浅析预设理论在克林顿弹劾案庭审中的运用

An Analysis of Presupposition Theory during Court Trial Interaction in Clinton Impeachment Trail

预设是法庭审判中一种重要的语言策略。由于预设具有主观性、单向性和隐蔽性等特点,律师在问话中经常运用这一技巧,来获得利于己方的信息。而证人及被告方同样需要识别预设的陷阱、阐述自己的观点。该文以著名的克林顿弹劾案的审讯笔录为语料,从法律语言学的角度对分析法庭会话中预设理论的运用进行定性分析。结果表明,预设策略在庭审中的识别与反向运用使克林顿在一定程度上控制住对自己不利的庭审局势,为自己争取了时间。

With the characteristics of subjectivity, unidirectionality and implicitness, nowadays presupposition has become a critical language strategy. While counselors often need to employ it to obtain favorable information, it is equally necessary for witnesses or defendants to recognize and avoid the trap set under presupposition strategy. Taking the famous Clinton Impeachment Trail as the corpus, the paper studies the employment of presupposition theory in courtroom interaction, from the perspective of forensic linguistics. It suggests that the Clinton's recognition and counter-use of presupposition curbed the unfavorable situation from worsening and successfully bought him more time.