RT book part T1 Understanding and researching legal genres and language within the maritime domain A1 Bocanegra Valle, Ana María A2 Filología Francesa e Inglesa K1 Genres K1 Legal language K1 Maritime English K1 Maritime law K1 MARPOL K1 SOLAS AB This chapter attempts to contribute to the scant literature on legal genres and language in maritime settings. It begins with an introduction to maritime legal language, provides a definition of maritime English and its main branches, discusses the bodies of law in the maritime domain, and explains the role of English as the international language for communication in the shipping industry and maritime disputes. The second section focuses on the notion of genres and genre networks in the maritime legal domain, reviews the extant literature on the study of genres and language at the macro- and micro-levels, and puts forward a classification of written maritime legal genres for further research. The next section illustrates the investigation of genres at the micro-level and explores the presence and function of directive utterances in two relevant international conventions laid down by the International Maritime Organization. Finally, concluding remarks discuss opportunities and limitations for conducting maritime legal language research through the lens of a genre-based approach. SN 9783111332437 YR 2025 FD 2025 LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37386 UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/37386 LA eng DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz RD 06-nov-2026