Exploring Courtroom Discourse

Reviews / Votes

'This important collection explores the ways that law, language and power interact in courtrooms around the world. It will remain an important contribution to the study of law and culture for a long time, both because of the quality of the individual chapters, and because, taken as a whole, the book provides a compelling narrative of the courtroom as a forum for reinforcing control across many legal cultures.' Lawrence M. Solan, Brooklyn Law School, USA 'Through the lenses of a variety of theories and approaches, including discourse analysis, pragmatics, semantics, semiotics, and sociolinguistics, this volume examines some of the many ways in which language functions as a tool for exercising power and control in legal settings.' Peter Tiersma, Loyola Law School, USA 'The appeal of the book lies in the actionable knowledge it brings to this emerging field of research and practice as it contains contributions from internationally recognized scholars from a range of continents, including Asia, North America, Europe and Oceania. Integrating practical and theoretical reflections, this volume provides an updated profile for the trend and evolution in interdisciplinary studies between law, language and discourse, which is valuable not only for the professionals and academics in the fields of law and forensic linguistics, but also for those in the field of discourse studies.' Discourse Studies 'The book encourages a critical understanding of how law and language exhorts power and control in courtrooms across diverse cultures. It is thus likely to appeal to students and researchers engaged in interdisciplinary work, in particular in the fields of law, legal theory, (legal) interpretation and the semiotics of law.' International Journal for the Semiotics of Law