Dr.
Susana M. Sotillo, DI
119
(Linguistics
290-01)
Language
of the Law
FALL 2001
Time
and Location: Wednesday 5:00 pm -- 6:15 pm,
Dickson Hall 280 (Lab)
Wednesday 6:15
to 7:30 p.m., Dickson Hall 270
Office Hours
Course
Description:
This course explores the interface between language and our legal system.
Topics to be covered include the following:
Historical perspectives of the Discourses of Law
The use of linguists as expert witnesses
Spoken language in the courtroom
The language of mediation
Conversational analysis as evidence in criminal cases
The rights of linguistic minorities
Corpus Linguistic analysis of courtroom discourse
The language of dispute resolution
The
psychological impact of language use in modern day litigation
Prerequisites: An excellent command of the English language.
Teaching Methodology: Introductory Power Point presentations, discussions, Web-based research, corpus linguistics workshops, and student-led presentations and discussions. TACT tutoring sessions will be available in DI182. GA Masayo Oda will supervise the TACT tutoring sessions.
Fieldwork: Students are encouraged to report on some active off-campus
research, such as observing courtroom language and/or courtroom interpreting,
interviewing a lawyer or a judge about linguistic issues in the law, or some
other rigorous investigative project (non-library research). (Suggestions
for fieldwork were kindly provided by Dr. Judith N. Levi.) If you do
interview a lawyer with expertise in a specific area, such as a lawyer that
advises the planning and zoning board in New Jersey towns and townships, ask
permission to audiotape the conversation.
Just Words (Law, Language, and Power). John M. Conley and William
M. O'Barr. Chicago, IL: The University of
Chicago Press, 1998.
Course Packet of Readings on Reserve (see below).
Readings:
Week 1:
History of Legal Language (9/5/01)
The Discourses of Law in Historical Perspective and A Natural History of
Disputing, chapters five and seven, Just Words (Law, Language, and Power).
Introduction to TACT.
Download the program from the
University of Toronto.
Week 2:
Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Courtroom
Discourse to Uncover Discriminatory Linguistic Practices (9/12/01)
Domestic discourse, rocky relationships: semantic prosodies in representations
of marital violence in the O.J. Simpson trial (Janet Cotterill, Discourse &
Society 12(3) 2001, pp. 291-312).
Using TACT to analyze court transcripts. Visit
the University of Birmingham's Forensic Linguistics Page.
Week 3: Corpus
Linguistics Analysis (continuation -- 9/19/01)
Tools for the trade (D. Woolls and M.
Coulthard Forensic Linguistics 5(1) 1998, pp. 33-57).
Doing Web-based and library research in Forensic
Linguistics (5:15 to 6:15 p.m.): William Vincenti, Reference Librarian,
655-7147.
Week
4: The Language Scientist as Expert in the Legal Setting
(9/26/01)
Forensic semantics: the meaning of
murder, manslaughter and homicide (I. Langford, Forensic Linguistics 7(1) 2000,
pp. 72-94).
Does the Legal System Need Experts in English Syntax? (Lawrence Solan, 1990).
Week 5: Political Discourse, Ideology, and the Law
(10/3/01)
Political Discourse and Ideology (Teun A. van Dijk, Second Draft, April 2001,
Jornadas del Discurso Politico, UPF, Barcelona).
The Official Version: Audience manipulation in police records of interviews with
suspects. (M. Coulthard, 1997. In
C.R. Caldas-Coulthard & M. Coulthard (Eds.), Texts and Practices (pp.
15-31). London: Routledge.
Week 6: Spoken
Language in the Courtroom (10/10/01)
Misconceptions about Language in Law
Cases (Chapter 1, Roger W. Shuy, 1993).
US pattern jury instructions: problems and proposals (B. K. Dumas,
Forensic Linguistics 7(1), 2000, pp.49-71).
Week 7: The Language of Mediation (10/17/01)
Chapter three, Just Words (Law, Language, and Power).
Interpreting for the police: issues in pre-trial phases of the judicial process
(S. Berk-Seligson, Forensic Linguistics 7 (2) 2000, pp. 212-237).
UNIVERSITY DAY (10/24/01 -- No Classes)
Week 8: (10/31/01
Halloween)
Work on your EXAM #1 (Parts I, II, and III). Hand it
in by 6:00 p.m.
Week 9: Interpreting and
the Law (11/7/01) Go
to a case study in forensic linguistics. Part lecture -- Small Group
Discussions.
The impact
of court interpreting on the coerciveness of leading questions (S.
Berk-Seligson, Forensic Linguistics 6(1) 1999, pp. 30-56).
Questioning in interpreted testimony
(A. C. Rigney, Forensic Linguistics 6 (1) 1999, pp. 83-108).
Week 10: (11/14/01) EXAM #2 (1
hour 15 minutes -- Answer only two questions out of five)
We will discuss your Final Project which is due December 12, 2001.
Week 11: The Rights of Linguistic
Minorities (11/21/01)
The Difficulties of Limited-English Proficient Individuals in the Legal Setting
(J.D. Roy, Vol.606, 1990, pp. 73-83).
Redressing the imbalance: Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system (D.
Mildren, Forensic Linguistics 6(1) 1999, pp. 137-160).
TENTATIVE: A very successful immigration lawyer will
be our guest speaker from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Be prepared to ask questions.
Week 12: Conversational
Analysis as Evidence in Criminal Cases (11/28/01)
Evidence of Cooperation in Conversation (R. W. Shuy, The Language Scientist as
Expert in the Legal Setting, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol.
606, 1990, pp. 85-105).
Asking Questions (R.W. Shuy, Language Crimes, 1993, Blackwell, pp. 174-199).
Week 13: The
Psychological Impact of Language Use in Modern Day Litigation (12/5/01)
Psycholinguistics in the Courtroom (M.
S. Miron, Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences, Vol.606, 1990, pp. 55-64).
Threatening (R. W. Shuy, Language Crimes, 1993, Blackwell, pp. 97-117).
Week 14: Week of
Finals: Final Project (12/12/01) Maximum
length: 10 double-spaced pages. Your final project will consist of
original research using Sprague's Electronic Databases (Lexis-Nexis).