Taalregte en die regspraak

Lubbe, HJ

doi:10.5842/36-0-40

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the interface of language and the law has received considerable attention as an area of study in the international community. The scholarly interest in linguistic and legal phenomena across the globe has assumed the study of forensic linguistics (Shuy 2007;Eades 1996, 1997, 2004, Coulthard & Johnson 2007Linfoot 2007;Moeketsi 2002;Lubbe 2008;Shah, et al 2007;Berk-Seligson 2008;Rock 2007, andRalarala 2004). Shuy (2007:101) defines "forensic linguistics" as language used in trials by judges, lawyers and witnesses; the language of the law itself; the language used in civil cases, and the language used in criminal cases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A compromise of rights, rights of language and rights to a language in Eugene Terreblanche’s (ET) trial within a trial: evidence lost in translation

Ralarala

2013

Stellenbosch pap. linguist.

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The trial (within a trial) of Eugene Terre'Blanche (hereon referred to as the ET Trial) in a high court, which took place in Ventersdorp in January and February 2010 sparked intense interest in South Africa and abroad, and raised critical questions about issues of (i) language rights, (ii) communicative competence of law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, and (iii) the asymmetries in the police interaction with the accused persons. Apart from communicating the rights of the accused persons in a language that s/he understands, the police officers are entrusted with additional responsibilities which include, among others, being a channel or conduit that encodes and decodes information within milliseconds in an attempt to reconstruct an accused person's narrative into formal evidence for purposes of court proceedings. This reality is further substantiated by Komter (2002/2003:202) who suggests that, "[...] police officers should record the fact that they informed the suspect about his right to silence and [...] that they record the suspect's statement as much as possible in his own words". Against this backdrop, it is also worth stating that the South African multilingual setting is confronted by serious complexities, especially in cases where the accused is a speaker of an African language who can only rely on interpreting/translation services in order to follow the legal discourse, whereas languages of record are still solely in English and Afrikaans. Based on an examination and analysis of the judgement of the ET trial within a trial, this study finds that, despite the dawn of democracy, the South African Criminal Justice System is still confronted by linguistic and cultural challenges. Central to these challenges is the potential for miscarriages of justice. Furthermore, the main principles of Critical Sociolinguistic Analysis (CSA) employed in this study have uncovered the fact that power imbalances in the criminal justice system do not necessarily originate through legislation but through situated processes and practices (Eades 2010). As Fairclough appropriately argues, there is a need not just to examine the power in the discourse but also the power behind the discourse (1989).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A compromise of rights, rights of language and rights to a language in Eugene Terreblanche’s (ET) trial within a trial: evidence lost in translation

Ralarala

2013

Stellenbosch pap. linguist.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Taalregte en die regspraak

Cited by 1 publication

References 11 publications

A compromise of rights, rights of language and rights to a language in Eugene Terreblanche’s (ET) trial within a trial: evidence lost in translation

A compromise of rights, rights of language and rights to a language in Eugene Terreblanche’s (ET) trial within a trial: evidence lost in translation

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