Constitution of Pakistan: A Textual Perspective Analysis

Abstract

Constitutional texts are known for their linguistic complexities related to vocabulary, grammar, and syntax. Complexity increases where the language of constitution is not commonly used by the citizens. Despite the use of technical terms, legal jargon, and complex sentence structure, the constitution is frequently referred to in the matters of state and governance. The current study is built on the textual perspective of the Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) framework (Bhatia, 2004, 2016). Analyzing the patterns in which the text (constitution) is arranged in a hierarchically nested way, the analysis moves on to explore what linguistic features lend specificity to the form of this genre, which is constructed in a nontraditional way. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, it offers prototypical instances of lexico-grammatical and syntactic features of the constitutional genre which include the use of adverbials, nominalization, modal auxiliary verbs, long sentences, adverbial clauses, passivized statements, and conditional sentences. The study strives to know how cohesion and coherence are formed in the text using repetitions and synonyms, adverbials, references, definitions, footnotes, interdiscursivity, intertextuality, and intratextuality. The findings will allow ESP teachers to design effective learning interventions. It will also assist law students, researchers, policymakers, and parliamentarians to be familiar with the constitutional text for its better cognizance and usage. Keywords: constitutional genre, Critical Genre Analysis (CGA), English for Specific Purposes (ESP), textual perspective analysis