ABSTRACT
Since there is a very strong narrative aspect to many dispute records, their language is for the most part specific to their context and content. Nevertheless, despite the free flow of these narratives and the detail of different circumstances, dispute texts are often marked by the occurrence of standard formulas, as other charters are. This is particularly true of Accounts, and can be true of the texts that record Oaths, Agreements, Confessions and Mixed types. Not surprisingly, the language of Incidental and Implied records of dispute, Fines, Confiscations and Debts tends to be influenced by the characteristic recording format of the transaction for which the record was primarily constructed, which was often straightforward gift format; in these cases, the language is dominated by the familiar formulas of gift and sale and its analysis needs to be viewed in the context of the preceding chapter. Inevitably, a significant proportion of the narratives of Accounts and of some other dispute records is not susceptible to formulaic analysis because of the free format; there are, however, the recurring formulas which pop up in diverse narratives and a few other formulas that seem to characterize particular types of dispute record. What, if anything, is the significance of the recurring formulas? Do they help us understand the process of construction of records of disputes?
