关键词: 英汉法律翻译; 语言接触; 中文法律语言变化

Abstract: Based on a brief overview of the history of legal translation from English into Chinese, this paper reviews recent studies on the changes in Chinese legal language as a result of the influence of language contact, and analyses the challenges and opportunities in this field. The present research finds that previous studies mainly focused on legal translation activities and their influence on Chinese legal language in the late Qing dynasty and the early 20th century, with much emphasis on the study of legal language at the lexical level, including the source and formation of new legal terms, changes in their lexical meanings, and improper use of legal terms in English-Chinese translation. However, studies on changes in Chinese legal language in the contemporary context have been rare, and even less attention has been paid to the changes at the syntactic level. In addition, current studies have been based mainly on the qualitative approach to legal language without adequate evidence from a carefully-designed large corpus. It is suggested that a corpus-driven multi-level analysis from a diachronic perspective will provide more reliable data and contribute to exploring changes in Chinese legal language and figuring out the characteristics of Chinese legal language as influenced by language contact.

Keywords: English-Chinese legal translation; language contact; changes in Chinese legal language