Social and Institutional Functions of Interpersonal Lexicogrammar: A Case Study of the Courtroom Discourse

Within the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the present article investigates the discourse functional roles of interpersonal grammar and cohesion in the discourse of a courtroom hearing. By using a legal transcript of a 404(b) pre-trial hearing as our data involving multiple cases of child molestation, the article first examines the nature of the courtroom setting for the identification of power structure differences that may affect language choices of the participants. It then explores the ways in which the institutional legal structure of power is manifested in the courtroom through the deployment of modality, conjunction, and speech act functions presupposed in different question types. On the basis of this analysis, we argue that the courtroom is a place where past events are not just recounted truthfully in the words of witnesses but are rather created and recreated through the discursive control of the witness narratives by the winning attorney.