The Center for Applied Linguistics is all about language, language education, and the application of linguistic principles across numerous subject areas. With a linguistics-themed article on this educational site, a legal theme would be a natural follow-up to engage the interest of both law-minded site visitors and those interested in language learning. That’s right-there are connections between learning and teaching a language and better understanding the legal jargon lawyers and judges use every day!
With this in mind, let’s take a look at how both legal and linguistic forms of communication can benefit from deeper understanding of corresponding principles. You may not anticipate the connections between these two fields, which are generally considered to be entirely different; however, they can end up feeding into one another to make both fields more “user-friendly”.
Of course, the main goal in providing a linguistic-based look at a legal concept, such as formulating a brief overview of the basics of tort law, is to make the concepts behind how the legal system works much easier to comprehend. An overview of tort law is a great way to introduce the basic terminology used in legal documents while also allowing for exploration of the intricate details that surround even the most basic understanding of legal principles.
What is tort law? So, how do you summarize a definition of tort law into simple linguistic educational terms? Most of the time, a simple one sentence definition of complex legal topics leaves those who are hearing your explanation of the concept for the first time totally baffled. For example, here is a quick summation of what this branch of civil law covers: When a person or organization is accused of wrongdoing and is found to either be at fault due to negligence or otherwise intentionally harmful actions against another party, tort law comes into play. Although there are three types of tort, including intentional torts, unintentional torts and “strict liability” torts, all torts are intended to provide restitution by ordering that compensation be paid to the aggrieved party by the responsible party. In other words, it’s a mechanism for settling disputes that have resulted in physical, financial or emotional harm. Some of the types of personal injury lawsuits that fall under this branch of civil law include:
A continued overlap between the fields While the common experience of experiencing harm and seeking a means to recover cannot be expressed more plainly, there are many legal words and phrases used throughout this summary that have layers of meaning. However, any attempts to explain the origins and nuances of legal terminology will only serve as a distraction instead of clarifying the concepts of tort law and how they relate to linguistic principles.
The overlap between legal terms and the vocabulary and grammar used in linguistics can be useful for both linguists and legal professionals. This is particularly useful when it comes to educational applications of legal terminology and clarifying more complex legal matters, as well as when it comes to helping language students and teachers understand the different meanings of words used in everyday conversations.
So how does the relationship between linguistics and law translate into the language classroom? Legal terminology can be used in class to increase both language comprehension skills and general knowledge of the corresponding topic. Investigating the basic terminology and grammar behind various topics in law can help establish language skills as a foundation for building on the topic itself, particularly when it comes to terminology and rules of grammar. Most language teachers don’t have a background in the study of the law or linguistics. Integrating these topics into the language learning environment makes it possible for students to understand the language on two levels, as both a topic of interest in its own right and as merely a means of communication. Whether used to explain the relationship between these fields or to identify the basics of grammatical rules, applied linguistics and tort law can be effectively combined within the language learning arena.