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An analysis of attitude in chinese courtroom discourse

  • Guang Shi EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: March 8, 2018

Abstract

Attitude is an important resource for courtroom discourse to perform interpersonal functions. This paper analyzes the attitude expressions in the audio recording transcripts of eight trials and finds that: judgement is the most important way for courtroom participants to express attitude, followed by appreciation, while affect is the least frequently used. In the four criminal trials, the defendants express attitude most frequently and most negatively; in the four non-criminal trials, the plaintiffs express attitude most frequently and most negatively. In the debate section of criminal trials, judgements of legality and capacity and non-judgement invoking appreciations are employed by the prosecutors and defense attorneys to express attitude and debate each other. Non-judgement invoking appreciations are used not only to evaluate the evidence, but also to introduce substantial statements, serving as an intermediate link between the two.


Guang Shi, Nanjing Normal University, 122 Ninghai Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210097, China

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Published Online: 2018-03-08
Published in Print: 2018-03-26

© 2018 Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

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