Courtroom Discourse Analysis In Light Of Gricean Conversational Implicature Theory

The study of forensic linguistics in China started relatively late and has been laying a particular emphasis on the static characteristics of syntax and theoretical exploration of the functions of the legislative language, whereas there are few people setting foot in dynamic researches into such things as the relations between law and language, legal problems and linguistic facts in the judicial field saving Prof. Liao Meizhen. In addition, specially starting from the pragmatic characteristics of courtroom discourse, research on the application of Gricean conversational implicature theory to the courtroom discourse is even rarer.Taking Gricean conversational implicature theory as the theoretical framework in combination with the principle of goal direction posed by Liao Meizhen and the discourse analysis approach as well, this disquisition, from the pragmatic perspective, describes the interactional mechanism of participants of the trial as well as the characteristics of courtroom discourse with the view of the disclosure of the interactional relations, interactional mechanism, and question-and-answer strategies on the basis of elucidation and exploration of twenty-one practical extracts of the court trial. Furthermore, in terms of the analysis of the application and the significance of the conversational implicature theory in courtroom discourse, this thesis makes a practical study of some concrete issues of the application of courtroom discourse in an effort to delve into the applicability of Gricean conversational implicature theory to courtroom discourse and further prove the necessity and importance of research on the legal language, thus taking better advantage of the language mechanism and strengthening the effect of the theory on courtroom discourse to the fullest extent.From various angles, this dissertation first of all briefly introduces previous studies of Gricean conversational implicature theory in courtroom discourse at home and abroad. After that, the overview of Gricean conversational implicature theory, the principle of goal direction and the characteristics of courtroom discourse lays the first stone on the following analysis of the observance and violation of the cooperative principle in courtroom discourse. Besides, this disquisition focuses on the exploration of concrete manifestation and the characteristics of Gricean conversational implicature theory in courtroom discourse so as to reveal the practical significance of the study in judicial activities and in the field of linguistics. At length, the limitations and suggestions for future research of this thesis are summarized.