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Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: Linguistics and Pedagogy

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Referential fuzziness in legal texts

https://doi.org/10.21869/2223-151X-2025-15-2-8-16

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine and analyze cases of referential fuzziness that can be traced in legal texts including articles from the Civil and the Criminal Code of The Russian Federation; to classify cases of referential fuzziness and make further conclusion that can be of a particular interest to practicing lawyers.
Methods. To reach the purpose of the study the author uses the following methods of comparison and classification that work successfully within the complex approach to legal texts.
Results. Referential fuzziness is a kind of vagueness that can be basically traced on lexical level through the usage of nouns denoting time intervals, geographical objects and territories. During the research cases of referential fuzziness were examined and analyzed from the point of view of absence of individualization and incapability of separating the part and the whole. Cases of quality and quantitative classificatory fuzziness were also examined and classified.
Conclusions. It is concluded that it is generally recommended to avoid cases of referential fuzziness in legal texts for the sake of their transparency and uniformity of further interpretation.

About the Author

N. Yu. Korableva
Moscow State Linguistic University
Russian Federation

Natalia U. Korableva Candidate of Sciences (Philological), Associate Professor, Associate Professor at the Department of the English Language, Faculty of Interpretation

38/1 Ostozhenka Str., Moscow 119034



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Review

For citations:


Korableva N.Yu. Referential fuzziness in legal texts. Proceedings of the Southwest State University. Series: Linguistics and Pedagogy. 2025;15(2):8-16. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21869/2223-151X-2025-15-2-8-16

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ISSN 2223-151X (Print)