96 Similarity
open texture that in some ways belies the semblance of precision and certainty given
by other aspects of legal reading. This core aspect of legal metalinguistic framing
contributes to the possibility of what Philips calls “ideological polysemy”: “I argue
that the discourse has multiple meanings at the same time but that these meanings
differ in the degree of consciousness with which the judges as speakers recognize
or acknowledge them.”^14 We have seen that the fundamental metalinguistic prin-
ciples guiding legal readings and orientations to language have built into them both
a receptivity to ideological polysemy and a mechanism for concealing this phenom-
enon when it occurs. This structure permits social power to affect legal discourse
in more or less covert ways. Having examined the structure of legal conflict stories
and readings thereof, ringed around with layers of legal-textual authority, we turn
now to ask about the legal landscapes and personae created by a distinctively legal
form of reading and creating texts.