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Transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: a linguistic interpretation of sociological patterns found in court data

Perrin, KL; (2016) Transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: a linguistic interpretation of sociological patterns found in court data. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

This thesis examines transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), asking, what can the application of cognitive linguistic methods to ICTY transcripts reveal about social processes within the courtroom? Aiming to broaden the application of these methods, this thesis uses a type of cognitive linguistics called Discourse Space Theory (DST) to highlight significant patterns of interaction within ICTY testimonies, and a combination of social psychology and discourse analysis to explain them further. The multi-layered methods employed here allow for the transcripts to be at their most revealing, and provide essential connections to the existing body of work on transitional justice. This project examines two types of testimonies – that of victims, and that of accused. Results of this analysis demonstrate that underlying the exchanges at the ICTY are power relationships functioning in ways that change relative to identifiable sets of circumstances, such as the ways in which agents of the court address witnesses. Patterns revealed through the analysis of victim testimony demonstrate two important contested subjects at stake - memory and emotion. Analysis of accused testimony has shown a stronger focus on personal power, both within the courtroom and within narratives on the past, and demonstrates that this changes according to status and rank. The overall results of this study have shown that language in the courtroom not only contains within it evidence of underlying social processes, but that these processes reveal issues of power significant to the changing nature of how the functions of tribunals such as the ICTY are understood generally.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Title: Transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: a linguistic interpretation of sociological patterns found in court data
Event: UCL (University College London)
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
UCL classification: UCL
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1485784
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