Jana Norman’s scholarly article published in the Alternative Law Journal showcases characteristics of official style throughout the entire piece. Through sentence structure and word choice, the author adheres to the strategic components of the style, which changes the way the message is perceived. It is common to see texts that are in the legal field use official style, and Norman’s is no exception. The purpose of her piece seems to aim at delivering information, so then the question is why did she make it so difficult to understand? And does this affect who chooses and/or is able to read it? By analyzing the specific techniques she used, as well as the context in which it was written, I intend to uncover some of the answers to these questions.
Right from the start, the title, Introducing the Cosmic Person: An ecocentric legal subject, prepares the audience for a more challenging read. Many people, including me, would not know what a “cosmic person” is without some background research. I assume that this could turn people away from reading it, if they struggle to understand even the title. It is also incredibly specific, unless interested in the law and also familiar with the ethical view ecocentric, there would be no reason to necessarily read the article based on the title. This leads me to believe that although informational, her purpose was not to inform a wide range of people, but just those who are already interested in the topic and are itching to learn more. Also, by just glancing over the article before even starting to read, the layout and format of the piece displays characteristics of official style. It is dense with words, and follows a very professional, clean cut look, which is the standards set by the publisher, Sage Journal.
By doing background research, I found that Norman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and her Masters of Divinity from Yale University. When she wrote the article she was in the midst of getting her PhD in the philosophy of law, focusing on concepts of the legal subject. This wide range of subjects, as well as her numerous degrees shows that Norman has been in the educational setting for quite some time. Academia is another very common place where official style is utilized, which could just mean her style is a force of habit or what she is used to reading and writing. I also found that this is her first published article, which could be one of the reasons why her piece follows such strict official style. As a newcomer into the published relm, she could have wanted to ensure she maintained her credibility and also wanted to showcase her extensive knowledge on the subjects. Lastly, by looking at the author herself, I found that she started a public engagement project related to this article called the Community of the Cosmic Person. Looking at its website I noticed that it uses much less characteristics of official style and seems to be more directed at the public.
Excerpt and image taken from the website https://www.cosmicperson.com/context
While I do not know if Norman wrote the information on the website herself, this does prove that she believes that the “cosmic person” notion is important for everybody and not just those in the legal field to be aware of and understand.
Diving into the actual body of the article, the word choice and complex sentences make it difficult to understand. Based on the Flesch reading level calculator, the article is a 15.82, or is meant for a reader at the 21.74 grade level. This places it way above the common readers’ ability. Norman combines ideas through coordination techniques such as using “but” as well as punctuation such as colons and semicolons. In addition to that, the use of legal terminology, while makes her work appear more credible and aligns with the unwritten standards that are set in the legal profession, makes the common reader struggle through each sentence. This leads to the article being inclusive to only individuals who can understand this vocabulary, which is very limited.
“The notion of expansion implies something already in existence that can be expanded, in this case the most prevalent concept-in-use of the legal subject: the rational, autonomous individual. There are other concepts of the legal subject in play within the Western legal milieu, but as expert profiler of such concepts Ngaire Naffine notes, orthodoxy favours the concept of the rational adult ‘imagined as self created, pre social individuals’ ” (127).
The author also uses passive voice, which shifts the main focus of the actor. For an example, in the following paragraph, the actor is not known until the end of the sentence, and it places importance on the rights of nature which is what is being acted upon.
“Efforts to recognise the rights of nature and expand the community of legal subjects to include nonhuman beings have not been the exclusive purview of Earth Jurisprudence, of course. Legal inclusion of or accounting for non-human entities and life-worlds has long been a feature of environmental law and ethics” (127).
Lastly, I also noticed that the author could have been much more concise with how she phrased her sentences and explained the concepts. I believe that this also correlates with being for the legal field, because it is necessary to provide full explanation so that ambauties or loopholes in the argument do not arise. While this reason, and the reasons such as credibility that I discussed previously, are valid explanations for using official style, I still question if they outweigh the cons. Her article provides an in depth explanation of the ethnocentric philosophy, that I have reason to believe she deems important enough for everybody to be aware of. By using official style she is working against her goal of spreading the message, by enabling a select few to be able to understand it. I am left with the results and impacts of her choice, but still questioning her intentions. If she published another piece, it would be interesting to compare and see if she made any adjustments in the language she used based on the reaction from her first article.
Kaitilyn Bestor
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