On Intonation Features And Their Pragmatic Functions Of A-not-A Question In China Courtroom Discourse

Courtroom discourse has been playing one of the most important roles in the study of forensic linguistics.Scholars both at home and abroad have done extensive researches mainly from the angles of discourse structure,turn-taking,discourse markers,discourse power and discourse function,and achieved encouraging results.However,as far as the present situation of domestic study is concerned,most of the study concentrates on static study of written discourse rather than on intonation features and their pragmatic functions of courtroom interrogation,which leaves the vocal features of courtroom discourse neglected.In a narrow sense of intonation,the thesis aims to carry out an empirical exploration on pragmatic functions of A-not-A question in courtroom discourse based on the intonation accommodation theory,functional theory of intonation and speech act theory.It has determined 815 A-not-A questions as the corpora which come from 80 live videos of the CCTV legal program At the Scene of the Trial from 2013 to 2016.By means of the speech analyzing software Praat,the thesis carries on quantitative and qualitative analysis to investigate the intonation features,distribution laws and pragmatic functions of A-not-A question in courtroom discourse.The study shows that,firstly,the intonation of most question markers of A-not-A question is characterized by wide pitch range,low pitch level and the similar pitch values of both initial boundary tone and final boundary tone,which not only strengthen the language force and mood of the questioner,but also manifest the pragmatic functions of the interrogation.Secondly,some A-not-A question markers carry the pitch accent and can be used as nucleus,bearing the information focus;others can be distributed around the nucleus,acting on the information focus.Thirdly,under the influence of intonation factors above and roles of their own section,the pragmatic functions of A-not-A questions in courtroom discourse have been transferred and prominent.Specifically,the strong A-not-A question expressing inquiry is reduced to weak A-not-A question to make a verification;then,it has gradually reduced to questionless question,which turns out that its pragmatic function has been transferred to directive functions of reminding,command and suggestion,and expressive functions of blame and longing for compassion as well.The objective of the study is to provide beneficial reference for legal practice and a new perspective for the study of institutional discourse as well.It is noteworthy that the pragmatic functions of A-not-A question result from intonation and the context of court trial.