Realization Of Judges' Role In Court: From The Perspective Of Discourse Information Processing

This thesis is a linguistic study on the realization of judges' role in Chinese civil court. The aim is to reveal how judges process discourse information to realize their role in court. By applying the model of tree information structure of legal discourse, the present study discusses the features and functions of judges' information processing and factors impairing the realization of judges' role, based on the analysis of the data extracted from the Corpus for the Legal Information Processing System.First the features of judges' discourse information processing in court are examined, wherein it is found that distinctive features exist in judges' processing of information knots and information structure. The functions of judges' discourse information processing are then analyzed, which shows how judges realize their role in court by dealing with the courtroom discourse structures. The interactional function of judges' discourse information processing also enables judges to realize their role by interacting with other participants in court. Moreover, by analyzing judges' discourse information processing, it is found that impairing factors exist in judges' realization of their role in court, for instance, the objective factors such as social reality and the subjective factors such as judges' bias.It is hoped that this thesis may enrich the study of legal discourse and provide suggestions for the realization of judges' role in court through language.