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The social consequences of language ideologies in courtroom cross-examination

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2012

Diana Eades
Diana Eades
Affiliation:
Linguistics, University of New England, Armidale 2351, [email protected]
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Abstract

Investigations of inequality within the courtroom have mostly examined ways in which discourse structure and rules of use constrain witnesses. This article goes beyond interactional practices to deal with four central language ideologies, which both facilitate these practices and impact on the interpretation and understanding of what people say in evidence. The article further shows that language ideologies can have much wider consequences beyond the courtroom. Focusing on language ideologies involved in storytelling and retelling in cross-examination, and using an Australian example, the article traces the recontextualization of part of a witness's story from an initial investigative interview to cross-examination, then to its evaluation in closing arguments and the judicial decision, as well as its (mis)representation in the print media. The analysis reveals the role of these language ideologies in the perpetuation of neocolonial control over Australian Aboriginal people. (Language ideologies, courtroom talk, cross-examination, decontextualization, recontextualization, neocolonial control, Australia)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , September 2012 , pp. 471 - 497
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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