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Language Related Research

Vol.4, No.4 (Tome 16), Winter 2014

Forensic Discourse Analysis: Legal Speech Acts


in Legal Language
Sajjad Asgari Matin1, Ali Rahimi2
1. Master of Research, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2. Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, University of Kashan,
Kashan, Iran
Receive: 17/9/2012

Accept: 17/2/2013

The multidisciplinary analysis of relationship between language and law has


been in the spotlight for many linguists in the last two decades. Forensic
Linguistics attempts to describe and, where possible, explain the features
that distinguish the language used in legal settings from the everyday
language. Furthermore, discourse analysis is capable of application in a wide
variety of settings and contexts. The purpose of this paper is to outline the
theory and practice of forensic discourse analysis as a tool for interpretation
and analysis of legal context with a particular focus on legal pragmatics in
Persian legal events to enable both researchers in legal system and forensic
linguists to pass the level of theory and barge into the practice of discourse
analysis in Persian legal system. In this regard, we focused on the Legal
Speech Acts based on the theory of Searle J. (1969). A collection of 20 files
issued in legal context were analyzed and the results and applications will be
discussed.
Keywords: Forensic discourse analysis, Searle J, Speech Act, Corpus.

Corresponding Authors Email: samatin@ut.ac.ir

287


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1Corpus
2 Sy stemic
L inguistics
Functional Lingu istics
3Forensic
Discourse Analy sis
4Pragmatics
5Speech Act

152

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7The International Association of Forensic Linguis ts
8International
Journal of Speech, Language and the Law
2005 9 (2007
)9 : 2003 2005 2005
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153

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. 11
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11Legal Register
12Law and
13Brenda society review
Danet
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discourse
15Structural
16 Functional
(17 .
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(12 :1389
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18Adjacency pairs
19
Formulaic language
20Case
21 ( 1979Stu
)22 . :1982 dy

22Speech
23Critical dacts
iscourse analy sis
24Verbal and
structural complexity
25Pragmatics
of legal discourse

155

...

.

) Levinson,

.(1983: 31

) .(Danet, 1985: 276

26
) Kurzon,

.(2001: 61-85; Archer, 2011: 16-30



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30 (.(1390
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156

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) (Declarative) (Representative ) (Expressive )(Directive
) (Commissive ) (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1975

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38

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):(Cao, 2007: 71-82

. 39 :

) ( . :
.
32Constative Speech Acts
33
Regulative Speech Acts
34 Expressive
Speech Acts
35 Legislative
Speech Acts
36 Judicial
37
Acts Acts
Speaker Speech
based Speech
38 Hearer-Oriented
Speech Acts
39 Prohibitio
n force

159

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1390
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:

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87320

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Freq.

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41
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)43 . .2000 , 1996

160

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(Obl-07) (Part B) (Part C)
(Part D) ) (Part E
.


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.

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1.

161

...

1
Frequency

Valid

Valid Per.

Cum. Per.

Exp-03

20

1/4

3/0

3/0

Per-06

40

2/7

6/1

9/1

Obl-07

82

5/6

12/5

21/6

Pro-05

83

5/7

12/6

34/2

Dec-01

103

7/0

15/7

49/9

Rep-02

329

22/4

50/1

100/0

Total

657

44/8

100/0

Part C
Percent

Valid Per.

Cum. Per.

Com-04

80

5/5

5/5

5/5

Obl-07

100

6/8

6/8

12/3

Pro-05

122

8/3

8/3

20/6

Dec-01

201

13/7

13/7

34/3

Rep-02

962

65/6

65/7

100/0

Total

1465

99/9

100/0

Frequency

Percent

Valid Per.

Cum. Per.

Exp-03

20

1/4

2/3

2/3

Rep-02

239

16/3

27/2

29/5

Dec-01

620

42/3

70/5

100/0

Total

879

60/0

100/0

Frequency

Percent

Valid Per.

Cum. Per.

Pro-05

60

4/1

11/8

11/8

Rep-02

122

8/3

24/0

35/8

Dec-01

327

22/3

64/2

100/0

Total

509

34/7

100/0

Frequency

Valid

Part B
Percent

Part D

Valid

Part E

Valid

162

4 ) 4 (16 1392

) (1 :
. )(Part B 50/1
31/2 15/7 3/0

. )(Part C 65/7 15/1
13/7 5/5
. )(Part D 70/5
27/2 2/3
. )(Part E 64/2 24/0
11/8 .
2
Percent

Percent

18/7

657

PartB

25/1

879

PartD

41/7

100

3510

Total N

14/5

N
0

PartA

1465

PartC

509

PartE

3510 41/7
25/1 18/7
14/5 ) .(2
1
.
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( ) 65/7( .

163

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164

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. ) 43 (

Multiple Response Analysis


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165

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44Pragmatic act of declaration

166

4 ) 4 (16 1392

.

.

:
.
.

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.

.7
corpus linguistics
systemic functional linguistics
forensic discourse analysis
pragmatics
speech act
See: Gibbons, 1994; Levi & Walker, 1990; Rieber & Stewart, 1990.
The International Association of Forensic Linguists
International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law
See: Cotterill, 2003; Eades, 1994, 2005; Heffer, 2005; Hydon, 2005; Rock,2007.
.10 . .1389 1384 .1383

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

11. legal register


12. law and society review
13. Brenda Danet
14. spoken legal discourse
15. structural
16. functional
167

...

.1389 Charrow & Charrow, 1979 :. .17


18. adjacency pairs
19. formulaic language
20. case study
.1979 Shuy, 1982 :. .21
22. speech acts
23. critical discourse analysis
24. verbal and structural complexity
25. pragmatics of legal discourse
26. negative face work
. .27
28. Performative
29. See: Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969,1975; Yule, 1996; Shuy,1993,2004:Mey,1993.
Stygall, 1994 Malley & Fahey, 1991,1994 Jori, 1994 Danet,1980 :. .30
.1390
. .31
32. constative speech acts
33. regulative speech acts
34. expressive speech acts
35. legislative speech acts
36. judicial speech acts
37. speaker based speech acts
38. hearer-oriented speech acts
39. prohibition force
40. permission force
41. obligation force
42. See: Yule, 1996.
43. string Analysis
44. pragmatic act of declaration

.8
.2 .( ) .(1390)
. :
: ( ).(1384) ________
: . .
.225-215 .
168

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.(1389)

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.11 .1 .1 .( )
. : .(1390)
. : .
: . .(1379) .
.
. : . .(1384) .________

. . .(1383) .
.380-365 .48-49 .68 .

. : .(1391)
. : .
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