Language in the Legal Process

by J. Cotterill (Editor)

Overview

In this new paperback edition of 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 analyse 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333969021
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	10/09/2002
Edition description:	2002
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

ROBERT R. AGNE Department of Communications, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
STAN BERNSTEIN US Bankruptcy Judge, Eastern District, New York USA
SUSAN BERK-SELIGSON Associate Professor, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh
MALCOLM COULTHARD Professor of English Language and Linguistics
BETHANY K. DUMAS Associate Professor of English and Chair, University of Tennessee
DIANA EADES Associate Professor, Department of Second Language Studies, University of Hawaii
DÉBORA DE CARVALHO FIGUEIREDO Lecturer, Faculdades Barddal, Southern Brazil
CHRIS HEFFER Lecturer in Linguistics, Nottingham Trent University
ALISON JOHNSON Lecturer in Linguistics and English Literature, University of Birmingham, UK
ROSEMARY H. MOEKETSI Assistant Professor, Department of African Languages, University of South Africa, Pretoria
SONIA RUSSELL Former;y French-English Interpreter, Kent Police, Facilitation Support Unit, Dover and HM Customs and Excise
ROGER W. SHUY Distinguished Research Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus,
Georgetown University, USA
LAWRENCE M. SOLAN Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, USA
GAIL STYGALL Associate Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Washington, USA
PETER M. TIERSMA Professor of Law and Joseph Scott Fellow, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, USA
KAREN TRACY Professor of Communications, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

Table of Contents

	Preface to Paperback Edition	vii
	List of Tables	viii
	List of Figures	ix
	Acknowledgements	x
	Notes on the Contributors	xi
	Introduction: Language in the Legal Process	xv
Part I	The Linguist in the Legal Process
1	To Testify or Not to Testify?	3
2	Whose Voice Is It? Invented and Concealed Dialogue in Written Records of Verbal Evidence Produced by the Police	19
3	Textual Barriers to United States Immigration	35
4	The Language and Law of Product Warnings	54
Part II	The Language of the Police and the Police Interview
5	'I Just Need to Ask Somebody Some Questions': Sensitivities in Domestic Dispute Calls	75
6	So ...?: Pragmatic Implications of So-Prefaced Questions in Formal Police Interviews	91
7	'Three's a Crowd': Shifting Dynamics in the Interpreted Interview	111
8	The Miranda Warnings and Linguistic Coercion: The Role of Footing in the Interrogation of a Limited-English-speaking Murder Suspect	127
Part III	The Language of the Courtroom I: Lawyers and Witnesses
9	'Just One More Time...': Aspects of Intertextuality in the Trials of O. J. Simpson	147
10	'Evidence Given in Unequivocal Terms': Gaining Consent of Aboriginal Young People in Court	162
11	The Clinton Scandal: Some Legal Lessons from Linguistics	180
12	Understanding the Other: A Case of Mis-Interpreting Culture-Specific Utterances during Alternative Dispute Resolution	196
Part IV	The Language of the Courtroom II: Judges and Juries
13	The Meaning of 'I Go Bankrupt': An Essay in Forensic Linguistics	213
14	'If you were Standing in Marks and Spencers': Narrativisation and Comprehension in the English Summing-up	228
15	Reasonable Doubt about Reasonable Doubt: Assessing Jury Instruction Adequacy in a Capital Case	246
16	Discipline and Punishment in the Discourse of Legal Decisions on Rape Trials	260
	Index	275

Editorial Reviews

'Cotterill's recent collection reminds us at every turn that the law is neither monolithic nor impersonal. It is made up of a number of strange (and sometimes beautiful) procedures and staffed by a heady mix of individuals who are in the final measure, human...The problems raised are not only problems for linguists and lawyers. They demand consideration from anyone who would be considered a member of society.' - Annabelle Mooney, British Association of Applied Linguistics

From the Publisher