A Study On Statements And Discourse Power In Criminal Cases Based On CDA

With the deepening of legal development in China,the past 30 years have seen fruitful results of research on courtroom discourse and discourse power from the perspective of language use.As a branch of legal language,courtroom discourse is dynamic and institutional,which is different from daily conversations.Previous studies have employed static textual features as their research objects and focused less on discourse intonation.Among few studies focusing on the intonation of courtroom discourse,questions and answers,features of interaction and pragmatic functions have been delved into,whereas power relations behind statements have not been revealed yet.This study,however,aims to uncover the hidden discourse power relations and find out current specific problems in Chinese court trials under the guidance of Critical Discourse Analysis(CDA),Language Adaptation Theory(LAT)and Principle of Goal-direction(PGD)in order to provide useful suggestions for the judicial practice.25 criminal cases and their documents are randomly selected from two legal websites(http://tingshen.court.gov.cn/ & www.ajxxgk.jcy.gov.cn/)in this study.Through using microanalysis and Praat,this study analyzes textural features,selection of words and discourse strategies in transcribed texts as well as intonation features in audio materials.It is found that:(1)Judges may use language structures and some linguistic devices to manifest and maintain their great discourse power even though they are neutral part according to the Principle of Goal-direction;(2)Prosecutors' discourse power is mainly manifested in the mastery of professional knowledge,discourse resources,diverse use of discourse strategies and intonation characteristics such as relatively high pitch,even though it is not completely consistent with regulations;(3)Defense lawyers are inclined to utter their opinions of negating prosecutors with lower pitch range.Meanwhile,they make stronger intensity on mitigators when delivering requests to judges;(4)The accused show politeness and regret through the whole court trial procedures;(5)Among the participants in courtroom trials,judges have the highest discourse power,followed by prosecutors who possess many discourse resources,and defense lawyers,together with the accused,own the lowest discourse power.This thesis introduces the microanalysis and the intonation approach,through whichlinguistic strategies and intonation features of the participants' statements in courtroom trials are uncovered particularly,and then power relations are revealed.These provide methodological frames of reference for future research on discourse power.Practically,the results not only reveal some specific problems existing in the current trials but also put forward corresponding suggestions for judicial reform in China.This study,therefore,is of great theoretical and practical significance.