Attitude In Criminal Courtroom Discourse

Human beings are closely related with law. Within the framework of law, we manage our daily lives, such as our family lives, housing and transport, study and work. Trial is one of the most significant forms of legal implementation, as well as one of the most important legal activities, In a trial, participants use language to exchange information, express their attitudes and negotiate with others to ensure smooth running of a trial. Adjudications of trials will involve the stakes of the life of the accused, the properties and reputations of the plaintiff and the defendant. In such a serious environment, courtroom participants are cautious about their use of language. The study on courtroom discourse from a linguistic perspective is of theoretical and practical significance.In courtroom discourse, various types of attitudes exist, such as the judge's attitude, the lawyer's attitude and the defendant's attitude. In the thesis, related studies about courtroom discourse and appraisal theory are reviewed, and it is found that attitude in courtroom has not been systematically and profoundly studied.From the collected data, ten samples with about 99520 characters are selected as the analysis object. The samples cover most types of criminal cases, such as intentional injury, fraud, theft and arson. A qualitative method is adopted in the study and a model is constructed to analyze the attitude resources.Based on Genre theory (Martin & Rose,2008), criminal courtroom discourse is considered as a kind of designed macro-genre with elemental sub-genres. It includes five stages according to trial procedures. Attitudinal resources in each stage have been analyzed with typical data, in order to discover the role attitudinal resources play and how they are employed by courtroom participants to protect their interests.It is found that, in courtroom discourse, attitudinal resources are employed to present the particulars of the offence, to judge the behavior with legal terms and to implement laws. In light of users of attitudinal resources, the judge seldom uses attitudinal resources, In the examination stage, the prosecutor is inclined to use Judgement resources to describe the misbehaviors of the defendant. In the final statement stage, the defendant tends to use Afffect resources and Appreciation resources to gain others'sympathy and express their remorseful feelings and forthcoming actions. The defender is inclined to use Judgement resources and Appreciation resources to positively evaluate the behavior the defendant and help him re-integrate into the community. In light of types of attitudinal resources, positive and negative attitudinal resources constitute a wave-like attitudinal prosody to make the feelings of the listeners fluctuate with the unfolding of discourse. In light of means of expression, polar expressions like"本院认为"(it is held by the court),"予以/不予以采纳"(it is adopted/not adopted by the court) and"予以/不予以支持"(it is supported/not supported by the court) are typical expressions of Attitude in criminal courtroom discourse.With related theories in functional linguistics, the study focuses on institutional criminal courtroom discourse from generic and semantic perspectives. Typical features of attitudinal resources in each stage of a trial are summarized through analysis of collected data. The research enlarges the application of appraisal theory, offers certain guidance for legal professionals and facilitates the justice and fairness of trials.