He, Mengyu and Rahim, Hajar Abdul
(2017)
Exploring Implicit Meta-Discourse In Legal Discourse: An Analysis Of The Chinese And American Constitutions.
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7 (2).
pp. 391-403.
ISSN 2301-9468
Abstract
Research in meta-discourse, particularly explicit meta-discourse or meta-discourse markers has
contributed much knowledge on the discourse features of specialised genres. However, there are very
few studies on implicit meta-discourse. The current study explores implicit meta-discourse in legal
discourse by comparing the implicit interpersonal meta-discourse in the Constitution of the People’s
Republic of China with the Constitution of the United States. The focus of the study is the use of
implicit meta-discourse, particularly the grammatical meta-discourse in the legal discourse of two
different languages and cultural groups. The findings demonstrate that there are similarities and
differences in the use of implicit meta-discourse in the two constitutions. Within the context of
language discourse, the findings of the current study suggest that legal discourse is distinctive in the
use of implicit interpersonal meta-discourse, particularly in the way writers intrude into the discourse
implicitly by certain key grammatical forms of meta-discourse. Despite the objectivity and rigour of
legal discourse, the current study found that there is some level of subjectivity in such discourse,
evident from the use of implicit meta-discourse.
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