An Adaptation-Based Study Of Language And Power In Police Interrogation

The relationship between language and power has been the research topic to attract linguists for a long time. In recent years, the study tends to be interdisciplinary, but the study combining language and power with police interrogation leaves a relative much room. However, the police often exert their power to control the process of interrogations expecting to gain the most detailed confession from the suspect in limited time. Therefore, it is necessary to study the language and power in police interrogation.The present study looks into the interrogator's employment of police power in interrogation from the perspective of sociology and pragmatics. We draw on an analytical framework based on French and Raven's (1959) bases of social power theory and Verschueren's (2000) theory of adaptation. The goal of this study is to analyze the employment of police power and their reflection in verbal language and non-verbal language, mainly through descriptive-explanatory method and interviewing method.With French and Raven's (1959) bases of social power theory as a descriptive tool, the interrogator's employment of power in the data collected falls into six bases of social power (legitimate power, reward power, coercive power, referent power, expert power and information power). And the frequency of employment of each power in police interrogation is showed through empirical analysis.Then, the author finds two different interrogation methods through analyzing the data--exaggerating power and concealing power. And they are demonstrated in two dimensions--verbal language and non-verbal language.With Verschueren's (2000) theory of adaptation as an explanatory tool, the thesis discusses the dynamic adaptation to physical world, social world and mental world, in order to ensure the smooth progress of police interrogation.Hopefully, the present study can deepen the understanding for the importance of police power in interrogations, especially for the training police cadets. And it can also help the police exerting their power to increase the efficiency of interrogation with the aim of "building a resource-efficient society" posed by our country...