Subjects:

General Interest

Contents:

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

In this volume, 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. This is a broad-based, coherent introduction to the discourse of language and law.