Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system
Use-based Englishes may act as professional gatekeepers and working languages in Asian societies even where other languages of wider communication are prioritised. Legalese is widely regarded as particularly resistant to societal changes, and in Malaysian law English remains indispensable half a cen...
Saved in:
Main Authors: | , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Published: |
Routledge
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://eprints.um.edu.my/43480/ |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
id |
my.um.eprints.43480 |
---|---|
record_format |
eprints |
spelling |
my.um.eprints.434802023-11-07T02:24:44Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/43480/ Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system Powell, Richard Saw, Tiong Guan K Law (General) Use-based Englishes may act as professional gatekeepers and working languages in Asian societies even where other languages of wider communication are prioritised. Legalese is widely regarded as particularly resistant to societal changes, and in Malaysian law English remains indispensable half a century after Malay became the official medium for West Malaysia, with exonormative acrolects retaining professional prestige. However, legal practitioners also need Malay as it is a requirement for admission to the bar and used extensively in government dealings, as well as in the lower courts of West Malaysia. Courtroom discourse is under the control of judges empowered to interpret language policy in the interests of justice. While there have been a few studies exploring how Malaysian advocates orientate themselves toward bilingualism, this is believed to be the first to address the perspective of judges. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Routledge 2022 Article PeerReviewed Powell, Richard and Saw, Tiong Guan (2022) Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system. Asian Englishes, 24 (1). 83 – 101. ISSN 13488678, DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2021.1879536 <https://doi.org/10.1080/13488678.2021.1879536>. 10.1080/13488678.2021.1879536 |
institution |
Universiti Malaya |
building |
UM Library |
collection |
Institutional Repository |
continent |
Asia |
country |
Malaysia |
content_provider |
Universiti Malaya |
content_source |
UM Research Repository |
url_provider |
http://eprints.um.edu.my/ |
topic |
K Law (General) |
spellingShingle |
K Law (General) Powell, Richard Saw, Tiong Guan Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
description |
Use-based Englishes may act as professional gatekeepers and working languages in Asian societies even where other languages of wider communication are prioritised. Legalese is widely regarded as particularly resistant to societal changes, and in Malaysian law English remains indispensable half a century after Malay became the official medium for West Malaysia, with exonormative acrolects retaining professional prestige. However, legal practitioners also need Malay as it is a requirement for admission to the bar and used extensively in government dealings, as well as in the lower courts of West Malaysia. Courtroom discourse is under the control of judges empowered to interpret language policy in the interests of justice. While there have been a few studies exploring how Malaysian advocates orientate themselves toward bilingualism, this is believed to be the first to address the perspective of judges. © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. |
format |
Article |
author |
Powell, Richard Saw, Tiong Guan |
author_facet |
Powell, Richard Saw, Tiong Guan |
author_sort |
Powell, Richard |
title |
Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
title_short |
Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
title_full |
Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
title_fullStr |
Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
title_full_unstemmed |
Judges’ perspectives on Malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
title_sort |
judges’ perspectives on malaysia’s bilingual legal system |
publisher |
Routledge |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://eprints.um.edu.my/43480/ |
_version_ |
1783876763301969920 |
score |
13.159267 |