression that such rules are infallible as they occur without

the influence of the human agent.

The omission of personal pronouns is another feature. The second person

singular is omitted . Thus, the use of the third person singular and plural is

predominant in the document the spouses, parents.

There is an absence of any emotions, tropes and figures of speech (stylistic

devices and expressive means)

This legal document can also be characterized by set expressions and literary

formal words, e.g. , called further, have concluded the present marriage contract as

follows, by a mutual consent, the undersigned, etc.

18

Terms which have to do with the subject field of the document and which

should be unambiguous. Legal language is often characterised as a technical language

or “technolect”, which is to say a language used by a specialist profession, e.g.

subject, principles, satisfy, material requirements, rights and duties, property rights,

preliminary consent . The accuracy of legal language presupposes that legal terms are

employed logically and consistently. Apart from definitions in the strict sense,

enumerative lists are typical of legal language.

There is an absence of any emotions, tropes and figures of speech (stylistic

devices and expressive means).

Complicated syntax: combining several pronouncements into one sentence

which usually begins whith a new paragraph: the use of participial and infinitive

constructions, e. g. the property acquired by spouses, each of spouses has the right to

use the property.

Reference to the present or future which is expressed by the preference to use

the Present Indefinite: The present contract comes into force…; The guilty party

bears responsibility…

MARRIAGE CONTRACT

1. THE CONTRACT SUBJECT:

Subject of the present contract are property rights of spouses, the rights and duties

concerning children who were born in marriage, mutual relations of spouses, as well

as a responsibilities.

2. MUTUAL RELATIONS OF SPOUSES:

2.1. Marriage relations of spouses are under construction according to

principles of monogamy, voluntariness of the marriage union of the man and the

woman,equality of spouses in a family, rendering mutual moral and material

support,display of mutual respect and care to each other.

2.2. Spouses are obliged to satisfy material, moral and physical requirements of

each other.

2.3. Spouses undertake not to force each other to any actions not compatible to

their moral principles, breeding, a state of health.

19

2.4. Spouses guarantee absence at them bad habits, such as the use of drugs, the

alcohol, the perverted satisfaction of the physiological requirements, and undertake

not to be on drugs, and do not use the alcoholic drinks not more once in a week in

reasonable quantities.

2.5. The spouse undertakes not to force the spouse to carry out a heavy

physical activity and to do not make any actions harmful to her health.

2.6. The behavior of spouses should promote love and respect between them, to

family strengthening, a birth and education of healthy children.

3. THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES CONCERNING CHILDREN:

3.1. To children who were born in marriage, protection of their rights and

legitimate interests from the side of their parents is guaranteed.

3.2. Parents and children living together, are owners of their property and free

to use it at any time.

3.3. In case of a mutilation or death of one or both spouses the property right of

the dyed spouse's passes to children born in marriage.

3.4. Parents are bear responsibility for physical, property, spiritual

development of children.

3.5. The parental rights cannot be carried out in the contradiction with interests

of the child. Parents should not harm physical and mental health of children.

3.6. Parents are obliged to contain the children. In case of divorce or separate

residing of spouses, children have the right to worthy material maintenance from the

side of their father since according to the marriage contract they remain to live with

mother.

3.7. In case of divorce, separate residing of parents; children remain to live

with mother.

4. PROPERTY RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF SPOUSES:

4.1. The property acquired by spouses during marriage, is the joint property of

spouses irrespective of, on whose incomes it has been got.

20

4.2. The property concerns the general property of spouses acquired by spouses

during marriage, and as incomes of each of spouses of their labor activity, enterprise,

and intellectual activity. Possession and using property is carried out in consent.

4.3. Jewelries or precious adornments, products from the natural fur, got by

spouses during the marriage, and in case of its cancellation by the property of that

spouse to whom these things have been got and who used them.

4.4. Each of spouses has the right to use the property of other spouse belonging

to him/her before the marriage.

4.5. Spouses have the right to dispose of the general property by a mutual

consent. For fulfillment of transactions the preliminary consent of other spouse is

necessary.

