'Language has a Heart': Linguistic Markers of Evaluation in Selected TRC Testimonies

Abstract

This paper explores how two testifiers at the Human Rights Violation hearings of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 used selected markers of evaluation (shifts in tense, the inclusion of direct speech and code-switching) to express evaluative meanings and position themselves, the police and their audiences in relation to their narratives. Both testifiers are mothers of young activists who were pursued, detained and tortured by police in the 1980s. The paper argues that it is through the subtle though significant linguistic choices the women make that their perspective is construed and their 'narrative truth' realized.

“Are you saying …?”

“…Anthonissen 2006;Bock et al 2006;Bock 2007;Berlin 2007;Verdoolaege 2009aVerdoolaege , 2009bUnuabonah 2012;Unuabonah 2016) without exploring MPCs in the hearings. Although Bock (2008) and 2011have examined shifts in tense and codeswitching in the South African Truth and Reconciliation hearings, these are implicit metapragmatic acts which do not address explicit evaluation in the hearings. This limited attention on MPCs in investigative public hearings is considered as a significant oversight in the field because MPCs are important in managing discourse and interpersonal relations.…”

Contextual Beliefs in a Nigerian Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing

“…Brasher, 2006;Corona, 2007;Duffin, 2003;Headrick et al, 2002;and Obar and Schejter, 2010). The linguistic studies have focused more on the grammatical structures (Bock, 2008), sociolinguistic features (Anthonissen, 2006 andBock, 2011), discourse analytic structures (Verdoolaege, 2009a), translation issues (Bock et al, 2006) and critical discourse analytic elements (Lubbe, 2007;Verdoolaege, 2005Verdoolaege, , 2009b than the pragmatic features in the hearings, especially contextual beliefs held by the interactants. Although Bock (2007) analysed situational context in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings from the perspective of Systemic Functional issues addressed during the complaints include illegal eviction, illegal demolition, illegal reallocation, illegal revocation, concession and lack of compensation/relocation.…”

Going off-script and reframing the frame: The dialogic intertwining of the centripetal and centrifugal voices in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings

“…Accordingly, it is not surprising that a number of researchers (e.g. Blommaert et al, 2007; Bock, 2008b; Verdoolaege, 2008) suggest that the narratives of the HRV testifiers were co-authored by the TRC members whose voices were dialogically intertwined with those of the testifiers. Such co-authoring was also characteristic of the Amnesty testimonies.…”