Abstract
This paper attempts to provide an explanatory account of linguistic communication between legal professionals such as lawyers and prosecutors, and the witnesses, with a view to show the power and control prevalent in the courtroom discourse. Making use of 20-hours of audio-tape cases recorded at the High Court of Justice and Magistrate Court in Nigeria such as assault, theft and house breaking, the paper attempts to investigate intonation and pauses used in the declarative questions in the courtroom discourse. The analysis carried out in the paper suggests the fact that lawyers maintain tight control of courtroom discourse through their use of declarative questions with falling intonation that are always conducive during cross-examination. The key suggestion of the paper is that the use of falling intonation with declarative questions suggests the power and control of lawyers over the witnesses. By using declarative questions with falling intonation, the lawyers are able to put across their propositions convincingly to the witnesses. The use of falling intonation on declarative questions suggests coercion, control, cajoling and persuasiveness on the part of the lawyers in Nigerian courtroom discourse.
Highlights
Declarative questions are the most powerful questions in the courtroom
Making use of 20-hours of audio-tape cases recorded at the High Court of Justice and Magistrate Court in Nigeria such as assault, theft and house breaking, the paper attempts to investigate intonation and pauses used in the declarative questions in the courtroom discourse
By using declarative questions with falling intonation, the lawyers are able to put across their propositions convincingly to the witnesses
Summary
Declarative questions are the most powerful questions in the courtroom. They are very powerful, coercive and controlling because they already contain propositions which the listeners are invited to accept or refuse. The most coercive in Danet’s classification of questions types are the declarative questions This is because their form contains propositions thereby restricting possible answers. Because the courtroom rules and ethics favour the lawyers, they can use declarative questions that are conducive and with falling intonation to restrict the answer of the witnesses, and to put their own propositions across. This relates to the power and control that the lawyers have over the witnesses and even courtroom discourse in general. With the aid of WASP speech filling system (SFS) and Goldwave software version we are going to analyse declarative questions with falling intonation and pauses with a view to show the power and control prevalent in Nigerian courtroom discourse
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