Adjacency Pair Analysis Of Courtroom Cross-examination

Courtroom discourse is spoken and interactive. The adversarial nature of the trial process is the immediate determinant of its structural elements: the different stages which structure the proceedings. These ensure that for each witness/defendant there will be an examination-in-chief, by his own supportive counsel and a cross-examination, by the adversarial counsel/prosecutor. As well, each counsel/prosecutor typically will open his case by an opening address, and will close the case by a closing address. There will be as well a direction from the judge, directed to the jury. Although each stage is crucial to the process, the examination stage is usually perceived to be the core of the trial process. It is this stage that has attracted the greatest attention from those legal and linguistic observers concerned with the distribution of power, and with forensic strategies.This thesis examines courtroom cross-examination from the angle of adjacency pairs. In cross-examination, a counsel/prosecutor can challenge a witness/defendant's testimony; lead the witness/defendant to answer predesigned questions, or throw blame on him/her. Drew (1979&1990) has given fruitful research in this field, but most of the research focuses on correction, repair or narrative. This author will choose the framework of adjacency pairs. Sacks, Schegloff, and Pormerautz have proposed different properties about adjacency pairs. In this thesis, conditional relevance, relative ordering and preference organization are combined into the theoretical framework, which are analytically reverted into three skills: overlaps, pauses and local management of action sequence. (For a clear and direct understanding, please refer to the diagram on page 30) The study may be of theoretical and practical significance. It may contribute, if any, to the development of forensic linguistics in China and may help counsel/prosecutor in trial to examine the witness/defendant more strategically and appropriately.