JOURNAL ARTICLE

Continuum of stance in law: A corpus-based study across written legal genres.

  • Published In: International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 2026, v. 31, n. 1. P. 36 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Cheng, Le; Liu, Xiuli; Li, Jian 3 of 3

Abstract

Stance is deep-rooted in law, where legal values can never stand in a vacuum. Despite a growing body of literature on stance in legal genres, cross-genre examinations conducted from a corpus-based perspective still leave room for improvement. This study conducts a cross-genre examination of how legal professionals express stance across three legal genres, i.e. legislation, judgments, and legal academic articles. By adopting a corpus-based approach, evidence-based insights are provided into the general profile of stance expressions in legal settings, as well as the distribution of stance features across the three legal genres. Additionally, this study delineates a continuum of stance in law, which illustrates the variation in stance expressions by categorizing them as objective or subjective, certain or uncertain, direct or indirect, and explicit or implicit. The findings suggest that stance may serve as a discourse anchor to help frame legal rules, construct legal facts, and convey legal values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 2026/01, Vol. 31, Issue 1, p36
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2026
  • ISSN:1384-6655
  • DOI:10.1075/ijcl.25091.che
  • Accession Number:193096216
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of International Journal of Corpus Linguistics is the property of John Benjamins Publishing Co. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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