4.6. Spouses are obliged to abstain from the conclusion of risky transactions.

Risky transactions are understood as transactions, impracticable obligations on which

can lead to loss of a considerable part of joint property, or to essential reduction of

incomes of family budget.

5. RESPONSIBILITY OF SPOUSES:

5.1. Each of spouses bears responsibility concerning the obligations taken up to

the creditor within property belonging to it.

5.2. On the general property collecting can be turned only under the general

obligations of spouses.

5.3. Each spouse is obliged to observe the rights and the legitimate interests of

other spouse established by the present marriage contract and the law, both in

marriage, and after its cancellation. Otherwise the sanctions provided by the marriage

contract and the law are applied.

5.4. The guilty party bears responsibility for infringement of each point of the

marriage contract at a rate of US 1000 $.

5.5. Numerous infringements of conditions of the marriage contract conduct to

divorce. The guilty party pays indemnification to the suffered spouse at a rate of US

100000 $.

21

TRANSLATION

1.ПРЕДМЕТДОГОВОРУ:

Предметом даного договору є майнові права подружжя, права та

обов'язки щодо дітей, що народилися у шлюбі, взаємини подружжя,

відповідальність подружжя.

2.ВЗАЄМОВІДНОСИНИ ПОДРУЖЖЯ:

2.1. Шлюбні відносини подружжя будуються відповідно до принципів

одношлюбності, добровільності шлюбного союзу чоловіка і жінки,

рівноправності подружжя в сім'ї, надання взаємної моральної та матеріальної

підтримки, прояви взаємної поваги та турботи.

2.2. Подружжя зобов'язані задовольняти матеріальні, моральні та фізичні

потреби один одного.

2.3. Подружжя зобов'язуються не примушувати один одного до дій не

сумісним з їх моральними принципами, вихованням, станом здоров'я.

2.4. Подружжя гарантують відсутність у них шкідливих звичок, таких як

вживання наркотиків, алкоголю, збочене задоволення своїх фізіологічних

потреб, і зобов'язуються не вживати наркотики, а алкогольні напої вживати не

частіше 1-го разу на тиждень в розумних кількостях.

2.5. Чоловік зобов'язується не примушувати дружину виконувати важку

фізичну роботу, а так само не вчиняти дій шкідливих для її здоров'я.

2.6. Поведінка подружжя має сприяти любові і повазі між ними,

зміцненню сім'ї, народженню івихованню здорових дітей.

3. ПРАВА ТА ОБОВ'ЯЗКИ СТОСОВНО ДІТЕЙ:

3.1. Дітям, які народилися в шлюбі, гарантується захист їх прав і

законних інтересів з боку батьків.

3.2. Батьки і діти, проживають разом, володіють і користуються майном

один одного.

22

3.3. У разі каліцтваабо смерті одного або обох батьків дітям, народженим

у шлюбі переходить право власності на майно померлого чоловіка.

3.4. Батьки несуть відповідальність за фізичний, майновий, духовний

розвиток дітей.

3.5. Батьківські права не можуть здійснюватися в суперечності з

інтересами дитини. Батьки не повинні заподіювати шкоди фізичному та

психічному здоров'ю дітей.

3.6. Батьки зобов'язані утримувати своїх дітей. У разі розірвання шлюбу

або роздільного проживанняподружжя, діти мають право на гідне матеріальне

забезпечення з бокубатька, тому згідно шлюбним договором вони залишаються

проживати з матір'ю.

3.7. У випадку розірвання шлюбу, роздільного проживання батьків, діти

залишаються проживати з матір'ю.

4. МАЙНОВІ ПРАВАТА ОБОВ'ЯЗКИ ПОДРУЖЖЯ:

4.1. Майно, нажите подружжям під час шлюбу, є спільною власністю

подружжя, незалежно від того, на чиї доходи воно було придбано.

4.2. До спільного майна подружжя належить майно нажите подружжям

під час шлюбу, а так само доходи кожного з подружжя від трудової,

підприємницької, інтелектуальної діяльності. Володіння і користування майном

здійснюється за обопільною згодою.

