Periodic Reporting for period 2 - TICLAUS (Transitivity in Courtroom Language: A Unified Solution)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2022-09-01 do 2023-08-31
TICLAUS intended to improve the current TRANSITIVITY framework through the analysis of discourse retrieved from forensic contexts. In doing so, the ER could use her analysis to draw awareness to societal issues that are largely under the radar, namely (i) sexual assault; and (ii) the potential for language to contribute towards a wrongful conviction (WC) and the impact on innocent people. Several causes of WC have been identified so far, including faulty forensics and misidentification. However, language is yet to be considered a contributing factor and, therefore, TICLAUS conducts a linguistic analysis of courtroom transcripts to highlight the power of words and determine whether language may, in fact, play a role in the WC of innocent individuals. Furthermore, a linguistic analysis of interviews with exonerees, as in the case of survivors of sexual assault, serves to give individuals a voice and, simultaneously provide insights into how each discursively represents their experience of (in)justice, as well as ensure that they feel heard and can inform us as to how prevalent these issues actually are.
Many tasks set out in the TICLAUS proposal have been achieved. Following ethical approval, the Innocence Project (IP) gave the ER access to courtroom transcripts of cases that had emerged as WCs; these have been transcribed and been an ample dataset to analyse. Interviews with exonerees based in Canada, the USA and UK have also been transcribed. Thirdly, the ER collected interview data with sexual assault survivors in English and Spanish to examine how they discursively represent their ordeal; since the first report, transcription of these interviews has now been completed and the ER is currently working on a co-authored paper. Lastly, a TRANSITIVITY analysis of interviews with exonerees has been carried out with the findings presented at 2 academic conferences in 2021, as well as at the AAAL Conference in Portland, as part of a round table.
In addition to the 3 datasets collected for TICLAUS, the ER has also looked at newspaper articles and, more specifically, the media coverage of WC cases during the lead up to trial. The reason for this was to determine whether the language used by the media may also contribute to wrongfully convicting an innocent person. In line with this research strand, the ER gave a presentation at the 1st International Online SFLIG Conference (Nov 2021), where she discussed the media coverage of the Central Park Five case in New York.
The TICLAUS research team have also prepared an Excel document, comprising amendments to the original TRANSITIVITY framework; this is a work in progress, but the changes include an additional process category as well as amendments to the participant roles that adhere to each process type. This Excel document is available on request by other academics who work in the area of SFL, although the ER wishes to acknowledge that the amendments made are not meant to indicate an infallible model. Rather, they are considered to offer a more fine-grained analysis of transitivity patterns when examining a piece of discourse.
In terms of publications, the ER has 2 articles in print, with one appearing in the Language, Context & Text journal, and a second article published in the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law (2023). The ER has also written a book chapter, entitled "“When language becomes the evidence…”: An analysis of the transitivity patterns in two high-profile criminal trials of the 1990s", which has been accepted for publication in "The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics", by Routledge, and will be released in 2024.
As part of the outgoing phase, the ER completed a 4 month secondment at Cardiff University, which gave her access to doctoral courses to further her knowledge in relevant areas of the TICLAUS project and facilitate collaborations with scholars working in related areas (i.e. SFL, WCs or sexual abuse). The ER met regularly with Professors Lise Fontaine and Michelle Aldridge to discuss the project and this collaboration enabled the ER to audit an MA course in Forensic Linguistics; subsequently, on her return to SFU, the ER was invited to give a guest lecture on Forensic Linguistics in the Criminology Department. During the secondment, the ER also gave a presentation on her work regarding WCs at the CLCR Seminar Series, as well as an informative session to PG students. Similarly, the ER gave a talk at UGR in the seminar entitled "Critical Discourse Analysis on the move", held in 2021, as well as in the seminar "Critical Discourse Studies and Social Change. Where are we at?" held in 2022, to report TICLAUS project findings. The ER audited courses that aligned closely with areas investigated in TICLAUS during the outgoing phase at SFU, namely “Wrongful Convictions” (CRIM438) in the Criminology department (2020-2021) and “Introduction to Law and Psychology” (PSYC 268), in the Psychology department (2021-2022). Lastly, the ER was granted a 2nd secondment in the last year of her fellowship in which she spent 6 weeks collaborating with the UBC (University of British Columbia) IP and, together with criminologists, contributed her knowledge in linguistics to help with current cases of WC in Canada.
A final output from the TICLAUS Project was a hybrid workshop held at SFU, organised by the ER and her research team in May 2022. The workshop was entitled “The Language, Law & Justice Workshop (LLJ)” and scholars from Linguistics and Criminology (based at universities across the globe) were in attendance, together with exonerees, the founder of Innocence Canada and the Director for Innocence Canada Board of directors. In coming together, all participants shared their experiences or details of their research; perhaps more importantly, future work and collaborations were also proposed, which was a key aim of the workshop for the ER. The LLJ workshop also provided an opportunity to draw awareness to sexual assault and WCs within and beyond the gates of academia and, given the range of attendees from over 40 countries worldwide, including students, academic staff across disciplines, the general public and those working for the Innocence Network, the ER felt this was successful. Moreover, this scientific meeting opened up opportunities for the ER, such as:
• Accepting the role of Media Editor for the Wrongful Convictions Collective;
• Volunteering as a translator for Interrogating Justice;
• Delivering a class on youth and WCs to high school students in Vancouver (April 2021), together with exoneree Kristine Bunch;
• Volunteering for the International WC Day Committee (Innocence Canada) fundraising committee.
In addition to the 3 datasets collected for TICLAUS, the ER has also looked at newspaper articles and, more specifically, the media coverage of WC cases during the lead up to trial. The reason for this was to determine whether the language used by the media may also contribute to wrongfully convicting an innocent person. In line with this research strand, the ER gave a presentation at the 1st International Online SFLIG Conference (Nov 2021), where she discussed the media coverage of the Central Park Five case in New York.
The TICLAUS research team have also prepared an Excel document, comprising amendments to the original TRANSITIVITY framework; this is a work in progress, but the changes include an additional process category as well as amendments to the participant roles that adhere to each process type. This Excel document is available on request by other academics who work in the area of SFL, although the ER wishes to acknowledge that the amendments made are not meant to indicate an infallible model. Rather, they are considered to offer a more fine-grained analysis of transitivity patterns when examining a piece of discourse.
In terms of publications, the ER has 2 articles in print, with one appearing in the Language, Context & Text journal, and a second article published in the International Journal for the Semiotics of Law (2023). The ER has also written a book chapter, entitled "“When language becomes the evidence…”: An analysis of the transitivity patterns in two high-profile criminal trials of the 1990s", which has been accepted for publication in "The Routledge Handbook of Transdisciplinary Systemic Functional Linguistics", by Routledge, and will be released in 2024.
As part of the outgoing phase, the ER completed a 4 month secondment at Cardiff University, which gave her access to doctoral courses to further her knowledge in relevant areas of the TICLAUS project and facilitate collaborations with scholars working in related areas (i.e. SFL, WCs or sexual abuse). The ER met regularly with Professors Lise Fontaine and Michelle Aldridge to discuss the project and this collaboration enabled the ER to audit an MA course in Forensic Linguistics; subsequently, on her return to SFU, the ER was invited to give a guest lecture on Forensic Linguistics in the Criminology Department. During the secondment, the ER also gave a presentation on her work regarding WCs at the CLCR Seminar Series, as well as an informative session to PG students. Similarly, the ER gave a talk at UGR in the seminar entitled "Critical Discourse Analysis on the move", held in 2021, as well as in the seminar "Critical Discourse Studies and Social Change. Where are we at?" held in 2022, to report TICLAUS project findings. The ER audited courses that aligned closely with areas investigated in TICLAUS during the outgoing phase at SFU, namely “Wrongful Convictions” (CRIM438) in the Criminology department (2020-2021) and “Introduction to Law and Psychology” (PSYC 268), in the Psychology department (2021-2022). Lastly, the ER was granted a 2nd secondment in the last year of her fellowship in which she spent 6 weeks collaborating with the UBC (University of British Columbia) IP and, together with criminologists, contributed her knowledge in linguistics to help with current cases of WC in Canada.
A final output from the TICLAUS Project was a hybrid workshop held at SFU, organised by the ER and her research team in May 2022. The workshop was entitled “The Language, Law & Justice Workshop (LLJ)” and scholars from Linguistics and Criminology (based at universities across the globe) were in attendance, together with exonerees, the founder of Innocence Canada and the Director for Innocence Canada Board of directors. In coming together, all participants shared their experiences or details of their research; perhaps more importantly, future work and collaborations were also proposed, which was a key aim of the workshop for the ER. The LLJ workshop also provided an opportunity to draw awareness to sexual assault and WCs within and beyond the gates of academia and, given the range of attendees from over 40 countries worldwide, including students, academic staff across disciplines, the general public and those working for the Innocence Network, the ER felt this was successful. Moreover, this scientific meeting opened up opportunities for the ER, such as:
• Accepting the role of Media Editor for the Wrongful Convictions Collective;
• Volunteering as a translator for Interrogating Justice;
• Delivering a class on youth and WCs to high school students in Vancouver (April 2021), together with exoneree Kristine Bunch;
• Volunteering for the International WC Day Committee (Innocence Canada) fundraising committee.
The ER intended to produce a revised TRANSITIVITY framework on completion of TICLAUS and this has been completed, with the amendments currently stored in an Excel document, available to other academics on request. The ER also proposes to co-organise a bi-annual workshop to bring together academics and non-academics and continue to promote collaborations, discuss research/work surrounding WCs and sexual assault and encourage changes in societal attitudes as well as laws. Lastly, the ER continues to volunteer and collaborate with Interrogating Justice, Innocence Canada and the Wrongful Convictions Collective to assist with awareness of both the TICLAUS research results and WCs more generally.