Old English legal language : the lexical field of theft / J.R. Schwyter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schwyter, Jürg Rainer.

Series:

NOWELE Supplement Series

North-Western European language evolution. Supplement ; v. 15

NOWELE Supplement Series ; 15

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Old English, ca. 450-1100--Syntax.

English language.

Criminal law--England--Language.

Criminal law.

Larceny--England--History.

Larceny.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (201 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

[Odense] : Odense University Press, 1994 (2012 printing)

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This corpus-based study examines the lexical field of theft in the Anglo-Saxon law-codes and documents containing reports of lawsuits (charters, writs, and some chapters of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). The individual Old English lexemes are analysed not only in terms of their meaning, collocation patterns, and Latin translations, but also, more unusually in a field-approach, with reference to their distribution over the various textual genres and the discourse strategies dominant in these. Although primarily linguistic in focus, a detailed description of the theft-offences and the wider context

Contents:

OLD ENGLISH LEGAL LANGUAGE The Lexical Field of Theft; Editorial page; Title page; Copyright page; Table of contents; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; TYPOGRAPHICAL CONVENTIONS; ABBREVIATIONS; THE MANUSCRIPTS; 0.INTRODUCTION; 1. THE LEGAL CORPUS AND QUESTIONS OF METHOD; 1.1. Definition and description of the corpus; 1.1.1. The law-codes; 1.1.2. The documents containing lawsuits; 1.1.3. The role of legal texts in Anglo-Saxon England; 1.2. The linguistic background and method; 1.2.1. General; 1.2.2. Old English; 1.2.3. Method applied in this study; 2. THE LEXICAL FIELD OF THEFT: LEXEMES AND DISTRIBUTION

2.1. Naming the field and its lexemes2.2. The distribution of the THEFT-lexemes in the law-codes: data anddiscussion; 2.2.1. Individual THEFT-lexemes; 2.2.2. Individual law-codes; 2.2.3. Clustering; 2.3. The distribution of THEFT-lexemes in the documents containing the lawsuits: data and discussion; 2.4. Conclusion; 3.STYLE, TEXT STRATEGY, SYNTAX, AND THEFT-LEXEMES; 3.1. The law-codes; 3.1.1. Text strategy and data; 3.1.1.1. The if-then strategy in a wider sense; 3.1.1.2. The directive strategy; 3.1.1.3. The dependent if-then strategy and its combination with the directive strategy

3.1.1.4. Narrative sentences, oath and adjuration formulas, rubrics3.1.2. Discussion; 3.2. The documents containing the lawsuits; 3.2.1. Text strategy, data, and discussion; 3.3. Conclusion; 4. COLLOCATION PATTERNS OF THEFT-LEXEMES; 4.1. THEFT-verbs; 4.1.1. Who steals: the subjects of THEFT-verbs in the active; 4.1.1.1. The law-codes; 4.1.1.2. The documents containing the lawsuits; 4.1.1.3. Discussion; 4.1.2. Stolen goods and from whom they were stolen; 4.1.2.1. The law-codes; 4.1.2.2. The documents containing the lawsuits; 4.1.2.3. Discussion; 4.1.3. Other collocations

4.1.3.1. The law-codes4.1.3.2. The documents containing the lawsuits; 4.1.3.3. Discussion; 4.2.THEFT-nouns; 4.2.1. Verbs collocating with THEFT-nouns in the law-codes; 4.2.1.1. Committing theft or an offence involving a THEFT-noun; 4.2.1.2. Procedures involving theft or a THEFT-noun; 4.2.2. Other collocations of THEFT-nouns in the law-codes; 4.2.3. Collocations of THEFT-nouns in the lawsuits; 4.2.4. Discussion; 4.3. Conclusion; 5. THE LATIN TRANSLATION EVIDENCE OF THE LAW-CODES; 5.1. The sources; 5.2. The data; 5.3.Discussion and conclusion; 6. SUMMARY AND AGENDA

6.1. The lexical field of THEFT and the texts6.2. Individual lexemes; 6.3. Agenda; APPENDIX A; APPENDIX B; APPENDIX C; APPENDIX D; APPENDIX E; Glossary; BIBLIOGRAPHY; QUOTATION INDEX(PRIMARY SOURCES)

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

1-283-57446-2

9786613886910

90-272-7281-6

OCLC:

811490643