The Text of the International Convention as a Genre of Legal Discourse: Language Methods of Representation of the Meaning of Performativity in the Structural Elements of the Document (Exemplified in the English language).

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the structural features of the texts of international conventions functioning within the English-language legal discourse. Close attention is paid to the characterizing of language means by which the aspect of performativity is actualized in the context. The materials of the study are the texts of international conventions relating to various specific areas of the life of the world community, the structure of which contains the following compulsory elements: 1) the tittle; 2) the preamble (agreement objectives, basic terms and definitions); 3) the body (sections, articles, parts, chapters); 4) the conclusion (the conditions and procedure for signing the convention); 5) attachments (statements, objections, graphics, etc.). The author considers the text of the convention as a separate independent genre of legal communication, the priority goal of which is to establish the rights and obligations of the parties that ratified the agreement. Based on the analysis of empirical material, the author identifies the most frequent performative constructions, foregrounded in the context of the key structural elements of the texts of international conventions, among them: 1) constructions with modal verbs shall / may; 2) constructions with infinitive; 3) the participle.