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| Semester | spring semester 2018 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Daniela Landert (daniela.landert@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In this lecture, we will look at the crucial role language plays at various levels of courtroom interaction. We will start the lecture course by looking at some of the characteristics of legal language and legal documents. We will then move on to study the participation framework of courtroom interaction. Different participants in the courtroom have different communicative rights and different goals, which are reflected in their communicative practices. We will study speech acts and communication styles that are characteristic of courtroom interaction and we will look at how language is used to persuade and to create credibility. We will also have a look at courtroom interaction from a historical perspective. Trial proceedings and witness depositions provide valuable evidence of the language use of lower social status groups, who are under-represented in many other types of written documents that have survived from earlier periods. In order to interpret these data, we will explore their socio-historical context and the many differences between historical and present-day trials. In the final part of the lecture, we will turn to some recent trends in forensic linguistics. These include studies on the role of language as evidence, e.g. in establishing authorship of texts, as well as research on language use that constitutes a punishable offence, such as perjury and threats. The focus of the lecture lies on the language use in US jury trials and we will study courtroom interaction mostly from a pragmatic perspective. Pragmatic concepts such as speech acts, participation framework, audience design and speech representation will be introduced and applied to courtroom data. Throughout the semester, theoretical concepts are illustrated with material from court cases, including, for instance, the trial of O.J. Simpson and the Clinton impeachment. |
| Learning objectives | - Students are able to identify and describe typical characteristics of legal language with linguistic terminology. - Students are able to describe the communicative roles, rights and styles of different courtroom participants. - Students know the concept of legal speech acts and are able to illustrate it with suitable examples. - Students know the role of historical courtroom data for linguistics and are able to describe it with reference to suitable examples. - Students are able to describe selected methods of forensic linguistics (authorship analysis, voice profiling and comparison, speaker identification), including their limitations. |
| Bibliography | Recommended reading: Durant, Alan, and Janny HC Leung. 2016. "Language and Law. A Resource Book for Students". Routledge English Language Introductions. Oxon/New York: Routledge. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | None |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
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No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Interphilologische Lehrveranstaltungen für die Slavistik (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Advanced English Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul English Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English) Modul English Sociolinguistics & Cognitive Linguistics (Master's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Extending the View (Linguistics) (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Focusing on the Discipline (Linguistics) (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Forschungspraxis und Vertiefung (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft BA (Bachelor's degree subject: English) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: German Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: French Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Slavic Studies) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: English) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Italian Language and Literature) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Latin Philology) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Nordic Philology) Modul Interphilologie: Sprachwissenschaft MA (Master's degree subject: Spanish Language and Literature) Modul Refining Skills in Linguistics (Bachelor's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Research Skills in English Linguistics or Literature (Master's degree subject: English (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) Modul Sprache und Gesellschaft (Master's degree program: Language and Communication) Modul Texte und Diskurse (Master's degree program: Language and Communication (Start of studies before 01.08.2013)) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | Written test (90 mins) towards the end of term |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |