Vortrag: An analysis of strategies and tactics used in courtroom dialogues

Language used in courtrooms has long been an issue of interest, due to its strict formality and the power imbalance that exists between attorneys and witnesses. Yes/No Interrogatives (shortened as YNIs) are used overwhelmingly when lawyers cross-examine witnesses (Raymond, 2003; Mortensen, 2020). Because the type-conforming responses for YNIs are only “Yes” and “No,” lawyers utilize such constraints to their benefits, forcing the witnesses to produce type-conforming responses only. In this study, I use the Conversation Analysis (CA) framework to transcribe a courtroom scene from Big Little Lies, and analyze how it illustrates the various strategies used by lawyers in courtroom interactions.

The Jefferson Transcription System (2004) was used for transcriptions, and I focused on the adjacency pairs of YNIs as suggested by Raymond (2003): First Pair Part (FPP), which is the question in this case, and Second Pair Part (SPP), which is the response. Whether they are type conforming or type non-conforming is an important issue in institutional settings where conforming responses are required, so type conformity and its effects will be analyzed in more detail. Drawing examples from the transcription, I show that although tactics used by lawyers and witnesses to discredit the opponent’s reasoning are present in the interaction, social and cultural factors such as the relationship between speakers or the fictious nature of the scene also influence the dynamics of the participants in a way that diverges from existing literature.

References
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation
Analysis (pp. 13–31). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Mortensen, S. S. (2020). A question of control? Forms and functions of courtroom questioning in two different adversarial trial systems. Scandinavian Studies in Language, 11(1), 239-278.
Raymond, G. (2003). Grammar and social organization: yes/no interrogatives and the structure of bonding. American Sociological Review, 68(6), 939-967.

Info

Tag: 26.05.2022
Anfangszeit: 15:00
Dauer: 00:30
Raum: Living Lab (1.34)
Track: Sociolinguistics
Sprache: en

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