TERMINOLOGY IN DIACHRONY: THE LEXICO-SEMANTIC FIELDS OF CONFLICT AND TRIAL

There are few precedents to the study, from an interdisciplinary perspective, of the variations in the systematization, even in the definition, of words belonging to different specialty areas. This paper attempts to contribute to the analysis of the lexicographic entries that general use academic dictionaries have assigned to three pairs of legal terms: (1) conflict and dispute; 2) alternative conflict resolution and out-of-court conflict resolution; and 3) trial and judge. With this objective, a diachronic perspective is adopted, and, at the same time, a comparative approach is put forward, based on a review of the definitions offered by another series of words, in this case, words from the legal sphere. Lastly, lexico-semantic analysis makes it possible to trace the evolution in the definition of these terms and strengthens the existing links between the sciences of language and law.