Law and the Language of Identity Discourse in the William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial

by Matoesian, Gregory M.

• ISBN13: 9780195123302
• ISBN10: 0195123301
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

In this volume, Gregory Matoesian uses the notorious 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith to provide an in-depth analysis of language use and its role in that specific trial as well as in the law in general. He draws on the fields of conversation analysis, ethnomethodology, linguistic anthropology and social theory to show how language practices shape--and are shaped by--culture and the law, particularly in the social construction of rape as a legal fact. This analysis examines linguistic strategies from both defense and prosecutorial viewpoints, and how they relate to issues of gender, sexual identity, and power.

Table of Contents

Notes on Transcription	ix
Introduction	3	(6)
Overview of the William Kennedy Smith Rape Trial	9	(28)
I REPETITION IN THE PATRIARCHAL ORDER
Rhythms of Domination and the Gender of Inconsistency	37	(32)
Poetics of Space, Direction, and Movement	69	(36)
II INTERTEXTUALITY
Intertextuality, Reported Speech, and Affect	105	(28)
Production Media and Intertextual Authority in Reported Speech	133	(30)
III THE CONSTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF EXPERT IDENTITY
The Grammaticalization of Participant Roles in the Constitution of Expert Identity	163	(30)
Constructing Age Identity in Expert Testimony	193	(14)
IV LANGUAGE AND LEGAL CHANGE
The Microdynamics of Legal Change	207	(30)
Notes	237	(16)
References	253	(10)
Index	263