A Pragmatic Study On The Language Repetition In The Chinese Courtroom Interaction

The data collected from the courtroom show that repetition is a very common phenomenon in courtroom language that is easily neglected but worth our study.For the analysis of the types, interpretation and functionality of repetition in the courtroom setting, the study formulates and offers a comprehensive analysis of repetition from a pragmatic perspective based on the Speech Act theory and the courtroom context.In the thesis which is composed of 7 chapters, the types of repetition are identified, the interpretation process is presented and the functionality is concluded. Courtroom relationships are also examined for probing into the contextual clues of repetition such as power difference, social status, and education background and so on.The study finds that repetition is not only an easy linguistic phenomenon for rhetoric but also an important pragmatic strategy under courtroom circumstance. With its systematical analysis on the courtroom repetition, the study contributes to the whole study on the courtroom language and widens the applications of the linguistic theories. It is hoped that this research can benefit the participants in their future work, raising their awareness of the effects that the repetition can generate and helping them improve their linguistic competence in the courtroom. At the same time, the study bears its limitations in some parts such as the data coverage, etc. More statistical analysis is desired.