Domestic Discord, Rocky Relationships: Semantic Prosodies in Representations of Marital Violence in the O.J. Simpson Trial

Abstract

This article addresses one of the central concerns of the forensic linguist: the analysis of courtroom discourse and the identification of potentially discriminatory linguistic practices within the criminal justice system. This critical linguistic analysis examines the semantic prosodies of some of the words and phrases used to describe domestic violence at trial, a key issue in the O.J. Simpson double homicide case. The article considers data from the 100,000-word opening arguments of the criminal trial and contrasts the respective lexical representations of domestic violence in the prosecution and defence arguments. Drawing on data from COBUILD Bank of English, the article studies the prosodies of the constructs presented by both sides in their conflicting representations of domestic violence against women in the courtroom context.