Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations
While courtroom examinations are often recognized as a distinct speech-exchange system, little is known about how participants do an examination beyond its unique turn-taking system. This article attempts to shed some light on this issue by studying the question design during the direct examination...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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SAGE Publications
2018
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| _version_ | 1826274704565993472 |
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| author | Seuren, L |
| author_facet | Seuren, L |
| author_sort | Seuren, L |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | While courtroom examinations are often recognized as a distinct speech-exchange system, little is known about how participants do an examination beyond its unique turn-taking system. This article attempts to shed some light on this issue by studying the question design during the direct examination in an American criminal court case using Conversation Analysis. It shows that attorneys use different question forms compared to casual conversation: declaratives are far less prevalent and questions are often designed as requests for action. In addition, attorneys make use of forms that are not found in other types of interaction, such as the tag (is that) correct. The way in which attorneys design their questions additionally shows that the rules of the courtroom have procedural consequences for how the interaction is done. But these rules have to be enacted, and it is in their violation that participants bring about categories such as leading questions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:47:31Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:5dacf450-59e6-4826-a05e-fe89458784c7 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:47:31Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | SAGE Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:5dacf450-59e6-4826-a05e-fe89458784c72022-03-26T17:35:56ZQuestioning in court: The construction of direct examinationsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5dacf450-59e6-4826-a05e-fe89458784c7Symplectic Elements at OxfordSAGE Publications2018Seuren, LWhile courtroom examinations are often recognized as a distinct speech-exchange system, little is known about how participants do an examination beyond its unique turn-taking system. This article attempts to shed some light on this issue by studying the question design during the direct examination in an American criminal court case using Conversation Analysis. It shows that attorneys use different question forms compared to casual conversation: declaratives are far less prevalent and questions are often designed as requests for action. In addition, attorneys make use of forms that are not found in other types of interaction, such as the tag (is that) correct. The way in which attorneys design their questions additionally shows that the rules of the courtroom have procedural consequences for how the interaction is done. But these rules have to be enacted, and it is in their violation that participants bring about categories such as leading questions. |
| spellingShingle | Seuren, L Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title | Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title_full | Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title_fullStr | Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title_short | Questioning in court: The construction of direct examinations |
| title_sort | questioning in court the construction of direct examinations |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seurenl questioningincourttheconstructionofdirectexaminations |