4.3. Ювелірні прикраси, вироби з натурального хутра, придбані

подружжям під час шлюбу, в разі його розірвання є власністю того, кому були

придбані ці речі і хто ними користувався.

4.4. Кожен з подружжя має право користуватися майном іншого

чоловіка, що належали йому до вступу в шлюб.

4.5. Подружжя в праві розпоряджатися спільним майном за взаємною

згодою. Для здійснення угоднеобхідно попередню згоду другого з подружжя.

4.6. Подружжя зобов'язані утримуватисявід укладення ризикованих угод.

Під ризикованими угодами розуміються угоди,нездійсненні зобов'язання, за

23

якими може призвести до втрати значноїчастини спільного майна, або до

істотного скорочення доходів подружжя.

5. ВІДПОВІДАЛЬНІСТЬ ПОДРУЖЖЯ:

5.1. Кожен з подружжя несе відповідальність у відношенні прийнятих на

себе зобов'язань перед кредитором в межах належного йому майна.

5.2. На спільне майностягнення може бути звернено лише за спільними

зобов'язаннями подружжя.

5.3. Кожен з подружжя зобов'язаний дотримуватися права і законні

інтереси другого з подружжя, встановлені справжнім шлюбним договором і

законом, як у шлюбі, так і після його розірвання. В іншому випадку

застосовуються санкції, передбачені шлюбним договором і законом.

5.4. За порушення кожного пункту шлюбного договору винна сторона

несе відповідальність врозмірі 1 000 доларів США.

5.5. Неодноразове порушення умов шлюбного договору веде до

розірвання шлюбу. Винна сторона оплачує компенсацію постраждалому

чоловіку в розмірі 100 000 доларів США.

2.2 Translational analysis of marriage contract showed that in the process of

translation of legal documents word for word reproduction is mostly used, what can

be explained by exclusive standards to preserve the original meaning of the text, as

well as the desirability of retaining the original structure of the text. Also as a result

of the analysis it was found that often the translation of legal documents from English

into Ukrainian translation, transformations are applied, such as omission,

replacement, addition, transposition. But most commonly replacement is used, which

substitutes non-equivalent term or concept in the target language to the closest within

the meaning of the term or concept.

Translation features of legal documents on the material of the marriage

contract. For a complete understanding of the practices and features translations of

legal documents I have made translation of the marriage contract from English to

Ukrainian translation and then conducted analysis methods applied and translation

transformations.

24

Grammatical translation transformations:

1. Beginning. Note transposition of a word ‘spouses’ at the end of the phrase ‘

hereinafter referred to marriage ‘, then it is necessary to use additives in the form of

the word ‘engaging’ as in the original version of this clarification was not provided.

Further process of translation was necessary to adapt a phrase translated as ‘ how to ‘

as required to pass the Ukrainian-language legal documents and bring it to a form of

‘наступне ‘.

2. In the contract subject there is a need to add to the translated text the word ‘

is’ in the first part of the proposal , which was necessary to highlight the subject of

the contract in the form of property rights of spouses. Then, at the end of the sentence

was also replacement of the word ‘responsibilities’ – ‘відповідальність’ , which is

more typical for the style of legal texts in Ukrainian language.

3. Sentence 2.1. The translation of this point of the marriage contract , the

omission of transformation has been applied , in which the phrase is translated “були

включені” words "to each other" - " один до одного" because this specification is

not typical for the legal discourse of the Ukrainian language .

4. Sentence 2.3. The phrase "to any" - " будь " was omitted , which allowed the

lead paragraph of the contract in accordance with requirements for legal documents

in Ukrainian.

5. Translation of the 2.3 clause produced using of addition, that allowed to

clarify some issues " своїх фізіологічних потреб “. As shown in the translated text ,

added word "своїх" , which in the original version of the text was not used.

6. Translation of the sentence 2.5 requested replacing of the word "activity" - "

діяльність " for the word "робота" , as the phrase "physical activity" is not used in

Ukrainian .

