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ISSUE:    Philology. Theory & Practice. 2025. Volume 18. Issue 12
COLLECTION:    Germanic Languages

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Simplification as a trend in English-language legal discourse: a theoretical review of foreign research

Olga Mikhailovna Litvishko
Pyatigorsk State University

Tatyana Aleksandrovna Shiryaeva
Pyatigorsk State University
Submitted: December 22, 2025
Abstract. The purpose of the study is to provide a theoretical review of contemporary foreign scientific publications dedicated to the simplification of English-language legal discourse. The material selected for the review is descriptive and systematic in nature, reflecting various approaches to defining simplification and text transformation strategies. The analysis of foreign publications was conducted within the framework of diachronic and functional approaches. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the periodization of the evolution of legal English, the identification of national characteristics of simplification processes, and the systematization of lexical and grammatical changes in legal English that correspond to the simplification processes occurring in today’s English-language legal discourse. The results of the analysis show that the issue of simplifying legal English is highly relevant to the English-speaking academic community. Despite differing understandings of the prerequisites for the development of simplification, most authors point to its objective nature, which is driven by the historical development of the English language under the influence of a complex set of extralinguistic factors. The problem of simplification is of particular significance in the context of ensuring the clarity and accessibility of legal texts for the general public.
Key words and phrases:
симплификация
юридический дискурс
юридический английский язык
упрощение языка
сложность юридического текста
simplification
legal discourse
legal English
language simplification
legal text complexity
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