Is courtroom discourse an ‘oral’ or ‘literate’ register? The importance of sub-register

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144562098209
Author(s):  
Meishan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Closing Arguments ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Boston Marathon Bombing ◽  
Boston Marathon ◽  
Detailed Interpretation ◽  
Opening Statements

By applying Multi-Dimensional Analysis, this study has provided a thorough description of the lexico-grammatical characteristics of courtroom discourse to see to what extent it employs both linguistic features of oral registers and literate registers. In particular, this study focuses on language used in the four public sub-registers (opening statements, direct examinations, cross-examinations, closing arguments) of courtroom discourse and analyzes how oral/literate each sub-register is, instead of characterizing courtroom discourse as oral/literate overall. Detailed interpretation of results focuses on Dimension 1 (involved and interactive vs. informational production) and 2 (narrative vs. non-narrative discourse) as these two dimensions are identified as universal parameters of register variation (Biber, 2014). A corpus of high-profile courtroom trials was compiled for this study that includes the O. J. Simpson criminal trial, the Boston Marathon bombing trial, and the Oklahoma bombing trial.

‘It was him’: Representational strategies, identity, and legitimization in the Boston Marathon bombing trial narratives

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 286-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krisda Chaemsaithong ◽  
Yoonjeong Kim
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Event Description ◽  
Boston Marathon Bombing ◽  
Systemic Functional Linguistic ◽  
Representational Practice ◽  
Capital Trial ◽  
Boston Marathon ◽  
Construct Meaning

Adopting a systemic functional linguistic view of language as a system of options from which language users choose to construct meaning, this study seeks to critically explicate the constitutive roles of reference terms and event description in accomplishing character positioning in the opening event of a recent high-profile capital trial, the Boston Marathon bombing trial of 2015. Incorporating Halliday’s concept of transitivity and Van Leeuwen’s inventory of social actors, the quantitative and qualitative analysis reveals that the prosecution and defence differ starkly in representational practice and that both reference terms and event description are prime stylistic devices that synergistically serve not only to construct and ascribe polarized identities to characters in their narratives but also to (de-)humanize the defendant before the verdict is reached, thereby (de-)legitimizing blame and responsibility and potentially influencing the jury’s decisions.

A multi-dimensional analysis of register variation in Brazilian Portuguese

Corpora ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Berber Sardinha ◽  
Carlos Kauffmann ◽  
Cristina Mayer Acunzo
Keyword(s):  
Dimensional Analysis ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
Six Dimensions ◽  
Dimensions Of Variation

In this paper, we present a Multi-Dimensional analysis of Brazilian Portuguese, based on a large, diverse corpus comprising forty-eight different spoken and written registers. Previous research in MD analysis includes multi-register investigations of a range of languages, including English, Spanish, Somali and Korean, among others. At the same time, a large body of literature on text varieties in Brazilian Portuguese exists, but previous research focusses on specific aspects of one, or at the most, a few varieties at a time and, therefore, does not present a comprehensive picture of register use in the linguistic community of Brazilian Portuguese speakers. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by employing the MD framework, enabling researchers to account for a large number of different registers, based on a wide repertory of linguistic features. The analysis revealed six dimensions of variation, which are presented, illustrated and discussed here.

Lessons From the Boston Marathon Bombing

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. S7-S10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Tobert ◽  
Arvind von Keudell ◽  
Edward K. Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Boston Marathon Bombing ◽  
Boston Marathon

scholarly journals Large Event Security - A Case Study of Spokane Events, WA

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-56
Author(s):  
Angela Senter ◽  
Mark Beattie ◽  
Demi Deng
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Event Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Boston Marathon Bombing ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
Guest Satisfaction ◽  
Boston Marathon ◽  
Leadership Decisions ◽  
Martin Luther King

