Abstract：Previous studies have shown that politeness theories and models based on the traditional and popular dichotomy of politeness vs. non-politeness cannot provide an accurate representation of politeness strategies used in courtroom discourse. This study proposes a separate dimension between politeness and non-politeness. Based on Leech’s classification of illocutionary acts, this study constructs a continuum model of positive, neutral, and negative politeness. This model was applied in the analysis of a corpus of 8 transcripts of Chinese criminal courtroom trials conducted in different jurisdictions at different levels of courts of China ranging from 2001 to 2017. The findings reveal that either at the macro level or the micro level, the use of politeness strategies in the Chinese criminal courtroom discourse is a complex and dynamic web in the form of a continuum of positive, neutral, and negative politeness. However, the distribution of politeness strategies in the continuum is uneven. Neutral politeness strategies rank the top, followed by negative ones, and positive ones are least used. The findings were interpreted in terms of activity types or language games, speech act functions, the Goal-driven Principle, and the Chinese legal culture, ideology, and tradition. The implications of this study were discussed for legal practice and reform in China as well as for further politeness studies, particularly in institutional settings.
廖美珍. 中国法庭话语礼貌策略三维连续体研究[J]. 语言战略研究, 2023, 8(1): 57-73.
Liao Meizhen. A Continuum Model of Politeness Strategies for Studies of Chinese Criminal Courtroom Discourse. , 2023, 8(1): 57-73.
