摘 要
实务中有不少涉外经济合同纠纷是因各方对合同文字的理解不一而引起的,究其原因,主要是起草者对合同语言的特殊性缺乏应有的了解,结果导致合同语言的模糊性和不确定性。本文从词法、句法及应用等三个层面对英文经贸合同语言的特殊性及其变化规律进行探讨,以期能有助于对此类合同的阅读和起草。
关键词：涉外合同；语言特征；阅读和起草
ABSTRACT
In practice, the occurrence of inconsistency in interpretation of the contract English has resulted in a good few cases of disputes. In essence, it is largely due to the draftsman's failure to have a deep-in understanding of the underlying features of the contract language, which might lead to the ambiguities and uncertainties of the contract wording. This paper tries to analyze the linguistic features of English business contracts at the morphological, syntactical and discourse levels respectively with a view to rendering a help in the reading and drafting the contracts.
Keywords：contract English ; language features; reading anddrafting
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature review 2
2.1 Study of contract 2
2.2 Study of legal English 3
2.3 Study of contract English 3
2.4 The study of the stylistic features of contract English in China 4
3. The language features of contract English 6
3.1 The lexical features 6
3.1.1 Formal words 6
3.1.2 Archaic Words 7
3.1.3 Synonyms 8
3.1.4 Abbreviations 8
3.2 The syntax features 9
3.2.1 Active voice 9
3.2.2 Present tense 10
3.2.3 Shall+verb 10
3.3 The sentential features 11
3.3.1 Declarative sentences 11
3.3.2 Long sentences 12
3.3.3 Conditional clauses 13
4. Implications 15
4.1 Implication for reading contract English 15
4.2 Implication for drafting contract 16
5. Conclusion 17
Acknowledgements 18
References 19
