Courtroom discourse: acts of discreditation in Face-to Face communication

Palashevskaya Irina V.

The article is devoted to the problems of courtroom discourse and employs as a framework E. Goffman’s dramaturgical approach to the study of small episodes of institutional life. Close attention is paid to the acts of expressing distrust, in situations of expectancy violations, when a discourse participant abusing or misusing his possibilities attached to his status performs an illegitimate act to obtain results useful for his objectives. The article considers the pro- and retrospective orientation of role performance discreditations, their use as means of discourse interpretation, self-defence and control in the court, as well as tools of forcing compliance to legal rules of adversarial interaction and upholding the courtroom procedures.

Keywords:courtroom discourse, institutional role, speech act, communicative event, dicreditives.