Abstract
The article analyzes extracts from video recordings of court sessions in Russian, where one of the participants demonstrated misunderstanding. The main method of working with the data is conversion analysis. The focus is on the interaction between specialists (a judge or a lawyer) and non-specialists (a defendant or a victim), namely the functions and mechanisms of code switching from official legal language to everyday colloquial language and vice versa. Such code switches are interpreted as a kind of intralingual translation, which is conceptualized in terms of a) linguistic aspects of simplification of the complex information, b) status-role functions of interaction between participants and conditions of institutional communication, c) differences in the way systems of professional and lay knowledge are organized. Through switching between the official and the colloquial codes during the hearing a specialist can accomplish various actions: find out the true intentions of the interlocutor; monitor the interlocutor’s reaction to his speech, regulating the degree of its formality; check the achieved degree of consistency; encourage the layman interlocutor or reformulate his words using the legal terms. The analysis reveals a number of strategies of varying degrees of complexity and intentionality for restoring understanding, which can be achieved on a technical or on a deeper level.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
