Narrative expansions as defensive practices in courtroom testimony

Galatolo, Renata; Drew, Paul

doi:10.1515/text.2006.028

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Sonja delivers an extended narrative, which goes beyond what the question intended. Such narrative expansions function as resources allowing the narrator to contextualise events, deeds and behaviour, in turn offering a means for defending oneself from possible accusations and blame for having done something morally questionable (Galatolo & Drew, 2006). Furthermore, such expanded answers can show what the narrator herself believes to be worth defending and explaining (Adelswärd, 1997).…”

Section: Example 1: the Deceivedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What happened when you came to Sweden?”

Lindholm

Börjesson²,

Cederborg³

2014

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Depicted as someone without agency, with no free will and completely in the hands of the trafficker, the ideal trafficking victim can be seen as diametrically different from the guilty prostitute. By analysing how responsibility and victimhood are negotiated in forensic interviews with alleged adolescent trafficking victims, this article scrutinises this image by asking how victim-status is handled when questions turn to sex and prostitution and which interactive and narrative conditions, related to agency, stake and interest, apply for talk in this specific institutional setting. Our findings suggest that in order to sort out the "real" victims, the interviewer need to pull apart the two categories victim and prostitute even if there may be substantive problems with this clear-cut distinction since the categories tend to blend together. Further, talk about sex can be problematic for the interactants as it may undermine the victim narrative instead creating a subject with interests.A victim is commonly referred to as someone who has unjustly suffered injury or harm by forces beyond their control, with no responsibility on the victim's part, and with the victim not being held accountable. Moreover, the victim is expected to have taken measures to protect her-or himself from becoming a victim. Children -not least sexually exploited children -are among those who are most easily, Requests for further information should be directed to:

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Section: Example 1: the Deceivedmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What happened when you came to Sweden?”

Lindholm

Börjesson²,

Cederborg³

2014

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“…the attorney), one of the linguistic resources that participants may call for use to construct their identities is their responses and the information they pack in those responses. In a recent study of courtroom interaction, Galatolo and Drew [6] extensively discuss the use of expansions of answers in court. For both scholars, narrative expansions of answers are a defensive technique and resource that a participant may use during a conversation to gain some measures of In Pursuit of an Expert Identity 477 control.…”

Section: Expansions Of Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both yes/no questions and openended questions may be followed by expansions of answers. Galatolo and Drew [6] claim that witnesses seek to accomplish two principal tasks in the use of narrative expansions. First, narrative expansions provide extra evidence that has not been sought in the question but which the witnesses regard as salient to the issue in question.…”

Section: Expansions Of Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first relates to the nature of questions and answers in the courtroom. While Galatolo and Drew [6] take it that expanded answers are answers that go beyond what is strictly requested by the questions, in the reality of courtroom interaction, there are utterances which are not questions in form, but which demand response, if made by a lawyer to a witness or a defendant. Alternatively, sometimes an utterance may be realized in the form of a question, but they are to be interpreted not as questions but as requests to perform an act.…”

Section: Expansions Of Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter on the other hand commands the hearer to perform an act, thus nearly becoming an order in force. Thus, considering the form and the illocutionary force of the utterances, I would like to suggest an extended version of Galatolo and Drew's [6] expanded answers and employ the term ''expanded response'' to encompass not only an answer but also a response that is either different from or in addition to what is minimally expected in the previous turn, be it a question or a statement whose illocutionary force is like that of a question, namely, to demand response.…”

Section: Expansions Of Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

In Pursuit of an Expert Identity: A Case Study of Experts in the Historical Courtroom

Chaemsaithong

2010

Int J Semiot Law

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There are certain areas of study where present-day semiotics of law can learn from history. This study examines the discursive history and historical courtroom discourse of expert witnesses in eighteenth-century American court. The aim of the study is to explore the use of linguistic strategies and resources in constructing an expert identity in relation to the factors which influence those choices. Instead of taking expertise as being lodged in the pre-given label, such as a doctor, this article argues that such an identity has to be constructed and negotiated, and reveals how such an identity is constructed and negotiated through trial talk during a hostile discursive environment. The historical courtroom is an interesting site in this regard, as it was the period when expert witnesses did not enjoy the same social status as their present-day peers, which came with the absence of discursive privileges as well. It is found that experts mainly relied on expansions of response as the resources to counterbalance skeptical attitudes and hostile attempts aimed to undermine their testimony that accompanied their vulnerable status and image and to gain discursive control during the interaction.

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2011

Identities in Context

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Narrative expansions as defensive practices in courtroom testimony

Cited by 21 publications

References 4 publications

“What happened when you came to Sweden?”

“What happened when you came to Sweden?”

In Pursuit of an Expert Identity: A Case Study of Experts in the Historical Courtroom

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