Legal Linguistics in Africa: Framing the Agenda for an Emerging Discipline in a Nebulous Space

• Kiguru, Gatitu ^[1]
  1. [1] Kenyatta University

     Kenyatta University

     Kenia

     
• Localización: Legal Linguistics Beyond Borders: Language and Law in a World of Media, Globalisation and Social Conflicts.: Relaunching the International Language and Law Association (ILLA). / coord. por Vogel Friedemann, 2019, ISBN 978-3-428-15423-4, págs. 39-57
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
  • Texto Completo Libro
• Resumen

  • “The continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos. Only with the greatest simplification, for the sake of convenience, can we say ‘Africa’. In reality, except as a geographical appellation, Africa does not exist.”Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Cobra’s HeartAs the scientific study of language, linguistics lends itself to varied interdisciplinary application, given the centrality of language in human affairs. One area where such cross-disciplinary application manifests is the language-law nexus. Legal linguistics, an interdisciplinary field that straddles law and language, represents the acknowledgement that the law and language are in-tertwined. This interdisciplinary field has matured in some countries and regions of the world but is still budding in others. This article seeks to illuminate some of the shared factors that shape the budding law-language research on, for the sake of convenience, the African continent. However, the varied, immensely rich cosmos of the geopolitical space in question dictates that the discussion remains generic. For this reason, any specific review made and illustration given, in the course of the discussion, cannot be taken to be applicable across board. They are, at best, indicative of the challenges and opportunities the emerging field faces and presents across a nebulous space.