Language in the Legal Process

JANET COTTERILL is a Lecturer in Language and Communication at Cardiff University. She is Joint Editor of Forensic Linguistics: The International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law.

• List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction: Language in the Legal Process; J.Cotterill PART I: THE LINGUIST IN THE LEGAL PROCESS To Testify or Not to Testify?; R.W.Shuy Whose Voice Is It? Invented and Concealed Dialogue in Written Records of Verbal Evidence Produced by the Police; M.Coulthard Textual Barriers to United States Immigration; G.Stygall The Language and Law of Product Warnings; P.M.Tiersma PART II: THE LANGUAGE OF THE POLICE AND THE POLICE INTERVIEW 'I Just Need to Ask Somebody Some Questions': Sensitivities in Domestic Dispute Calls; K.Tracy & R.R.Agne So...? Pragmatic Implications of So-Prefaced Questions in Formal Police Interviews; A.Johnson 'Three's a Crowd': Shifts in Dynamics in the Interpreted Interview; S.Russell The Miranda Warnings and Linguistic Coercion: The Role of Footing in the Interrogation of a Limited-English Speaking Murder Suspect; S.Berk-Seligson PART III: THE LANGUAGE OF THE COURTROOM I: LAWYERS AND WITNESSES 'Just One More Time...': Change and Continuity in Courtroom Narratives in the Trials of OJ Simpson; J.Cotterill 'Evidence Given in Unequivocal Terms': Gaining Consent of Aboriginal Young People in Court; D.Eades The Clinton Scandal: Some Legal Lessons from Linguistics; L.M.Solan Understanding the Other: A Case of Mis-Interpreting Culture-Specific Utterances at Alternative Dispute Resolution; R.H.Moeketsi PATY IV: THE LANGUAGE OF THE COURTROOM II: JUDGES AND JURIES The Meaning of 'I Go Bankrupt': An Essay in Forensic Linguistics; S.Bernstein 'If You Were Standing in Marks and Spencers': Narrativization and Comprehension in the English Summing-Up; C.Heffer Reasonable Doubt about Reasonable Doubt: Assessing Jury Instruction Adequacy in a Capital Case; B.K.Dumas Discipline and Punishment in the Discourse of Legal Decision on Rape Trials; D.de C.Figueiredo Index

'Cotterill's recent collection reminds us at every turn that the law is neither monolithic nor impersonal. It is made up of a number of strange (and sometimes beautiful) procedures and staffed by a heady mix of individuals who are in the final measure, human...The problems raised are not only problems for linguists and lawyers. They demand consideration from anyone who would be considered a member of society.' - Annabelle Mooney, British Association of Applied Linguistics