Linguistic aspects of the UK written judicial discourse: reframed approach, formal and substantive justification

The aim of the article is to present a comprehensive approach to the study of linguistic aspects of the UK written judicial discourse. The suggested approach derives from a set of characteristics inherent in professional legal communication and law as a social field. The author gives a consistent analysis of the major factors which scaffold judicial discourse as a whole (i.e. the formal structure of the legal discourse and the formal content (textual sources) of judicial discourse) and, based on that, singles out the main characteristics of judicial legal discourse. The author then outlines the main facets of the comprehensive analysis of the UK written judicial discourse. The methods employed by the author include the method of contextual analysis, synthesis, description and comparative analysis. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the development of the comprehensive approach to the linguistic analysis of professional discourses which serve to shape certain social fields.