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Who’s really got the right moves? Analyzing recommendations for writing American judicial opinions.
[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
As seen by the recent majority opinion,(Dobbs v. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH ORGANIZATION, 2022), which overturns the federal protection of the right to abortion in the United States of America, judicial opinions of the American Supreme Court have wide-reaching impact. Despite this, very little is known about their move (Swales, 1990) structure (Goźdź-Roszkowski, 2020). This paper proposes a first model of American judicial opinions move structure. While little linguistic research on the actual structure of opinions exists (Goźdź-Roszkowski, 2020), there are many resources about writing judicial opinions (Vance, 2011). These take a prescriptive rather than descriptive approach. In addition, often used in law schools, they are a legal rather than a linguistic source. Despite their importance in legal training, no model has been constructed using the recommendations contained in these manuals nor is it clear if there is a convergence towards one model or several models. This paper proposes a typology of structures proposed in 45 manuals as part of a larger project on linguistically detecting the move structure of these documents. Our results show that while there is a general trend towards a prototypical structure, the advice on structure varies from manual to manual. Furthermore, it is generally based on individual practitioners' experience rather than corpora. References Dobbs v. JACKSON WOMEN'S HEALTH ORGANIZATION, (Supreme Court 2022). Goźdź-Roszkowski, S. (2020). Move Analysis of Legal Justifications in Constitutional Tribunal Judgments in Poland: What They Share and What They Do Not. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique, 33(3), 581–600. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11196-020-09700-1 Swales, J. M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge University Press. Vance, R. C. (2011). Judicial Opinion Writing: An Annotated Bibliography. 17 Legal Writing 197.
Presenters Mary C. Lavissière Associate Professor - MCF, Nantes Université
"Bullshit, charlatanry, fraud, approximations. It's even worse than I thought": controversies around stylometry and issues for forensic linguistics in the French legal context
Oral Presentation[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
The use of forensic linguistics in the French legal context is rare, and it is also controversial, on the rare occasions when it is employed. Although work in legal linguistics has been developed, particularly in the wake of Dominique Lagorgette's research, the use of forensic linguistics has met with reluctance (Renaut et al. 2017) and even oppositions. We will take as a starting point for this paper the case of the Petit Grégory affair, and its recent twists and turns following the introduction of stylometric expertise. This will allow us to detail precisely the use of a tool-based approach in the framework of linguistics applied to legal cases (stylometry, textometry, corpus linguistics). We will thus detail the criteria of validity of the results within the framework of a scientific discipline, and within the framework of a trial, in order to highlight the inadequacies, and the way forward, for forensic linguistics to be really able to provide an effective expertise in the French legal context. From the corpus of newspaper articles, comments and reactions to this case, we will then analyse how forensic linguistics is mediated and discussed by lawyers and experts. Taking into account the arguments and objections will reveal what appears, in the field of application of linguistics, to be relevant, and scientific, to a non-specialist audience. The presentation of the scientific stakes of forensic linguistics, in particular stylometry, and the perspective of the challenges and debates around its applications in the case of Petit Grégory, will allow us to synthesise the requirements and precautions to be taken in order to envisage a real relevant and efficient use. In addition to the scientific and legal dimensions, the institutional issues will also be highlighted, so that transparency and understanding of the results are made possible.
References Coulthard, M., & Johnson, A. (Eds.). (2010). The Routledge handbook of forensic linguistics (pp. 473-486). London: Routledge. Lagorgette, D. (2011). Pragmatics in the courtroom: Violent speech acts, law, and the linguist in France. Pragmatics & Society, 2(2). Lagorgette, D. (2012). Insulte, injure et diffamation: de la linguistique au code pénal?. Argumentation et analyse du discours, (8). Longhi, J. (2021). Using digital humanities and linguistics to help with terrorism investigations. Forensic science international, 318, 110564. Longhi, J. (2022). Linguistic Approaches to the Analysis of Online Terrorist Threats. In Language as Evidence (pp. 439-459). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Renaut, L., Ascone, L., & Longhi, J. (2017). De la trace langagière à l'indice linguistique: enjeux et précautions d'une linguistique forensique. Ela. Etudes de linguistique appliquee, (4), 423-442.
