Abstract
Different from ordinary discourse, the institutional nature of courtroom discourse has attracted much scholarly attention in the field of applied linguistics and professional discourse studies. Previous studies have examined the lexico-grammatical features and asymmetric power relations inherent in courtroom communication. However, little research has investigated the hybridizing construction of judges’ discourse and the contextual clues that may shape such discursive construction. Under the framework of Critical Genre Analysis (Bhatia, 2017), this study examines 25 video recordings of criminal court trials in the Chinese mainland. The findings indicate a reciprocal relationship between the interdiscursive mechanism of judges’ discourse in criminal trials and the relevant social, cultural, and institutional background. The study also discusses the constituents of the overall courtroom discourse against the background of the social and political realities of the Chinese mainland
Highlights
These studies have revealed how dynamic social factors influence the style of courtroom trials, and how the underlying power relations and ideologies dominate the interactive actions of the courtroom participants
Employing a Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) model, this study investigated the different genres displayed in judges’ discourse in Chinese criminal trials, the interaction between the underlying Chinese sociocultural ideology and legal contexts, as well as their influence on the interdiscursivity of judges’ discourse at different trial stages
Through the CGA, this study has explored the genre features of judges’ discourse in Chinese criminal trials and the interaction between the ongoing Chinese sociocultural ideology and legal contexts, together with their influence on the interdiscursivity of judges’ discourse at different stages of trial proceedings
Summary
In the past four decades, the genre of courtroom discourse has been intensively investigated from the perspectives of questions and responses in courtrooms (Du, 2009; Janney, 2002; Liao, 2003; Woodbury, 1984 ), presupposition (Hickey, 1993; Xiang & Li, 2016), narratives of the trial (Brooks & Gewirtz, 1998; Heffer, 2010; Timothy, 1999), and critical linguistic analysis (de Carvalho Figueiredo, 2002; Han, 2011) These studies have revealed how dynamic social factors influence the style of courtroom trials, and how the underlying power relations and ideologies dominate the interactive actions of the courtroom participants. It is reasonable to attribute these phenomena to the diversity of cultural, moral, and political ideologies (Philips, 1998)
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