The Analysis of the Semantics of Above in the Nigeria Criminal Code Act

Abstract

This paper analyses the semantics of above in English as a natural language and the Nigeria Criminal Code Act as a legal text with a view to seeing if the discrepancy between its senses in the ordinary English and the senses in the legal texts. The examination is vital owing to the fact that the discrepancy in the senses has impact on the interpretation of the law which in turn has bearing on judgment delivery and the establishment of the justice. So, the attention must be called to the peculiarity, if any, when interpreting the document. The work uses polysemy approach to provide proof for each sense associated with above in the Nigeria Criminal Code Act. It was established that regarding the semantics of above in the Criminal Act, the study shows that the preposition, above appears fifteen times with four distinct senses. Fourteen appearances are as a single preposition and it denotes the More than Sense eight times, the Superior Sense three times, and the On-top Sense three times. It also appears in a composite form in which it solely denotes the Existence Sense. The study shows that none of the references including dictionaries (such as OED, Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster and so on) consulted mentions The Existence Sense among the senses designated to the preposition, above. The implication of this to the best of knowledge of this study is that the Existence Sense is a peculiar sense to the composite forms. The hope is that this study contributes modestly to facilitating the interpretation of criminal laws in Nigeria.