“It was probably that guy?” – The functions of reconstructive speech acts in investigative training interviews

W E Collin

doi:10.7146/sss.v11i1.121365

Abstract

This paper explores the pragmatic and interactional functions of reconstructive speech acts in mock police interviews, based on a model of argumentative dialogue. The aim of the paper is to illustrate how the reconstructions apparently contribute to both the interaction between the police officer and the mock suspect in the interview activity and to the interaction in the training activity, i.e. between the participants attending the training course. Drawing on functional pragmatics and grammar, the analysis seeks to examine how reconstructions on the one hand function in the socially non-cooperative interaction in the mock interview, questioning the truth value of propositions and trustworthiness of the suspect, and, on the other hand seem to fulfil a supportive purpose in the training activity.

Highlights

Taking its point of departure in speech act theory and functional grammar, this study focuses on reconstructive speech acts’ questioning and evaluating functions across different activity types embedded in simulated police interviews
The aim of the investigative interview is to clarify the circumstances of the event under investigation and as objectively and accurately as possible, elicit “correct information in an unbiased and open-minded manner compared to a question-answer approach” (Hviid 2017:30)
The interview analysed in this paper is a mock police interview conducted as part of a training course for skilled police officers

Summary

Introduction

Taking its point of departure in speech act theory and functional grammar, this study focuses on reconstructive speech acts’ (see section 3) questioning and evaluating functions across different activity types embedded in simulated police interviews.Police interviews with witnesses and suspects are one of the main sources for information during criminal investigation. Part of the training is conducted as simulated investigative interviews with police officers playing the roles of witnesses, suspects, and interviewer. How the participants of such training interviews handle the shifting communicative roles, and how they make sense of the contributions to this complex kind of interaction, has not yet been studied in a Danish context. Similar aspects of this kind of complex communication have been the focus of other studies, though, among others Linell and Thunqvist’s study of simulated job interviews. Linell and Thunqvist (2003:431) notes, the participants move in and out of framings and “build their utterances to fit a specific activity context, or to fit several such contexts at the same time, and they enact role identities associated with these activities”

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Conclusion