Item Details

From speech role to social role: Judge’s negotiating and controlling in criminal trials in China

Issue: Vol 12 No. 2-3 (2016) Special Issue: Appliable Linguistics and Legal Discourse

Journal: Linguistics and the Human Sciences

Subject Areas: Writing and Composition Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/lhs.36989

Abstract:

In this paper we explore judge's social roles in criminal trials in China based on the speech roles assigned to them when they interact with other parties. negotiation, a system in Martin's discourse semantics for conversational analysis, is the descriptive framework used in this study. The analysis indicates that most of the judge's moves are informative, however, they are endowed with performative effect caused by the highly institutionalized context. Judge's discourse in Chinese courtroom is characterized by what is known as 'linguistic service', discursively reflected as the conflation of knowledge move and action move. When the conflation is related to the trial's staging structures, it predicts discourse within other fields, involving legal rights or responsibilities, legal facts, personal information, among others. In addition to move conflation, another two features are noted in judge's discourse - move change and move ellipsis. We conclude that the exchange patterns in judge's discourse suggest three types of social role taken by the judge in criminal courts in China: courtroom texturing, discourse controlling and knowledge building.

Author: Zhang Ranran

View Full Text

References :

Bernstein, B. (1999). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education 20 (2): 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425699995380

Cheng, L. (2012). Attribution and judicial control in Chinese court judgments: A corpus-based study. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 19 (1): 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v19i1.27

Coulthard, M. and Johnson, A. (2007). An Introduction to Forensic Linguistics: Language in Evidence. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203969717

Coulthard, M. and Johnson, A. (2010). The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203855607

Cranny-Francis, A. and Martin, J. R. (1993). Making new meanings: Literary and linguistic perspectives on the function of genre in textual practice. English in Australia 105: 30–44.

Finegan, E. (2010). Legal writing: Attitude and emphasis corpus linguistic approaches to ‘legal language’: Adverbial expression of attitude and emphasis in Supreme Court opinions. In M. Coulthard and A. Johnson (Eds) The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics 65–77. London: Routledge.

Forrester, C. R. (2014) Converting time reference in judges’ summations: A study in time reference management in a Creole continuum courtroom. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 21 (2): 225–250. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v21i2.225

Gibbons, J and Turell, M. T. (2008). Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.5

Halliday, M. A. K. (1994). An Introduction to Functional Grammar (2nd Edn). London: Edward Arnold.

Halliday, M. A. K. (2002). Computing meaning: Some reflections on past experience and present prospects. In G. W. Huang and Z. Y. Wang (Eds) Discourse and Language Functions, 3–25. Shanghai: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press [reprinted in J. J. Webster (Ed.) (2005). Vol. 6 in the Collected Works of M. A. K. Halliday: Computational and Quantitative Studies, 239–67. London: Continuum].

Halliday, M. A. K. (2004). An Introduction to Functional Grammar (3rd edn. revised by Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen). London: Edward Arnold.

Halliday, M. A. K. and Hasan, R. (1989). Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language in a Social-semiotic Perspective (2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Han, Z. R. (2012). An applied genre analysis of civil judgments: The case of mainland China (PhD Abstract). The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 19 (1): 113–117. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v19i1.113

Heffer, C. (2005). The Language of Jury Trial: A Corpus-Aided Analysis of Legal-Lay Discourse. Macmillan: Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230502888

Heffer, C. (2008). The language and communication of jury instruction. In J. Gibbons and M. T. Turell (Eds) Dimensions of Forensic Linguistics, 47–66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/aals.5.05hef

Heffer, C. (2010). Narrative in the trial: Constructing crime stories in court. In M. Coulthard and Johnson (Eds) The Routledge Handbook of Forensic Linguistics, 199–217. London: Routledge.

Hoffman, C. (1996). Commenting on ‘The Language of Judges’. The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute 2: 213–218.

Leung, H. C. (2012). Judicial discourse in Cantonese courtrooms in postcolonial Hong Kong: The judge as a godfather, scholar, educator and scolding parent. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 19 (2): 239–261. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v19i2.239

Liao, M. Z. (2003). A Study on Courtroom Questions, Responses and Their Interaction: A Linguistic Perspective. Beijing: Law Press.

Lv, W. Y. (2006). The power control of judge discourse. Foreign Language Research 2: 9–14.

Martin, J. R. (1981). How many speech acts?. University of East Anglia Papers in Linguistics 14–15: 52–77.

