Publications
Publication details [#25623]
Kurzon, Dennis. 1995. The right of silence: A socio-pragmatic model of interpretation. Journal of Pragmatics 23 (1) : 55–69.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
Elsevier
ISBN
0378-2166
Journal WWW
Annotation
This paper proposes a sociopragmatic model for the interpretation of the silent answer of a suspect in custody interrogated by the police or a court lawyer, combined with schemata accounting for the interpretation of silence in a real-life situation. Though normally such silence is interpreted to the silent person's detriment, the silence of the accused may not be brought to the attention of the court, given the law's right of silence.