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Epistemological stance and passive reporting verbs in judicial opinions: the case of BE expected to and BE supposed to
Year: 2022
Type of publication: článek v odborném periodiku
Name of source: Text & Talk
Page from-to: 47-67
Titles:
Language Name Abstract Keywords
cze Epistemologický postoj v diskurzu soudní argumentace: užití pasivních konstrukcí BE expected to a BE supposed to Tato studie zkoumá funkce pasivních konstrukcí ‘BE expected to’ a ‘BE supposed to’ v diskurzu soudní argumentace. Data čerpá z korpusu posudků Nejvyššího soudu USA (130 mil slov) s cílem zmapovat užití těchto dvou konstrukcí za posledních více než 200 let. Výsledky ukazují, že ‘BE expected to’ se často vyskytuje společně s adverbiem ‘reasonably’, čímž vytváří zdání objektivity, zatímco ‘BE supposed to’ se vyskytuje převážně v přítomném čase s 3.osobou jednotného čísla a slouží jako prostředek vyjadřující odstup. Článek rovněž poukazuje na skutečnost, že užití ‘BE expected to’ a ‘BE supposed to’ v soudní argumentaci je zcela odlišné od jejich užití v jiných typech diskurzu. evidencialita; soudní argumentace; pasivum; postoj; Nejvyšší soud USA
eng Epistemological stance and passive reporting verbs in judicial opinions: the case of BE expected to and BE supposed to This study examines the discourse functions of ‘BE expected to’ and ‘BE supposed to’ in the genre of judicial opinion, providing insights into discipline specific practices of epistemological positioning. Drawing on the 130 million words Corpus of US Supreme Court Opinions, it looks at how the two mindsay constructions were deployed in judicial writing over a period of more than 200 years, and identifies divergent frequency patterns associated with their use. As the findings reveal, in the opinions, on the one hand, ‘BE expected to’ tends to co-occur with ‘reasonably’ (can/could (not) reasonably be expected to) and is used to create a semblance of objectivity. ‘BE supposed to’, on the other hand, favors the present tense and third-person reference (which/it is supposed to) and serves as a distancing device. The paper also compares the frequency patterns involving ‘BE expected to’ and ‘BE supposed to’ found in the opinions with those attested in the Corpus of Historical American English, and it demonstrates that judicial writing exhibits trends which clearly differ from trends noted in non-judicial registers. evidentiality; judicial opinions; passive; reporting verbs; stance; US Supreme Court