Martin, J. R. (1984). Types of writing in infants and primary school. In L. L. Unsworth (Ed.) Writing, Spelling: Proceedings of the Fifth Macarthur Reading/Language Symposium 34–55. Sydney: Macarthur Institute of Higher Education.

Martin, J. R. (1992). English Text: System and Structure. Amsterdam: Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.59

Martin, J. R. (1994). Macro-genres: The ecology of the page. Network 21: 29–52.

Martin, J. R. (1997). Analysing genre: Functional parameters. In F. Christie and J. R. Martin (Eds) Genre and Institutions: Social Processes in the Workplace and School, 3–39. London: Cassell.

Martin, J. R. (2016). Meaning matters: A short history of systemic functional linguistics. Word 62 (1): 35–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2016.1141939

Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2007). Working with Discourse: Meaning beyond the Clause. London: Continuum.

Martin, J. R. and Rose, D. (2008). Genre Relations: Mapping Culture. London: Equinox Publishing Ltd.

Martin, J. R. and White, P. R. R. (2005). The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230511910

Martin, J. R., Matthiessen, C. M. I. M., and Painter, C. (2010). Deploying Functional Grammar. Shanghai: Commercial Press.

Martin, J. R., Zappavigna, M., and Dwyer, P. (2009). Negotiating shame: Exchange and genre structure in youth justice conferencing. In A. Mahboob and C. Lipovsky (Eds) Studies in Applied Linguistics and Language Learning, 41–72. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2009). Ideas and new directions. In M. A. K. Halliday and J. J. Webster (Eds) Continuum Companion to Systemic Functional Linguistics 12–58. London: Continuum.

Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2012). Systemic functional linguistics as appliable linguistics: Social accountability and critical approaches. D.E.L.T.A. 28(Especial): 435–471.

Ng. E. N. S. (2015). Judges’ intervention in witness examination as a cause of omissions in interpretation in the Hong Kong courtroom. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 22 (2): 203–227. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v22i2.17782

Olsson, J. (2004). Forensic Linguistics: An Introduction to Language, Crime and the Law. London: Continuum.

Olsson, J. (2008). Forensic Linguistics. London: Continuum.

Philips, S. U. (1998). Ideology in the Language of Judges: How Judges Practice Law, Politics, and Courtroom Control. New York: Oxford University Press.

Rose, D. (2004). The structuring of experience in the grammar of Pitjantjatjara and English. In K. Davidse and L. Heyvaert (Eds) Functional Linguistics and Contrastive Description: Special Issue of Language in Contrast 4 (1): 45–74.

Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A. and Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language 50 (4): 696–735. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1974.0010

Segal, J. A and Spaeth, H. J. (2002). The Supreme Court and the Attitudinal Model Revisited. New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615696

Shi, G. (2011). A critical analysis of Chinese courtroom discourse (PhD abstract). The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 18 (1): 157–160. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v18i1.157

Shi, G. (2014). A Critical Analysis of Chinese Courtroom Discourse. Beijing: Science Press.

Solan, L. M. (1993). The Language of Judges. Chicago, IL and London: The University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226767895.001.0001

Solan, L. M. (1995). Judicial decisions and linguistic analysis: Is there a linguist in the court?. Washington University Law Quarterly 73: 1069–1080.

Thompson, S. A. and Mann, W. C. (1987). Rhetorical structure theory: A framework for the analysis of texts. IPrA Papers in Pragmatics 1 (1): 79–105. https://doi.org/10.1075/iprapip.1.1.03tho

Thornborrow, J. (2001). Power Talk: Language and Interaction in Institutional Discourse. Harlow: Longman.

Tiersma, P. M. (1993). The judge as linguist. Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 27: 269–284.

Tracy, K. (2009). How questioning constructs judge identities: Oral argument about same-sex marriage. Discourse Studies 11 (2): 199–221. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445608100944

Tracy, K. and Parks, R. M. (2012). ‘Tough questioning’ as enactment of ideology in judicial conduct: Marriage law appeals in seven US courts. The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 19 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1558/ijsll.v19i1.1

Ventola, E. (1987). The Structure of Social Interaction: A Systematic Approach to the Semiotics of Service Encounters. London: Frances Pinter.

Zhang, L. P. (2005). The judge’s verbal response: Discourse understanding based on the trial scheme. Foreign Language Research 5: 32–37.