Linguistic Politeness And Persuasion In Court Arguments

The present study probes into the politeness phenomenon of court arguments with linguistic politeness as the focus. It aims to find out the main linguistic means realizing politeness and investigates how linguistic politeness strategies contribute to the final persuasion in court arguments.Based on Brown and Levinson's face management model as the theoretical framework and Chinese and English court arguments as the data, we find out three politeness strategies in court arguments. They are: positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy and off record strategy. The research reveals that linguistic politeness in arguments in American courts shares great similarities with that in Chinese courts; negative politeness strategies are most frequently employed by lawyers, followed by positive politeness strategies and off record strategies. It is also found that such linguistic means as hedge, impersonalize S and H, give reasons, give deference, rhetorical questions and include both S and H in the activity are most favored by Chinese and American lawyers.Besides, detailed analysis suggests that the function of the politeness strategies used in court arguments is different from that in ordinary discourses. The employment of those strategies by lawyers is not just a lubricant of human relationship. Through the contribution of the politeness strategies to rapport establishment with the judge or jury, lawyers can accomplish better persuasion, which is their end purpose in court arguments.This thesis may deepen the understanding of linguistic politeness and persuasion in court arguments. It is also hoped that lawyers can conduct court arguments more powerfully when they know more about linguistic politeness and make proper use of it.