Abstract

This paper attempts to provide an explanatory account of linguistic communication between legal professionals such as lawyers and prosecutors, and the witnesses, with a view to show the power and control prevalent in the courtroom discourse. Making use of 20-hours of audio-tape cases recorded at the High Court of Justice and Magistrate Court in Nigeria such as assault, theft and house breaking, the paper attempts to investigate intonation and pauses used in the declarative questions in the courtroom discourse. The analysis carried out in the paper suggests the fact that lawyers maintain tight control of courtroom discourse through their use of declarative questions with falling intonation that are always conducive during cross-examination. The key suggestion of the paper is that the use of falling intonation with declarative questions suggests the power and control of lawyers over the witnesses. By using declarative questions with falling intonation, the lawyers are able to put across their propositions convincingly to the witnesses. The use of falling intonation on declarative questions suggests coercion, control, cajoling and persuasiveness on the part of the lawyers in Nigerian courtroom discourse.

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.