International conventions, declarations and articles

The world of International Relations produces a wide range of texts: legal documents regulating the relationship between States; speeches that are ‘written to be read’ or solemnly proclaimed in front of an audience; articles and editorials examining the most striking global issues.
The documents that the present work analyses are arranged into three different sections and clear objectives are stated for each text. In particular, in the first section the analysis is devoted to the specific lexis of legal English and to its typical grammatical structures and syntax. In the second section the use of rhetorical devices is predominantly taken into consideration to understand the communicative strategies adopted in speeches and declarations. Finally, in the third section the above mentioned linguistic tools are applied in the reading comprehension activities of a selection of articles.

Excerpt from the Foreword