从法庭话语看法庭中权利不平等现象外国语言学与应用语言学专业论文.docxVIP

ABSTRACT Language and law are extremely close. Language is the medium through which law does most of its work and it is the essential mechanism through which the power of the law is realized, exercised, reproduced, and occasionally challenged and subverted. It is the legal language that makes the unequal power relation between different races, classes and genders normalized, legalized and eternal. The unequal power relation inevitably leads to inequality of legal rights. Thus, this thesis aims to analyze the linguistic representation of inequality of legal rights in the courtroom and attempts to put forward some approaches to realize equality of legal rights in the courtroom. This thesis mainly employs the qualitative method and conversational analysis method to analyze courtroom discourse. By analyzing real courtroom discourse, this thesis reveals the linguistic representation of inequality of legal rights in the courtroom. The most prominent one is the asymmetric discourse rights between the lawyer and the witness in the courtroom. Then, the phenomenon of inequality of legal rights between men and women in the courtroom is elaborated. Besides, this thesis also discusses the unfavorable position of disadvantaged groups such as ethnic minorities and children in the courtroom. As regards those phenomena of inequality of legal rights in the courtroom, this thesis suggests corresponding approaches to realize equality of legal rights in the courtroom. As for the asymmetric relationship between the lawyer and the witness, there are some effective strategies for the witness to cope with the lawyer?s cross examinations. Besides, the judge can use his authority to improve the asymmetric relationship between the lawyer and the witness in the courtroom. As for the unfavorable position of disadvantaged groups in the courtroom, some approaches are also suggested, including delivering information effectively, establishing mediation mechanism, improving the interpreting and inte