The International Laws of War: Linguistic Analysis from the Perspectives of Register, Corpus and Grammatical Patterning

Abstract

All texts, including all legal texts, are constructed in language. All legal constructs and discriminations are an effect of language. As such, linguistics and text analysis should be considered a necessary adjunct to legal studies and, in particular, to critical legal studies. While the disciplines of linguistics and law are increasingly interacting, there is a paucity of linguistic analysis in the field of the international laws of war. This paper seeks to open doors to collaboration, by viewing the texts of the international laws of war from three linguistic perspectives: as a ‘register’, as a ‘corpus’, and in terms of their lexicogrammatical patterning. In terms of register, the international laws of war herald a new form of textual practice, the function and effects of which are subject to debate. As a corpus, some dominant lexical habits of these texts are explored and interpreted for their ideological implications and reactances. Finally, an examination of covert lexicogrammatical meanings in this register, via a small extract from Article 8 of the Rome Statute, illuminates the contradictory meanings that these texts navigate. These three perspectives offer a preliminary glimpse into the value of linguistic analysis for critical perspectives on the international laws of war.