Detection Of Deceptive Speech Acts In Chinese Courtroom Trials

In courtroom trials,litigants make deceptive statements so as to escape from punishment.Making deceptive statements in the court,referred to in this paper as deceptive speech acts(henceforth,DSA),will affect court's judgment,waste judicial resources and damage social justice and integrity.Therefore,detection of deceptive speech acts(henceforth,DDSA)is of considerable forensic interests in improving efficiency of courtroom trials and enforcing the authority of legal system.Though deception detection is a hot topic across different fields around the world,few Chinese scholars tackle the issue of deception,especially in a specific context.Therefore,this study aims to find out what linguistic deception indicators(henceforth,LDI)can be used to identify DSA in the context of Chinese courtroom trials.This research collects 10 authentic cases and transcribes 28 deceptive statements,19 of which are discussed in detail about their functions in deceptive statements.The framework for deception detection is established based on two cues to deception(linguistic manipulation,and emotional and cognitive functions)and 10 linguistic deception indicators(henceforth,LDIs)which were tested reliable by previous researches.Linguistic manipulation enables liars to actively take deception strategies(i.e.,concealment,falsification and distortion),which are realized by 8 LDIs(vagueness,generality,intensifiers,formulaic expressions,references to the other,minimizing markers,conditional sentences and conjunctions).The other two LDIs(i.e.,negation and repetition)realize the negative attitude and deceleration of cognitive activity caused by the deceiver's apprehension of being caught.After examining 10 LDIs in 28 deceptive statements,8 LDIs are confirmed in helping lie-catchers identify deception in Chinese courtroom trials(i.e.,vagueness,generality,intensifiers,formulaic expressions,references to the other,minimizingmarkers,negation and repetition).This research shows that “vagueness” and“generality” make information uncertain,and thus they realize concealment strategy.“References to the other” and “intensifiers” substantiate falsification strategies in that deceptive speakers provide fabricated stories,whereas “formulaic expressions” and“minimizing markers” serve as distortion strategy because they weaken the deceptive speaker's role in an event.Findings show that “negation” occurs most frequently(50times),followed by “intensifiers”(19 times),“vagueness”(17 times),which indicate that concealment and falsification are two principal deceptive strategies.Moreover,as negation and repetition are caused by detection apprehension,they seldom occur alone,usually accompanied by other LDIs.This research sheds light on data-based studies on DDSA.It is hoped that this research can offer implications for judicial professionals(judges and prosecutors)and other judicial practices,like police interrogation.