Oxford University Press, USA
Dueling Discourses: The Construction of Reality in Closing Arguments
Dueling Discourses: The Construction of Reality in Closing Arguments
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Dueling Discourses offers qualitative and quantitative analyses of the linguistic and discursive forms utilized by opposing lawyers in their closing arguments during criminal trials. Laura Felton Rosulek analyzes how these arguments construct contrasting representations of the same realities,
applying the insights and methodologies of critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics to a corpus of arguments from seventeen trials. Her analysis suggests that silencing (omitting relevant information), de-emphasizing (giving information comparatively less attention and focus),
and emphasizing (giving information comparatively more attention and focus) are the key communicative devices that lawyers rely on to create their summations. Through these processes, lawyers' lexical, syntactic, thematic, and discursive patterns, both within individual narratives and across whole
arguments, function together to create versions of reality that reflect each individual lawyer's goals and biases. The first detailed analysis of closing arguments, this book will significantly improve our understanding of courtroom discourse. Furthermore, as previous research on all genres of discourse has examined exclusion/inclusion and de-emphasis/emphasis as separate issues rather than as steps on a
continuum, this book will advance the field of discourse analysis by establishing the ubiquity of these phenomena.
Author: Laura Felton Rosulek
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/01/2015
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780199337613
Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2015
applying the insights and methodologies of critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics to a corpus of arguments from seventeen trials. Her analysis suggests that silencing (omitting relevant information), de-emphasizing (giving information comparatively less attention and focus),
and emphasizing (giving information comparatively more attention and focus) are the key communicative devices that lawyers rely on to create their summations. Through these processes, lawyers' lexical, syntactic, thematic, and discursive patterns, both within individual narratives and across whole
arguments, function together to create versions of reality that reflect each individual lawyer's goals and biases. The first detailed analysis of closing arguments, this book will significantly improve our understanding of courtroom discourse. Furthermore, as previous research on all genres of discourse has examined exclusion/inclusion and de-emphasis/emphasis as separate issues rather than as steps on a
continuum, this book will advance the field of discourse analysis by establishing the ubiquity of these phenomena.
Author: Laura Felton Rosulek
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 01/01/2015
Pages: 248
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.01lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780199337613
Review Citation(s):
Choice 11/01/2015
About the Author
Laura Felton Rosulek received her PhD from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has taught courses at the University of Montana and Oregon State University. Her research specializations are in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis (particularly Critical Discourse Analysis).
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