7. Translation of the item 3.1 was made with the use of the transposition, in

which the phrase "is guaranteed" was moving to the beginning of the sentence.

Modification of the proposal reasonable requirements for the proposals of the legal

identity of Ukrainian. Note that the translation of the item was the method of adaptive

25

translation, the resulting translation was adapted to the rules of the translation

language.

8. The translation of the clause 3.2 was made by the method of adaptive

translation, ommision was used , in which the word "are" - " є" and "free" - " вільно ,

безкоштовно " were omitted in the translated text , the phrase "at any time" was also

omitted. Application of this transformation was used due to the fact that the original

design of the text omitted words which are unusual for Ukrainian.

9. In the clause 3.3 adequate translation required transposition, in which the

word "children" - " діти " was moved into the middle of the sentence.

10. Translating this text I had to use adaptive method of translation as word for

word translation showed complete mismatch of a structure of the original text. Thus,

the first part of the clause undergone dramatic changes , requiring replacement. Since

the original text phrase "the property concerns the general property of spouses", the

literal translation of which is " проблеми власності спільного майна подружжя "

was replaced by the phrase "до загального майна подружжя ставитись". The

second sentence of the contract in the translation process , required the use of

addition, in which the translated text has been added clarifying phrase "

пообопільної" which allowed to bring supply and the place in general to the spesific

characteristics of legal documents.

11. Translating 4.3 clause of the contract addition was used , to clarify the

nature of the rights for certain types of property. So "and in case of its cancellation" -

" а в разі його розірвання” it was not clear who is the owner of a property.

12. When translating 5.4 clause of the contract adaptive translation and

transposition was used in which the phrase "for infringement of each point of the

marriage contract" was moved to the very beginning of suggestions which have been

made for adequate translation according to Ukrainian legal language.

Lexical and semantic transformations:

1. “Display” – “прояви” besides the substitution of a singular form for plural

(grammatical replacement), differentiation was used and among of the options given

by dictionary, was chosen that one which suits the context best of all.

26

2. “not to be on drugs” − “не вживати наркотики” modulation was used for

adequate translation.

3. “the spouse” − “чоловік” − concretization was used, as we can see further in

this clause that a husband was ment.

4. “numerous infringements” − “неодноразове порушення” − modulation was

applied as a way of conveying of adequate meaning.

5. “The present contract” – “Цей договір” differentiation was used.

27

CONCLUSIONS

The discrepancies of the two languages cause problems in translation. These

discrepancies range from single untranslatable elements and word combinations to

whole sentence structures. The knowledge of translation devices such as grammatical

transformations makes it possible to solve the emerging problems.

The main reason for grammatical transformations is the syntactic differences

between the languages, as well as semantic and stylistic ones. After the analysis we

found out that replacements were the most used transformations; additions were used

in fewer instances. The transformation of transposition was used not so often to save

syntactic structure of each sentence, and the least one is omission.

Unfortunately, similiar research has not been found due to the narrow research

topic and the lack of use of quantitative analysis in Ukrainian or foreign works on the

given topic.

For replacement of parts of speech, the frequency of use of verbs in the two

languages is different. English, being a more verbal language, requires verbalization

of nouns and verbal nouns when translating from Ukrainian. The conversion from

active to passive voice is necessitated in order to preserve the communication intent

in the target text.

Addition is necessary for conveying all the information in a source text;

sometimes there are no perfect lexical matches between the languages, and an

addition of elements helps to restore the full meaning.

Omission is the opposite process to addition; some of the words in a word

combination can be excluded without a loss of the information in the translation.

Transpositions are conditioned by the strict word order of the English

language. Certain syntactic constructions in Ukrainian are not possible in English,

and therefore we need to change the word order in the target text. One of the most

28

common syntactic constructions that may cause problems in translation is the inverse

word order, which is used in limited contexts in the English language.

In the current paper identified grammatical transformations were identified and

the reasons for using them were explained.

29

30

31