Pacto nacional do judiciário pela linguagem simples: reflexões sociolinguísticas para adequação do discurso jurídico

Abstract

This paper is in line with researches related to Sociolinguistics, specifically, into the phenomena of linguistic variation and its application to the various levels of the Judiciary. The levels of the Judiciary represent levels of access to justice. However, those under its jurisdiction do not always understand the content of the decisions addressed to them, mainly because they do not understand the metalanguage. In order to change this state of affairs, the National Council of Justice proposed the National Judiciary Pact for Plain Language, in which all segments of the Judiciary, at any level of jurisdiction, are encouraged to “adopt simple, direct and understandable language for all people in the production of judicial decisions and in general communication with society”. The proposal, however, has been a source of controversy among those who consider the problems of mere simplification, given the technical nature of legal language, in which terminological rigor prevails. Based on a bibliographic review of sociolinguistic studies, it is expected to demonstrate that the use of different linguistic registers, depending on the context of communication, is more coherent with the functionality of the language and the reality of different types of speakers than the imposition of an abstract form of language, from top to bottom, as an act of power.