Analysing Legal Transcripts: Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Abstract

This case study demonstrates the benefits of cognitive linguistic methods in the analysis of legal transcripts, in particular, the applications of discourse space theory, a recent cognitive linguistic theory developed by Professor Paul Chilton. Using text from a case tried before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, these methods show us that there is more to be analysed in these transcripts than questions of law – linguistic methods can tell us more about the frames of mind of those testifying in court, which in turn reveals much about communities struggling to renew after ethnic conflict.

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