Presenters Julien Longhi Full Professor, CY Cergy Paris Université
Public discourses on diminished responsibility: analysis of (re)appropriation of language of law and its impact on legal decisions in the Sarah Halimi case
Oral Presentation[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
This study on lay discourse about legal discourse analyses online public reactions to court decision on Sarah Halimi case, a French Jewish woman, killed by her neighbor in Paris in 2017. The psychiatric assessments concluded that the murderer committed the crime during an "acute delirious puff" and The Court of Cassation (highest court in the French judiciary), while confirming the antisemitic nature of the crime, maintained the criminal irresponsibility. Strong reactions in France and worldwide led the French Minister of Justice to announce in 2021 a draft law on criminal irresponsibility that aims to "fill" a "legal vacuum". It explores the relationship between (1) the public representation and perception of this murder case and (2) the politico-legal response to decisions about diminished responsibility. This latter remains a sensitive topic in several countries and a number of criminal justice reforms are revised or implemented with close observation of public reaction.
This study on lay discourse about legal discourse analyses online public reactions to court decision on Sarah Halimi case, a French Jewish woman, killed by her neighbor in Paris in 2017. The psychiatric assessments concluded that the murderer committed the crime during an "acute delirious puff" and The Court of Cassation (highest court in the French judiciary), while confirming the antisemitic nature of the crime, maintained the criminal irresponsibility. Strong reactions in France and worldwide led the French Minister of Justice to announce in 2021 a draft law on criminal irresponsibility that aims to "fill" a "legal vacuum".
This study investigates the (re)appropriation of the language of law by the public following this controversial criminal law decision. By using texts from Twitter and foras (forum-actualite and forum-politique), the corpus analysis uses corpus tools (Salem, 2003), semantics approaches (Lecolle et al., 2018) and interpersonal model of meta-discourse (Hyland, 2018). The aim is to explore the legal meta-discourse by relying on modality studies to identify the injunctive, deontic, and epistemic discursive markers.
The analysis explores the relationship between (1) the public representation and perception of this murder case and (2) the politico-legal response to decisions about diminished responsibility. This latter remains a sensitive topic in several countries and a number of criminal justice reforms are revised or implemented with close observation of public reaction (Calvin et al., 2011; Mitchell et al, 2012; Noyon et al., 2020).
Hyland, K. (2018). Metadiscourse : Exploring Interaction in Writing (1re éd.). Bloomsbury Academic; Bloomsbury Collections. Lecolle, M., Veniard, M., & Guérin, O. (2018). Pour une sémantique discursive : Propositions et illustrations. Langages, 210(2), 35‑54. Noyon, L., De Keijser, J., & Crijns, J. (2020). Legitimacy and public opinion: A five-step model. International Journal of Law in Context, 16(4), 390-402. Salem, A., et al., (2003). Lexico3 : Outils de statistique textuelle. Manuel d'utilisation. Lexi&co.
Experimental pragmatics and international law – Legal interpretation and cognitive biases
Oral Presentation[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
As part of the significant growth experienced by applied linguistics, experimental pragmatics has recently begun to be applied in the sphere of legal language. Interpretation is an essential and omnipresent activity in law and can be understood as a process of language comprehension. Legal norms – so-called maxims, canons or rules of interpretation – typically prescribe (among other things) that a legal norm or legal notion is to be interpreted in accordance with its 'ordinary meaning'. This allows to rely on experimental methods to test various predictions about such 'ordinary meaning'. In a finalised project, Pirker and Skoczeń looked at whether the legislature (in the case of international law corresponding to the parties to a treaty) can convey more than it said or wrote and what this means for a(n international) judge or arbitrator interpreting the treaty and adding content to a legal rule. Additionally, they examined whether there is an influence of moral factors on interpretation in morally valenced cases. Experiments based on real cases from the international legal-interpretive practice and on pragmatic categorizations provide primary evidence that moral considerations directly impact the notion of ordinary meaning. In an ongoing project, Smolka deals with the relevance-theoretic and (selected) neo-Gricean accounts of pragmatic enrichment and examines which of these prominent pragmatic theories may be best suited to account for pragmatic enrichment in international law and experimentally test the developed claims. The linguistic item chosen to test these claims in order to develop a future experimental setting is the word 'or' and its interpretation in selected international legal contexts. In the real world, the interpretation of 'or' determines whether e.g. the International Court of Justice has jurisdiction in ongoing proceedings between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. In an ongoing project, Pirker and Skoczeń use experiments to explore the existence and relevance of cognitive biases caused by the wording of a recently proposed new definition for the international crime of 'ecocide'.
