TERMINOLOŠKA VARIJACIJA U PRAVNIM TEKSTOVIMA EUROPSKE UNIJE

DINAMIČNOST NASUPROT DOSLJEDNOSTI PRAVNOGA JEZIKA

Abstract

This paper explores terminological variation in EU legal texts. In contemporary termi¬nology, variation is observed not only as part of specialized language, but also as a functional tool that contributes to the dynamicity of specialized language. However, consistent use of terminology is the fundamental principle of jurisprudence and legi¬slative drafting, as inconsistent use of terminology can undermine uniform application of the law and thereby legal certainty. Applying the law consistently and uniformly is particularly important in the EU multilingual context. To investigate term variants in this context, a parallel corpus of English and Croatian EU texts in the field of crypto-assets was compiled. By virtue of both quantitative and qualitative cor¬pus analysis, the frequency of variation in Croatian and English is determined, while analysing the types and causes of variants in accordance with state-of-the-art research on variation in specialized language. The paper proposes new criteria for identifying legal variants with regard to the unique features of the legal field. The results will hen¬ce further contemporary theoretical and corpus-based research into legal language employing parallel corpora to investigate term variants.