Unit VI: Rome

MINISTERO DELL’ISTRUZIONE, DELL’UNIVERSITÀ E DELLA RICERCA 

PROGRAMMI DI RICERCA SCIENTIFICA DI RILEVANTE INTERESSE NAZIONALE 

RESEARCH PROJECT ON A NATIONAL LEVEL 

Anno 2002 - prot . 2002104353 

Language and Legal Concept (17-19 June 2004)

INTERCULTURAL DISCOURSE IN DOMAIN-SPECIFIC ENGLISH 

Project of the University of Rome 

Linguistic and cross-cultural features of legal texts in professional fields: the case of international arbitration in Sport 

The purpose of this project is to analyse cross-culturally the linguistic realisation of social practice as manifested by the discoursal activity of legal practitioners in the field of Sports. It will focus on some relevant micro and macro textual features of discourse exhibited by the International Code for Arbitration in Sport, issued by the ICAS, and the equivalent Italian Code for Arbitration issued by the ‘Camera di Conciliazione per l’Arbitrato nello Sport’, established within the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI). The aim is to highlight possible foci of cross-cultural diversity in the practice of Sports Arbitration, due to social and cultural factors as embedded in specific legal systems and discourses. 

Research Plan 

A. Preliminary Phase (December 2002 – April 2003) 

The chief purpose of this phase is the collection of data for the construction of parallel Italian-English corpora of legal discourse in the field of Sports. These will include the Codes for Arbitration and individual cases.The two corpora will be further tagged for codes and cases. 

Results: Computer-accessible parallel (English/Italian) corpora of legal discourse in the variety nominated to be also transferred on CD-Rom. Such corpora might in future be used as the basis for a specialised dictionary. 

B. Phase One (May 2003 – December 2003) 

During this phase, the data collected will be quantitatively analysed in order to identify specific linguistic and functional foci for analysis. Some preliminary test analyses will also be carried out to establish the viability of analytical procedures. 

Results: Identification of the relevant features of this kind of discourse to be further analysed in the next phase. Identification of the most adequate analytical procedures. 

C. Phase Two (December 2003 – December 2004) 

This phase will concentrate on the qualitative cross-cultural analysis of the relevant linguistic and discoursal properties of this kind of discourse. During this phase expert advice will be provided by colleagues in the fields of law and international sport and medical policies. Results: A contribution to basic knowledge of the legal language of sport seen from an international perspective and a grounding for legal practice, translation and legal practitioner training.