References:
Pirker B and Skoczen I, 'Pragmatic Inferences and Moral Factors in Treaty Interpretation - Applying Experimental Linguistics to International Law' (2022) 23 German Law Journal 314 Pirker B and Smolka J, 'Five Shades of Grey - A Linguistic and Pragmatic Approach to Treaty Interpretation' (2022) 82 Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht 121 Smolka J, 'Argumentation in the Interpretation of Statutory Law and International Law: Not Ejusdem Generis' (2022) 7 Languages 132 Smolka J and Pirker B, 'Pragmatics and the Interpretation of International Law-Two Relevance Theory-Based Approaches' in Giltrow J and Olsen F (eds), Legal Meanings: The Making and Use of Meanings in Legal Reasoning (Mouton de Gruyter 2021)
The Semantics of Power in the Colonial Discourses of Agreements and Treaties during the Malabar Conquest (1750-1800)
[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
The study is about the linguistic choices and their semantic attributions in the communication documents during the period of conquest in Colonial Malabar in India. It explores various archival documents available to decode various documents from this period, including agreements and treaties and various communications between the colonial power and the local people of Malabar during the period. It explores how power is intertwined in the linguistic choices of different communication files. The study employs a hybrid methodology of forensic linguistics and legal history.
Linguistic choices have different attributions beyond their literal meaning according to their contexts. This paper looks at the variations in the discourses seen in the colonial agreements and treaties during the Malabar conquest. The study employs the archived documents of various discourses during this period as a part of power shifting from the local elites to the colonial power. The analysis progresses in two phases, i) the linguistic attributions of power in the communications between the local elites and the colonial authorities and ii) the comparative analysis of variations in the linguistic choices by the colonial authorities correlating their varying power positions over the given period. It explores the dynamics of the linguistic choices of the local elites initially as a powerful entity in communication with the colonial authorities. However, after the colonial government acquired the power and elevated in the hierarchy, the same expressions with power attributions or more powerful expressions were used by the colonial administration to communicate with the same elites in a weaker position in terms of power. Apart from that, the variation in the linguistic choices of the colonial authorities also suggests how they are used to reflect the power positions on a scale from weaker to the powerful along the timeline. This includes the variation from a request to order in the colonial communication records. The paper argues that the linguistic choices of the colonial communication files aided them to project their power to the existed society and assisted as one of the tools for reiterating their power position in various contexts. The study gains importance as it analysed the linguistic choices and their semantic attributions of the earlier foundations of the Indian legal system and serves as a reference to future research and reformations in the legal system.
"I really didn't like that": a sociopragmatics analysis of the uses of evaluation in narratives of child victims of sexual abuse
Oral Presentation[SYMP46] Forensic and legal linguistics01:15 PM - 04:15 PM (Europe/Amsterdam) 2023/07/20 11:15:00 UTC - 2024/07/20 14:15:00 UTC
Nearly one in three child victims of sexual abuse does not disclose their abuse during the investigative interview. The main factors explaining this reluctance include the victim-perpetrator relationship and the feeling of shame. Our previous work suggests that having been led to perform sexual acts towards the perpetrator can also explain the reluctance of some victims to disclose their abuse during the investigative interview (Allard-Gaudreau, Laforest & Cyr, 2021). Specifically, we observed that children who reported having performed such acts, the type of victim that we termed "agentive", are more likely than "non-agentive" victims to avoid naming sexual acts using ellipses. The objective of the present research is to further explore the impact of the sexual agency on the discourse of child victims of sexual abuse. More precisely, we compared the evaluation of narratives of personal experience of eight "agentive" and eight "non-agentive" victims. Our results show that agentive victims evaluate their story significantly more often than non-agentive victims, i.e. they introduce more propositions that aim to comment on the narrated action (Labov, 1972), such as "I really didn't like that". Moreover, our analysis suggests that they evaluate their story mostly to justify their behaviours and to highlight the fact that they did not initiate or enjoy the sexual acts. This study further supports that having performed sexual acts has an impact on the discourse of child victims. Thus, this phenomenon should be considered by investigators.
Allard-Gaudreau, N., Laforest, M. & Cyr, M. (2021). Les modalités du non-dévoilement dans les récits d'enfants victimes d'agression sexuelle : une étude de l'ellipse narrative. Travaux Neuchâtelois de linguistique, 75(1), 1-19. Labov, W. (1972). Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular (No 3). Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Mary C. Lavissière
Julien Longhi
Nadia Makouar