Linguistics and Law

Linguistics and Law offers a clear and concise introduction to making sense of the law through linguistics. Drawing on lexical semantics, syntax, and pragmatics to interpret both written and spoken laws, this book:

• addresses how to interpret legal documents such as contracts, statutes, constitutional provisions and trademarks;
• provides thorough analyses of "language crimes" including solicitation, perjury, defamation, and conspiracy, as well as talk between police and criminal suspects;
• analyzes the Miranda warning in depth;
• tackles the question of whether there is a "language" of the law;
• draws on real-life case studies to aid understanding.

Written in an approachable, conversational style and aimed at undergraduate students with little or no prior knowledge of linguistics or law, this book is essential reading for those approaching this topic for the first time.

Jeffrey P. Kaplan is Professor of Linguistics at San Diego State University, USA, and a research associate affiliated with the linguistics program at Western Washington University, USA.