Language in the Legal Process

Linguists and lawyers from a range of countries and legal systems explore the language of the law and its participants, beginning with the role of the forensic linguist in legal proceedings, either as expert witness or in legal language reform. Subsequent chapters analyze different aspects of language and interaction in the chain of events from a police emergency call through the police interview context and into the courtroom, as well as appeal court and alternative routes to justice. A broad-based, coherent introduction to the discourse of language and law that is ideal for students studying forensic linguistics or language and law, or who want to relate their more general discourse studies to real-life situations. This book demonstrates the methods of linguistic analysis in whole range of discourse and communication encounters in the legal process, presented by world experts in the field.

Janet Cotterill is a Lecturer in Language and Communication at Cardiff University.

List of Tables * List of Figures * Acknowledgements * Notes on the Contributors * Introduction: Language in the Legal Process--J.Cotterill * Part I: The Linguist in the Legal Process * To Testify or Not to Testify?--R.W.Shuy * Whose Voice Is It? Invented and Concealed Dialogue in Written Records of Verbal Evidence Produced by the Police--M.Coulthard * Textual Barriers to United States Immigration--G.Stygall * The Language and Law of Product Warnings--P.M.Tiersma * Part II: The Language of the Police and the Police Interview * 'I Just Need to Ask Somebody Some Questions': Sensitivities in Domestic Dispute Calls--K.Tracy & R.R.Agne * So...? Pragmatic Implications of So-Prefaced Questions in Formal Police Interviews--A.Johnson * 'Three's a Crowd': Shifts in Dynamics in the Interpreted Interview--S.Russell * The Miranda Warnings and Linguistic Coercion: The Role of Footing in the Interrogation of a Limited-English Speaking Murder Suspect--S.Berk-Seligson * Part III: The Language of the Courtroom I: Lawyers and Witnesses * 'Just One More Time...': Change and Continuity in Courtroom Narratives in the Trials of OJ Simpson--J.Cotterill * 'Evidence Given in Unequivocal Terms': Gaining Consent of Aboriginal Young People in Court--D.Eades * The Clinton Scandal: Some Legal Lessons from Linguistics--L.M.Solan * Understanding the Other: A Case of Mis-Interpreting Culture-Specific Utterances at Alternative Dispute Resolution--R.H.Moeketsi * Part IV: The Language of the Courtroom II: Judges and Juries * The Meaning of 'I Go Bankrupt': An Essay in Forensic Linguistics--S.Bernstein * 'If You Were Standing in Marks and Spencers': Narrativization and Comprehension in the English Summing-Up--C.Heffer * Reasonable Doubt about Reasonable Doubt: Assessing Jury Instruction Adequacy in a Capital Case--B.K.Dumas * Discipline and Punishment in the Discourse of Legal Decision on Rape Trials--D.de C.Figueiredo * Index
Introduction: Language in the Legal Process--J.Cotterill * Part I: The Linguist in the Legal Process * To Testify or Not to Testify?--R.W.Shuy * Whose Voice Is It? Invented and Concealed Dialogue in Written Records of Verbal Evidence Produced by the Police--M.Coulthard * Textual Barriers to United States Immigration--G.Stygall * The Language and Law of Product Warnings--P.M.Tiersma * Part II: The Language of the Police and the Police Interview * 'I Just Need to Ask Somebody Some Questions': Sensitivities in Domestic Dispute Calls--K.Tracy & R.R.Agne * So...? Pragmatic Implications of So-Prefaced Questions in Formal Police Interviews--A.Johnson * 'Three's a Crowd': Shifts in Dynamics in the Interpreted Interview--S.Russell * The Miranda Warnings and Linguistic Coercion: The Role of Footing in the Interrogation of a Limited-English Speaking Murder Suspect--S.Berk-Seligson * Part III: The Language of the Courtroom I: Lawyers and Witnesses * 'Just One More Time...': Change and Continuity in Courtroom Narratives in the Trials of OJ Simpson--J.Cotterill * 'Evidence Given in Unequivocal Terms': Gaining Consent of Aboriginal Young People in Court--D.Eades * The Clinton Scandal: Some Legal Lessons from Linguistics--L.M.Solan * Understanding the Other: A Case of Mis-Interpreting Culture-Specific Utterances at Alternative Dispute Resolution--R.H.Moeketsi * Part IV: The Language of the Courtroom II: Judges and Juries * The Meaning of 'I Go Bankrupt': An Essay in Forensic Linguistics--S.Bernstein * 'If You Were Standing in Marks and Spencers': Narrativization and Comprehension in the English Summing-Up--C.Heffer * Reasonable Doubt about Reasonable Doubt: Assessing Jury Instruction Adequacy in a Capital Case--B.K.Dumas * Discipline and Punishment in the Discourse of Legal Decision on Rape Trials--D.de C.Figueiredo * Index