Subjects
-Abstract
Forensic linguistics is an emerging interdisciplinary approach to linguistics and law that is getting crucial nowadays. It is a sub-field of linguistics which is concerned with written and oral interaction in legal contexts. Forensic Linguistics encompasses various areas such as Auditory Phonetics, Acoustic Phonetics, Semantics, Discourse and Pragmatics as well as Language of the Law and Language of the courtroom which investigates the language used by judges, lawyers and witnesses. The present study applies a qualitative descriptive approach to analyze ten videos of “Caught in Providence" courtroom hearings as a unique model for forensic discourse. It applies Griffiths Question Map (GQM) developed by Griffiths and Milne (2006) and theory of politeness by Brown and Levinson (1987) to investigate the types of questions used in “Caught in Providence" courtroom hearings as well as the politeness techniques adopted to highlight their significance in presenting a distinctive forensic discourse. The findings of the present study show that “Caught in Providence" courtroom hearings have unique characteristics as forensic discourse. The study invites further investigation of courtroom hearings in non-western countries to highlight aspects of similarities and differences.
DOI
10.21608/jssa.2025.355793.1708
Keywords
courtroom hearings, digital legal discourse, forensic discourse analysis, Griffiths Question Map, politeness theory
Authors
MiddleName
-Affiliation
قسم اللغة الإنجليزية وآدابها والترجمة الفورية، كلية الدراسات الإنسانية، جامعة الأزهر بالقاهرة
Email
mowafy.mai@azhar.edu.eg
Orcid
-Link
https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/article_424208.html
Detail API
http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=424208
Publication Title
مجلة البحث العلمي في الآداب
Publication Link
https://jssa.journals.ekb.eg/
MainTitle
A License to Dismiss: A Forensic Discourse Analysis of “Caught in Providence” Courtroom Hearings