Language choice in postcolonial law : lessons from Malaysia's bilingual legal system / Richard Powell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Powell, Richard (Professor of English), author.

Series:

Language policy (Monographic series) ; v. 22.

Language policy, 2452-1027 ; v. 22

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Law--Malaysia--Language.

Law.

Bilingualism--Malaysia.

Bilingualism.

Postcolonialism--Malaysia.

Postcolonialism.

Law--Language.

Malaysia.

Physical Description:

300 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Singapore : Springer, [2020]

Summary:

This book discusses multilingual postcolonial common law, focusing on Malaysias efforts to shift the language of law from English to Malay, and weighing the pros and cons of planned language shift as a solution to language-based disadvantage before the law in jurisdictions where the majority of citizens lack proficiency in the traditional legal medium. Through analysis of legislation and policy documents, interviews with lawyers, law students and law lecturers, and observations of court proceedings and law lectures, the book reflects on what is entailed in changing the language of the law. It reviews the implications of societal bilingualism for postcolonial justice systems, and raises an important question for language planners to consider: if the language of the law is changed, what else about the law changes?

Contents:

1 Conceptualising and contextualising Malaysian bilingual law

2 Political and economic influences on multilingualism and multijuralism

3 Status planning in Malaysian law

4 Corpus Planning

5 Acquisition Planning

6 Discourse Planning

7 Language practices in legal education

8 Bilingualism in Law Offices

9 Bilingual courtrooms

10 Common Law and vernacularisation: A global perspective

11 Malaysia bilingualism as a model for postcolonial law.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9811511721

9789811511721

OCLC:

1178802054