Large event security has become increasingly complex over the past 20 years. Security incidents have included headline tragedies such as the Las Vegas shooting in 2017 and the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. Spokane, Washington, has been no exception to the need to enhance guest security for large-scale events, as evidenced by the Hoopfest gang-related shooting in 2010 and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day bombing attempt in 2011. Balancing the interests of stakeholders has become challenging for event management professionals in both planning and operations phases. Security strategies and trainings designed for security and guest service staff are critical for the success of new protocols. Transparent communication to the public is crucial for the event's success and the guarantee of guest satisfaction. This case study aims to document the leadership decisions made to enhance security for large-scale events held in Downtown Spokane and the Spokane Arena. Focusing on several tipping points, the leadership decisions and implementation are chronicled as a case study, along with the decisions and protocols that continue to influence large event security in the Spokane area. This study will benefit other event planners and venues as they face security system upgrades, protocols, and implementation.

scholarly journals Register and Register Variation

Linguistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Register Variation ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
Communicative Functions ◽  
Situational Characteristics ◽  
Register Studies ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Linguistic Approach

Register research has been approached from differing theoretical and methodological approaches, resulting in different definitions of the term register. In the text-linguistic approach, which is the primary focus of this bibliography, register refers to text varieties that are defined by their situational characteristics, such as the purpose of writing and the mode of communication, among others. Texts that are similar in their situational characteristics also tend to share similar linguistic profiles, as situational characteristics motivate or require the use of specific linguistic features. Text-linguistic research on register tends to focus on two aspects: attempts to describe a register, or attempts to understand patterns of register variation. This research happens via comparative analyses, specific examinations of single linguistic features or situational parameters, and often via examinations of co-occurrence of linguistic features that are analyzed from a functional perspective. That is, certain lexico-grammatical features co-occur in a given text because they together serve important communicative functions that are motivated by the situational characteristics of the text (e.g., communicative purpose, mode, setting, interactivity). Furthermore, corpus methods are often relied upon in register studies, which allows for large-scale examinations of both general and specialized registers. Thus, the bibliography gives priority to research that uses corpus tools and methods. Finally, while the broadest examinations on register focus on the distinction between written and spoken domains, additional divisions of register studies fall under the categories of written registers, spoken registers, academic registers, historical registers, and electronic/online registers. This bibliography primarily introduces some of the key resources on English registers, a decision that was made to reach a broader audience.

Crowdsourcing Investigations

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea H. Tapia ◽  
Nicolas J. LaLone
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Online Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Boston Marathon Bombing ◽  
Boston Marathon

In this paper the authors illustrate the ethical dilemmas that arise when large public investigations in a crisis are crowdsourced. The authors focus the variations in public opinion concerning the actions of two online groups during the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing. These groups collected and organized relief for victims, collected photos and videos taken of the bombing scene and created online mechanisms for the sharing and analysis of images collected online. They also used their large numbers and the affordances of the Internet to produce an answer to the question, “who was the perpetrator, and what kind of bomb was used?” The authors view their actions through public opinion, through sampling Twitter and applying a sentiment analysis to this data. They use this tool to pinpoint moments during the crisis investigation when the public became either more positively or negatively inclined toward the actions of the online publics. The authors use this as a surrogate, or proxy, for social approval or disapproval of their actions, which exposes large swings in public emotion as ethical lines are crossed by online publics.

Jean Quigley, The grammar of autobiography: A developmental account. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. Pp. xiv, 232. Hb $49.95.

2001 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 490-493
Author(s):  
Stanton Wortham
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Narrative Discourse ◽  
The Self ◽  
Narrative Self ◽  
Functional Linguistics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Autobiographical Narrative

In The grammar of autobiography, Jean Quigley makes a claim that one often hears nowadays: that the self is constructed in autobiographical narrative discourse. Two dimensions of the work distinguish her analysis of narrative self-construction from many other treatments of the subject. First, she offers a genuinely interdisciplinary account, drawing on functional linguistics, theoretical and developmental psychology, and accounts of language development. Second, she studies a particular category of linguistic forms – modals – as the key to narrative self-construction.

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