Publications

Publication details [#30495]

Janney, Richard W. 2002. Cotext as context: vague answers in court. Language & Communication 22 (4) : 457–475.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
Elsevier

Annotation

This paper focuses on influences of cotext on language interpreted as vague by the plaintiff's attorney during the 1996 O.J. Simpson civil murder trial in Los Angeles. It is argued that answers interpreted as vague or nonresponsive in the courtroom often appear to be no more unclear in isolation, than the questions they are supposed to answer.