THE PRAGMATICS OF PROSODIC FEATURES IN SELECTED OYO COURTROOM DISCOURSE

Abstract

Courtroom discourse is a unique type of discourse that plays a significant role in the administration of justice. Several studies have explored the use of language in the courtroom, highlighting the importance of formal language, clarity, and precision. However, the pragmatics of prosodic features in courtroom discourse has not enjoyed scholarly attention. This study therefore, examined the pragmatics of prosodic features in selected Oyo courtroom discourse with focus on the use of intonation to perform pragmatics import. The study adopted Pragmatics Acts theory (Mey 2001) for the analysis of the collected data. A qualitative descriptive approach, which involved the observation and audio recordings of court proceedings, was used in collecting data at State High Court of justice, Oyo, Oyo State. The collected data were transcribed through transcription notations. Data contains transcription of 40 hours, 10 minutes and seven seconds of 20 different court proceedings on corpus of cases which include robbery, divorce, land matter, debt recovery and chieftaincy. The analysis of the data revealed that rising and falling tunes as well as other contextualization cues such as loudness and elongation are commonly used to show pragmatic imports in courtroom discourse. These tunes and the contextualization cues deployed the pragmatic imports of command, call to order, inquiry, affirmation, caution, comic relief, agreement, annoyance/anger, educating and shock/surprise. The result suggests that the use of a formal tone in the courtroom discourse is essential in establishing authority and respect. In courtroom discourse, intonation contrasts play critical roles in conveying pragmatic meanings; and realization of prosodic information varies across speakers and contexts.