Representation of Power, Dominance and Resistance in Court Discourse:An Inquiry in Judicial Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of English Language, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Lorestan University of Lorestan, Khorramabad, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of English Language, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Lorestan University of Lorestan, Khorramabad, Iran.

Abstract

The judicial system is universally recognized as a paramount institution for the exercise of power. Within this system, language assumes a paramount role as nowhere is its use more pronounced and impactful than in the legal and judicial context. In these contexts, language serves as a tool for wielding power, establishing dominance, and exerting control. The objective of this research was to comprehensively analyze the various dimensions of trial discourse with a particular focus on the representations of power exhibited in the interactions among participants in diverse court sessions. To accomplish this, we examined a multitude of civil, criminal, and family court sessions associated with the court and prosecutor's office of Dorud City. The present study employed a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches for data analysis. Our analysis drew upon the ethnographic framework proposed by Hymes (1974) supplemented by statistical calculations.The data analysis results demonstrated that professional participants, including judges, investigators, and prosecutors, employed various verbal and non-verbal strategies to establish their power and dominance during trial discourse. Notably, the strategies of "questioning" and "interruption" played a prominent role in this regard. In contrast, lay participants, such as the accused, complainants, and suspects, demonstrated resistance to the exercise of dominance and power by utilizing tactics, such as "intervention", "interruption", "counter-questioning", and "silence."

Keywords


  1. حق بین، فریده، پریسا نجفی، و طلعت جمالی (1395). روایت و ضدّ روایت در گفتمان حقوقی. مطالعات زبان‌ها و گویش‌های غرب ایران, 3(14): 37-59.

    رهبر بهزاد، محمودی بختیاری بهروز، کریم خانلویی گیتی. رابطه جنسیت و قطع گفتار: بررسی جامعه‌شناختی زبان. جستارهای زبانی. ۱۳۹۱; ۳ (۴) :۱۳۵-۱۴۷

    نجفی، پریسا، فریده حق‌بین، آصف ظفری و منصور خاکباز (1402). ساختار و کارکرد پرسش در گفتمان بازجویی (مطالعه موردی شهرستان دورود). مجله مطالعات زبان‌ها و گویش‌های غرب ایران. (12) 1: 95-115 .

    وارداف، رونالد (1393). درآمدی بر جامعه‌شناسی زبان. ترجمة رضا امینی. تهران: بوی کاغذ.

    عموزاده، محمد، رها زارعی‌فرد، و بتول علی‌نژاد (1393). جنسیت و قطع کلام در جلسات دفاع از پایان‌نامه. جستارهای زبانی تربیت مدرس، 4(20): 170-149.

    Amouzadeh M, Zareifard R, Alinezhad B. Gender and Interruption in the Defense Sessions of Dissertations. LRR 2014; 5 (4) :149-170

    URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-2690-fa.html

    Adelswärd, V., K. Aronsson, L. Jönsson & P. Linell (1987). The unequal distribution of interactional space: Dominance and control in courtroom interaction. Text & Talk, 7, 313-346.

    Beattie, G. (1981). Interruption in conversational interaction and its relation to the sex and status of the interactants. Linguistics. No. 19. 15-35.

    Beattie, J.M. (1986) Crime and the Courts in England 1660–1800, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Archer, D. (2005). Questions and answers in the English courtroom (1640–1760): A sociopragmatic analysis. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

    Conley, J. M. and O’Barr, W. M. (1990) Rules versus relationships: The ethnography of legal discourse. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Cotterill, J. (2003) Language and Power in Court: A Linguistic Analysis of the OJ Simpson Trial, Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Coulthard, M. and Johnson, A. (2007) An introduction to forensic linguistics: Language in evidence, London/New York: Routledge

    Coulthard, M., A. Johnson, and D. Wright. (2016). An introduction to forensic linguistics: Language in evidence. London and New York: Routledge.

    Danet, B., K. B. Hoffman, N. C. Kermish, H. J. Rafn and D. Stayman (1980) An ethnography of questioning in the courtroom. in R. W. Shuy and A. Shnukal (eds), Language use and the uses of language. (pp. 222– 234). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

    Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. London and New York: Longman.

    Haghbin, F., Najafi, P., and Jamali, T. (2016). Narrative and Anti-Narrative Use in Legal Discourse. Research in Western Iranian Languages and Dialects3(14), 37-59. doi: 10.22126/jlw.2016.1273

    Harris, S. (1984) Questions as a mode of control in magistrates’ courts. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 49: 5– 28.

    Harris, S. (2005) Telling stories and giving evidence: the hybridisation of narrative and non-narrative modes of discourse in a sexual assault trial. (pp. 215–37). in J. Thornborrow and J. Coates (eds) The sociolinguistics of narrative. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

    Haworth, K. (2006). The dynamics of power and resistance in police interview discourse. Discourse & society 17 (6): 739–759.

    Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. Pride, & J. Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp. 269-285). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

    Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 

    Johnson, A. (2002). So …? Pragmatic implications of so-prefaced questions in formal police interviews. (pp. 91–110) in J.Cotterill (ed.) Language in the legal process. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Keane, A. and P. McKeown (2020). The modern law of evidence.13th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Mishler, E. (1975). Studies in dialogue and discourse. II: types of discourse initiated by and sustained through questioning. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 4 (2): 98-121.

    Mortensen, S. (2020). A question of control? Forms and functions of courtroom questioning in two different adversarial trial systems. Scandinavian Studies in Language 11(1), https://tidsskrift .dk/sss.

    Najafi, P., Haghbin, F., Zafari, A., & Khakbaz, M. (2024). The Structure and Function of Questioning in Interrogation Discourse (The Case Study of Doroud City). Research in Western Iranian Languages and Dialects12(1), 95-115. doi: 10.22126/jlw.2023.9457.1720

    O’Barr, W. M. (1982). Linguistic Evidence: Language, Power and Strategy in the Courtroom, New York: Academic Press.

    Rahbar B, Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari B, Karimi Khanlooi G. The Relationship between Gender and Speech Interruption: A Sociolinguistic Study. LRR 2012; 3 (4) :135-147

    URL: http://lrr.modares.ac.ir/article-14-5431-fa.html

    1. Madrunio, M & B. Lintao, R. (2023). Power, control, and resistance in Philippine and American police interview discourse. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique p. 1-36 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-023-10045-8

    Rañosa-Madrunio, M. (2014). Power and control in Philippine courtroom discourse. International Journal of Legal English 2 (1): 4–30.

    Shepard, E. W. (1993). Resistance in interviews: The contribution of police perceptions and behaviour. Issues in Criminological & Legal Psychology, 18, 5–12.

    Wagner, A., and L. Cheng. (2016). Language, power and control in courtroom discourse. In Exploring courtroom discourse: The language of power and control. (Wagner, A., and L. Cheng Eds) (1–10). London and New York: Routledge.

    Wardhaugh, R. (2006 [1998]). An introduction to sociolinguistics (5th ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Woodbury, H. (1984). The strategic use of questions in court. Semiotica, 48: 197– 228.

    Zimmerman, D. H. & C. West (1975). Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation. In B. Thorne & N. Henley (Eds.). Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance. pp. 105–129. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House.