Du Jinbang
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Information Processing and Utilization in Courtroom Interactions
In the domain of legal language,courtroom discourse is representative of information processing and utilization which constitute the core of the interaction between participants in the courtroom. Thus the research into this aspect may be illuminating for the whole process of courtroom trial.

Some researches of information processing mainly enquire into communication and communication strategies. Others go further to focus on the linguistic aspect. Both schools are contributive to research in courtroom discourse. The present paper, in the light of previous research in communication and information processing, tries to develop a model of information processing in the courtroom setting. This model comprises three tiers: the first is the interactive orientations of participants who often have different attitudes toward a specific piece of information, and the social relations of the participants as are formed in the courtroom context, on which the attitudes are based;the second is the linguistic strategies which are employed by the participants to realize their goals of communication; the third is the specific linguistic devices used which are the embodiment of the strategies. For setting up this model and testifying its feasibility,data are collected from some Chinese courts. Cases of different kinds are included to ensure the extensive applicability of the model. Though the model is to be set up in the Chinese context, it may hopefully cast light upon similar studies of different legal languages and in different legal contexts. One evident limitation is that the model is a tentative exploration into information utilization in the courtroom context. A lot of ensuing research has to be done before the model is generally accepted as satisfactory.