Markova, Yu.
(2024).
Soft law as a distinct subtype of international legal discourse: On the issue of differentiation in the linguistic aspect .
International Journal of Philology,
15(1),
55-62.
https://doi.org/10.31548/philolog15(1).2024.0
The article analyzes the discourse of international soft law from the perspective of its structural, communicative, modal, lexico-semantic, and syntactic features that differentiate these quasi-legal texts from universally binding hard law. The goal of the research is to identify the linguistic and communicative parameters of soft law discourse as a distinct subtype within the realm of international legal discourse. It is found that linguistic parameters of soft law include the use of passive constructions, impersonal sentences, elaborate hedges, and the use of verbs with semantics of recommendation, desirability, and declaration, introducing legal texts. In the position of the phrasal subject, names of objects or action goals are used instead of designations of participating states. These linguistic means realize the modality of recommendation, desirability, permissiveness, and possibility, as opposed to the modality of obligation characteristic of hard law texts. The communicative parameters of soft law discourse encompass the specificity of communicative purpose and communicative structure. The communicative purpose is polycomponential, comprising an invariant component – the recommendation of coordinated rules of international conduct, and variant strategies: interpretation of norms of international law, identification of solidarity regarding states' intentions to act in a unified direction, and preparation of future documents with mandatory legal force. From the perspective of communicative structure, soft law discourse is structured through both linear and interactive communicative moves. The typical linear structure correlates with the substantive-compositional organization of soft law text and includes five components – communicative moves: Adoption, Justification, Definition of key terms, Establishment of recommended normative rules and scope of application, and means of enforcement as an optional component. The interactive structure pertains to the qualification of normative expressions based on the criterion of the function attributed to the stated norm or its components, such as clarification, commentary, reservations, etc. For texts of international soft law, two-component interactive moves are typical, where preceding moves or a series of moves contain various justifications for why the subsequent normative provision is necessary. A perspective for future research involves differentiating the genres of soft law from a linguistic perspective
international legal discourse; soft law; communicative parameters; modality; lexico semantic devices; syntactic features
[1] Abbott, K.W., & Duncan, S. (2000). Hard and soft law in international governance. International Organization, 54, 421-456.
[2] Beijing Declaration. (1995). Fourth world conference on women. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar.htm.
[3] Bhatia, V.K. (1993). Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings. London: Longman.
[4] Byers, M. (2021). Still agreeing to disagree: International security and constructive ambiguity. Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 8(1), 91-114. doi: 10.1080/20531702.2020.1761656.
[5] D’Amato, T. (2009). Softness in International Law: A self serving quest for new legal materials: A reply to Jean d’Aspremont. The European Journal of International Law, 20(3), 897-910. doi: 10.1093/ejil/chp059.
[6] Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. (1985). Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/pdf/rddb/CCPCJ/1985/A-RES-40-34.pdf.
[7] Declaration of Ethical Principles in relation to Climate. (2017). Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000260129.
[8] Declaration of Principles on Tolerance (1995). Retrieved from https://www.ohchr.org/en/resources/educators/human-rights-education-training/13-declaration-principles-tolerance-1995.
[9] Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. (1995). Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Home/Downloads/8A439011B9211A87C1257020004B8686-mrg-gen-30sep.pdf.
[10] Guzman, A.T., & Meyer, T. (2011). International soft law. The Journal of Legal Analysis, 2(1), 171-225.
[11] Harris, S. (1988). Court discourse as genre. In New developments in systemic linguistics: Theory and application. London: A&M.
[12] Kravchenko, N., & Pozhar, A. (2023). Directive acts in international legal discourse: Scale of illocutionary force intensity. International Jurnal of Philology, 14(2), 13-22.
[13] Kravchenko, N., Chaika, O., Kryknitska, I., & Letunovska, I. (2022). Commissive modality of international legal discourse: An implicit mitigation of the bindingness. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(6), 1039-1047. doi: 10.17507/tpls.1206.03.
[14] Mantilla, G. (2023). Deflective cooperation: Social pressure and forum management in cold war conventional arms control. International Organization, 77(3), 564-598. doi: 10.1017/S0020818322000364.
[15] Markova, Ju. (2022). Peripherical means of translation adaptation of modality in Ukrainian translations of English based international legal texts. International Journal of Philology, 13(1), 50-58. doi: 10.31548/philolog2022.01.050.
[16] Mörth, U. (2004). Soft law in governance and regulation: An interdisciplinary analysis. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing.
[17] Ramos, F.P. (2021). Legal and institutional translation: Functions, processes, competences. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, 33(2), 175-182. doi: 10.1075/target.21085.pri.
[18] Rasmussen, K., & Engberg, J. (2017). Genre analysis of legal discourse. HERMES - Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 12(22), 113-132. doi: 10.7146/hjlcb.v12i22.25497.
[19] Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. (1992). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_CONF.151_26_Vol.I_Declaration.pdf.
[20] Sassòli, M. (2022). How will international humanitarian law develop in the future?. International Review of the Red Cross, 104(920-921). doi: 10.1017/S1816383122000431.
[21] Sulyok, K. (2024). Science, epistemology and legitimacy in environmental disputes – the epistemically legitimate judicial argumentative space. Leiden Journal of International Law, 37(1), 139-166.
[22] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (1992). Retrieved from https://unfccc.int/files/essential_background/background_publications_htmlpdf/application/pdf/conveng.pdf.
[23] Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (1948). Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.