Analysis On Final Statements By Defendants-From The Perspective Of Speech Act Theory

By reviewing relevant legal and linguistics literatures as well as examining Chinese courtroom videos,the author finds that final statements by defendants(“FSBD”),which is an important legal procedure for protecting their litigation rights,have not received adequate attention either in academia or in judicature.In practice,defendants or their lawyers,very frequently,fail to seize this final opportunity to argue their case,rendering defendants in the courtroom to be in a disadvantageous position.Previous researches on FSBD,if any,fail to disclose the pragmatic and contextual nature of language use in FSBD.The present study sets out to analyze FSBD with Speech Act Theory and Context Theory,mainly by analyzing the distribution of various types of speech acts in final statements made by defendants,in order to find out about the functions as well as status quo of FSBD in China.The research methods employed in this study are mainly documental analysis and case study.On the basis of the data collected,FSBD are classified into three types: silence or abstention,one-sentence and others,with the second and third types being the foci of analysis in this study.It is found that approximately half of the defendants give up their right to make a final statement,and about a quarter just speak one sentence,failing to take their last chance in the courtroom to express their opinions or feelings.In terms of Speech Act Theory,it is found that,among the five types of speech acts,expressives and directives are the most common in FSBD,with the former to express defendants' regrets for committing crimes,and the latter to beg for lighter punishment.Representatives are often employed to deny or admit guilt and state facts by defendants.The proportion of final statements with legal significance in each type of speech acts is very low in general.In addition,in terms of Context Theory,defendants' educational level,their status in the courtroom,the layout of the final statement procedure,people's attention to final statements and other relevant matters work together to form the pragmatic features of speech acts in FSBD.It is hoped that the research findings of this thesis can contribute to the legal and linguistic analysis of FSBD on the one hand,and to the improvement of judicial practice in terms of the court's fair and efficient management of FSBD and the more effective protection of defendants' litigation rights on the other hand.