Linguistic representation of power in judicial discourse

Abstract

This study sheds light on the terms discourse of power and power of discourse. The two concepts are closely intertwined and interdependent as manifested in the influence of power on discourse, on the selection of the linguistic means expressing that power. Such linguistic means of conveying power relations are cratologemes. Accordingly, the approach used to study cratologemes is thought to be linguocratological. From the perspective of the linguocratological approach discourse has become a vigorous resource of power. Therefore, language of discourse is of great interest an instrument of manipulation, which gives grounds to study it as an object, a process, and as a tool. During the process of investigation, the following research methods have been used: linguistic observation and analysis as well as cognitive method, pragmatic analysis method, critical discourse analysis method. These methods have allowed us to establish some of the cratologemes that are characteristic of judicial discourse. Such cratologemes have been singled out at different language levels: at the morphological level, at the lexical-semantic level, at the syntactic level.