Fedorova A. Formation of the legal terminological semantics in the Indo-European languages

The thesis is dedicated to the study of conditions and mechanisms of the legal terminological semantics formation in the lexemes of the vocabulary in the Germanic, Slavonic and Iranian languages. On the basis of the elaborated research the algorithm, introduced by the author, the character of the reflection of the content of some notions of the pre-law and its successor – the antient law in the lexical semantics are ascertained. The main focus in the research is focused on such historical and linguistic, cultural and legal media as legal lexis and legal microtexts, within the framework of which the lexis exercised the juridical semantics. The term legal micro-text is put forward in the thesis meaning a minimal, accomplished in the notional sense linguistic formulae aimed at describing some typical situations, succession of actions (procedure), and ascription of objects/subjects of activities, that are distinctive of the ancient law. Several groups of legal micro-texts, which show successive stages of the pre-law thinking development of Proto-Indo-Europeans and legal culture of their descendants (Germanic, Slavic and Iranian people) are singled out. All three categories of microtexts are exfoliated chronologically into 1) those which are formed within the language of a ritual (the first group) – the pre-law stage; 2) those which are formed within the limits of the legal language that served the legal technique, i. e. the aggregate of legal acts and provisions concerning the succession, motivation and consecution of its application (the second and the third groups) – the stage of the law existence. This conclusion is totally supported by the structure of the evolutional model of semantics that illustrates the stages of the process of the terminological legal meaning stabilization.